New Britain herald., 1920-02-10
SHORTAGE OF COAL MAY AFFECT SHOPS Electrical Service May Be Dis
 continued Shortly
 WARNING ISSUED TODAY
Coal Strikes and Storms Beginning to Have Effect lon Connecticut Light and Power Company's Product Factories Threatened.

EdStOrlcS threatened.
 Due to difficulties in securing ade- quate shipments of coal, the Connec- tlcut Light and Power company may be forced within a, few days to cut down or even discontinue altogether the supply of power for industrial purposes The results of, this move will undoubtedly be seen in the clos ing of>whole departments in practical ly every Elocal factory concerned. It is the intention of the company to keep up an interrupted service for the public as far as possible.
 Inquiry at the office of the company this afternoon brought forth the fol- lowing statement:
 Up to within the last day or so the company believed that a sufficient supply of coal would be received to keep the plants running but the out look overnight has taken such a discouraging turn and the difficulties of transportation have been made so much worse by the storm of today that the company fears the supply of power for industrial purposes may have to be reduced or even discon tinued altogether until relief can be obtained.
 There have been a number of causes which have contributed to bring about the present situation. The coal strike of last November caused a cessation in the shipment of coal from the mines everyone knows and made it necessary to draw heavily upon reserve stock. Just the con- ditions were beginning to become ,f,,. was settled and in addition the com pany's new water power plant at Stevenson was put into preliminary operation. As there was an abund- ance of water in the Housatonic river during December the company felt that the situation had been entirely relieved, and there should be no cause for worry for the want of water. 1 The extremely cold weather, how tver, resulted in the freezing dp of all streams and caused an abnormaily low flow of water in the HouSatonic river during the month of January and continuing up to the present time. with the result that the com pany has not secured from tS water power plants the amount of power which it would otherwise have normally ob- tained. The severe weather conditions have also congeSted the freight yards which are the gateways into New England and especially the big yards at Maybrook so that the railroads have for some time been compelled to refuse to accept cars from the miness destined for New England with the result that no coal has been forward ed to us from the mines since Janu- ary 19.
 Matters Made Worse.
 '@The sIeet storm of February 5th made matters worse in the freight yard and practically stopped all movement of coal for several days. The company had on rails, however, a number of cars of coal, sufficient it was believed, to tide over the situation until the weather moderated and the changing conditions became normal.
 Owing to the fact that the rail- roads themselves were running short of coal as we'll as industries in other cities the railroad administration has been forced to resort to the confisca- ton of coal on the rails. A large number of cars consigned to us were thus cOnfiScated. The company's re- serve stock has therefore been grad ually reduced until at the present time there is only about one weeks supply on hand.
 For the various reasons stated above it is possible that the com pany may find it necessary to either cut down or even discontinue alto gether the supply of electric power for industrial purposes. unless either g. thaW sets in sufficient to start the water flowing in greater quantity in the HOUsatonic river or until some means can be found to get coal from the mines through the snow and ice bound freight yards"