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Show ICOAL SHORTAGE IS BECOMING SERIOUS No Reserve on Hand and Shipments Ship-ments to City Are Inadequate. In-adequate. Salt lake's coal shortage x. with the continuation of unusually cold weather. in coming a serious problem None of the retail dealers has any reserve stock on hand, orders arc being booked for front ti week to eighteen days ahead, and then the Invariable advice to the patron I: "You had better leave your order open so far as the klntl of coal Is con- i rned. We cannot promise to deliver any .sr I Ho kind ' Promises Are Indefinite. When a customer gives his order and requests that It h tilled In two, three, or four days, the answer In. "We have hundreds of orders booked now and von Will have to take your turn. Jt may be one vs.-. k. two weeks or three weeki We win tin it in turn, If we have the coal, but there Is nothing certain as to when we will have It." Who Is to Blnmo? The version of who Is to bio me depends entirely iiin whom you approa.li lor an explanation The retail dealers say: "Don't blame trs e are begging for rr.ore coal and we cannot get It. Every ton of coal that comes Into the yards Is unloaded Into wagons and dellered oven before it reaches the sheds. Borne ias the shipments Improve s little, then they decline Don't ask us what tho matter Is. wa: don t know." What Shippers Say. Officials of the roads that are shipping coal Into the rlty 6ay that they are handling the output of the mines as rapidly as Is possible with tho facilities at their command They point out that they are not to be blamed for tho un-. un-. xN-, t. , , old weather and the Increased ib mand for fuel Tin y allege that con-Norm con-Norm rs should have laid In a supply of eta I during the warm weather. What Producer Says. A high official of the (Jtah Fuel company com-pany which controls the mines of Carrion Car-rion county, when approached for an explanation, ex-planation, said: "No one Is to blame it is simply an unfortunate combination of circumstances. The mines are short of men, the railroads are short of cars and power, the people are short of coal." "Vh don't the mines accumulate a reserve during the summer?" asked the reporter. 'Why don't the people lay In their winter's supply then?" came the reply "We don't care to stand the loss on waste and storage " Suggestion Is Offered A leadlnK merchant who discussed the situation, said: "It would be only right to make It an Inducement for citizens, particularly large consumers, to put In their winter s supply in warm weather, by selling coal tit a reduction of 50 or 75 cents per ton. This Is done In all the large cities of the East and It helps greatly In preventing a shortage In cold weather. But the average man Is not going go-ing to tie up his money In coul unless there Is some Inducement for him to do so." But Shortage Remains. No matter what explanations may be Offered the situation remains grave and threatening. Many citizens are cutting down their usual consumption of coal for f. ar of being left without any, many others are paying excessive prices for coal of Inferior qualltj In 100 pound lis I'nless the weather moderates or the shipments Increase there will be much Inconvenience and some suffering because of a shortage of fuel. |