Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-07-10
FUEL SUPPLY
|SENCOURAC|NC
Largest Supply Held in Stor-
age Since 1922, U. S. Fuel
Distributor Reports Today
BY GEORGE H. MANNING
washington Correspondent of TIL,
Perth Amboy Evening News.)

WASHINGTON, July 10. = With
the coal miners threatening to back
up their demand for a twenty per-
cent, Wage increase by a strike, the
federal fuel distributor comes to the
front with a word of comfort in the
shape of a survey of stocks of coal
on hand in the country, showing that
the supplies held in storage on June
l were the largest since the spring
of 1922, and that with continued
high production of both hard and
soft coal last month, the stocks are
believed to have increased since then.
Stocks of bituminous coal held on
June 1 by commercial consumers
were sufficient to operate the indus
tries of the country for at least a
month, on the average, or for 39
days, for all industries xcept coke
and steel, based on the rate of con-
sumption for the three months prior
to June 1. This was an increase of
36.4 per cent, in days supply over
the amount on March 1. In eight
states, including the New England
states, the supplies held by the in
dustrial establishments were suffi-
cient to last more than sixty days.
Stocks of anthracite held by retail
dealers increased 130 per cent from
March 1 to June 1, and with continu-
ed record production last month have
probably increased still further. al
though the spring demand is unsual-
ly heavy.
There are no reliable statistics on
the amount of anthracite stored in
householder's bins, but examina-
tion of production figures and retail
ers stocks indicate that householders
are remembering their inability to
procure a full supply of hard coal
during the past winter, and are lay
| ing in somer4-8t larger supplies than
usual at this time of the year. Ow-
! ing to the probable smallness of the
carry over, however, it is impossible
to say how much larger than normal
this accumulation Is.
In the twenty-three principal
misunderstanding states, the stocks
on hand held by retailers was great
on March 1 and lower in only eight
states. The area of increase took
in, in general, the north central and
Middle Atlantic states.
The total amount of soft coal held
in storage by commercial users on
June 1 was about 100000 tons.
Coal-gas plants had on hand enough
to run 75 days, electric utilities were
prepared for As days operation at
the same rate that has prevailed in
recent months, while the railroads,
with only 21 days supply on hand,
were most unprepared for any stop
page of coal production.
Retail dealers had on hand about
27 days supply of bituminous coal,
the demand for soft coal for house
hold use as substitute for anthra-
cite having fallen off considerably
with the end of cold weather.
In addition to the soft coal stored
by commercial plants, there are sew
eral million tons which have been
| raised from the mines, but not yet
delivered to consumers. Supplies on
the lake docks are heavy. there be-
ing in excess of 100000 tons on
the Lake Superior docks. The guam
| tity of unbilled coal in cars standing
az the mines increased from 1873, 1000
tons on March 1 to 421 900 tons on
| June /. About one million tons
were reported in storage at the
mines.
Both anthracite and bituminous
produ ctions were maintained at high
! levels last month, and supplies are
believed to have increased.