Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-12
EncInnd,. CnnI snnnlr.

foOU6 years dHo MI JcNOuS, All dbutC ANU
painstaking investigator of industrial and com
mercial questions, startled England by the an.
nouncement that at the present rate of increase
in the consumption Of coal in Great Britain the
available supply from the known coal fields of
the island would be exhausted in about seventy
three years. His calculations were simple and
unimpeaChable; the present production and the
production in past years were known; the only
opportunity for error lay in his estimate of the
resources of the mines, and Mr.. Jevons' reputa-
ton as a statstician made it seem probable that
he would not have made the statement without
information as accurate and full as could be OBJ
tanned. This was a serious matter Any one
could see that a steadily increasing consumption
of material limited in quantity must virtually
exhaust it; but it had not occurred o anybody
that the probable end was so near. Those who
thought upon the subject at all perhaps regarded
ii as matter which might concern a remote
posterity, but had no practical interest for the
present or the next generation, and conjectured
that, as the world had got on very well after its
fashion without using coal until within few
hundred years, and with comparatively insg-
niticant quantity until the beginning of the
present century, it might somehow contriYe to
do without it again when the supply was SO far
exhausted as 10 make its cost TOO great for profit
able use. Science, moreover, might reveal some
substitute which would take its place as
means of producing heat and power, as coal in
recent times has superseded wood.
Mr.. Jevons' calculations disturbed this equa-
nimity. 1t might do to be Indifferent and wait
without anxiety upon the future so long as the
period of exhaustion seemed distant, and atten-
ton had not been called TO the fact that the sit
nation of Great Britain in this respect was diff
ferent from that of other countries, her rivals in
manufactures and commerce. With abundance
of coal or without any, Britain, if on an equality
n tits matter with the rest of the world, might
ope to hold her own, but if her coal mines should
pe.cxhausted, while in the United States and
Russia, 10 say nothing of other countries,
was an abundant supply for centuries,
how could she reasonably hope to main
tain her supremacy or even hold a respecta-
bic place among the nations in amount and va
riety of manufactures, for all of which, accord
ing to modern methods, abundant and cheap
coal is an Indispensable condition. The anxiety
awakened on the subject of the permanence of
the coal supply led to discussion in parliament
and TO the appointment of a royal commission
i'to inquire into the several matters relating to
coal in the United Kingdom" The commission
was appointed in 1866, and consisted of fifteen
persons with a member of the cabinet, the duke
of Argyle, at their head Several of its mem
beers were eminent men Of science and others
were manufacturers, mining engineers and coal
owners Their report was made in the sum
mer of 1871 after Investigations extend
ing over five years, and was generally
accepted as on the whole reassuring, inasmuch
as it made a considerably more liberal estimate
of the quantity of coal in the known coal fields
of Great Britain, and postponed the period of
probable exhaustion at the present rate of in
crease in consumption for one hundred and ten
years, instead of seventy-three, according to Mr..
Jevons' calculation. The report made also
some allowance for the gradually diminishing
supply and consequently increasing price,
causing greater economy in production and
consumption, and thereby further delaying the
eyilday when coal in England will be too scarce
and dear for her to compete successfully with
other countries in the great manufacturing in
dustries.
But this leassuring report is discussed with
great severity in the British Quarterly Review
and an attempt is made, apparently with sue
cess, to show that it has no real value what
ever, Notwithstanding the eminence of some of
the commissioners and the time they have en-
ployed in the enquiry. Some evidence of this
is found on the face of the report itself The
most distinguished commissioner felt obliged
10 record his earnest protest" against one of
its statements, and another expresses his dis
sent from portion of the report, which por-
1ion, curiously enough, is a simple mathemati-
cal deduction from previous statements not dis
puted, at least by any of the commissioners.
Another feature of the report which dscloses
Its want of value is its admission that
it takes "the most favorable view in reference
TO deep working that the evidence will possibly
allow" That may show patriotic spirit but
it will not inspire much confidence in the concur
sions at which the committee arrives. Other
failures and defects IN abundance and of great
importance are pointed out, showing, in the
language Of the reviewer, that "the document,
so far as any weight can be attached 10 il. is
not only without, but against evidence" The
npshot OF the whole matter is that the cheering
statements of the report are shown to be base
less and for precise and authentic information
on this important subject, the calculations of
Professor Jevons, alarming as they are to Eng
lishmen, must be accepted as the best vet attain
able.
Much less attention than the subject deserves