Fuel Frenzy: Churches Cry Foul Over Coal Rationing

On February 1, 1918, the congregations of Moline’s First Congregational, First Methodist, and First Baptist churches met in a heated session, their voices raised in protest against the Rock Island county fuel administration. The churches claimed that the county’s coal rationing plan was unfair, allowing saloons to stay open longer than grocery stores and other essential businesses. This discriminatory policy, they argued, was a blatant disregard for the hardships faced by ordinary citizens during the coal shortage.