AMERICAN COAL SAVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16762, 31 January 1918, Page 5

AMERICAN COAL SAVING.

NEED TO SUPPLY SHIPS. WASHINGTON. Jan. 20. Tire Fuel Controller, Mr. H. A. Garfield, giving evidence before a committee of inquiry, justified his order for the closing of all industries east of the Mississippi for five days on account of the need'of coal for shipping and for the imposition of other restrictions on the ground that the ports had become blocked with goods and great fleets of ships had had to be tied up while miles of railway trucks loaded with freight for the allies were waiting for ships. In the House of Representatives the passago of a motion similar to the one passed last week by the Senate, calling on the Government to delay the putting of Mr. Garfield's order into force, was blocked by the Democrats. The order therefore came into force on Friday. A supplementary list of.exempted industries enables munition plants and industries connected with war work to continue operations. The President, in a statement said that he fully endorsed Mr. Garfieli s order, adding:—" It is absolutely necessary to get the ships away and to relieve the congestion on the railways and at ports. Halfway measures would not be effective. I have every confidence that the result will justify our action." The public is now patriotically accepting the order as a necessary war measure.