Lee County, Illinois - Chapter 8, 1920

Chapter 8

UikIci' (late (>r ChicnK", Illinois, October 2Hnl, 1017, I rcrcived the following letter from John K. Williams, United States Fuel Admiiiisti-aior for the State of Illinois. Mr. H. G. Reynolds, Dixon, Illinois Dear Sir:

Youi' name has l:een snfi>i-ested to nie as Cliairnian of the ('(immittee on fuel administration foi- youi' i-(innnuiiity. I trust you will do me the favor, and the community the

You are authorized to ajipoint two additional citizens to constitute a eonmiittee, to assist >du in the woik. 'rhe\- should be persons of good standing, who possess the confidence of the couimuiiily, and who are not engaged or directly interested in the coal business. ( 'oal men, may, however, be consulted by you in case you need their assistance. Youi' jurisdiction will include your city and all of I.ee ( 'ouiit>- known as District No. 19. Representatives on local committees are exix'cted to serve without compensation, the service being purely patriotic.

Itel Administrator For Illinois

With oui- Couiiliy invcilve.l in the greatest war of all history woman with a spark of love lor the American Flag anxious ai utmost lowaids the achievement of victory, theiv was b\U one tl was to instantly- accept this appointment and with all possib greatest servii'c that could be icndeivd in providing coal and othei- fuel to meet the needs of the peo]ile of Lee ( 'ouiily.

It was ,al ,.nce .appaicnt that the situation as regards the suiiply of coal (Anthracite anil P>iluniinous) loi' the homes and factories of Lee County was extremely critical, and I was, al the \-ci>- outset, deeply impressed with the grave responsibihty that would rest ui)oii iMxselt and those associated with me. I summoned to my assistance as co-workers Mr. Ivlwaril II. IWvwster, on(- of the prominent attorneys of our County and ^Ir. Thomas Young who roiineily was loi' many years a leading retail coal dealei- of Dixon. As time progressed :ind the coal pi-oblem became more and nioie .acute and alainiing the wisdom of the.^e two appoinlmenls was proven in manifold ways. The practical experience and knowledge of Mr. ^dung was of great benefit as he was in a position to weigh the situation fi-om the dealer's \iewpoint and Tieccssitics and to render valuable service in tiding o\-er many .aitical sit u;it ions whi.-h coulimitcd oui- ciHuinittee. It should be further .state.l that .Mr. Young was never called upon from the day of his appointment to the

The appointment of Mr. Edwai'd II. P)rc\\stcr was prompt l\- Followed l)\- liis si'Icction as Secretary of the Committee. It is impossiMc to ailc(|uatcly state tin' extent and importance of the service rendered by Mr. I'lii'wstei' in comiiM-iion with the serious pidhlems of one year and lour months. It was loun.l tl'iat his exPaisiv ac<,uaintanee over the Comity - which not only melu.led practically .all of the retail .lealers, luit the most prominent men as well of liieat value, as it often hecami' neci'ssaiy to seek information entirely outside of ileahas ni oidi'r to ascertam the actual sUuation as to the coal sur)ply and shortatic. 'riietiravity of this shortaiic in Lee County many times during the winter of shipment of coal to various points where it was urgent !>- needed. In theseci'itical emei'nencies Mr. Brewster was found extremely resourceful as well as untirintj in his elforts to serve the entire community and to avert suffering;.

of hoth the cnsumer an,l the retailer. This was ,lue hir-ely t,, the lateness of the ,late at which the price of coal had ficen fixed hy the ( lo\-ei'nm<ait . ( 'onsumers and ri'tailers alike were waiting for that to be done before eont lactini^ for a winter's suppl> . The railroads soon expei'ieneed a shortaae of cais in which to transport the roal fi-om the mines. Added to these handicaps the Winteidf 1!)17-IS was veiy seviav. l-'.xt ivniely low temperatures prevailed for lonti p( nods of time and heavy tails of snow blocked tiaftic The task of the Fuel Connmttee was ther.'lore a ni..st ditH(ailt one.

reports forw^arded to this Ccnnuittce liy the dealers at about the beginning of their work, it was apparent that a definite plan of procedure should at once be adopted for the purpose of securing every I'arload of coal possible to be had from every availalile soiu'ce of supply in order to nuct the iv.iuiicments of this County. To this end it was thought a(h-isab!e to personally call up.m State Fu, I Admmistrat<ir, ,Iohn E. Williams, and the Chairman of this Crmnuttce, accompanied by Secy. Edward H. Brewster, made a trip to Chicago for this purpose. The Lee County Coal situation was placed before Mr. Williams and a number of his associates, including ]\Ir. Spencer Ewing and Mr. J. W. Adams. It n\:iy be stated that this visit |)roved of great benefit as it established a per.sonal ac(|uaintance with these officials and l.atei- resulted in a \isit of Messi's. iMving and Adams to Dixon at which time, by previous ariangi nients, all of the coal dealers of Lee ('ount>- (with a possible exception of one or two), wei-e piesent. There was a frank and exhaust i\-e discussion of the coal situation at this meeting and for the first time in the history of Lee County the coal dealers had met as one body, face to face. At the close of this meeting every one present had a clearer realization of the enormity of the task of the mine owners to produce, the railroads to transport, and the dealers to equitably distribute the coal actually required to meet the needs of the community-.

The first step taken was to get a complete list of ;dl the coal deak'rs in Lee County and it was tound that there was a total of foity-four, located as foll(,w, . Amboy .lones Berry Lbi'. Co., L. A. Emery, La Salle County Carbon Coal Co.: Asliton .1. C. Criffith, Wm. Leslie, Oscar Schade, Henry Weishaar; Compton - ,Iohn Banks, Moore Lumber Co.; Dixon - D. B. Raymond & Son, Philip Woolever, J. P. Mclntyre, Frank Rink, Public Supply Co., Will)ur Lumber Co., Dixon Lumlier & Fuel Co., Hoefer Coal Co., Dixon Distilled Water Ice Co., R. A. Rodesch; Eldena - Eldena Co-Operative Co.; Franklin

Blanks weic |)r(iiiiptly oidcred and niailcMl l<, each dealer, which provided for rejiorts givina; the fpianlily of Anthracite and Bitununous coal on hand at that date; the quantity sold each dealer for the previous coal year ending .Vpi-il 1st, 1917; the amount of coal on ordei' at the date of this report; the address of all of the different mine owners or operators fi-oni whom dealers had bought during previous years and with whom they had contracts for the ciuient coal season. In addition to the above statistics every dealer was directed to mail a report at the end of each week to the Chairman of the Lee County Fuel Committee, stating the amount ot coal icccivcd during the preceding week and the quantity sold. As the situation Ijecame moi'e ciitical dealers were required in such weekly reports to give the name of each perosn to whom sales were made, stating the quantity and kind. Dealers were required to hmit quantity of coal sold to any one person, or firm to meet their immediate current needs. At times the amount was limited to five hundred pounds to consumers whose houses were heated \>y sto\-cs and one thousand pounds to those whose heal was supplied by furnace. A nunilxT of times during the Winter of 1917-18 most of the dealers were occasionally without a single wagon load of coal in their bins; and in numerous instances families used up the last scuttle of coal which they had in their homes before it was possible to secure the delivery of a few hundred pounds from their dealer. In other cases, especially during some of the snow blockades, no possible way was fomid to get cars of coal to their destination, and. as a result, dealers in many towns found it ncccs>ary to go to customers who had scarcely more than two or three days su])ply and ask them to divide with some neighbor who was entirely out of coal. In the Cit\- of Dixon the shortage of coal was fully as great as in other parts of the County.

On one Saturday in the month of January, with ver,\- low temperature and a blizzard raging, the situation was so critical that only consumers, who had not enough fuel to last until Monday, were permitted to have coal and then only in limited quantities. During that day it became necessary to draw upon the private supplies of public spirited citizens and, when night arrived, the Fuel Administration, upon communicating with the Supervisors, Chief of Police and all Coal dealers in the City, were assured that every family in Dixon had enough fuel to last until Monday morning. Upon checking up the records it was found that only a total of four tons of fuel remained in the bins of the eight coal dealers in the ( 'ily. 'Idiis Committee had also made arrangements, in case of emergency, with certain hotels and with private residentsof the City, to accommodate entire families with lodging wlicic this might become necessary in order to avei1 suffering tVom lack of fuel. Hapi)ily this <lid not become necessary.

The constantly incicasing demands for coal for o\-erseas re([nii'ements and for factories engaged exclusively on govcinment work, led to the issue of an order by United States Fuel Administiatoi- Garfield early in 1918 restricting the use of coal on Mondays, except ior wai- puiposcs an<l certain s]ieeified emergency needs, among the exemptions being churches, schools, h(]S])itals, banks, new'spapers and doctor's offices. While a drastic order of this natui'c was a serious hai-dshiji uijon maiiv mercantile and other business institutions, it was accepted by our in a s])irit of willing co-operalion, no pci-- sonal sacrifice seeming too great for any iiulixidual td hrar. The uppermost tli<iii<j;lit in every mind seemed to he that our national existence was tlireatened liy a despeiate anil deadly loe, and with spontaneous unity every man and woman seemed prepared lo dc;

It is our further pleasure to state that this Connnittee had the hearty eo-opeiation of practically every coal dealer in hee ('ount>-. Tlie rivalry- that is often seen lietween competitors in the same town or c'Wy seemed to 1 e enlirel>- fortjotlen tliniiiii Ihat peiiod of coal famine and it is not too nnieh to say that the s])irit of tellowship and paliiotism seemed to take possession of dealer and consumer alike and (o such a de^iree that dealei's throughout the County were ready to divide up a car shipment of coal with their e(]nipetitors and in numerous instances one dealer was permitted li>- another to go U> his hin and take fi'oni it a load of coal to deliver to his cuslomei'. < )n numberless occasions manufacturers in Dixon, who themselves at that lime had not to exceed three days suppily of coal on hand, allowed dealers to take coal from their plants to deliver to families that were entirel\- out of fuel. Indeed the situation on a number of occasions, and co\-erinti a i)eri(.(d of several da>s diu-ing different snow blockades of the winter 1917-lS, was so critical that tliei-e wci-e scoivs of faunlies that did not have a twenty-foui- hours su|iply of coal on hand; an,l with the .^ujiply of dealers entirely exiiauste.l, their only hope was that a I'ar might be received during the day.

It was in such numerous emergemaes that this ("onunittee f(iund its gi-eatesf oiijiortunity for effective work and it perhaps should be recoided that thei-e wiav a inindHa' of weeks, which ran into months, that the Secretary and ('haiiinan of this ('ommittee daily spent from four to eight hours of almost incessant work at the telephone, receiving ic]iorls of dealers to the effect that they were entirely out of coal, telephoning thi'se conditions to the Fuel Administrator at Chicago and often getting no encouragement theic appealing direct to mine owners and coal operators, almost without number.

No financial icport is to be made by this Committee covering expenditui-es sucli as printing, telephone and telegraph, traveling expenses, etc., as the government did not see fit to make any appropriation for this purjiose and these expenses were, therefore, (juite jn'operly assumed by the County Chairman.

It is with pride and satisfaction, mingled with a firmer belii'f in the brotherhooil of man than ever before, that we recall immerous instances where we seemed to be successfid in touching the heart of even a Coal Baron, after first being told that thiac was no possibility- of helping us out - when, after listening to our appeal, we were finallj' assured that innne(liate sliijiments would Ije made to certain dealers where the need was most urgent.

'Die members of this conmiittee each received from the United States Fuel Administration an Honorable Release dated March 1, 1919, signed by H. A. Garfield, United States Fuc4 Administrator and countersigned by Raymond E. Durham, Federal Fuel Administrator for Illinois.