Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-28

ments, pleasure automobiles, shot-
guns, golf balls, jewelry and so on are
easily disposed Of. but judgments ION.
fict over scores of other articles
classified as non-essential.
"Out of the confusion and the pres
sure of those interested in the produc-
tion of unnecessary products came the
thought that we had been toiling over
the wrong list. What was needed was
a list of essentials. And even on
ground apparently SO safe there were
perplexities from day to day. re-
member discussion as to which es-
tablishment, the du Pont powder
works or the Bethlehem steel mills.
should on a certain occasion first re-
ceive supplies of raw material.
1--WE debated. in this superwar
board, as it has been named, the one
great problem of the hour-namely,t the
getting of coal and war material to
the seaboard and into ships and the
ending of the. freight blockade on the
railroads l had talked about the mat
ter as much as anybody and had
thought about it in bed at night
II didn't see then, strange as 1T may
seem, that the congestion on the rail-
roads was increasing and would con-
tinue to increase hour by hour SO long
as new products were loaded into cars
and supposedly started for their desti-
nation. All of the members of the
board felt, 1 am sure. that nothing
should be done that would slow down
the manufacture of war supplies.
1.-The railroads. we hoped, would
catch up or at least get hole through
the blockade. and that the weather
would moderate. Indeed. believed.
from the feel of the air. that we should
have a thaw in January. The thaw
did not occur and l have ceased 10
think that i am weather prophet
NJ ma
which to get up steam, were laden and
idle in our ports. l caused list OF them
to be made. Careful and accurate men
were assigned to the task. The hgures
were then checked by the shipping
board 1t was learned that 4SO ships
with cargoeS aboard were without coal.
They contained great quantities OF war
material which the armies or France
and Great Britain wanted for the Prus-
sian dri.e on the western front that was
certain to begin early in the spring. the
list, of ships not only contained the
number that was being held, but also
their names. AS a matter OF fact, the
number was considerably larger than
48O, but we did not find all of the ships
at the time, and so they could not be
included in our report
"Ofiicers from the French embassy in
formed me that twenty-five vessels IN
der their flag were unable to leave
American ports because their bunkers
were empty. The cargoes consisted OF
food and munitions.
There was plenty of coal. you under
stand. but it was locked behind thou
sands of cars laden with other war
freight and could not reach the waiting
ships. And all the time we were dis
cussing non-essentialS and hoping that
the railroads would break the jam.
Then. all at once. the means of re-
lief became clear. II production could
be stopped temporarily and the flood Of
products hourly pouring out upon the
tracks held back the railroads could
clear their lines and coal could reach
the seaboard.
Wy first thought was to stop produce
ton during two blocks of three days
each-six days in a!l-and during Mon
days through a certain period. January
had come, the thaw had rot appeared
and the east and middle west were
frozen hard and fast
Word reached me then that six ships.
laden to the gunwales with explosives.
were anchored in the harbor of New
York. Winds were blowing and ice was
moving. II one Of those ships had gone
up all would have gone up, and Brook
lyn would have been blown off of Long
Island. l did not wait to verify this
report. I had reason to believe that 1t
was true.
IAN investigation would have wasted
several days. Furthermore, il might
not have been conclusive. The con-
fusion was SO great that harbor rules
were not always strictly enforced
Clearance papers were, often made out
to cover merchandise and no one could
tell whether the merchandise consisted
of apples, typewriters or dynamite.
ION January II, which was Saturday
one OF my volunteer associates, =. Il.
Noyes. president of a large manufac-
turing establishment at Oneida. where
$500 men are employed, started for New
York and Boston for the purpose OF