12 



CONSERVATION 



Among the startling points brought 

 out in tlie report is that contained in 

 the statement that the gas that is now 

 escaping from gas and oil wells, and 

 the loss of which is altogether pre- 

 ventable, is sufficient to light all the 

 cities in the United States of over loo,- 

 ooo inhabitants. Another is the dem- 

 onstration that the existing and known 

 coal fields of the country contain only 

 sufficient unmined coal to last until the 

 middle of the next century. Of all 

 minerals produced in the United 

 States, one-sixth is wasted, this waste 

 amounting to $1,000,000 a day — $365,- 

 000,000 annually. This waste of min- 

 eral products is not the only staggering 

 fact developed ; the loss of life, through 

 careless, imperfect mining methods, 

 and through a lack of harmony in the 

 laws of the different States and the 

 National Government, is far greater 

 than is true of any other country in 

 the world, where men are engaged in 

 the same lines of work Senator Flint 

 urgently recommended that the strong- 

 est sort of resolutions be adopted call- 

 ing for the enactment and enforce- 

 ment of laws safeguarding the miners, 

 with the end in view of putting a stop 

 to this awful and wholly needless sac- 

 rifice of human lives. 



In regard to conditions so far as the 

 country's mining laws are concerned, 

 Senator Flint said : 



"We have three dififerent schemes 

 for obtaining title to mineral property : 

 viz., the coal land laws, the lode claim 

 laws, and the placer mining laws. Un- 

 der the placer mining laws we know 

 of the great frauds committed in tak- 

 ing up timber lands in the West ; but 

 at the same time it is difficult to frame 

 a law that will permit placer mining 

 and at the same time not permit the 

 placer miner to own the surface of 

 the ground. In other words, in placer 

 mining as it is in the West, it is nec- 

 essary to take the surface or we can- 

 not have a placer mine. * * * Our 

 mining laws should be changed so as 

 to permit the taking out of the various 

 minerals, and at the same time hold 

 the ground itself so that it may after- 

 wards be used for farming." 



Changes of the laws governing the 

 handling of oil wells and oil lands were 

 recommended ; the position was taken 

 that the use of oil as fuel for locomo- 

 tives and other engines is unnecessary 

 and a needless waste of this mineral 

 resource ; the present condition and 

 future prospects as to coal and iron 

 deposits was gone into ; the importance 

 of the protection of phosphate rock 

 deposits was urged, and several recom- 

 mendations were made. 



The mineral production of the United 

 States now exceeds $2,000,000,000 in 

 value annually, standing second only to 

 agriculture as a producer of National 

 wealth. The mining industry of the 

 country furnishes our light, heat and 

 power, and supplies sixty-five per cent, 

 of the freight traffic of the country. 

 The annual waste in mining and treat- 

 ing mineral products is more than 

 $300,000,000. 



The fuels, supplying heat light and 

 power for domestic and industrial pur- 

 poses, are the most fundamentally es- 

 sential resources of the Nation. Use 

 of fuels involves their immediate and 

 complete destruction. The use of large 

 quantities of other materials also in- 

 creases the rate of consumption of the 

 fuels ; for, as the Nation has now 

 passed the stage of early development, 

 the use of fuels is increasing much more 

 rapidly, in proportion to increase of 

 population, than in the past. The avail- 

 able and easily accessible coal supply 

 aggregates approximately 1,463,800,- 

 000,000 tons. At the present rate of 

 production — and waste — this supply 

 will have approached exhaustion before 

 the middle of the next century. From 

 the beginning of coal mining in 

 America to the close of the year 

 1907 there have been mined of all 

 kinds of coal 6,865,000,000 tons, and 

 it is carefully estimated that for 

 every ton of coal taken from the 

 mines one-half a ton has been wasted. 

 The rate of production has been stead- 

 ily increasing. The initial step in ex- 

 tending the life of the coal supply must 

 be the lessening of the waste in min- 

 ing, handling, and transportation of the 

 coal. More advanced methods of use 



