indeed part
of the fighting forces. A competitive spirit was aroused and mining
conditions were bettered to keep them satisfied. Labor responded to the
call. Holidays were omitted and emulation between different shifts became
keen.[8] Increased production was paralleled by more efficient
distribution. A zone system, finally put into operation, eliminated
approximately 160,000,000 car miles. Local fuel administrators kept in
constant touch with the need of the localities under their jurisdiction,
studied methods of abolishing unnecessary manufacturing use of coal and
refused coal to non-essential industries.

[Footnote 8: In 1918 the average number of days worked by each miner in
the bituminous fields was greater by twelve than that of 1917, and by
twenty-five than that of 1916. During the half-year period from April to
September, 1918, bituminous production was twelve per cent greater than
in the corresponding period of the previous year, which had itself
established a record, despite the decrease in the number of mine
workers.]

Similar increase in the production and saving of oil was accomplished.
The oil-burning vessels of the allied navies and merchant marines, the
motor transport service of the armies, all made this necessary. In 1918
the production of oil in the United States was fourteen per cent greater
than in 1914. In response to an urgent cable from Marshal Foch, which
ran: "If you don't keep up your petrol supply we shall lose the war," a
series of "gasless Sundays" was suggested. For nearly two months, merely
at the request of the Fuel Administration and without any compulsion
except that arising from public opinion, Sunday motoring was practically
abandoned. That most crowded of motor thoroughfares, the Boston Post
Road from New York to Stamford, might have served as playground for a
kindergarten. The estimated saving of gasoline amounted to a million
barrels: about four per cent of the gasoline sent abroad in 1918 was
provided by the gasless Sundays.

Credit must be given the Fuel Administration for the large measure of
success which it finally secured. It was slow in its early organization
and at first failed to make full use of the volunteer committees of coal
operators and labor representatives who offered their assistance and
whose experience qualified them to give invaluable advice. But Garfield
showed his capacity for learning the basic facts of the situation, and
ultimately chose strong adviser