Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1918-01-24
GARFIELD GIVES HIS
REASON FOR ACTION
AND SUPPLIES ACROSS
SEAS, HE SAYS.
The Coal Needed to Send Them Away
is Waiting Behind the Congested
Freight That Has damned
All Terminals.

w dSlllDSlOI. l. uel AulHlnlSlIdlDT
Garfield's statement, in explanation of
his order closing down the industries
east of the Mississippi river on Janu-.
airy IS to %, inclusive, and also on
each Monday beginning January IS
and continuing up to and including
March %, follows:
1.-The most urgent thing to be done
is to send to the American forces
abroad and to the allies the food and
war supplies which they vitality need
War munitions, food, manufactured
articles of every description, lying in
Atlantic ports in tens of thousands of
tons, where literally hundreds of ships
loaded with war goods for our men
and the allies, cannot take the seas
because their bunkers are empty of
,oal. The coal to send them on their
way is waiting behind the. congested
| freight that has jammed all terminals.
Ships Need Fuel.
1T is worse than useless to bend
our energies to more manufacturing
when what we have already manufac-
| tured lies at tidewater congesting ter
minal facilities, jamming the railroad
yards and side tracks for long dis
tances back into the country. No pow
er on earth can move this freight into
the war zone where it is needed until
we supply the ships with fuel.
"Once the docks are cleared of the
valuable freight for which our men
and associates in the war now want in
vain, then again our energies and
power may be turned to manufacture
ing, more efficient than ever, SO that
a steady and uninterrupted stream of
vital supplies may be this nations an
swer to the allies cry for help.
Excess Production Blamed.
1T has been excess of production.
in our wartime speeding up, that has
done so much 10 cause congestion on
our railroads; that has filled the
freight yards to overlooking that has
cluttered the docks of our Atlantic
ports with goods waiting to go abroad.
AT tidewater the food of freight has
stopped. The ships were unable TO
complete the journey from our fac
tories to the war depots behind the
ring line.
added 20 this has been the diff
fully of transporting coal for our own
domestic needs. On top of these diff
culties has come one of the most ter
ribly severe winters we have known in
years.
Weather Works Havoc.
1.-THE wheels were choked and
, stopped zero weather and snowbound
trains: terminals congested; harbors
with shipping frozen in; rivers and
canals unpassable-it was useless t,
continue manufacture and pile con
fusion on top of confusion.
"A clear line from the manufactur
ing establishments to the seaboard ant
beyond: that was the imperative need
1t was like soldiers marching to til,
front. The men in the foremost rank:
must have room to move.
: More than Il shock was needed I,
, make a way through that congestion
at the terminals and on the docks $,
, that the aid so vitality needed by thu
lilies could get through.
Mines Lie Idle.
1.-The incidental effect of this trans
portation situation on coal production
has been disastrous. There is and al
|
can not be moved to those place
, where it is so badly needed while rail
road lines and terminals are choked
Throughout the coal fields, scores
even hundreds of mines are lying idl
because of railroad inability to suppl
the cars to carry away their product
Coal mines cannot operate withou
: cars. Cars cannot be supplied Will
the railroads are crippled by the pres
ent freight congestion, which keep
idle cars lying useless in the fregh
. yards.
/ I'm the past week the production q
coal has been disastrously reduced
Reports in some cases have shown q
per cent of the mines In certain field
u closed completely for lack of cars.
a This is war! Whatever the cos
!, we must pay SO that in the face of tn
= enemy there can never be the reproac
" that we held back from doing our flu
share. Those ships laden with our SUI
plies of food for men and food fO
u guns must have coal and put to sea.