The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-09-15
MORROW SHOWS.
zlEL CRISIS
lI WIPED OUT
Plaris 81 Operators and
abroad Executives
$50 ~
Worked Well

FI6w the soft coal shortage emer-
Andy. which until recently SO
Feiy menaced the winters fuel
iiobly has been handled by the
operators, working in cooper
fi6n With the railroad executives
ho8e systems run to the bitumi-
iod6 mines, was revealed by j. D.
8orroW, vice president OF the
3afi oda1 Coal Association, In an
idf 80 last week before the year1y
o0nysnfton of the Pennsylvania
10 Association at Bedford
spihgB, Pa. In his talk Mr.. Nor
row emphasized the necessity for
6nbumers, great and small, TO see
q future that they arrange well IN
aYadCs for stocks Of winter coal
the off-season, when there
e not such a great pressure upon
the railroads.
Morrow strongly discredited
ka1s heard early IN the summer
abbut the urgency for Fuel ad-
niiiiistrat6r to handle the coal Situ.
atom SAYING that the operators,
the railroad executives, and others
WHO had worked out the program
Cor meeting the emergency had
clearly shown that Fuel admins
ttftor was not In any sense need
He emphasized the point that
tkt6 whole problem had been one
OF better distribution Of cars ana
6oaf and that this did not call fer
the intervention of government
Administrator.
M. Morrow said in part:
The Nation Is emerging from a
crisis IN its soft coal supply which,
5lsSSt I'd tho last fnTy wRnRg t6Tan +
ened its whole economic life. Only
~ bringing into play stupendous
aiforts on the part OF the bltuminous
coal operators and the railroad eN.
6cntiYeS, backed by the Interstate
Commerce commission, has a dire
emergency been met, and an indus.
triad calamity avoided.
Is an outcome Of these cooper.
alive efforts between the operators
and the sratlroads, coal Is now NOV
ing to the Northwest and to New
ENGLAND so as to meet an acute
shortage which, early In the sum
nier, nenncad many public utilities
and Ili9ustIfnl plants in those terri
torIe while also threatening j
part shutdown Of industries gem
eraik throughout the country.
This diftlcult undertaking, which
called tor an Immediately augment
ed dow of cars to the mines, as
well as co-ordinated effort by the
Operators to tsee that cars at their
nlBposaI were cautiously loaded
ana put under way to relieve the
existing shortages, Is achieving its
object. The acute shortages at
points served through the Great
Lakes and New England, as well as
the rest OF the country, are rapidly
hetng made Llp.
.iIn the midst OF the cry that ran
throughout the country for more
coal early In the summer there
doomed up the possibility Of the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of fuel admin
tatratton to handle the coal prob
lem. The operators assured the
that the emergency would be met,
ia conjunction with the railroads.
Justification for this attitude BY
the operators is found in the effec.
tive working out Of the program as
evolved between them, the rail
roads and the Interstate Commerce
commission.
The plain fact Is that a fuel ad-
mintstration could have accomplish.
Sd nothing In the existing emer.
gency that the operators and rail-
roads could not do themselves. Be-
ing entirely matter of more cars
NJ the mines and priority ship
nients to territories in most need
% coal; 1t essentially was a thing
for the operators and the railroads
TO handle. 1t did not take them
long to find way, and this done
II was only a matter of putting the
chene into practical operation"
Mr.! Morrow explained the Great
Lakes and New England priority
orders of the Interstate Commerce
cornntssion, to stimulate the flow
pf coal to those territories and the
preEfoua service orders by which
open top coal cars that had been
1Red for hauling other commodities
than coal had been ordered placed
at the disposal OF the mines ana
vent on:
The Immediate effect OF the two