The Red Cloud chief., 1920-01-22
BY BRUCE cLAGETT,
Assistant to Director General OF Rail-
roads.

I have the thought that the people
Of the United States would axe to
know how their coal supply was ham
died during the six weeks strike of bi.
luminous coal miners, which has lust
come 20 an end. This was the nrst ma
tion-wide coal strike the country ever
experienced, and therefore the prob.
lens arising were novel. Necessarily,
during the continuance of the strike,
the exact stacks on hand could not be
made public at all times, although as
TO all vital facts, tie public seems to
have been kept fully Informed day by
day. Uncle SaT set up his W coal
kept replenlshing II from the mines
which continued to work, but mean
while the pile was being diminished
more rapidly than new supplies were
coming In, and before long II became
"A 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 II of work. but on the re-
stricted basis To which the country
finally came and with the part.time
nation could have carried on" for
weeks longer. If not months.
Strike Anticipated.
Several weeks before the coal strike
harpn nm N.Nnn,hpr I its nnp,inn y,og
plainly apparent, and therefore the
director general of railroads. Walker
u. Hines. consulted with all the re-
gional directors of railroads and the
principal members of his staff, and
decided that II the strike came 1t would
be the job of the railroad administra-
tiOn to make the coal produced go as
far as possible. After thorough dis
russion the plan was adopted of allow
ing nll coal mined up to the time Of the
strike proceed as billed to consignees
on the idea that once the strike actu-
ally began the railroads could look
after their W and the emergency
needs of the country by taking over
cOal actually on the rails at that time.
Through this method foresighted con
sumers were placed in n position 10
store up. The alternative method
would have been for the railroads tc
have begun to buy coal early in prepa'
ration for the strike, thus keeping 1ucf
coal out of normal channels.
Prior TO the strike n very careful
survey Of stocks on hand, both of rail
roads, industries and individuals (ns
far rs possible) was conducted so tina,
the railroad administration went into
the strike with us accurate knowledge
OF the coal situation throughout til,
country as was Obtainable. The adj
ministration's original survey on No
vember l showed 22,000,OOO cons Of bl
luminous coal on wheels and In rail
road storage subject to distribution
under the administrations supervision
To this was added the daily produc
tion which tOtaled 1S,S00,OOO tons IN
November. and OF the aggregate tn,
stocks still available for the .ountry'i
protection on December /. 12,30O,OG,
tons and on December s, 11,475,0O,
tons.
Prior 10 the strike orders we're Is
sued by the railroad administration
TO give preference to coal loading. an,
this naturally resulted In hardship on
some industries. The result was how
ever, that in the week ended Octobe
% u total OF 100000 tons of Goa
was produced and moved In the Unite,
States, this constituting a record fo
the country. II took hard work b,
everyone concerned To distribute thl
enormous amount Of coal. once tn
STRIKE was on, the production neve
rcdVSed 20 per cent Of normal, witt
the result shown above. viz. that II
addition 10 using the production ever
day, the stored coal In possession O
the railroads was depleted in the ST