.July, 29, 1922





.RECORD   AND   GU.IDE





133







Drastic Action by Government Needed

Now that the Federal Government has issued orders
through the Interstate Commerce Commission for control
of the distribution of coal and listing the priority of con¬
sumers, the seriousness of the coal and railroad strikes to
the.people of this city becomes very apparent. It is ad¬
mitted that stocks of coal in reserve either at the mines or
in consumers' hands is very limited. The amount being
mined in non-union fields and in mines where armed pro¬
tection has been giveii strike-breakers is woefully small.
In the distribution of this rapidly-diminishing supply the
railroads are to be served first, with ships, public utilities,
cold storage plants, hospitals, national, state and local gov¬
ernments following in the order named. Apartments, office
buildings and private houses are not mentioned in the list
because those who will have charge of the distribution do
not believe there is enough coal on hand or to be mined,
unless the strike is settled, to supply the needs of those
designated, let alone the heating for the coming winter of
•the living quarters of the 110,000,000 people of the country.

Inquiry among ofifice-building and apartment-house man¬
agers in this city again discloses the fact that storage fa¬
cilities for coal are negligible except in a comparatively
■few instances. Space in buildings of high cost is too -v'alu-
able; vault room under sidewalks has been invaded by con¬
duits and machinery, and storage in other buildings or yards
is expensive. The dependence of the city on its daily de¬
liveries of coal to consumers frequently has been demon¬
strated when snow and sleet storms have interrupted traffic.

Government control of coal distribution, undoubtedly
necessary, will not be of much advantage to New York City
unless it is followed quickly by peaceful or enforced coal
production. During the war coal was delivered first, right¬
fully enough, to those sections of the country which the
rigors of winter attack earliest. New York, with its more
favorable climate, got and now will get coal after the West¬
ern and Northwestern States are cared for. This m^kes
it doubly necessary to this city that movements to settle
both tlie coal and rail strikes shall be prosecuted wisely and
energetically, and that the further efforts of the Government
to bring order out of chaos shall have the whole-hearted
support of every citizen. The rail strike, while so far only
mildly effective, is already putting a brake on industry, only
just getting into nearly normal stride, and if continued will
bring about deplorable conditions similar to those that ex¬
isted two years ago. The coal strike has resulted in a drop
of anthracite output from 8,757,000 net tons in March to
26,000 tons in April, 35,000 tons in May and 84,000 tons
in June. The total for the first six months in 1922 is 21,-
922,000, as compared with 45,485,000 tons in 1921. These
figures are ominous. The showing in the bituminous field
is not quite so bad, but the cut in production is sufficiently
large to be alarming. In March the output was 50,157,000
tons and in April 15,797,000. There was an increase over
this in May of 5,000 tons and in June of 7,000. The total
for six months of 1922 is 187,129,000 as compared with
196,173,000 for 1921 and 257,748,000 for 1920.





Confronted by these figures the nation is awaiting the
approach of winter with the prospect of having to put up
with the rationing of coal even if the strikes should be
settled immediately. That the strikes were unnecessary in
the first instance has been proved during the negotiations
for their settlement, in which the original grievances have
given way to others as the basis for continuing the strikes.
These new contentious questions should be amicably ad¬
justed by Labor Day at the latest or the long-suffering
public, already impatient at the futility of the methods em¬
ployed to bring about harmony and impatient of further
delay, will make its will unmistakably known.





Co-operation in Training Apprentices

The New York Building Congress has matured its pre^
liminary plans for the training of apprentices in the various
trades affiliated with the construction industry and it now
remains only for the development of these plans into an
actual working system without further dela}-. Maximum
progress in the local building industry has been severely
hampered for a long time because of the admitted lack of
skilled workers. This shortage directly resulted from the
neglect of both labor and employers to stimulate the train¬
ing of young men in the building crafts.

The apprenticeship plan of the Congress is the first real
constructive movement having as its objective the training
of workers to fill the places of those now getting along in
years or leaving the trade for other employment. The
movement has the approval and support of both the unions
and the employers, which gives it every likelihood of suc¬
cess. It should be successful from every viewpoint, be¬
cause the plans as outlined not only provide for the prac¬
tical and theoretical training in the various crafts but the
proposed courses also include training in citizenship,- thus
making better men as well as better mechanics.

This plan for the training of building trade mechanics is
the outcome of untiring effort on the part of the New
York Building Congress Committee on .Apprenticeship,
which has worked diligently during the past six months in
making an exhaustive survey of the needs of the industry
for apprentices in the various trades and in the preparation
of the plan for supplying these needs. Burt L. Fenner, A,
I. A., chairman of this committee, and his assistants, all
men of prominence in the industry, who gave their time
and energy without thought of payment other than the
knowledge of good accomplished for their fellow men, are
deserving of the highest credit for what they have already
accomplished and for the certainty that their efforts will
act as a stimulant to similar activities in other parts of the
country.

At the monthly luncheon meeting of the Building Trades
Employers' Association last Wednesday, Chairman Fenner
outlined the plans of the Congress for commencing the
work of training apprentices in the building trades. He
rehearsed the reasons of the Congress for undertaking this
important work and showed by facts and figures just how