New Mexico state record., 1920-01-09
BY BRUCE cLAoETT.
Assistant to Director General of Rail-
roads

I have the thought that the people
of the United States would ..He q
know how their coal supply was han
died during the six weeks strike of hi
luminous coal miners, which has lust
come to an end. This was the nrSt ma
Iion-widc coal ftrike the country cy-
experienced, and therefore the p"oh-
lens arising were novel. Ncccs'' rly,
during the cOntinuanc" of the strike,
the exact stacks on hand could not be
made public at all times. although rs
10 all vital factS, the public seems 10
have been kept fully informed day by
day. l'ncle San set up his own coal
pile IT, soon as the strike began ?nd
kept replenishing it from the mi cS
which continued TO work. hut mean
while the pile was being diminished
more rapidly than new supplies were
coming in, and before long it became
Il question Of keeping people warm
rather than what industries should be
continued Had the strike continued
much longer many industries would
have had to shut down and people
thrown ont of work, but on the re-
Strlcted basis to which the country
finally came and with the part-time
production obtained undoubtedly the
nation could have carried ON" for
weeks longer, if not months.
Strike Anticipated.
Several weeks before the coal strike
hcgan on November | its coming was
plainly apparent, and therefore the
director general of railroads, Walker
y. Hines. consulted with all the re-
gional directors of railroads and the
principal membcrs of his statr. and
decided that il the strike came il would
he the job f the railroad admiustra-
tiOn Ia make the coal produced 20 ms
far as possible After thorough dis
cuSsion the plan was adopted Of allow
ing all coal mined up to the time of the
strike proceed as billed to consgnees
on the idea that once the strike actu-
ally began the railroads could look
after their own and the emergency
needs of the country 10y taking ever
coal actually'on the rails at that time.
Through this method foresighted con
sumcrs were placed in n position to
store mp. The alternative method
would have been for the railroads To
have begun to buy coal early in prepa-
ration for the strike. thus keeping -uch
coal out of normal channels.
Prior 10 the strike very careful
survey of stocks on hand. both of rail !
roads, industries and individuals ,as
far aS poSSible) was conducted 50 that
the railroad administration went into
the strike with ms accurate knowledge
of the coal situation throughout the
country as was ohtainnbe The adj
miuistration's original survey on No
vemher | showed 22,OOO,OO0 tons of bi- .
luminous coal on wheels and In rail .
road storage subject 10 distribution .
under the administrations supervision.
To this was added the daily produc. /
tlon which totaled lS,SO0.OO0 tons In .
November. and of the aggregate the
stocks still available for the ountry's
protection on December |. 12,3OO,O00 /
tons and on December s. II l415,0O0 .
tons.
Prior 10 the strike orders Ncrc Is
sued by the railroad administration
10 give preference to coal loading. and
this naturally resulted in hardship on
some Industries. The result vas how
ever. that in the week ended October
- u total Of 13.2OO,o0O tons of coal
was produced and moved In the United
States. this constituting a record for
the country. II took hard work by
everyone concerned to distribute this
enormous amount of coal. Once the
strike was on. the production never
reached 30 per cent of normal. with
the result shown above. viz. that in
addition TO using the production every
day. the stored coal in possession Of
the railroads was depleted IN the six