ENGINEERING BEFORE AND AFTER WAR 53 



20,000 tons of steel per month, consisting chiefly of high- 

 grade ferro alloys used in munitions. 



The Future 



The nations who have exerted the most influence in the 

 war have been those who have developed to the greatest 

 extent of their resources, their manufactures, and their 

 commerce. As in the war, so in civilization of mankind. 

 But, viewing the present trend of developments in har- 

 nessing water-power and using up the fuel resources of 

 the world for the use and convenience of man, one cannot 

 but realize that, failing new and unexpected discoveries 

 in science, such as the harnessing of the latent molecular 

 and atomic energy in matters, as foreshadowed by Clerk 

 Maxwell, Kelvin, Rutherford, and others, the great posi- 

 tion of England cannot be maintained for an indefinite 

 period. At some time more or less remote long before 

 the exhaustion of our coal the population will gradually 

 migrate to those countries where the natural sources of 

 energy are the most abundant. 



Water-power and Coal. The amount of available 

 water-power in the British Isles is very small as compared 

 with the total in other countries. According to the latest 

 estimates, the total in the British Isles is under i 1 /^ million 

 horse-power, whereas Canada alone possesses over 20 mil- 

 lions, of which over 2 millions have already been har- 

 nessed. In the rest of the British Empire there are up- 

 wards of 30 millions and in the remainder of the world at 

 least 150 millions, so that England herself possesses less 

 than I per cent, of the water-power of the world. 

 Further, it has been estimated that she possesses only 2^ 



rr cent, of the whole coal of the world. To this question 

 would wish to direct our attention for a few minutes. 

 I have said that England owes her modern greatness to 

 the early development of her coal. Upon it she must con- 

 tinue to depend almost exclusively for her heat and source 



