Map showing “Heatless Monday” states
proclaimed due to a coal shortage. From the
Fort Wayne Sentinel newspaper of 18
January 1918.
Many World War I researchers have read about “Meatless Mondays” in the United States–an effort to conserve on meat and other commodities in order to be able to ship more food to Europe. A little known conservation of fuel was enacted on 16 January 1918 and dubbed “Heatless Mondays.”
According to the Ephraim Enterprise newspaper (Ephraim, Utah) of 4 January 1918, page 4, “the government began to tighten its control over industry and business for the purpose of furthering war efforts and protecting the public. .. in order to relieve a serious coal shortage which threatened to delay the shipment of war supplies to France, Fuel Administrator Garfield ordered a general shutdown of industry and businesses in all states east of the Mississippi River for a period of five days and ten succeeding Mondays.” Continue reading
