The Pulaskian., 1920-01-09
Uncle Sam Set Up His Own Coal Pile Soon Strike Began and Kept Repenishng It From Mines Which Continued to Work -Nation Able to Last Out the Six Weeks Through
 Efficiency of Government Control

weeks of the strike from 22,o00,0OO tons to 11.375.00O tons.
 Pile Saved Country.
 At times during the strike some com plaints were made regarding the hold ing of this coal in storage and on wheels by the railroads. Without such storage, however, the country would have suffered much more than 1t did, and It would have been impossible to have looked after the emergency re- quirements of the parts of the country in greatest need. Throughout the strike practically all of the coal moved was produced in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, although some coal was produced in Kentucky, Alabama and Wyoming and a few other states. The great central competitive fields, how ever, closed down completely and out side of the stocks on hand the people in that territory had to depend entirely on the coal from the East and upon the coal in the hands of the railroads to meet just this emergency.
 At the beginning of the strike coal was delivered freely to all of the ten classes on the fuel administrators pri- Ority list, but soon afterward it was necessary to restrict deliveries to the first five classes, which included rail- roads, army and navy, together with other departments of the government, state and county departments and in- stitutions, public utilities, and retail dealers, and toward the end of the strike it was difficult in some parts of the county to meet even these re- quirements, due to the fact that princi- pally in the middle West the stocks became almost exhausted and it was necessary to depend practically en- tirely upon the coal produced in the East. The amount which could be shipped West was limited, not by car supply but by transportation facilities and the necessity for moving this coal West was one of the reasons for the eurtailment of passenger service in all parts of the country, which nat urally led to some hardshiDs and some complaints.
 With regard to these complaints, a careful survey shows that. taken as a whole. the country has stood re- markedly well the restrictions which had to be placed.
 The action of the government dur ing the strike which caused the great est comment was the placing of restric- tions in connection with the use of bi- luminous coal and coke in supplying light. heat and power to stores, office buildings, manufacturing establish ments. etc. These regulations were put into effect by the railroad admin iStration on the advice of the certrnl coal committee and under authority of the fuel administrator. They were put into effect primarily as a coal con seryation measure and because prior to their issuance local regulations, some times more stringent than these regu- lations, had already been laid down in many sections of the country. Prior to the issuance of these regulations the fuel administrator had issued re- quest that coal for light, neat and power be conserved as much as pos sible. Just as soon as the Indian apolis settlement was reached the at torney general, following out a prior arrangement, immediately notified the railroad administration, and plans were at once begun to modify restrictions, with the result that within two days after the strike was formally ended, instructions were issued to regional di- rectors permitting them to remove he restrictions as to the furnishing of light, heat and power, and also permit ting them to restore passenger trains which had been taken off as a coal con- servation measure.
 The receipt of the word from h. dianapolis was also the signal for the releasing of instructions already prepared for the turning of empty coal cars towards mines which were ex- pected to begin operation in order to transport the maximum production of all such mines at once.