Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-01-08
By BRUCE cLAGETT,
Assistant to Director General OF Rail-
roads

/ have the thought that the people
of the United States would IKE to
know how their coal supply was nan
died during the six weeks strike OF BIZ
luminous coal miners, which has Just
come to 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, the public seems TO
have been kept fully Informed day by
day. Uncle Sam set up his own coal
pile as soon as the strike began ana
kept replenshing it 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 it 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 out Of work, but on the re-
stricted 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
began on November I Its coming was
plainly apparent, and therefore the
director general Of railroads, Walker
d. Hines, consulted with all the re-
giOnal directors of railroads and the
principal members of his staff, and
decided that if the strike came it would
be the Job Of the railroad admlnlStra-
ton to make the coal produced go as
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 cOnSlgnees
on the idea that once the strike actu-
ally began the railroads could look
after their own 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 position to
store I'D. The alternative method
would have been for the railroads to
have begun to buy coal early in prepa-
ration for the strike, thus keeping such
coal out of normal channels.
Prior to the strike a very careful
survey Of stocks on hand, both of rail
roads, industries and individuals Gas
far as pOSSible) was conducted so that
the railroad administration went into
the strike with as accurate knowledge
Of the coal situation throughout the
country as was Obtainable. The adj
ministration's original survey on No
vember / showed 22,00OOOO tons of BIZ
luminous coal on wheels and in rail
road storage subject to distribution
under the administration supervision.
To this was added the daily produc-
ton which totaled 1S,S00,O00 tons in
November. and of the aggregate the
stocks still available for the IOuntry'S
protection on December /, 12,3O0,0O0
tons and on December s, 11,475,000
tons.
Prior to the strike orders were is
sued by the railroad administration
to give preference to coal loading, and
this naturally resulted In hardship on
some industries. The result was how
ever, that in the week ended October
25 a total of 13,200000 tons of coal
was produced and moved in the United
States, this constituting record for
the country. 1t took hard work by
everyone concerned to distribute this
enormous amount of coal. Once the
strike was on, the production never
reached 80 per cent of normal, with
the result shown above, viz, that in
day, the stored coal in possession of
the railroads was depleted in the six
weeks of the strike from 22!OU0, 600
tons TO n.375.OOO tons.
Plie saved country.
At times during the strike some COM
plants were made regarding the hold
ing of this coal in storage and on
wheels by the railroads. Without such
a storage, however, the country would
have suffered much more than it 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
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