The Red Cloud chief., 1920-01-22
HOW COAL SUPPLY WAS CARED
FOR DURING STRIKE OF MINERS

road administration at Washington,
which throughout the strike had rom.
plete control over the distribution of
coal mined and owe supplies of coal
in storage and on wheels on the rail-
roads when the miners stopped work.
The committee had back Of II all the
power of the fuel administration I'M
der the Lever act. There was no prece.
dent TO 90 by. Being bound by no
precedents. ii could go ahead In n
c~ommon-sense way and that Is exactly
what II did.
Harry Il. Spencer. director of divi.
sion of purchases Of the railroad ad.
minlstration. formerly vice president
of the Southern railroad. and n man
Of long experience in dealing with coal
questions, was given the unenviable
job of handling the situation as chair.
man of the central coal committee. BE.
fore the strike actually began, he had
his assistants all picked, his plans all
made, his orders written and every.
thing prepared to take charge. There
fore. the evening of October 81 DR..
Harry A. Garfield. the fuel administra.
tor, who had rendered his resignation
months before, but whose resignation
had not been accepted and whose pow.
ers had only been suspended. not an.
nullcd, vas called back into service
ana issued an order re-establishing
control owe the distribution OF coal,
making The director general of rail.
roads his agent. and re-establishing
the priority orders in effect during the
war. At the same time, and to pre-.
vent profiteering. the fuel administra.
tor issued orders re-establishing the
government maximum prices on btu.
minous coal. The day the strike began
Mr.. Spencer put his organization into
effect throughout the country, and
from then on the problem was one
of distributing coal and looking after
the constantly decreasing stock of the
country.
On the Job Every Day.
The committee remained I'm practi.
cally continuous session every day of
the strike. including Sundays, and as
rapidly as kilograms and letters came
In, took immediate action.
Back Of this committee and cooper
ating closely with 1t have been re-
glonal and district local coal com.
mittees. picked I'm advance of the
strike and established Immediately
after the strike began. On these re-
gional and local coal committees has
fallen a very large share Of the bur.
den Of handling the coal distribution
problems from day to day. and 1t is to
the credit of these committees that
they have had a minimum of clashes
with state or local authorities when
1t is appreciated that on these com
mlttees fell many of the duties exer-
cised by the fuel administration
through the war and when 1t is appre-
ciated that these committees always
were limited In what they could do
by the stocks Of coal on hand. 1t will
he realized that their work was Of
the most difficult character.
One Of the chief difficulties In the
situation was the fact that conditions
throughout the United States were so
widely different that it was apparent
that 1t would be impossible to deal
with all sections Of the country alike.
Therefore a great deal of responsible
ity IA left with the regional directors
Of railroads and with the regional and
local coal COMMITTEES. However, some
general principles were laid down i'm.
mediately which were followed In a
general way throughout the coal strike.
The preliminary rule was laid down
that no coal should be given to any
consumer who had a reserve supply,
and that coal should only be given to
meet emergency needs.
Get Reports Daily.
In order to avoid long distance com
m%unicatlOn, the rule was set up that
persons desiring coal should make ap-
plication on the road ordinarily sup
plying them with coal and I'm order
that the central coal committee should
be kept constantly supplied with in
formation machinery was set up under
which each railroad should promptly
report TO the central coal committee
and to the regional coal committee the
name, title, location and telephone al.
dress Of the representative of that rail.
road In whom the whole coal question
would be conferred for that railroad
Summed up, the result OF the
handling of the coal supply Of the ma
ton by the government has been thai
with o mobile supply ut the beginning
OF the strike Of 22,00O,00O tons of Goa
at the disposal of the entire country
and n production which never reached
30 per cen of normal, with cold wealth
or existing in most parts of the coun
try during part of the strike. ant
billiards. In some parts of the cOun
try throughout most of the strike, tho
nation was able TO last out six weeks
with very little actual lack of coal b,
househOlders, with practically all pub
lie utilities supplied with sutlicien