Evening star., 1918-02-03


E1HE age of muscle-hghting has
passed The age of machine
fighting has begun. This war
q is being waged by machinery,
and in Misunderstanding the greatest OF
assets is coal. The war is not connned
to the battlefield. For every soldier
sent to the front there are ten behind
the lines. They are to be found IN our
steel mills, our machine shops. our mu-
nitions factories and in the many other
great industries which give us our sup
niles. All of these are based upon coal.
~and il wars are to continue and ma
tion is to fight to the death against
nation, the nation that will finally sur
y;ye is the one that has the most. coal
On that basis let us see where we
stand. In order to give you the best
information 1 have gone over the sit
uation with the experts Of the fuel
administration and the geological sur
vey. They have been studying the re-
sources of the United States. and can
tell US just where We stand. They
know about every coal field in Eu-
rope and they know about all the coal
deposits on this big. round earth.
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According TO estimates made by the
international geological congress which
met in Toronto. Canada. just before
the war began. the whole world has
altogether just about 5000 billion tons
of coal and of that this United States
has more than one-half Three-fourths
of all the coal upon earth is to be
found in the North American conti-
nent. and the bulk of that outside the
hall "a n Ia Y
allies. They have just about one-fourth
as much as we have. The continent of
Europe has only one-sixth as much
coal as North America and only about
one-ffth as much as our country. The
whole of Asia has only one-third as
much coal as we have. and Australasia
and Africa put together have less than
one-sixteenth of the coal reserves of
the United States 1t will thus be seen
that as far coal is concerned we
could hght the whole world and nave
billions of tons of fuel left after the
supplies of ali the other nations have
been exhausted. DR.. Charles G. Gill
bert. curator of the bureau of mineral
technology of the Natioral Museum of
Washington. has prepared a graphic
coal exhibit of ne resources of the
United States and the world. He has
made blocks showing the proportionate
amount of coal in the various coun-
tries. and it rejoices ones soul to see
now our great block could swallow
that of any other. country on earth. and
leave a vast space around the edges.
The whole is practical Illustration
Of our industrial future. II shows that
North America for the next few thousand
odd years must be the industrial center
Of the world, and that the United States
must forever be the heart of that center.
As for the coal famine of today, that is a
temporary matter. II is due to not get
ting the coal out Of the ground and the
war troubles in placing it in the hands
Of the consumer.
tr ro,a
j give herewith. in round numbers in
billions Of tons, a table prepared by the
congress / have referred to. showing how
the oal-producing countries of the world
stand as to their coal reserves. This
table IL not made up by United States
authorities. 1t comes from the geological
experts Of every country, and that in con-
gress assembled. 1t may be relied upon
as correct:
Short tons.
Emitted States. including Alaska 4231 600 o00, 900
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