New-York tribune., 1920-02-07
Mayor Also Requests
Owners of Private
Motor Cars to Keep
Them I'm Until Tuesday
City will Wage
Battle on Snow
Business Men Rally to
the Aid of Officials; ;
Trolley Lines Tied Up

A three-day embargo on private
passenger motor cars, similar in eff
feet to the "gasless Sunday" edict of
war times, was requested of New
York last night by Mayor Hylan,
who enlisted the aid of merchants.
steamship companies, truckmen and
drivers unions at a conference on
storm conditions in City Hall. The
Mayor previously had issued a proc
lamation urging the suspension of
all but vitally necessary trucking
traffic for the three.day period.
Steamship companies have offered
the use Of their piers for snow
dumping purposes. The United
States Trucking Corporation will
turn over $50 motor trucks to the
city this morning. John Wanamaker
offered the services of 200 employees
as snow shovelers.
1t was in this spirit that the busi-
ness men and the labor men met with
city officials last night to devise
means of rescuing New York from
The three-day snow storm, which has
blocked streets, tied up transporta-
tion systems, almost cut off the city's
coal supply~and interfered with the
delivery of food. At the close of
the meeting the resolution calling on
motorists to keep their cars Off the
street for three days was adopted.
More Snow Predicted
Fourteen inches of snow had fallen
at $3.50 o'clock last night More snow
is ,prophesied for to-day, probably
stopping during the day. 1t will be
colder to-day, according to the Weather
Bureau. but the mercury probably will
not go below 20 degrees.
The havoc wrought by the storm yes-
terday was scarcely less than on the
preceding days, and the cumulative eff
feet was appalling Surface cars
crawled here and there through the
snow-choked streets Elevated trains
proceeded at scarcely swifter gait,
and for hours the Second and Third
Avenue elevated lines were virtually
out OF commission Service on the
Brighton Beach line was suspended
during the morning, and few trains ran
IN the Sea Beach subway because of
the drifts IN the cut. Five persons
were killed in accidents incident to the
storm.
Despite the efforts of the railroad
administration to assist the coal sup
ply of public utilities showed net
loss for the day, and it was doubtful
last night whether the fuel of the light
and transit companies would suffice for
over Sunday.
An extraordinary tide prevailed,
again strewing the citys beaches with
wreckage, although no buildings were
washed away bodily, as on Thursday.
At high tide there were three feet of
Island. The days damage there was
reckoned at $75O,OO0. The Old Do
minion liner Princess Anne was
stranded off Rockaway Point. several
steamers are locked in the ice in the
Sound, and countless small craft in
Jamaica Bay and elsewhere were torn
from their mooTings.
Trains from the West and the North
were hours late. Nine expresses on
the Pennsylvania Railroad between
Philadelphia and New York were taken
and the congestion in the yards at
this city. The Pennsylvania led in the
efforts to get coal through to New
York, placing partial embargo on
freight and giving coal shipments the
right of way. Other roads took SINH
lar steps.
Suburban Trains Late
Suburban trains. especially in the
electrified zone, met with tedious de-
lays. The Long Island Railroad suf-
fered severely. 1t took nine hours for
a passenger train from Port Washing
ton, barely across the city line, TO
reach Long Island City.
Milk trains were from one to six
hours late, and the delivery Of Grade
A milk, used mostly for infants, was
the hardest of all. There were addi-
tional delays in getting the milk to
the distributing stations and delivering
1t to homes because of the almost inn
passable condition of .he streets.
All leaves have been Cancelled in
the Fire Department except for mon
already on vacation, the condition cf
the streets rendering the city an
extra fire hazard, in the opinion Of
Chief Kenlon. Temporarily the men
have been put back on the old sched-
ule, which allows them scant time
off, and extra firemen have been sent
to outlying stations. where the diff
ficulties to be met are even greater
than in the thickly settled parts of the
city.
AS to food and coal for domestic
purposes, the city is said 20 have small
cause for worry. Railroads reported
that about so per cent of the usual
fopd shipments were coming in, and
there is said to be an ample supply
Of anthracite in the yards of coal