1680 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, 1918 



"Going It Blind" on Fuel Supply 



People of Canada Faced with Certain Coal 

 Shortage must Organize for Wood Reserve. 



Canada is, in the main, "goini* il 

 biind" on the Avood fuel supply for 

 next Avinter. Six months from the 

 daLe of issue of this Journal will see 

 the cold weather back again. How 

 many mimicipalities have taken the 

 U. S" Fuel Administrator at his word 

 and have supplemented the inevit- 

 able coal shortage with fuel wood, is 

 hard to ascertain, but judging by 

 scores of reports in various local 

 newspapers, amazingly little has been 

 done. As in other campaigns the 

 people have been waiting for leader- 

 ship. They waited for it in Febru- 

 ary and Aiarch, the best months for 

 getting the cutting done so as to 

 allow time for seasoning. Scarcely 

 a hint of the danger of delay appear- 

 ed from any cjuarter save through 

 the Commission of Conservation and 

 the Canadian Forestry Association. 



Xow with \\ inter five or six months 

 distant, soni'e effort in the direction 

 of public education and warning ap- 

 pears. Advertisements are being cir- 

 culated in the papers by the Ontario 

 Government inviting municipalities 

 to undertake to. supply their wood 

 fuel needs from the abundant sup- 

 plies in Algonquin Park. The newly 

 appointed Provincial Fuel Adminis- 

 trator, R. C. Harris of Toronto, has 

 announced to some of the Boards of 

 Trade that Canadians need not ex- 

 pect to have their houses at the same 

 temperature as last winter nor to be 

 able to secure a normal coal supply. 

 Doubtless, provincial action will ex- 

 tend beyond a warning for very few 

 municipalities wifl be found to take 

 action of themselves if that is the 

 limit of official co-operation. 



Action Comes Late 



Canadians may rest assured on one 

 important point that we are six to 

 eig'hteen months behind our Inited 

 States neighbors in preparing for the 

 coal shortage, which the U. S. Fuel 

 Administrator savs is certain to 



arrive next winter. 



Recent issues of the Forestry Jour- 

 nal have contained abundant inform- 

 ation going to show the remarkable 

 activity displayed by the Eastern 

 States and the F. S. Government in 

 supplementing the coal shortage with 

 a wood reserve. 



The Secretary of the Canadian 

 Forestry Association recently spent 

 a day in a small village, seventeen 

 miles from Toronto. February had 

 passed, March had passed and yet 

 veiA' few of the villagers and farmers 

 had cut more than a few cords of 

 wood, just sufficient to act as kind- 

 hng for the anthracite coal fires they 

 expect to enjoy next winter. At 

 their back doors lay enough dead and 

 dying hardwood trees to keep their 

 homes at summer heat through live 

 or six winters. In such communit- 

 ies across the border the State Fuel 

 administrators tacitly informed the 

 villagers and farmers that they need 

 not expect their usual coal supply. 

 This early warning, given six months 

 or more ago, had the effect of driv- 

 ing every citizen into the nearest 

 bush for a few days hard work. 



A Grave Warning 



What says the U. S. Fuel Control- 

 ler, as rellected in the official state- 

 ment of C. A. Alacgrath, Fuel Con- 

 troller for Canada? 



1. That anthracite coal supplies 

 to the points in Western Canada will 

 be very materially restricted during 

 the present coal year. 



2. Under the circumstances, it is 

 safe to predict that no American an- 

 thracite coal will be available for ship- 

 ment to points west of Winnipeg. 



3. It is also proposed to restrict 

 shipments of anthracite to Canadian 

 lake ports during the early part of 

 the present season. 



4. That the public, both east and 

 west, must be given to understand 

 that conservation of c?ai must be 



