The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-02-14
UNITED STATES
|" MUST SAVE FUEL
BUREAU OF MINES POINTS WAY
TOWARD ECONOMY.
PATRIOTIC DUTY or CITIZENS
Careful Effort Will Conserve Twenty
Million Tons Of Coal Within the
Next Year-one Ton Less
In Each Home.

Washington, D. c., Feb. 10. Five
ways of saving fuel in heating houses
are described in a timely report just
made by the Bureau of Mines, De-
partment of the Interior.
Van H. Manning, Director of the
Bureau, declares that while the coun-
try is facing a shortage of coal it is
the patriotic duty of every citizen to
save coal in the heating of his home.
He estimates that there are about
20,O0O,000 homes in this country and
that if everybody uses ordinary in
telligence and care ton of coal can
be saved easily at each home during
this year. For the entire country
this saving would amount to about
100000 tons of coal, which is near
ly as much as all of the coal mined in
France during the year 1917.
How To Economic.
The report describes the most eco
nomical method of burning different
types of coal, anthracite, bituminous,
and briquets. 1t also explains the
meaning of draft regulations and the
necessity of studying your furnace
1t is suggested that in heating houses
considerable fuel can be saved by
keeping the temperature in the house
uniform and five to ten degrees low
err than is customary; instead of the
temperature being between 20 to "A
degrees, it can be kept at 81 to 6S de-
grees without discomfort or any
danger to health, especially if the air
in the rooms is kept moist. The
keeping of the temperature down
means the saving OF Is to 20 per cent
of the fuel and it may also mean a
saving on the Doctors bill. 1t is al
so fuel saved by doing less work. The
American people are urged to save
fuel by heating fewer rooms in the
house. In many houses the family
can get along comfortably by keep
ing warm three or four rooms in
stead of heating six or seven rooms.
Sleep In Cold Rooms.
The report further states: IF one
stops to think that IS per cent of the
families in Berlin, Germany, live,
sleep, cook, and eat in the same
room, living in three or four warm
rooms will seem comfort. If con-
sumptives can get well by sleeping
outdoors, why could not well people
keep well by sleeping in unheated
bedrooms with the windows wide
open?
Too Much Heat Used.
"In some homes the furnace is
started too early in the fall and is
run too late in the spring. The
chimneys of these homes are belch-
ing smoke and spreading SCOT over
their neighborhood, while the neigh
bors keep windows and doors open
to the outside air and even sit on the
front porches. These faint-hearCed
people in their fear of catching cold
heat their houses unnecessarily; thus
they waste the country's coal, in
crease their coal bills, invite sickness
into their homes, and make life I'M
pleasant to their neighbors. When
mornings and evenings are chilly a
CRATE fire for short time in one or
two rooms will make the house COM
Portable.
Can Render Service.
Every householder by endeavor-
ing to save coal in the ways suggest
ed can render his country valuable
service, and he will not be doing his
full duty toward his country unless
he renders such service as he can. In
addition, he should remember that
besides helping his country he will
help to shorten the misery and the
horror of the great war"