Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1906-12-01
5000 YEARS
COAL SUPPLN
American People Should
Have No Cause to Fear
Shortage
80 SAYS EMINENT
GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST
GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST

cient to meet the probable needs of
the United States for Ave thousand
years is in sight The American
people have no cause to worry about
rue', therefore. FOR good many gen.
trations to come
This was the optimistic prediction
made by one of the prominent
Scientists of the geological survey.
statistics are now being prepared
which will show definitely where this
fuel Is to come from and. with reas
enable certainty. how long it will
last.
"It is impossible" continued the
geological expert. ito say lust
how long the visible coal supply Of
this country viii last, because we
know little OF the probable uses of
the fuel In the future and by the
future (mean the next succeeding
eenturies-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 children II Will take sew
eral thousand years to exhaust the
coal supply OF this country"
Statistics prepared by the geolo
eical survey Nndicate conclusiyex that
the coal fields OF America scarcely
have been scratched. although enor
mous amounts have been taken ont
In the midst OF plenty thore hag
been great waste and the waste still
continues. In the opinion of the
government biologists II will be many
centuries before real economy I'm the
mining aud consumption cf coal Is
reached. The production OF coal fuel
Is increasing by leaps and bounds and
IL viii continue TO increase as new
territory is opened by the roailroads
and the demands of commerce in
croases
TIP to forty years ago the total
coal production of the country had
amounted to 2S4,S9O,O55 tons. Then
IT began TO leap upward. In 1875
II had aggregated about 100000. 600
tons and. at the close of 1905 the
total coal output OF the country had
amounted to 5,97O,773,571 tons.
This great increase in the produc.
tion Of coal" as stated in a report ON
the subject by the geological survey |
when considered with the increase
in the population, furnishes some I'm
teresting comparisons. Going back
for a period of a little over fifty
years, or to the middle of the last
century. and comparing the stats
tics Of coal production with the in
creased population, II Is found chat
In 1850 according to the census for
that year, the production OF coal
amounted to GAS. G81 tons. when
the population Of the country amount.
ed to 28,10187G persons. The per
capita production Of coal in that year
is thus seen to have been O.278 tons.
Ia 1860, or ten years later, the pop
ulation was 21.44S321 persons and
the coal production amounted to ~
883,922 tons tons, or an average Of
o.514 tons per capita"
Since 1860. the per capita pro.
duction Of coal has Jumped far ahead
OF tho increase Of population, the
report showing that from 1850 to
1900 the population has increased
23O per cent while the production
Of coal has increased to 1854 per
cent per capita
The vast coal fields Of the West
and Southwest as well as those in
other parts Of the country. are capa
bic of producing unlimited supplies
of the fuel and It IS said by the gov
ernments geological experts that no ]
adequate conception Of the coal sup (
ply of America yet has. been obtain
ed They 10 rot hold ont much hope
.of n reduction IN tho price Of the
fuel because @ probably VIII be min
cd only as it is demanded by com. /
merce ard industry Tho scionuanI /
also venture the prediction that long
before the coal supply IS exhausted /
Ia new and immensely cheaper fuel |
VIII have been discovered and utnil
zed.