The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-16
TERRIBLE WEATHER CONDITIONS STILL RENDERING TRAFFIC Railroads Are Only Moving Fuel and Food, and
 These Slowly THOUSANDS OF CARS BLOCKED ON SIDINGS McAdoo and His Assistants Are Struggling With Greatest Problem Ever Presented to Transpor-
 tatiOn Experts

Washington, January lo. Against the worst general snow and ice storm of a gen sr- ation, the government railroad administrations today strug gled in an effort to open main travel routes and keep coal and food shipments moving over the lines best fble to handle them.
 The situation tonight was regarded as worse than at any time within the last week of traffic-paralyzing wealth Ter. On top of an accumulation of snow in the middle west from blizzards of several days ago came fresh snowfall today. Snow blows went to work on the new drifts, while gangs of labor CTS tackled yards and terminals. Temperatures were rising in most sec tions tonight, but it was not warm enough to release cars frozen to sidings or to thaw thousands of cars of coal caked in their carriers. Telegraph and telephone wires went down under weight of snow and ice and many passenger trains were withdrawn once again lest they meet the fate of scores of others stalled by the drifts.
 COAL AND FOOD MOVING Coal and food kept moving, and these | went slowly. The railroads supply of To- ccmotives, depleted by the hundreds in l shops for repairs, were used largely for these shipments. Two, three or four en- zines tugged at a train of coal in many l instances.
 l Officials tonight believed it would be only a matter of days before some indus tries would be forced to close by inabil- ity to get fuel. The snow cannot melt and the weather moderate fast enough it was said, to restore normal movement of coal to meet the extraordinary war demand. Measures are being planned to safeguard domestic and public utilities needs and to distribute the remainder to the most essential industries.
 CAN DO LITTLE
 Railroad administration officials ac- knowledge they could do little against the weather except to distribute cars, loco motives and snow-fighting apparatus, wherever the need is greatest. Accord iingly, the American Railway associa- tion's car service commission issued Imany orders for transfer of cars. After |complaints to Director General McAdoo hot nr1x of ha ply of cars was available at West Vir- ginia mines, additional emptes were or dered there.
 The anthracite mines of Pennsylvania got their full supply of cars, about 32O0 being loaded during the day, and coal went to New England by all rail gate ways and by water from Hampton Roads.
 Investiga tions by the interstate com merce commissions inspectors working under direction of Commissioner Mo Chord. disclosed hundreds of coal cars on sidings in the east, blocked behind lines of almost immovable freight cars, destined for points already suffering from fuel shortage.
 FREIGHT MOVING WEEK SLOW
 Freight moving week, although recog- nized in telegrams from number of commercial organizations today, seemed almost showed under,
 Director General McAdoo spent near ly two hours discussing the mid western storm conditions with R. H. Aishton, president of the Chicago and Northwest ern railway, who had been summoned here for a conference, and there was reports that MT. Aishton would be named formally as Mir. McAdoo's repre-
 sentative about Chicago to supervise transportation, as A. H. Smith is doing in the east In his determination to clear up congestion about the Washing ton terminals, the director general re- placed A. w. Thompson, vice president of the Baltimore and Ohio, with George
 R. Loyall assistant vice president of the Southern as transportation director in charge, with instructions to do any
 thing necessary to get results. Mir.
 Thompson's heavy duties in connection
 with his own road 1t was explained, prevented him from devoting all his time to the Washington situation.
 TO HOLD CONFERENCE
 Tomorrow MT. McAdoo will confer with a number of state railroad commission
 CTS who wish to give assurance of their
 cooperation under government owner ship and enquire about the railroad ad- ministration's intentions toward state
 rate regulations. and maintenance of l ata 10 anth i-