New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-05-18
AFTER COAL. WHAT?
4 STAGGERING PROBLEM.
Tater Porer One Hope from Frees
ing. Electrical Expert Says.

many persons in this room this afternoon who
VIII live TO the time when soft coal will be
out Of reach for general use"
No less authority than DR. Charles P
stenmetz. of Schenectady N Y consulting en-
gineer for the General Electric Company ex-
pressed this opinion yesterday before several
hundred electrical engineers and students of the
New York Electrical Trade School at the En-
gneers' Building. in West 39tr street. His sub
5ect was The Future of Electricity
There will be coal soon' he repeated.
I'VE can now the end of the supply. In a
very short time coal cannot be used for fuel.
II is already out Of the question to use wood for
fuel. and now, ask you in all seriousness. what
are 10 DO when finally we are brought face
70 face with the fact that unless some substi-
tute for coal is evolved we will all freeze to
DEATH
He said that when the coal famine actually
struck this country the people in it would then
probably be taught truth that we now should
know. namely, that 1T is vicious to poison the
pure air with the killing gases that are emitted
from the chinaneys of steel plants and other
manufacturing concerns burning soft coal" and
said there only one solution TO the prob
lem. in the adoption Of which the United States
would be utilizing the remaining source of
power
VALUE OF WATER POWER
The thing that can keep US from freezing
10 death in winter is water power" he said In
Massachusetts, there is water power. many times
greater than Niagara running TO waste. We
must collect the water power. change il into
electricity and use it. Something has already
beer. accomplished along this line. but compared
u what will be necessary later when the people
of this country no longer live on their capt.
ial-the coal fields-Ne have done very little in
6eed Power is now transmitted in one un-
broken current from Cleveland TO Poughkeep-
sic, y Y for the of electric railroads;
but have not as yet made any attempt 10
utilize the tremendous power that goes to waste
IN spring floods. When We are forced to
economic. as we will be to a wonderful ex-
tent before long. will collect all the available
power from the small creeks Of the couf-
Try. and even then it is not at all unlikely that
before many years there will be periods during
the winter months when manufacturing plants
Hill be forced 10 shut down far as the turn
ing out Of their regular products is concerned
and run their plants for no other purpose than
10 distribute heat 10 keep US from dying from
the cold
ELECTRICITY ONE HOPE.
Electricity was the spark of hope. accord
ing 10 DR. Steinmetz. He said the country could
get along without physicians. that at least the
human race would continue without physicians
But 1he human will not be able to con-
tinue without electrical engineers" he added
ernphatically-
The country needs in that profession
right nox,' he continued, because. while there
thousands of hard working engineers carry
ing out the plans formulated by others, there
only about three dozen who can go out into
new fields and originate new plans"
Whether a man college graduate not
Of less Importance than whether he could
keep level head when seeing things moving
rapidly around him." said DR.. steinmetz in
speaking of the requirements and emoluments
in that field Of industry. And the South is the
place for you to go. There is the great field for
tie electrical engineer He became reminis-
cent: Il went South in 1894. and the first cleo
tric motor TO work in conjunction with water
power had just been installed. Only eighteen
years ago. They have made rapid progress
since That is the country for you. They have
only just begun down there They are taking
the cotton business from the mills Of the North,
and at the present there is an enormous water
power development going all through the
South"
In addition To the comparatively imminent
bsITernc-s Of the hard and soft coal beds of the
country Dr. Steinmetz equally positive in
stating that, in his opinion, it was matter of
only years until natural fertilizers would be
also gone-used up. He said the supply OF salt
retre in Chill could not last longer than that.
The farms in the New England States are al
ready exhausted. he said. We have the wide
West where crops can be raised. but the time
Is not far distant when that section of the
United States will reach that stage when there
vii have 10 b. put back into the soil whatever
IS taken ont Again. what do2' be
asked Answering his question, he proceeded:
we shall have 10 utilize refuse products Of
cities and towns and villages now dumped into
rivers and carried out 10 sea and by an cleo
tcal process make it valuable fertilizer. else
cur soil will become barren and starvation must
De faced"
CITY PLACE FOR WORK ONLY
The views Of DR.. Steinu1etz were more cheer
.ui concerning the changes which he said ii
pleased him see taking place through the rap
!dly increasing number Of electric trolley lines
The effect on the social life Of the nation being
wrought by that agency Was. he said, 10 extin-
suish the country, making il the suburb Of the
cities" He thought the city before many years
would be deserted by all a place Of abode, eK-
oept The bachelors who might still be found IN
their boarding houses But people who want
10 live viii 20 70 the country The electric cars
viii evolve this change. The city viii be place
for work only
Dr. Steinrnetz was sure that the holders OF
ffocl in submarine cable companies need have
no fear Of an early depreciation in values caused
by such competition the wireless telegraph
was able 20 make at this time. He said: The
wireless companies collect messages from
space but cannot send out a message 10 just
One other station, nor pick one up from just
one other station. In this respect much will
have 10 h. accomplished: but il eliminates the
Possibilities that formerly existed in war. Enc
mics cannot be cut off from each other as before
Il will also help greatly in Polar expeditions
AL THAI can as vet be done however, by the