Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-01-25

admit that the others had any rights
In the case. Tor on dividing up the
| island when shey we're cast away.
! the decks on which opened the
matches leading to the coal bunkers
were assigned to these coal people
and therefore the coal in the bunk
ers had passed into private possess
sion and become private property.
The passengers, however, laughed at
this, and took possession of the coal
as part of the common property
of all, and began course of econ
omy in taking out and using 1t that
SO conserved the coal that when the
island was finally undiscovered and
the people taken off, there was still
q great deal OF coal in the bunllers,
though several years had elapsed.
The above is an allegory, or, as
Jesus called such stories. a parable
It is the shortest way | know to tell
you the coal problem which con-
fronts US passengers on the Good
Ship Earth.
There is only just SO much coal in
the earth. Does it belong to all of
us, or only to those who have deeds
to the land above it? | don't mean
the law-I know what the courts
would say--but in real truth and in
real fact, by that higher law which
forbids the waste of those things on
which the race must base it's future
life? Careful estimates have been
made leading to the conclusion that
If we keep up the increase in the
consumption of coal at the rate we
have been boosting it the supply VIII
give out in $50 years. ! believe there
will be lots of coal long after that;
but this is certainly true-sone time
it must be exhausted if we keep on
mining it.
That's as certain as death, and we
are as wicked and cruel in our waste
if we bring this awful catastrophe
prematurely on the world ten thou
sand years from now, as in ten years.
Can you escape that conclusion?
The people who are handling the
coal business for us on the good ship
Earth are wasting the coal. From
one-half to quarters of the an
thracite and half the soft coal are
wasted in mining. 1t costs less to
take out only that which comes
easiest, so great deal is left to be
hidden forever when the prop comes
out and the roof caves in. Thus the
companies make more money and we
get cheaper coal than if it were prep
erly mined.
There are nearly n hundred thou
sand beehive coke ovens in the
United States which waste so0,00O,O0O
worth of the goodness of the coal an
nually-all the gas, all the tar, and
all the fertilizer are wasted-fer-
tilizer our hungry soils need so sore
". Ovens such as are used in really
civilized nations would save these
and make their owners money. One
twelfth of all our coal goes up in
black smoke-or 100000 900 a year.
Mechanical stokers would save almost
all of this, Van Hise says that i'll
one fair-sized plant the smoke-pre-
venting machines save more than
third of the coal. 1t is certain that
this smoke curse could be prevented.
Only / per cent. of the Goals energy
is realized in light when burned to
make electricity We should make
our lights of other things-water-
power for instance.
In using coal for power much more
could be made if the fuel elements
were converted into gas and used in
gas engines instead of steam en-
gines. It is perfectly well settled that
coal converted into producer gas gives
more than two and "a half times the
power that it does when used to make
steam. Think of saving two-thirds of
the coal burned in stationary steam
engines, But it takes better men,
more intelligent men to run such en-
gines. So what we need is more in
telligence in the mine owners. more
intelligence in engineers, more intel
ligence and better morals all along
the line. We could get along with
less than half the coal we burn if we
tried hard And there is a way by
which we might do a great deal bet
ter than that.
The big question is. of course, to
whom the supplies belong which God
has placed in the hold Of this good
ship Earth? Suppose they were
threatened by an accidental confla-
grafton, how they would call on every
good citizen to fight for the 'heri-
tage of the race" Why isn't it our
heritage when money-making con-
Migration is actually ravaging it?
See Mondays Evening Star for an
nouncement of the next article in this
great series.