Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-22

happen next year. nor, in thu
normal course of events. in the mex
hundred years 1t may. of course, neve1
happen at all. for Nature is babblinS
her secrets rather freely these days anc
long before the last ton of coal \
shoveled into the devouring flames SCI
ence may have learned how 10 tap new
and enormous sources of energy--sucf
as that which is involved in the mech
anisni of atoms.
But of the kinds of fuel the worlc
knows about there must be an END
wood. peat. coal oil and gas will not
last forever World populations will in
crease. Increasing culture will bring
increased demands for material things
These. in turn, will bring more facto-
ries. more ships and more locomotives.
There will be progressive spending OF
the fuel capital which the world has
built up by penurious saving and stor-
Ing of carbon for millions of years.
Modern man is the Spendthrift child
Of time. Every combustion engine he
builds is ike check written upon the
stored savings in the interior of the
earth-the amount of which diSap-
pears fenceforth from his inheritance.
Once cesi. peat, oil or gas is dissolved
into its elements II is gone forever. so
far as man is concerned The human
race long since will have disappeared
from the earth. il Is likely. before these
elements will be brought together in
the form of combustible material once
more.
Stored Through Ages.
II is far easier to spend than TO save.
The worlds fuel capital has been laid
up By tiny accumulations in single years,
never very much at time, since that
distant dav. probably more than billion
years ago. when life FIRST appeared on
this planet The body of every living
thing that ever had existed on earth in
the distant past eventually has contrib
uted 70 the inheritance of fuel.
The great carboniferous swamps be-
uueatlled their bodies that strange living
creatures might travel behind fast To-
coz olives millions of years hence. Weird
crawling and swimming things live once
more in the explosions Of the gasoline
engine as aviators wing their ways over
tracziess seas city families take a
spin into the count on Sunday after
noon.
If the human race remained at a
etandstiii the present supplies of fuel
might last almost indefinitely But this
IS not the case Industry is spreading
ever the world with great strides. There
is constant demand for more powerful
engines and these are constantly sup
Piled. Usually they are engines which
require ..sore fuel. Men no longer make
the utmost use of their own bodies as
engines for producing heat and energy.
TT fuel for those engines. food. is used
unecononically merely to keep the or
ganism going.
Until the age of widespread indus
trialism nobody worried much over the
eventual exhaustion of fuel. Most fuels,
In fact were unknown. The world S
capital of coal. oil and gas was unSus-
pecte0 and untouched, It simply lay
IN the bank drawing interest and being
passed along from one generation Of
life TO the next. Such fuels as wood,
the supply Of which could be renewed
In sing'e lifetime. and the easily re-
cOverahle peat served all needs. Men
had little use for fuel except to keep
their tents or houses warm In Winter
Supply Seemed Endless.
Even the invention Of combustion en-
gines st first did not cause general
alarm. Forests and coal beds extended
as far as the eye could see. Oh seemed
to TOW inexhaustibly from the bowels
of the earth. The amount of available
combustion material seemed infinite.
When one coal field was exhausted, 1t
was necessary only to move the mining
machinery into the next county. When
an oil well ceased to flow. the operators
simply. sunk new well IN nearby
township. Forests we're chopped down
and the logs burned on the spot to
make room for agriculture.
1t was only within the last quarter
49, fn 4rHk
otisfy of the possibility that eventually
there would be no more fueI-that the
day would come when all the wonder
full structure of civilization which had
been reared on the basis of coal and oil
must collapse because its foundations
had been burned away. Then various
philosophical economists commenced TO
look ahead 70 q day when the human
race. long since deprived of much Of its
primitive hardness and Elasticity, would
face evil days when its machines would
be useless because there would be MOTH
ing TO make them run
Some Of the predictions were quite
alarming. They made the possible
duration Of civilization merely mat
ter OF centuries. Others pointed out
that the situation was far less serious.
They were inclined TO allow supply oil
fuel sufheient for thousands OF years,
providing the future caused no extraor-
binary drains on the resources. They
pointed out that much Of the potential
supply Of coal and oil still was unknown.
But the fact remains, even with the
most optimistic premises. that the sup
pffes of known sorts Of fuel are not IN
exllauStibie and that the drain upon
them is increasing Much oil and coal
stfii is untouched. Much, probably, stu
is undiscovered But every year the
search for these is extended. On, IN
particular, has become source Of great
international rivalry. for the nations
realize that their continued power rests
fundamentally on the decomposed bod
ies of fishes and crustaceans that swan
In the primeYal seas. Without pipe
lines into the grayeyayds Of the past
they cannot keep their battleships on
the seas and they will have little to ship
IN their merchant bottoms for thf
wheels Of their factories viii not turn
SO the wars Of the future, IL often u
predicted. win be fundamentally strug'
gieS for oil disguised in a sophistic
ideaIisna.
Substitutes.
There are various substitutes for or
2anic fuel which have been investigated
one. water power, is Of extreme inpor'
tsnce, but II Is not SUFFICIENT In extent
to lessen materially the worry over the
eventual exhaustion Of coal and Oil T'hf
great elemental sources Of power have
been observation-disclosures in the IN
tertors of volcanoes and hot springs anc
the heat In the depths Of the earth
All may Ds valuable eventually. WtF
the plentiful supply Of fuel now obtain
able II has not often been found proflt'
sble to utilize them Even the tide
rave been investigated as a source o.
energy and probably the day will conn
when they will be harneSsed.
All these substitutes, nevertheless. d.
not greatly cheer the economic pfiioS
ouflers. They are, in the first place
limited and strictly localized. All, witt
f1e exception Of water power, are ez