Republican farmer., 1918-01-18
RUSSELL WARNS N0N-ESSENTIAL
 USING OF COAL
Recommends Cutting of Fuel 9 Per Cent. As
 War Measure

Hartford, Jan. 15-Thomas W. Rus sell, United States Fuel Administra- tor for Connecticut and chairman of the coal committee of the Connecti- cut State Council of Defense. issued a statement today strongly recom- mending ali manufacturers who are not working on government orders to reduce their consumption of coal by at least 25 per cent The recom- mendation is followed by the signifi- cant statement that 'it would cause less hardship for such factories as these to shorten their hours of labor or reduce the number of their work ing days than to keep up their pres ent rate of operation for time and be forced to close entirely in the near future."
 MT Russell also warns people who are disregarding the federal order in regard to lightless nights that a con- tinuance of their present attitude is likelySto result in the entire cutting off of their supply of electricity.
 The statement follows:
 ''In view of the present critical coal supply situation and the fact that it appears likely the situation will continue critical for some time to come. the United States Fuel Admin istration for Connecticut thinks that a statement regarding the present outlook is due the people of the state. The first consideration of the admin istration is that the homes of the people be kept warm and that hos pitals and similar institutions be sup piled with enough coal to keep them l comfortable. The public utilities must | also be kept in operation. The peo- pie must have gas to cook with, troll ley cars to ride in and electric lights over their supper tables.
 'In addition to this, factories man. ufacturing equipment for the army and navy or the Red Cross must be kept in operation so that the men who are fighting for us may not be handicapped by lack of adequate | equipment. But in view of the fact that there are so many factories in Connecticut which are working on government orders it is getting to be l increasingly difficult to keep them supplied with coal enough for their operation without robbing homes and | public utilities of their necessary SUD- plies.
 Tt now appears, therefore, that it | is going to be extremely difficult to secure adequate supplies of coal for the operation of factories and power plants which are not working on gov ernment orders, and the fuel admins tration therefore recommends very strongly to suchm anufacturers that for their own protection they reduce their consumption of coal by at least 25 per cent. of the normal. It is be- lieved that it would cause less hard ship for such factories as these to shorten their hours of labor or re- duce the number of their working days than to keep up their present
 rate of operation for a time and be forced to close entirely in the near future.
 "The fuel administration wishes to express it's appreciation of the spirit of cooperation already shown by a number of Connecticut industries in voluntarily curtailing their hours of ioperatfon and thereby conserving the slender coal supply in answer to pre- vious appeals. A spirit of co-opera- tion and patriotism has been shown in so many cases that it would be inn possible to mention each instance spe- officially"
 Mir. Russell, when asked about the operation of the federal order desig- mating Thursday and Sunday nights as lightless nights, expressed disap- pointment at the results so far at tained, saying that he had learned of a number of instances in which the order was disregarded. He added:
 "The Iightless nights order was is sued from Washington with good req son and full authority. It was intend ed that the order should be obeyed literally. Anyone who continues to violate the order after receiving warn ling will receive drastic treatment at the hands of the United States Fuel Administration. He can expect to have such action met by an order which will cut him off completely from the electric light service he is now receiving"