The Washington herald., 1920-04-12
WEEKS SURPLUS
OF FOOD IN CITY
AS TErUP COMES

OF FOOD IN CITY
AS TIEUP COMES
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
The striking switchmen. succeed
ed in so tieing up the service to
the North and South that the Penn
sylvania Road announced that
sleeping car and Pullman service
was practically suspended. Pas
sengers holding reservations of
tickets were not guaranteed service
and told that future accommoda-
tions would depend on results of
the strike.
Passenger trains from New York
came In last night at reduced speed
and in some instances hours late.
Wholesale curtailment of trains
from the Pennsylvania station in
New York Included the Congress
sional Limited.
Forced To Use Day Coaches.
With the curtailment of the sleep
Ing car service both here and in
New York passengers for the South
were forced to use day coaches or
Big cuts were made in the train
service between here and New
York. Shedules from the South in
to Washington were working fair
ly well, but the trains were forced
to stand on the tracks in the sta
ton after reaching here as the
crews refused to handle them any
further.
The levy of an embargo by local
freight offices on all shipments to
New York and points north caused
piling-up of freight and live stock
in all yards.
walked Out without Notice. 90
No notice of the intended walk
out was given the Terminal Com
pany. Superintendent Tonge stated.
| He said there are about 125
Iswitchmen employed at the local
yards. and while 100 of them went
out. it was stated that their loss
would seriously hamper operations
of trains here.
The belief that the -walk-ou was
spontaneous was evidenced by the
fact that most of the men who left
the yard had with them their lunch
boxes AS fast as incoming trains
were turned over by their crews to
the yardmen here they were run
onto sidings and fires banked, until
most of the tracks at the terminal
became badly congested.
! Food Famine Not Looked For.
With but one weeks supply of
meat on hand and three weeks SUD-
! ply OF vegetables and fruits, pre-
supposing that there will be no diff
ficulty in getting the food into
Washington from the distributing
center 'at Potomac Yards, the only
solution of a possible Capital food
shortage appears in motor truck
transportation from Baltimore. This,
however. would not help the meat
situation. since Baltimore could only
spare provisions coming in by boat
and no meat comes into the Mary
land port except by rail. Cattle
could. of course, be driven into both
Baltimore and Washington abat-
toirs from surrounding States, while
sheep and hogs could either be driy-
en- in or brought in motor trucks.
There are sufficient abattoir facili-
ties in both Baltimore and Wash
ington to handle local meat sup
plies in case of emergency.
The War Department will loan
hundreds of army trucks for use in
transportating provisions from Bal
timore to Washington if necessary.
Several hundred three-ton trucks
at least would be necessary to bring
! a normal supply of food into the
Capital. Local wholesalers saw
that they will ask the government
for the trucks # the, situation
"tightens up."
Il have no doubt but that the War
Department will gladly loan the
trucks for food transportation If
they are needed" said Benedict
Crowell. Assistant Secretary of
War, late last night.
Hotels Are Crowded.
Hotels in the vicinity of Union
Station early reflected the cutting
off of the sleeping cars. Accom-
modations were harder to find, and
shortly after IL o'clock last night
several hotels announced that they
were full up" At one hotel IL
was said that, We'll find some
place to put 'em so they won't have
to sleep on the park benches"
Better than double it's present
service is the promise made by the
w ton, Baltimore ana Annap-
oils Railway Company IL the strike
congests passenger traffic between
Washington and Baltimore. The
special trains to Bowie would be
eliminated IL occasion arose.
IF this is an outlaw" strike. I
do not believe that the Central La
Dor Union will support it, said
President william w. Keeler. of the
Central labor Onion, in discussing
the Washington strike demopstra-
ton last night '.rhe question prob
ably will come up at the organiza-
tion meeting tomorrow night and
decisive action TAKEN
Some relief for the threatened
food shortage may be secured
through having the boats from Bal
timore and Norfolk carry provisions
instead OF passengers. Four river
steamers, two from Baltimore and
two from Norfolk. dock in wash
ington daily. bringing freight and
passengers. BY elimination of the
passengers about so per cent could
be added to the freight-carrying ca
- - A. IL ~