New-York tribune., 1922-08-30
Zone Fuel / Ian,
With Licenses,
Urged for City
s. w. SchaszIin Suggests
Idea. Contending That 1T
Would Eguaiize Disari.
button and Curb Prices
Industries Believed Safe
Experts Say More General
Utilization of Soft Coal
Will Prevent Shut.DOwns

4
| Enactment by the Legislature Of
Governor MiI,er's fuel saving program
was followed yesterday by the proposal
Of plan for the licensing Of all fuel
dealers, confining thoir sales to par
| ticnlar zone and limiting sales OF coal
to q weeks requirements for each con-
sumer.
The sponsor for this plan is S. M
Schatzkin for thirty years q prcmi-
nent figure in the fuel business here
who put it forward as the only means
of checking n panicky rush for such
fuel supplies as may be put on the
market, with the resultant skyrocket-
ing Of prices. BY the zone pisn and md
the limiting of sales, he believes, It
will be possible to prevent actual suf~
fering, insure equitable distribution
and check gouging.
Although it is generally concedcd
that the fuel situation is grave, it apr
peared yesterday that the situation
would not become acute among in
dustrial or domestic consumers as ions
as soft coal is received, either from
domestic sources or from abroad.
Soft Coal Serves Purpose
Nirtualy all Of the industries cen
tering IN New York, including the tran
sit, light and power companies, can use
soft coal and will be able to continue
in operation. The average house-
holder, too, it was pointed out, can use
soft coal, although such Use will re-
quire some additional labor and
trouble.
The plan urged by Mr. Schatzkin Is
based on licensing one dealer in each
OF the zones into which the citv will
be divided, who will be directly re-
sponsible to the fuel administrators
for the fair distribution of coal at a
fair price. No dealer would be per-
mitted to sell outside Of his zone, and,
since the zones would be comparatively
small in area, the haulaga costs would
be greatly reduced, 1t also provides
for fxing retail prices and suspension
of the license of any dealer who VIC
lates any of the conditions imposed by
the state fuel administrator.
Since the amount OF coal supplied to
dealers would be fixed by the fuel ad-
ministrator, the quantities sold at re-
tail to consumers also fixed, in ae-
cordance with their needs, and no op-
portunity offered for sales outside the
zones, Mr. sehatzkin contends there
would be no serambling for coal and
no bidding against each other by either
consumers or dealers.
Little Fear of Shat.Dow1
Chambers of commerce, the Mer-
chants Association and others in touch
with the industrial situation agreed
yesterday that there was little danger
Of an enforced shutdown as long as
the utilities companies and the manu-
facturing plants generating their own
power were able TO get soft coal.
Martin Dodge, manager of the indus
trial bureau of the Merchants Asso-
ci2tion, pointed out that the two larg-
est industriess7the needle trades and
the printing trades used electric cur
rent almost exclusively eud could coii-
tinue operation, since the companies
furnishing that power were able to use
soft coal. Similar views were expressed
by representatives of the Brooklyn
Chamber OF Commerce, the Bronx
Board of Trade and the Queens ChaE-
Der of Commerce.
Fear that the burning of soft coal
would bring consumers into conflict
with the anti-smoke ordinance was
somewhat dispelled when it was learned
that one of the largest buildings on
lower Broadway has been using soft
coal successfully for several months.
Health Commissioner Copeland and
olHCI Ally OWC9dlS WcI6 Interested laSG
night in Section 1S OF the Governors
emergency fuel measure which. 1t was
feared, would give the Fuel Admins
traitor power to grant immunity to land
lords from the provisions of the law
requiring them to furnish heat and
hot water. DR.. Copeland said it seemed
to put the question in tho hands of the
Fuel Administrator altogether, al
though he was not ready to say that
it would suspend the Health Depart
ment regulations. He will seek rul-
ing from the Corporation Counsel on
this question:
Law Merely Modified
Estate Owners Association, gave it as
his opinion that the section did not
suspend the operation of the provisions
OF the penal law, but only invested
the fuel administrators with power to
modify the law In cases in which he
found that it was totally impossible
for the landlord to comply with ii.
An effort will be hada within the
next day or two in the Shubert
theaters here to experiment in the
burning Of soft coal. Lee Shubert
said last night that if it is found
impossible to use bitum,npus, or no
soft coal is available, every theater in
New York would have to close by Mo-
vember I. None of the theaters here,
Mr. Shubert said, have more than a
nonth's supply OF acal on hand; 25
per cent have no coal at all.
A shutdown of the theaters would
throw thousands of actors, stage hands,
musicians and other employees out of
work and would mean substantial loss