The Washington herald., 1918-01-13
Passenger Travel on All
Lines Curtaled to
Move Freight.
TEMPERATURE DROPS
In WEST AND SOUTH
Mark Of q Degrees Below
Zero Is Reported IN
Pequa, Ohio. 81

Almost complete paralysis OF IaIls
road traffic. due to the storm. was
reported to Director General Nc
Adoo yesterday afternoon. Orders
will probably be sent out today s6s-
pending all passenger trains wess e
Chicago until freight traffic esa g
moved.
Drastic authority has been gIvca
to A. H. Smith. director of aaas-
portahon. to meet the situation.
Passenger traffic east of Chicago
will be curtailed to a minimum.
Reports from many quarters.
reaching the office Of the Director
General late yesterday. told of
havoc wrought by the blizzard and
wind storms.
Bridges and tresLes have been
torn down, and in many places
heisht cars have been blown from
the rails.
/ snow HATS TrnfHc
I Nj. Smith called up Director Gen.
eraI McAdoo late yesterday after
noon on the long distance telephone
: and reported that conditions are
very bad in many sections. There
has been a great deal OF snow around
Chicago and 10 the west and south.
Cars. coal and passenger. are blocked
up. and in some cases Il will take
several days 10 break out the freight
trains.
The temperature throughout the
Middle West has taken a heavy drop
and snow is forming drifts all along
the lines. leading into the Chicago
functions. In Piqua, Ohio. the as
sistant to the director general rel
ported that the temperature had,
fallen TO % degrees below zero and
i that the condition was pretty gen-.
| eral throughout the territory. As -
result. the coal cars are freezing up,i
| and the only relief that can possibly
be brought at once, will. in all likeE-,
hood. be sbolishing the passenger
traffic west OF Chicago. In the roads
coming to the East there will be =
! curtailment but the director gener-i
al believes that few days Of any
thing like fair weather will enable
them 70 have the freight out OF the,
way so that the passenger schedulesi
may be maintained as near normal as!
the present emergency OF war trans-l
portation will Permit.
West and south suffer.
Through the Central West and South
the conditions are very bad, great;
sections of bridges being tern out andi
traffic on some roads temporarily
! paralyzed, according to reports re-
ceived b. the director general late
| yesterday afternoon.
"A message from J. II. Young. agent
| at Norfolk said:
High south winds have piled up
the ice against the Norfolk Southern
\ Bridge over the AIbemaTle Sound. ap-l
proximately six miles. eating out al
large section Of the bridge. probably
loo feet long. Traffic probably can
be resumed in ten days. The ice cut
/ of is piles from sixty-hve to eighty
/ feet long"
This abnormal condition will make
! a delay in the movement Of coal ana
passengers by this route which may
be relieved by a movement over other
lines.
| Commissioner Mcchord. Of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission. reported
that the cold weather is k3nRering the
l freight situation and he says the cola
wave will make conditions even worse.
I Reports from all Eastern terminals
show engines are being frozen uP. cosI
| frozen in cars and lighteTage held IN
4 because Of severe conditions. The COM
| missioner's report up TO January Z.
| three days before the latest cold snap
hit the country. showed increased con-
gestion at many OF the pam points,
The director general reported that
| the West Virginia situation WAS about
/ - per cent normal and that cars and
engines would be sent 10 them in re-
| sponse TO an urgent call.
PriOritIes Refused.
| Representatives Of the Bethlehem
and Carnegie steel Companies and toe
Standard and Texas Oil Companies
| yesterday sought priorit.es, b1t they
We're told that no help could be given
J them until the present congestion Of
the coal problem had been cleared.
| Severe weather conditions, making
the situation worse. were given by
the Weather Bureau last night as
| follows
Below-zero temperature in the North
and Middle Atlantic States; snow IN
northern. New England: severe cold
| wave in South Atlantic and East
Gulf States; snow and continued cold
weather in the region OF the Great
\ Lakes; slowly rising Temperatures
from extreme cold in Ohio Valley and
Tennessee, and in the upper Missis-
sippi and lower Missouri valleys;
CONTINUED on PAGE FOUR