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Show SERIOUS PROPORTIONS IN COLORADO AND 1NJJTAH STRIKE Or THE SWITCHMEN IS KEENLY FELT. Production tho Country Over of Coal Recovered Slowly pjrtng tho Flrit Fj Week In May Increased Output Tor Hundred and Four Days of Nineteen Twenty Mining New. Correspondence The Sun WASHINGTON, D. G. Mnv 10, Throughout the week of April 21th the unprecedented enr shortage cans-ed cans-ed hv the switchmen's strike continued. continu-ed. Tint slight Improvement, however, tttr the conditions of the previous week wns noted. In the fnce of the car shortngc losses nttnbuled to other fnotors were insigniflcnnt. No reports re-ports of Inrk of market were receded from mines enst of tho Mississippi. West of there no ninrkct wns n serious seri-ous fnctor only in Oklnhomn nnd in Arkansas. In tho nvorago for tho United Rlnlos Inck of orders wns rc'ponslhle for n Iom of 0 3 per cent of full time. Losses of mine operating operat-ing time nttnbuled to shortage of labor were of small proportions although al-though wldwmrend. The average labor la-bor shortngc loss over the country ns n whole wns 2.1 tor rent. Time elosed down on neeount of strikes declined from 1.0 per rent of full time during the preceding week to 0 0 tor cent. Strikes of nny significant proportions were confined to the Cumberlnnd-Flcdmnnt Cumberlnnd-Flcdmnnt field, to tho I'ltiihandlo of West Virginia and the stale of Knn an. In the Inst named district the mines filing reports were closed on the average 512 er cent brenuso of the strike ns compared with 83 5 per I cent the week before. Thpito figures nro suggestive only, because bnscd - pon,-Inemnplele returns. Eor even hour closed down on account of nil these causes soven hours were lost because be-cause of trnnsortntlon. The mini were closed down 2Z5 hours out of the forty-eight because of lrnnsHir-tatinn lrnnsHir-tatinn nlnne. The underlving cnusc of the shortage wits tho stnke of the railroad ynrd nnd Hwitclimen, which tiffected to n greater or leas degree the yards nt Kansas City, Kt. Louis, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Cincin-nati, Columbus, Ynungstnuu, Pilts-burg, Pilts-burg, lliiffnlo nnd New York. The resultant congestion had the double effect of blocking mils with many trains loaded with coal nnd of delay ing the return of empties to the mines. ' Slight Improvement In comparison with tho preceding week n slight Improvement in the car supply wns noted. The totnl transportation trans-portation loss declined from 50.5 jht cent during the week ended on April ' 17th to 40.8 mt cent. An iinpmve- ment wns noted in tho Southern Ap- I palachlnn, Kanawha, New Hivcr, West Vlrgtnln Panhandle, Cumberland-Piedmont nnd the Westmoreland fields and in Sec. C of Central Penn ayhnniitnnd in the central eomctilivo field west of Pittsburg. In the Pttts-burg Pttts-burg district itself, in Northeastern Kentucky, Virginiii, Alabama and the Kcnovn-Tltucker field condition un derwent little change. Other distruts cnit of the Mississippi rexirted nu even more acute shortage tliau before. In spite of the iin)roeiiiuut the car shortage was extraordinarily acute. In only five out of twenty -eight dis-t dis-t riots enst of the Mississippi did the loss nmount to lets than 20 per cut. In fourteen it exceeded 50 per lunt, in ten it exceeded 00 iter cent mid in one (the Hnsard held) it timouiited to 84.7 per cent. The shortage whs not confined to the territory emit of the Mississippi. It attained serious proportions pro-portions in Colonulii nnd in Utah, reaching in the last minimi state tho , figure uf 70.8 pur tent. For tho wetk ending April 2-lth Utah mmos produced produc-ed 22J1 por cent of full capacity; the total losses from all causes, 77.7; transportation disability, 70 8; labor sliortuge, 0.5, and to mine disability, 0.4 per cent. The present shortage is quite the most hoero in the three oars oer which tho records of weekly running time extend. The roost ncuto our shortage during tho winter of 1017-1018 won 35 5 per cent, recorded in tho week of January 12, 1018. The worst eor shortage of tho past winter niuurrcd in tho week of February 21, 1020, and amounted to 38,3 per cent. Tho losses during the -weeka of April 17 nnd 21, 1020, (50 5 and 40.8 por (ent) are probably ns serious ns huo oxer oumrred in re-jont re-jont j ears. Uses of the Product. In 1018 two hundred nnd nine million mil-lion tons or 30 por cent of tho total production wore used within tho fijato of origin fur purposes other Ihnn railroad fuel. Allrail dolherioe to railroads for fuel usu mummied to 110,000,000 tons or 20 per cent. A Kirtitni of this tonnage how much Is not kiown is revenue freight delivered deliv-ered by tho coal originating earners to other carriers who must putchase coal outside their own linos. .Soinu of this railroad fuel coal delivered by one road to another may bo interstate inter-state business. Of the 11,000,000 tons exs)rted by rail 1)3 wr tent crosses state hountlnrieti before reaching reach-ing the frontier mid is therefore interstate in-terstate business. Of tho 28,000,000 tons shipped to tho lakes for cargo about two-thirds all oxrept the movement from Ohm fields to Ohio bike jmrls anil from l'cnusv Ivtiiiln fields to the Pennsylvania Lake jKrt of I'rlo is iulerstntu business. Of tliu 15,000.000 tons moving to tide considerably over 85 per tent is interstate inter-state business. In general the experience exper-ience of 1017 nnd 1018 indicates that tho bituminous coal moving as revenue rev-enue freight interstate commerce is something over 35 por cent of the totnl still put. This figure does nut lutdutlu milnmd fuel nml. I'erisilenco of the railroad strike hns widened tho difference between the cuuiultHAio production of the present jour and tho record of tho war jenr of 1017 and 1018, Production Produc-tion tliu country ovor lor tho first huudiud and lour working ilujs of the pieseut ,s ear is 175,114,000 tons. Tho enr 1020, although thirty-three and a htilf million tons uheiid of 1010, is n wuly seven millions of tons behind be-hind 1018. Slowly Recovering. Production of soft coal continued to recover slowly during tin week ended May 1st, but was still 10 por cent below tho nverngo during the first quurtor of tho eur. Tho total output, inoludurg lignite nnd coal coked nt the mines, is estimated at 8,808,000 net tons. This wns nn increase in-crease of 413,000 tons (fter tho preceding pre-ceding week, but wag 2,117,000 tons lofts than that uf the hist wiek in March, The cmiso of tills continued depression wus the railroad workera' strike, which delated movements ut tliu uot important rail gateways and junction Hints from Kt, l,nui nnd Chicago to Hiiffulo and New York. Incomplete returns from the principal princi-pal carriers Indicate that a ltirllier gradual improvement continues, but that loadings are still very ninth he-low he-low normal. |