The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1918-01-03
NEED OF FUEL IS URGENT
By R. S. Maddox, Forester Of the
State GeOl0qical Survey

State Geological Survey
There has been and is yet a great
scarcity of coal With the cry OF
shortage from all sections of the
country and the actual inconvenience
suffered in securing an adequate sup
! ply, there is no room left to doubt
the real situation. The coal supply
is short, whether it be from lack of
labor, cars for transportation or any
| other cause, and there is an urgent
need for relief. There have been in
stances in which people could not get
coal. In such cases wood would have
been welcome even at a much higher
! price. The chances are that such viii
be the case again, even before this
winter is gone. Tennessee has great
| quantities of wood that could be used
to help supply fuel The land owners
have wagons, teams and trees. They
could supply big quantities to towns
and cities to the mutual help of both
the buyer and seller. Furthermore,
it is a patriotic duty Of citizens not
only to use wood in such a fuel cri-
sis, but for men who own the wood to
put it on the market. Such a use of
wood would relieve quantities of coal,
| The United States forest service has
estimated that a cord Of wood varies
in fuel value from twO-thirds to the
equal of a ton of coal. The federal
government has estimated the short
age of coal at so million tons. This
means there is a place and need
for about rs million cords of wood,
which must be supplied, or else a
suffering must result in proportion to
the failure.
Our factories, munition plants and
sea-going vessels are great consumers
of coal and they must continue to
operate unhandicapped From the
shortage of coal it is reasonable to
believe that they have felt the PINCH
Many people in cities, towns and coun-
try homes could, under the present
stress, use at least some wood, even
though they might manage to get
the coal The coal should 90 where
it does the greatest good, and if it
can be released by the use of wood.
then those so using the wood are
doing a patriotic act, just as the
crop producers did in increasing the
output of food stuffs. The price per
cord may make the fuel more expen-
sive than the coal, but even so. the
multitudes of people are subscribing
literally to the Red Cross Fund the
Belgian Relief, the Y. M. c. A., etc,
to aid in the world struggle, and from
which aid they do not expect mon
ey return. Then is it not equally good
to spend in the same spirit little
more, if necessary, for wood, and thus
turn coal loose into channels through
which it may reach factories, NUM-
ton plants and ocean-going vessels
upon which our country so much de-
ponds? The conversation which Gen.
Petain had with Representative Nc
Cormick when on the Western front
last fall, expressed the urgent need
that the United States send to the
Western front the finished product
rather than just the raw material to
be manufactured in France. If the
people use coal to the detriment Of
factories and ships they are not only
Gripping this country, but aiding the
enemy.
just. as in 1914 when the cotton
market was on bad footing, the
slogan, "Buy a Bale" was adopted
and people bought, just so now, why
not make the slogan "Buy Cord OF
Wood. and urge that trucks and
wagons be used in its delivery.