Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-10
SOME CURTA|LMENT
OF LIGHTING HERE
No Official Orders Received by
Representatives of Fuel Ad-
ministration Here.

Wilmington has felt very little effect,
sol far. of the drastic orders respecting street
lighting etc, issued Yesterday bv the
Fuel Administration The Traction Com
pany has begun curtailing street and or
namental lighting and it was noticeable
last night
The Traction Company gets its coal
supply over the Pennsylvania railroad,
and has, like other coal consumers, to
make application in the regular way
through the freight agent of the road,
stating the quantity Il has on hand and
other information These applications,
and all others for coal, 20 to the regional
committee at Philadelphia, which passes
on the recommendations of the local Office
as to the application. 1t is considered,
therefore, that any instructions TO the
Traction Company IN regard to the cur
tailmcnt Of current for lighting streets
and buildings would have to come from the
Philadelphia office The local represen-
tatives of the Fuel Administration here
have nothing to do with the enforcement
of the order issued IN Washington yester
dav
There has been no little confusion in the
public mind as to the operation OF the
Fuel Administration When the coal
SHIfkt CAtiAt 1E diI W 1SHIEZtAA SAN ttldA
the country was up against #. Fuel
Administrator Garfield was called in To
take charge. His organization had been
dishanded. and IN order to handle matters
quickly the Railroad Administration was
lntrasted with the matter Of seeing that
regulations were obcycd
In this way the local freight agents of
railroads became the representatives OF the
Fuel Administration here Is they did IN
other cities. III Wilmington they are IL. 4.
Casperson. freight agent Of the Pennsyl-
wanna, and l. i. Rittenhouse. freight
agent Of the Baltimore 4 Ohio and the
Philadelphia q observation-disclosures.
Since the Fuel Administration became
active again 10 meet the emergency, all
coal coming into Wilmington over either
Of the railroads Is held up, no matter To
whom consigned Tins was due to insure
an equitable distribution Of the supply
and to see that no industry suffered for
fuel if it were possible to prevent 1t.
All users of soft coal have To make APP
plicatlon to the freight agent Of the rail-
road over which their coal comes in, and
these Applications are passed on, the local
agents satisfying themselves that the ap-
pllcantS are IN need Of the coal asked for,
recommendations are made accordingly
and the applications referred to the re-
gional committee at the Broad Street
station in Philadelphia. That committee
passes on the applications, and If they are
approved, the applicant will get the amount
OF coal asked for.
There has been an erroneous unpreS-
sion that Mr. Casperson had entire charge
Of the fuel situation here. Tins has led to
confusion. as many OF the applications
Il 10 HIM I..l - Nf
Rittenhouse of the Is. 4 O. and p 4 r.
These freight agents have no power in
the matter Of distribution Of coal except
to hold up all coal coming in, and
to receive applications Of consumers
and forward them to the regional com
mlttee at Philadelphia
1t IS stated that the large indus trial
plants are fairly well supplied with fuel,
and that there Is no immediate danger of
their having to ciOse The Harlan plant,
it WAS said, has enough TO operate about
two months, and 1t was reported IT was
endeavoring 10 get 200 tons Of anthracite
to mix with the soft coal
1t was reported that the Pusey & J0Ees
Company has sufficient coal to operate
several months. The Joseph Bancroft
d Sons Co, IS also we'll supplied The
Bmmenthal Company IS reported to have
a good supply Some of the morocco
plants are not So we'll fixed
The developments Of yesterday and to-
day in the coal strike situation, indicating
that there would he resumption Of work
by the miners pending Il settlement of
differences through the agency Of the gov
eminent, has tended to relieve the tension.
1t is believed that the worst phase of the
strike trouble has passed. Some of the
men have returned to work, and it is
believed that the next few days will Wit
ness normal conditions ut the mines