The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-13
SETTLEMENT OF MINE STRIKE ID
 HALT BUILDING
Building Trades Will Be Stripped of Cars Used in Transportation of Their
 Supplies
By HARDEN COLFAX cpeclaI Correspondent of The Age-Herald V"pyright, 1929, by The Age-Herald)

Washington. August 12.-The pros- pectlNe settlement of the bitumnous coal strike within the next few days threatens body blow for the build ing boom, at present of record pro- portions. Under the interstate com merce commissions priority rule to move coal as fast as 1t Is mined, the building trades of the United States VIII be stripped of the major part of the rolling stock used for the past TOUT months in transporting their supplies
 Three -fourths or more of all of the open-top cars at present engaged in the transportation of sand, gravel, cement, brick and other building ma terlals will move automatically un der the commissions orders, from the building trades to the coal mines With less than one-fourth of the present number of cars available, builders will have to curtail opera tions or suspend them till the nation stocks it's winter fuel
 Every available open-top car on every railroad in the country is to be pressed Into the coal trade where needed. under the commissions or der. and in keeping with the policy of the roads themselves. The ma chinery to do this has been perfected and can be put into optration the moment the news Is flashed that op- orators and miners at Cleveland have reached an agreement and that coal mining Is to be resumed in the cen tral competitive fields Resumption there means wholesale resumption elsewhere and the railroads already have virtually completed their plans to take care of the heavy tonnage of coal that will begin to flow over the rails some time within the next week.
 Million Cars for Coal
 There are approximately 1000, 900 open-top ears on the railroads of the country. With the single exception of cars having sides less than three feet high, every one of those 1,000, 900 cars will be subject to first call of the coal industry when mining Is re- stunned. Most of them will be needed; 1; in fact. some of the chief carriers of the east are fearful that the strain upon their facilities will be so great that a general car shortage will de- velop on their lines within a few weeks after the miners go back to work.
 The foregoing development is re- garded here as the first of several of the i'll results in store for the country as the aftermath of the coal strike. Contractors and others with in the building trades have sensed its coming and have sought to fend off the blow. They have placed hur- ry-up orders for great quantities of supplies within the past few weeks and much of this material already is in transit. Their trade organizations have warned against the coming di- version of transportation facilities to the coal industry and as result stocks have been built up here and there.
 Other than the prospective slow down in the building hrades-and in road construction as well, for both branches of the industry depend upon open-top cars for transportation of their supplies-the immediate indus trial figure shows a decided bright ening, according to reports received here from many sources.
 Shop Strike fin Hand
 The shopmens strike Is reported as we'll in hand on some of the chief