The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-05
STORED WEALTH
 OF CREATION
 SWIFTLY WASTED
Uoa1, Iron and Forests Dis appearing Under Bad
 Management.
Prof. J. c. Monaghan Lee lures on Dissipation of Natural Resources-Edu- cational System Also WaStefu1

at the High School, by Prof. J. c. Mon aghan of New York City. That we are not wise and that we are extrava- gant as a nation would be the conclu- sion reached through Prof. Monaghan's s facts.
 The speaker touched on the former supremacy of Italian commerce, in the centuries up to the sixteenth, and ad- val ced as the reason for it's decline in this leadership the lack of native coal and iron. "And," said the lecturer. there Is an interesting sequel to this since electricity has come into use, for Italy is again coming into her own through the electricity that is developed from the waters of the Alps and the Apennines."
 Prof. Monaghan, as many of his hear CTS already knew, through previous lecture is an admirer of Italy's achieve InentS. Last evening he quoted Mac auley who says that:
 With the possible exception Of our own country, no country in all Europe, in the nineteenth century, can compare with Italy in the fourteenth, fifteenth ;lnd sixteenth centuries"
 The Speaker in speaking 1nclden- tally of Italy's past greatness, sald that some writers put the thirteenth century ahead of all the centuries or human experiences. He, himself stat ed: "The age of the renaissance Ill Italy is the greatest period Tn history next to the age of Pericles in Greece.
 Getting back to the main theme the lecturer spoke of England's succeeding Italy in commercial superiority. "OI the fifteen thousand square miles of iron in Europe" asserted the speaker, England had from ten to twelve thou sand miles, and had maintained her commercial advantage up to ten or l~ar 1,xSt Arvn hc succeeded in competing with England in the industrial and comrnerc al world because of the marvellous de- poSits of coal and iron in this country. However, climate has always played it's part in industrial activity, say what we will. In the summer at Rome one feels like taking the siesta after din ner and enjoying the dolce far niente of the Spaniards. MT. Dooley, with his wit and philosophy, says: When in Rome they said I must do as the Romans do: Begorra l find they do nothing at all, and that is very suit able to me.'"s
 In speaking of the official investiga- tions made in England, Prof. Mona ghan said that one. of these research es declared that in two hundred, or two hundred and fifty years, their coal would become exhausted. Iron, how ever, England has in Scandinavia, hav- ing acquired large beds there, and also in Spain. A second investigation un- der the scientist, Wallace, who discov- eerd coal deposits practicable for m1n- ing in the islands off the coast, added another hundred years to the period before exhaustion. Of the computa- tions made in the United States the speaker said we had, as MT. Cargenie puts it. two thousand billion tons of coal, enough. to last us at the rate or four hundred million tons year for five thousand years, while the best coal in Europe was to be exhausted in two hundred and fifty, years; but we are doubling every decade, that is doubling our output and doubling our waste: 50 that, in g. hundred and fif- ty, or two hundred years at most, our coal mines will be exhausted; and our success in industrial and commercial lines has been due to these wonderful deposits, They have put us at the head of the industrial world. Indeed. this country manufactures almost as much as all Europe combined: we are very close in our foreign trade to England herself. The business done within these United States Is larger than the commerce of the whole world and is based upon these marvellous deposits of coal and iron. We are producing one half of the iron, coal and steel of the world, We have passed the forty per cent. mark in our steel output"
 In regard to the wasteful manner Of production the speaker of the evening said: Whereas we have taken out, ,Ip to the present time about sixteen billion tons of coal, nine billion tons have been wasted. and only little over eight billion tons have been util- ized. so, if we go on that way in- creasing our output and increasing our waste 1t is only a very simple prob lem for boy in the grammar grades
 sxA hrTyH one hundred and fifty years our coal mines will be exhausted. The method of mining, whereby more than half is wasted was shown by the speaker. In our country he said that coal is found In three layers, the middle layer of much greater width than the layers on either side This middle section is min- ed and those on either sides were left, and in time crumble and fall mixing slate and other foreign materials in the coal, thus making it impossible ever to mine it. Of the billion tons or coal that we have used we get only six, seven or eight per cent. of It's possible potential use: while in producing cleo tricity we use one-fifth of one per cent of the potentiality of coal.
 In treating of our resources under the head of iron Prof. Monaghan spoke of the noted Swedish writer who made computation that there were about Il DllUOA lOilS Ol lOu OAO AAA ~AA world; ehe put us down for from one to one and half billion tons. "Mr. Car negie'' said the speaker, "gives the United State alone more than bil- lion tons of iron ore, and of the most valuable in the world. The waste in producing iron Is almost as much as that in coal We had a mountain of iron in Missouri that we thought in- exhaustible, and in less than forty wears the last ore was taken out.
 The forest waste the speaker consid- ora much worse than that of iron and cnsI He said he would not attempt fo snea1x of the loss from other than the utilitarfan point of view. we had when we started" said he. "the richest forests on earth. We did not have rosewood and ebony, but we had rich oaks, pines and hemlocks. ana they extended over millions or square miles of primitive primeval forests. These have been all destroyed and oe- nuded. According to MT. Pinchot, at the present rate of consumption. hundred million feet year, our TOT csts are not going to last more tnaLl @ a hundred to one hundred ah9 n..y years. Then we will have to oepeho on Russia'
 The reckless waste of soil through grazing was commented on by the speaker, and also the waste Of soil that is washed down through the Missls- sippi valley because of the denuding of the forests which tend to preserve