New-York tribune., 1922-08-19
1. IL. Il. Trains
Cut 10 z. C.. as
Coal Runs Low
Service Is Lightened Until
Tuesday TO Avert Peril
of Tie-Ups Narrowing
Thousands i'm Subways
British Fuel is Blamed
American Gas Association
Warns the East 1t Faces
Shortage e This Winter

WIN ~ per cent reduction in train
service on the elevated and Subway
lines of the Interborough and warning
of possible gas shortage sent broad
cast by the American Gas Association,
the i'll effects of the nationwide coal
strike are now being felt seriously in
New York. Up to the present moment
the strike has cast it's shadow over
the mining districts and in government
circles, but now it has reached tha
everyday public.
The fnterborough, forced by the
strike to buy British coal, has found
that the overseas fuel cut its boiler
efficiency rs per cent. The company's
mechanical stokers cannot properly
handle the English coal, because il
mats" The British use thinner bed
on their CRATES and use slice bars to
break up the matted coal.
No Priority Coal Here Yet
Although the United States Fuel Ad-
ministration has allotted thousands OF
tons of coal to the New York transit
lines, no actual fuel has been received
from this source. The Interborouzh
has received 10000 tons from Gsejat
! Britain and has contracted for $50 900
additional tons. Tho company still has
on hand 27,000 tons of West Virginia
Pocahontas coal and is awaiting a ship
ment of $4,000 tons more. Officials of
the system are not optimistic about
the filling of this last order
The conditions confronting the pub
! lie utilities of the city were outlined
last night in a statement by LIE Roy T.
Harkness, member of the Transit
Commission and the Governors Fuel
| Commission.
"The cut in the Interborough serv-
! ice," Mr.. Harkness said, "was made
to avoid the risk of a possible shut
down. The Interborough several days
ago began for the first time using Eng
lish admiralty COAL 1t was soon seen
that the English ccal did not give the
same efficiency in producing steam that
the American coal did.
Charles Mclean, experimenting en-
gineer Of the Cunard Line, explained
that in using English coal it was nee
essary to use long slice bars to break
up the Jumps that form. This is i'm
practicable in Interborough power
houses, where boilers are fed by me-
| chanIcal stokers and do not allow the
use of splice bars.
To Curtail Until Tuesday
''The commission came to the con-
| clusion that with possible reduction
| Of steam pressure on this account
there was possibility of the pressure
becoming exhausted during the rush
| hours and the power supply shut off
| faf, ril.r -
] take two hours TO clear the lines In
the intense heat of day like yester-
/ day the commission is of the opinion
that no chance should be taken on q
shutdown, with the possibility of hay-
ing 10 keep passengers in the SUBJ
ways for considerable period. Ac-
cordingly, the authority has been
| given TO General Andrews to continue
| this cut, if necessary, until Tuesday.
THE Commission in the face of .
possible emergency took what it be-
lieved to be proper precautionary ac-
ton III approving a temporary cut in
service to avoid the possibility of q
complete cessation of operation for
several hours. With this temporary
cut the situation is believed to be well
in hand and there is no cause for alarm.
The Commission is informed that the
Boston Edison Company has been hav-
ing similar difficulty with English coal
and that there has been drop of 35
per cent in steam producing efficiency"
The New York Edison Company and
the B. R. T. are reporting similar dif-
British coal. The B. r. T. stili has
ten-days' supply of coal on hand, and
has ordered 10000 tons from England.
The plan proposed yesterday by
| President Harding in hfs message to
i Congress was warmly indorsed BY A.
M. 0gle, Of the National Coal Associ-
alton, who wired the White House
pledging his cooperation in carrying
out the fact-finding program.
Gas Men Issue Warning
The American Gas Associations
warning, issued from its headquarters
at 342 Madison Avenue, plainly stated
that the gas utilities in states where
large amounts of anthracite are used
will be crowded to the limit tais win
ter This is particularly true, tha
statement continued, in New York,
| Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
| Delaware, Maryland and the New Eng
land states. The supply of anthracite
on hand in the power houses in the
/ districts designated is very low, it ia
said.
| A Board of Health survey shows tbaA
J the following tonnages of the various
kinds of coal are in New York yards:
Bituminous, 14339h; buckwheat,
| S,s25; pear, 2s,3591; nut, S,575A;
stove. 1,f5S; egg, 1850; broken, 65;
coke, 1900; bricquets, 10; screenings,
| 167. Total. 61,349A
OF these quantities 31.253 tons are
IN Manhattan, 6,349 in the Bronx.
| 17,697A in Brooklyn and 4,0sS in
Queens. The Board of Health has re-
! established the coal committee formed
during the 1920-'21 emergency.
Representatives of six banks met in
Jersey City yesterday to make ar
raEgements for financing the coal al
lotments made by the Federal admin
istration for New Jersey Those rep
resented We're the First National Bank,
Jersey City; National Newark and Es-
sex Banking Company, Newark; First
National Bank, Paterson; National
State Bank, New Brunswick. First Ma
tional Bank, Camden, and the Hanover
Trust Company, Trenton