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Show T-i"!?-p j n"nrn ! IhrMu LuhiiLU nlhn I lu i nhbij Fuel Being Rushed East- j ward Ahead of All Other I Freight Under Orders of Director McAdoo. MUCH SUFFERING IN NEW YORK CITY Drafting of Legislaticn to Make Government Operation Opera-tion of Railroads Effective Effect-ive Nearing Completion. WASHIXCiTOX, Jan. 2. Solid coal trains were ordered moved eastward ahead of all other freight tonight, after af-ter conferences between the director genera L of railroads and the fuel administrator ad-ministrator on further plans for speeding speed-ing coal to .ew Knbind an other sections short of coal in the nndst of a bli;:ard. The railroads were directed direct-ed to give preference so far ns possible to shipments 1 rom mi nes nearest the destination tn curtail hauls and promote pro-mote efficiency; The organization of a great army of laborers, Inf.ncd by utios and corporations corpora-tions to v-nlor.d coal and other freight at congested tei mir.als, now is under con.-ideraf ioj, :ind some thought even j has been given to the possibility of having soldiers assigned to these tasks if the civiltnn organization proves impracticable. im-practicable. . j Transfer of locomotives from the j west and south, where congestion is not j so serious and weather lessluclement, ! were planned by Director General Mc- ; Adoo and his staff. With the equip- j ment will come a number of employees I from those, districts, to assist the over- i burdened east. .. i Embargo Is Considered. lieports of frozen boilers in locomotives locomo-tives and trains stalled in snow led to special consideration of a plan of augmenting aug-menting the available motive power on trunk jine;s east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio river. An immediate embargo on movement of a number of non-essential products also was discussed. dis-cussed. Despite the weather, freight actually is moving faster than before the government gov-ernment assumed management, according accord-ing to reports from interstate commerce comi,is.sion inspectors. Congested switch yards are being cleared without regard to old priority orders. At least ten trains, carrying in all 500 cars of coal, reached New Jersey terminals today, and many were either routed through the Pennsylvania passenger tunnel or ferried to the East river for transfer to Brooklyn or dispatch to JSTew England. En-gland. Nine Ships Pledged. Nine ships were pledged by the shipping board to carry coal from Hampton Roads to New England. Director Di-rector General McAdoo tomorrow will discuss the labor situation under government gov-ernment operation with heads of the four railway brotherhoods, who were invited to confer with him. They will he told of the pressing necessity not only for retaining all present workmen, hut for drawing new employees into the service, and for sustaining a high order of efficiency under the govern-' merit's operation plan. "Wages probably will not be discussed dis-cussed at the. conference except in a general vay, but the brotherhood heads may be told 'that the entire problem of readjusting wages will be taken up by the vcilroad administration as soon as the more immediate operating and traffic traf-fic ouestions arc disposed of. Officials are anxious that railroad I employees shall not get. the impression; ! that anv wholesale curtailment of jobs j or salaries is in prospect. Although a i number of railroad agencies which are ! not considered essential, now that com-: com-: pctitive conditions have been abolished, niav be eliminated eventually, it is con-: con-: sidercd probable that the employees will be transferred to other branches of the service. This rearrangement applies ; particularly to traffic ' solicitors, publicity pub-licity bureaus and legal advisers. Mr. "McAdoo is ronsiderin? the naming of additional district .supervisors of rail-I rail-I v.-av management with functions similar to those of A. VI. Smith, assigned to di- reel transportation on eastern trunk lines a.s Mr. McAcloo's assistant. It probably will be a week or ten days before specific spe-cific consideration is given the selection of other regional assistants, however, since the east is the district where trans-I trans-I portation ills must be cured first. Construction of barges for the Mississippi, Missis-sippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers and the Erie canal also will be discussed soon. Laws Being Drafted. Drafting of legislation to make government govern-ment operation fully effective was nearing near-ing completion today and will be finished before President Wilson delivers his address ad-dress to congress Friday. One of the principal disagreements over recommendations recommen-dations for this legislation has arisen on the method of determining what accounting account-ing elements shall enter into fixing of the compensation basis. Rome railroad interests are expected to urge congress to include rental from cars and locomotives locomo-tives leaded "to oilier lines during the prewar pre-war period and other rents, whilrf a number num-ber of Mr. McAdoo"s legal advisers advocate ad-vocate basing compensation on strict operation op-eration in committee, which for most roads would mean less money. The senate interstate commerce committee com-mittee today suspended until next Monday Mon-day its inquiry into railroad conditions when it learned all the railroad presidents had gone home to work and that none was available to testify. |