The Washington herald., 1919-12-09

extra supply, the most Chicago may
expect. VIII be about 800 cars day
from an sources and the chances are
that II win be less. This Will necessi-
tate the closing down OF q number
Of industries. TIE state Utilities Com
mission ordered this done last Thurs
day, but the wires seem to have been
crossed and no real efforts were made
b. owners of office buildings, non
essential industries. department
stores and kindred business to OBJ
serve the order until today. Then. In
many instances. It was a case OF ne
cessity as there was nothing to toss
into the IRE boxes. Z
The electric light and gas compa-
nies have been ordeyd to shut on
current and stop they fiow Of gas
wherever possible. Consequently
there is not an Illuminated sign in
Chicago today nor Is single show
window lighted up. Householders, are
urged to save every light possible and
the more conscientious citizens have
returned to candles for illumination.
stores Open at 1Iiso.
The restrictions on stores and ONCE
buildings went into effect generally
today, resulting In a slx-hour day.
II to 11.30 in the forenoon to $50 In
tho evening, except Saturday nights.
when many stores will remain open
until 8 to accommodate Christmas
shoppers Once buildings will OBJ
serve the hours from in the morning
to $50 IN the afternoon. Outlying
stores are given a slight leeway and
certain places OF business, such as
| drug stores and butcher shops. arc
| only slightly restricted In lighting
even though they may be in heat.
Should the coal shortage last,
many Of the schools, especially ele-
mentary, will depend on fuel bill for
heating. An oil company made the
/, offer last Saturday to supply such
fuel and arrangements were made
to substitute oil for coal at eight
schools.
Thousands of Lights Out.
The public utilities have already
been affected. The sanitary dis
trict. which. furnishes light to GER
tain sections of the city, has cut OF
thousands OF lights. The Common
wealth Edison Electric Company
has enough coal to.-last this month
and. so. has the gas company, pro-
vided economy Is practiced and
! they are permitted to keep the coal
on hand. but this is not b certainty
as the Fuel Administration has con-
fiscated every ton of coal in every
yard in Chicago. The commission
has announced that householders
will be the last to suffer although
| it may be necessary to dig into pri-
vate supplies in order to afford an
equitable distribution. There Is al
ready talk of taking a census Of
every coal bin in the city.
Much dissatisfaction has been ex-
pressed over the conflicting state
ments made by those in authority.
Early last week the Railroad Admin
istration asserted. through its West
ern spokesmen. that there was no
immediate alarm.
To allay the panic which threatened.
a curtailment of train service West.
Southwest and Northwest. was an
nounced. About one-third of the
trains were taken of, effecting q saw
ing Of about 11.0oo tons Of coal q day
throughout the midwest district. De-
spite Inconvenience this move was
supported by the public, but II was
soon discoYered that necessity die
tated the ruling. as shortly after the
order was announced the local COM
mittee OF five issued a statement in
which they intlmated that the sftua-
ton was desperate. Then came the
hurried trip OF Lieut.. Gov. Oglesby
to Washington and the promise of
500 carloads of coal a day. The dis
tribution of this would, however. in
volve another serious problem. as
the West has suffered from snow and
! blizzards and delays will be in
evitable.