Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-02-18
.GARF|ELDLAUDSU.S.
COAL CRISIS SPIRIT
People Did Willingly What Army
Could Not Have Fore
ed, He Says.
NEw YoRK Feb 1S

NEW YORK, Feb. Is.
DIR. Harry A. Garfield, National Fuel
Administrator, justified SATURDAY. night
his order for heatless Mondays with the
declaration that the vast industrial out
put of America under the pressure o.
war SO swamped the nations transported
ton facilities that suspension OF in
dtstry was necessary TO permit the rail-
roads to catch up.
DR. Garfeld's explanation of his now
! suspended order, the first he has made to
the country, was given when he was the
principal speaker at the annual reunion
of the alumni of Williams College at
the Biltmore Hotel BY our very strength
as a great manufacturing nation, DIR.
Garfield declared, America broke down
! the TRANSFORMATION system on land and
prevented its development at sea.
Nevertheless, the speaker asserted, the
cooperation lent his administration dur
ing the fuel crisis by mine operators and
| workers, the railroads anb the American
people presents n shining illustration
''of the potency Of the new idea Of free
dom, a demonstration of the efficiency of
democracy and consciousness of com
mon purpose"
Operators and mine workers were
brought together. The ideal set up by
the President was recalled to their
minds. Our dependence upon coal for
the prosecuting of the war was explained.
| II was firmly insisted that in the present
crisis there should be neither union nor
non union men: that for the period of the
war all controversy between operators
and mine workers must cease The ap-
peal was needed and production steadily
rose until winter set in, in spite of the fact
thot thnstuht u "A
laid blighting hand on legitimate profits.
IL was practical illustration of the po-
tcncy Of the new idea of freedom, a dom
onstration OF the efficiency of demo,
cracy, and consciousness of common
purpose.
HOW AMERICA MET THE CRISIS.
"a still more vivid illustration of the
| the working of the new idea is found
in the spirit in which the American
people met the economic crisis from
which we are just emerging.
beginning with December = winter
| laid its grip upon the land and by the
| middle OF January had virtually paralvzed
| our transportation system, but winter
f, was not entirely responsible, perhaps not
/ even chiefly responsible Week by week
! during the latter part Of the year the rec
.
| duction of war material.
/ "By our very strength as a great
| manufacturing nation we were fast break
| ing down the transportation 81 stern on
| land and preventing its development at
! sea. We had orders for more material
! than we could hope to carry away. The
| condition will be best understood when we
| reflect upon the fact that our foreign
| commerce, increased since 1918 from 81
| 900, 600. 900 to $9,000,00 900. The
commodities represented by this enor-
! nous increase had to be carried on the rali-
! roads and then on the shins.
Five thousand additional .ocomo-
tives annually would hardly have met
the normal requirements. But during
each of the last two wears we had actually
placed upon our railroads little more than,
one-haf the required number. The rest
we sent TO France and TO Russia. Is it
any wonder that loaded cars stood on the
tracks for weeks and ever months?
From week to week the congestion
increased. Nearly one-haf Of the thou
sands of cars thus clogging the railroads
were laden with coal. This coal failed 10
reach destination and empty cars failed to
return to the mines.
"As a result of the closing order, $50
ships, carrying over 1000, 900 tons Of
food, fuel and munitions and other war
supplies, were bunkered and sent from
our ports This is the record from jan
uary II to % inclusive: Forty of those
vessels carried food, II carried coal, oil
and gasolene; 369 were laden with muni-
tions and other war supplies. Within
a week after the order of January II went
into effect all ships were bunkered. A
normal number orly remained at anchor.