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Show 00 SHORTAGE OF COAL IS NOW FEARED Salt Lako, Oct 21. That Salt Lake has prospects of facing one of the moBt severe coal shortages this winter win-ter it has experienced In years is tho declaration of local coal dealers. Tho occasion, they oxplaln, is the lack of cars, which the railroad companies com-panies need to handle the output of tho mines. The coal men stato that at the present time tho car shortage situation ifi so serious that practically all of the mines of the state are working work-ing only threo to four days a week, and some of them are not working more than two days a week. At this their output is moro than can be handled by the railroads, it ia said. In addition the mines are running with about 60 per cent of tho men that were employed a year ago because be-cause of the lack of cars to movo the output and because In the early part of this year many miners went to other scctionsc of the country, many going into thoWinitions factories and securing other employment that has held them. C. S. Martin of the C. S. Martin Coal company stated last night that from the best figures he had been able to secure the mine operators are now about 200,000 tons behind in delivery de-livery of their orders in tho territory supplied by the Utah mines. "The situation in Salt Lake and Utah is not serious as yet," said Mr. Martin, "but should there ome a severe se-vere cold spell, or should we havo a long and severe winter, the situation in the city would become seriouB. At present we have enough coal to about meet the demand locally, but it is tho territory outside of the state that is suffering now. This condition will come home to us here if there is a severe cold spell. "The only way to guard against this is for local consumers to lay in their supplies for the winter now as rapidly as they can, so that they will have coal on hand and will not be caught by a shortage lator. "Tho coal men have been urging this right along and the consumers have been putting in their supplies in pretty good shape. But, as I said before, be-fore, should we have a long and severe se-vere winter the city has the prospect of facing a most severe coal shortage." |