Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-30 | Page 25 | Coal Situation is Again under Probe

COIL MM 15"" AGI UNDER PROBE Government Control of the Mines and Conscription of Labor Predicted. WASHINGTON. Deo. 29. Government Govern-ment control of mines and conscript! ; of labor were- predicted ly L. A. tfnead, bead of the" fuel administration's administra-tion's distributing agency, in testifying today before the tenate committee investigating in-vestigating tlie coal situation. Co-orlinaton of effort is necessary to meet present demands, Mr. .Snead said, and he added that he could sec no possibility pos-sibility of. the production of the u0,000,-000 u0,000,-000 tons the fuel administration estimates esti-mates the nation i short this year. .Restricted .Re-stricted use is the only solution, he declared. de-clared. Priority orders for coal shipments niiht afford some temporary relict from shortages experienced in many parts of the country. Mr. Snead said, I out the only solution of the whole problem prob-lem is adequate and efficient transportation. transpor-tation. Mr. Snead was on the stand throughout through-out today's hearing and was questioned ques-tioned at great length as to the coal situation here in Washington. The fuel administration, he said, believes enough coal to supply local needs has been shipped to the capital, but suffering suf-fering has beeu caused by hoarding of some consumers last summer and fall, inadequate distributing facilities and failure of dealers to co-operate with the fuel administration. It was necessary for the fuel administration admin-istration last week arbitrarily to divert coal to supply the capitol itself it-self when a shortage threatened the witness declared, and today, when the cold was severe, 1000 tons consigned to the government was ordered assigned to. private consumers. When the situation here threatened to become acute, iSncad said the fuel administration established five dumps and ordered that 500 tons be placed in them every day to supply the public. The committee adjourned today until next Wednesday, when Food Administrator Adminis-trator Hoover will testify on the sugar situation. Tie and other witnesses are expected to close the sugar inquiry within two days and then the coal investigation in-vestigation will be taken up again with , w-itnosses from various parts of the cou ntry.