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Show lit Is to Win the War, j Says Garfield of Edict WASHINGTON, Jau. 17. Fuel Administrator Garfield's statement in explanation of his order follows: 5 The most urgent thing to be done s is to send to the American forces abroad and to the allies the food and c war supplies which they vitally need s war munitions, food, manufactured articles of every description, lying in c Atlantic ports in tens of thousands of S tons, where literally hundreds of ships, i' loaded with war goods for our men and ; the allies,, cannot take the seas be- , cause their bunkers are empty of coal. !; The coal to send them on their way ; is waiting behind the congested freight . that has jammed all terminals. It is worse than useless to bend our energies to more manufacturing ' when what we have already manu- !; fatured lies at tidewater, congesting , terminal facilities, jamming the rail- ; ; road yards and side tracks for long i distances back into the country. No j power on earth can move this freight j into the war zone, where it is needed, j ; until we supply the ships with fuel. j ; Must Clear Docks. Once the docks are cleared of the valuable freight for which -our men v and associates in the war now want in vain, then again our energies and power may be turned to manufac- turing, more efficient than ever, no that a steady and uninterrupted stream of vital supplies may be this nation's answer to the allies' cry for 3; help. ! It has been excess of production, in ', our war-time speeding up, that has done, so much to cause congestion on ! our railroads, that has filled the ' freight yards to overflowing, that has cluttered the docks of our Atlantic ? ports with goods waiting to go abroad. J At tidewater the flood of freight has S stopped. The ships were unable to ? complete the journey from our fac- tories to the war depots behind the ? firing line. Storm Increases Delay. ? Added to this has been the diffi- cutty of transporting coal for our own domestic needs. On top of these dif- fieulties lias come one of the most ; terribly severe winters we have known ! in years. Tho wheels were choked and stopped; zero weather and snowbound '! trains; terminals congested; harbors with, shipping frozen in; rivers and ' canals impassable it was useless to ' continue manufacture and pile con- ) fusion on top of confusion. 1 A clear line from the manufacturing establishments to the seaboard and be- ' yond that was the imperative need. It was like soldiers marching to the i front. The men in the foremost ranks ' must have room to move. ' More than a. shock was -needed to . make a way through that congestion ; at the terminals and on the docks so i that the aid so vitally needed by the !' allies could get through. ; Effect Disastrous. The incidental effect of this trans- ! portation situation on coal production -! has been disastrous. There is and al-ways al-ways has been plenty of fuel, but it ! cannot be moved to those places where ' it Is so badly needed while railroad lines and terminals are choked, i Throughout the coal fields scores, even c hundreds, of mines are lying idle he- cause of railroad Inability to supply !' tiie cars to carry away their product. ' Coal mines cannot operate without ! cars. Cars cannot be supplied while '' the railroads are crippled by the prea- . ent freight congestion, which keeps ! Idle cars lying useless in the freight ' yards. - j! In the past week the production of '; coal has been disastrously reduced. ' Reports in somo cases have shown 90 S per cent of tho mines in certain fields ; closed completely for lack of cars. ' This is war! Whatever tire cost, wo must pay, so that in the face of tho 3' enemy there chji never be the reproach i that we held back from doing our full ! share. Those ships laden with our ' supplies of food for men and food for l guns must have coal and put to sea. j! |