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Show GOAL SHORTAGE GRAVE PROBLEM II GREAT Cllf Homes and Industries in New York Without Fuel; Thousands of Tons Icebound Ice-bound on Jersey Side. GARFIELD TALKS ON THE SITUATION Lack of Transportation Responsible Re-sponsible for Existing-Conditions Existing-Conditions ; Cleveland Factories to Close. ! NEW YORK, Bee. 14. Homes and in-jdustries in-jdustries in New York were confronted to-i to-i night with the most serious coal short-i short-i age in the city's history because of ina-: ina-: bility to get supplies across the river on ; barges from New Jersey tidewater points, ! where thousands of tons are icebound. ' "rtie "situation, which was already bad, i was greatly aggravated by last night's storm. " ' i An investigation by the fuel administration administra-tion today disclosed that nearly one-half of the city's coal yards are empty, while others have only a few tons on hand. Thousands of families have no coal to heat their homes and scores of the city's manufacturing plants are said to be on the verge of shutting down. It may be necessary to close 'many of the public schools unless fresh supplies are received at once. Dealers throughout the city were besieged be-sieged by poor persons seeking coal in email quantities. Frozen Solid in Dumps. The coal has frozen solid !n dumps and coal cars and it can be shoveled only with the aid of live steam. Fuel administrators administra-tors held out hope . that the shortage would be relieved in twenty-Tour hours. Extra lighters, barges and stevedores have been engaged, It was said. Two blocks of model tenement houses on the East side, occupied by 900O persons, per-sons, ran out of coal today. The owners announced that until sufficient fuel can be obtained to heat the apartments tenants ten-ants would be ailowed 10 cents a day on their weekly rents to pay for extra ga s. It is said that within a radius of 500 miles more than 200,000 carloads of fuel, steel, lumber and other merchandise are at a standstill. Garfield's Address. . j The coal supply of the country is am- ! pie, "if we could but solve the problem of transportation," Tr. Marry A. Garfield, ; United States fuel administrator, declared in an address tonight at t he annual meet- ; ing of the Academy of Political Science, i ljaek of united action on the part of the I railroads, separate administration and divided di-vided authority added to the difficulty, he asserted. "We are supplying more cohI to Canada than ever before," Dv. Garfield said, "but In spite of tins fact and the further fact that our demand is larsr than evpr he-fore, he-fore, the supply Is ample if we could but solve the. problem of transportation. "When you stop to consider that from SO to .V- tier cent of the freizht carried by the railroads In the past has beon cnal, you will understand the present situation. Coal or Sidings. "The call for other rommodiries has set coal on, the siding, ko to speak, and It Is a fact that sineo August 2n twenty million mil-lion tons nf coal have been delayed been be-en use of tack of cars. A t present it is more Important thai food products shall take precedence, and we lind ourselves In a sHimllon inadequate in carry on the required re-quired transportation of coal. "Another difficulty is that there is no united action on the port of the railroads because of separate terminals, separate administrations and divided authority. Now that you know what, the fuel admin-is admin-is t rat ion. authorized by the federal government, gov-ernment, mean, we expect every man "and woman In New Yojfk will notify this department de-partment of conditions as they find them. "We are not it shamed of making mistakes, mis-takes, and out of the turmoil will come good oider. In spite of the fact that winter win-ter in upon ns n nd distress exists, just at a time when the. supply nf coal is commencing com-mencing to move, I feel sure that we will bo a'ole to solve this great question' of fuel'' ad ministration." |