Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-11-30
DON'T WORRY ABOUT COAL.
Enough in Sight to Supply This
 Country for 5000 Yeary.

Washington, D. C., Nov 30.--" Coal sufficient to meet the probable needs of the United States for 5000 years Is in sight. The American people have no cause to worry about fuel. therefore, for good many genera i, tions to come.".
 This was the optimistic prediction made by one of the prominent scien- lists of the geological survey. Sta ttstics are now being prepared which will show definitely where this fuel IS to come from and, with reasonable certainty, how long 1t will last.
 Tt is impossible" continued the geological expert, Ito say just how long the visible coal supply of this country will last. because we know little of the probable uses of the fuel in the future-and by the future mean the next succeeding centuries, but 1t is perfectly safe to predict that there will be no shortage in the coal supply in our time or in the time of any of our children's children's chill dren. It will take several thousand years to exhause the coal supply of this country"
 Statistics prepared by the Geologi- cal survey indicate conclusively that the coal fields of America scarcely have been scratched. although enormous amounts have been taken out. In the midst of plen- ty there has been great waste and the waste still continues. In the opinion of the government geologists 1t will be many centuries before real economy in the mining and consump- tion of coal is reached. The produc- tion of coal fuel Is increasing by leaps and bounds and 1t will continue to increase as new territory is open ed by the railroads and the demands of commerce increases.
 Up to forty years ago. the total production of the country had amounted to 284,S90,055 tons. Then 1t began to leap upward. In 1875, 1t had aggregated about 100000, ,000 tons and, at the close of 1905. the total coal output of the country had amounted to 5.970,773,571 tons.
 This great increase in the pro duction of coal" as stated in a re- port on the subject by the geological survey, "when considered with the increase in the production, furnishes some interesting comparisons. Co., ing back for a period of little over years, or to the middle of the last century, and comparing the stastics of coal production with the increased population, 1t is found that in 1850, according to the census for that year, the production of coal amounted to 6,445,6S1 tons when the population of the country amounted to 23,191,876 persons. The per capita production of coal in that year Is thus seen to have been 0.278 tons. In 1860, or ten years later, the pop ulation was 31,443,321 persons. and the coal production amounted to 14,333.922 tons, or an average of 0.514 ton per capita"
 Since 1860. the per capita produc- tion of coal has jumped far ahead of the increase of population. the report showing that from 1850 to 1900 the population has increased 230 per cent, while the production of coal has increased to 4.0S4 per cent per capita.
 The vast coal fields of the West and southwest, as well as those in other parts of the country are cap able of producing unlimited supplies of the fuel and 1t is said by the governments geological experts that no adequate consumption of the coal supply of America yet has been ob- tained. They do not hold out much hope of reduction in the price of the fuel, because it probably will be mined only as 1t is demanded by commerce and industry. The scien- lists also venture the prediction that. long before the coal supply is ex- hausted, a new and immensely cheap CT fuel will have been discovered and utilized.