The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-15

the water supply of the globe is d. minishins. and that the time is com ing when there will be no water to drink. That would be hard on Geor- gia if it should come about just when water is to be the only drink they can get. but they will have ample time to repeal their prohibition laws before the general dry-up comes. This gov ernmental expert is serious, however. and gives some data to sustain his observations. He shows that people generally are wasting too much water, especially in the cities, where we use about twice as much water as there Is need for. He makes out a pretty good case, and The New Orleans Times Democrat thus comments:
 The government experts warning is likely to tickle the risibles of those thoughtless persons who have been wont to believe that the water supply was as limitless as the supply of air, but his figures, which are doubtless passed upon accurate data. furnish food for serious reflection. We have been warned that our forests were being de- stroyed and that the supply of coal would be exhausted within a stated number of years. and most of us have borne up cheerfully under the grim portents. But the prophecy that we are goine dry--not in the prohibition but In the literal sense---is appalling. Coming at time when temperance wave Is sweeping the country and wa ter bids fair to become the national beverage, 1t Is discouraging in the ex- treme. There Is comfort. however, in the reflection that the present water supply will probably putiast our time and that of our immediate descendants and that future generations will prob ably be sufficiently advanced in the sciences to master the situation as they find it. At the same time, however. 1t the suggestions of the Geological Sur vey people and become a degree less wasteful of our water supply. Unfor- tunately, most Americans are extrava- gant by nature and they will probably suggest that 1t is the business of the government to look after the national liquid resources. and do the worrying over their shrinkage.
 There are some hitches in considers ing this subject and the experts con clusions on it. Matter, we are told by those who ought to. know, is inde- structible. It may change form or position but cannot be finally destroy ed. Water is matter; therefore, water is indestructible, If we pour 1t out on the ground it Is absorbed by the earth and comes out in springs or wells, or else it is evaporated by the sun's rays and comes back as rain or dew. Whatever disposition we may make of it. it will come back in some way, or else philosophy is at fault. In short, if it disappears in one place or form 1t must reappear in another.
 When we look around us and see
 water. water, everywhere" we find il difficult to be impressed by such pre- dictions as are here given out. We hear complaints from large cities about an insufficient water supply, but that is because the means of getting | 1t, to the cities is inadequate. We know that in some sections of our own country there is no water to be had except from infrequent rains, but those or us Wno are uol ahSCeSU pS tASSs l causes take little heed of them. We have water all around us in appar- ently inexhaustible plenty and we take no thought of the possibility of going dry i'm the future. However, as The Times-Democrat reasons, if the water supply ever gives out the time is very far in the future. so we need not wor- ry over it. Perhaps before that pc riod arrives people. animals and crops will learn to do without what is now one of the necessities of life. If not
 we pity them in advance.