South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-01-29
SAVE YOUR COAL
SAYS W. F. MILLER
Local Fuel Administrator to
Urge That People Cooper
ate With Coal Dealers.

winch tonDltlelA Covers the t'dt
situation in the city. He discusses
particularly, the matter Of refusal
10 meet the demands of Administra-
tor Garfield. and urges that people
do all possible 10 cooperate in the
present extremity. His statement
follows:
81 90 not care to be an .alarmist.
but. as the boy says, Facts il
facts Monday morning there was
practically not "A pound of soft coal
in any Of the dealers yards in this
city The town was absolutely de-
pendent upon the factories for their
su ply. The Mishawaka Wooden
Mfg. Co. 5 coal pile contains TODAY
between 1900 and 1000 tons less
coal than it did jar list, and
presume that Kamm & Schellingers
and Dodge's have been depleted in
! the same proportion. The factories
I cannot continue to supply the town
indefinitely In depicting their coal
piles. we are striking at the very
/ life of the town.
"The coal dealers are making
! every effort possible to get coal.
and Just about the time it looks
as though we were going to get a
supply another storm comes and
i ties up traffic so that all shipments
are delayed. There is coal EN- route
I both 10 the factories and the deal
] ers. but coal en- route does not help
until it arrives, and that is uncer-
tain At this time
Factory Coal Unsuitable.
II realize that the coal which is
delivered from the factories is not
/ suitab BILE for domestic use on ac-
count OF the slack il contains, but
it will heat better than nothing.
| Every day that the dealers are out
of coal and the town is dependent
upon the factories, ! am refusing
/ farmers coal although l know that
/ some of them haven't piece OF
wood on their places.
There is not a day but what
women call up claiming they have
] sick children and not a pound Of
! coal i'm the house and cannot get
the dealers TO deliver il. AS a rule
they have no orders placed for coal.
and / tell them the only thing they
/ can do is to go 10 the dealers pre-
pared TO take the coal away, and,
] if the dealer will not let them have
coal, 10 call me up and I will see
/ that they get il, and i'm most cases
| they reply that they cannot do that.
People must forget that there is
such a word as cant" We have
all been waited upon by the grocers,
butchers. in fact. all retail mer-
chants. in the way of deliveries until
we feel that it is privilege that
cannot be taken from us.
The dealers are doing everything
I they can to make deliveries They
) are not accepting orders except
what they can deliver from day to
I day. and the fact that most of them
have to haul coal from the factories
to their yards. throw it off. and then
/ load il up in small lots cut into
/ the number of deliveries they can
make from p TO 80 percent.
DIR Garfield has said that all
manufacturers not producing their
/ own fuel or running on government
( orders must shut down one day a
week-all retail and wholesale
places not supplying foods must not
heat their places of business TO over
- degrees. which is practically b
: closing order as 40 degrees is too
cold for anyone TO stay in the room.
Factories are Loyal.
"I am glad TO say that as far as
! j know the factories and retail mer-
chants are not only living up &c the
letter of that order, but are &C
/ cepting il in the spirit. AMI are clos
ing their business and doing all they
can TO conserve coal.
The public schools are smut
/ Gown for lack of fuel.
81 was surprised TO read i'm the
! paper last night that, i'm spite of all
! the above. the Evangelical church
/ are holding a series of revivals TO
last for about three weeks and are
burning coal which. fortunately.
they have in their basement.
Legally. as long as this coal is
not Communicated. there is no
question but what they have a right
&c do il. but morally. as a protec-
t;on 10 the community. they have
no right. II conditions continue as
they are. there will be a time COM
ing when that coal if turned over
10 the dealers would serve human
( ity better than il viii by conducting
a revival al this time The revival
they can control. but the weather
+ they cannot
or Garfield has said 10 the ma
jority Of the people You must con-
serve and. as 7 said before, they
are following il in spirit. and I be-
lieve that a church which stands for
the best in the community should
say We will
February Coolest Month.
February has been for many
years our coolest month. With the
factory piles diminishing and. the
dealers not able to accumulate. 4
is a question as 20 what will happea
during that month il we have the
usual February weather. So far We
have been fortunate but we NAV
reach the place as they have in
other cities where the whole COM
manity will have 20 take their bas-
kets and sacks and go to the coal
yards and have the coal dealt out
10 them In small lots each day.
Il know that many people in the
city have reduced their consump-
ton Of coal and are living in two