Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-06
Serious Conditions Discovered
by MIR. A. J. Holmes.
CONSERVATION OF FUEL
Otherwise Supply Will Expire Ahead
of Century.
MUCH WASTE IS PREVENTABLE
In the Methods of Mining of Coal
and Various Metals-Ssudy of
Conditions.
MUCH WASTE IS PREvENTABL]

| That the present prodigious waste oil the
! nations natural resources must stop AT
| once If we are to continue to prosper Is
| the warning given to the people or the
| United States by J. A. Holmes, ch1ef OF
! the technOlogic branch of the Cnlted
| States geological survey, who has just re-
| turned to Washington after a three moll'hs
| inspection trip through the west MT
Holmes, who is expert on fuels ana one
| of the best known scientists in the coun-
! try. toured the entire YES nj the instance
| of tie government To learn jus, how serious
| the conditions a:e. lie re,ut"s with the
| stat ment that in the mining operations OF
| the present time nearY ona-h;'It "i the
| total cral supply is being left undcrSrnund,
| that water. tn. mosi valuable OF all min
| eral resources as source Of power, Is
being wasted day after day and YEAR after
! year to the extent of millions of horse
! power. and that forest fires have burned
more lumber than has been used in the
building of homes or in the industries
! "Onc OF the great national problems IS the
| conserving Of the fuel resources" says Mr..
! Holmes. AT the present rate of Increase
| in consumption the better ra-t of the fuel
supply of the country will be gone 10y the
end of the present century unless the
proper steps are taken.
Future of American Industries.
''The future ascendanCy of American in
dustries will depend largely on or manu-
factIrers being able to secure cheap fuel.
The value and cost of labor Will never be
reduced in the United States to what they
are in foreign countries; but this fact rem
ders all the more essential in the struggle
for industrial and commercial supremacy
rnanufact n this country be
able to obtain fuel supplies cheaper than
they are to be had in other countries.
The world recognizes Americans as the
most wasteful of peoples in the utilization
of their resources. Certainly no nation re-
ceived so rich an Inheritance did the
United States in its combination of soil
and forest and climate, and streams and
mineral resources.
The nation has literally grown up in
luxury. Out of the very abundance of these
resources we have developed an Indifference
to economy and the habit of waste. We
have destroyed our game for its hides and
horns; our forests for their tan bark or a
pittance of the lumber they would yield
and meanwhile with thoughtless indiffer-
ence we have allowed the forest fires to
burn more lumber than we have used in
the building of homes or in the industries.
Meanwhile through the destruction of
the forests about the sources of important
streams and the improper cultivation of
these slopng lands, the fertile soils are
washed away from the fields where they
are needed and deposited in the streams
and harbors of the country from which
their continued removal Will cost an enor-
nous sum We are thus gradually but
surely destroying the value of great
water resources for power for irrigation
M
SOL and genial climate have furnished
food enough for the nation and TO spare;
and so luxurious are the habits deve oped
by this over-production of food that it is
sometimes said we waste food enough to
supply another nation as large our
own.