Sound Advice on Coal Saving 



To the man with the shovel 



(Prepared in the office of the United States Fuel 

 Administration for tlie Popular Science Monthly) 



WITH trillions of tons of coal in the 

 ground, America is hard-pressed 

 to furnish coal for munitions fac- 

 tories and steel plants; for the Army and 

 Navy; and for domestic consumption. 



There are not enough coal cars to 

 transport coal needed for American con- 

 sumption and for the maintenance of our 

 Allies. If there were enough coal cars, 

 there would not be enough locomotives to 

 draw them. If coal cars could be pro- 

 vided, there would not be enough terminal 

 trackage to handle the enormous increase 

 of freight caused by the war. 



The United States Fuel Administration 

 asks that the American people, through 

 measures of conservation in factory and 

 home, fill the gap of fifty million tons 

 which even the increased production of 

 1917 fails to fill. 



Americans have customarily been waste- 

 ful of coal. There has always been plenty 

 of coal, at a cost that has seemed very 

 moderate. Why bother to be economical 

 in the use of it? The average man-of- 

 the-house, who manages his own furnace, 

 might be more frugal of his fuel if he 

 realized that every shovelful of coal that 

 he throws into the greedy maw of the 

 ogre in the cellar, represents in money 

 value the price of a loaf of bread or a pint 

 of milk. 



From the viewpoint of people fairly 

 well-to-do, the saving of a shovelful here 

 and there has been too petty an affair to 

 be worth considering. 



Today, however, we are confronted by 

 a new situation. Now it is everybody's 

 business to save coal. Now coal means 

 munitions and other war supplies. It 

 means transportation. It means the 

 winning of the war. 



Yet, if every householder in the United 

 States would save one kitchen shovelful of 

 coal each day in the year, the total saving 

 thereby accomplished in a twelvemonth 

 would amount to 15,000,000 tons. 



This quantity would keep 5,000,000 

 ordinary folks warm all winter. It would 

 keep 7,500,000 soldiers comfortable all 



winter in cantonments. It would send a 

 fleet of twenty-five battleships across the 

 Atlantic Ocean 3000 times! 



If consumers can be aroused to an in- 

 telligent consideration of the problem, it 

 is very easily within their power to save, 

 without any discomfort or inconvenience, 

 10 per cent or more of the coal they have 

 been accustomed to use. They should 

 realize that one man's careless and waste- 

 ful use of coal may mean a cold house for 

 his neighbor, and that a few such careless 

 householders may mean an idle factory. 



The problem is personal. It deals with 

 the human element. The man whom the 

 Fuel Administration is trying to reach is 

 the man with the shovel. He is the great 

 big factor in the present coal problem. 

 Mainly, upon him, and his willingness to 

 save, must depend the success of the 

 present movement for fuel economy. 



In American households there are 

 15,000,000 coal-shovelers, men and women. 

 When they feed coal to their furnaces and 

 kitchen stoves, they do not realize that it 

 is the very life-blood of the nation that is 

 going into those hungry receptacles. To 

 waste any coal, under present circum- 

 stances, is nothing short of criminal. 



One-fifth of our total output of coal is 

 used for domestic purposes. Three-fifths 

 are consumed by the railroads and power- 

 plants of the country. Here again comes in 

 the man with the shovel, 250,000 strong. 



The Fuel Administration is carrying on 

 an active campaign of technical instruc- 

 tion in the industrial plants of the 

 country. Experienced engineers give in- 

 struction in the most economical and 

 efficient firing of furnaces. 



As for the householder, he must reahze 

 that it is worth while to examine his 

 dwelling and overhaul his heating equip- 

 ment. Weather-strips, double windows, 

 pipe-coverings, clean flues and chimneys, 

 and tight fittings in furnace parts will all- 

 pay. When you save electricity and gas 

 you save coal. Turn out all Hghts when 

 they are not needed. Use gas sparingly. 

 Clean heating surfaces are most essential. 



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