CHAPTER XXII 

 RURAL FORCES 



THE United States is a vast domain. Its 

 material resources are enormous. Its 

 fertile and easily tilled soil, its magnificent 

 forests, its great stores of ore, coal, oil and 

 gas; its fine water-power sites and its tem- 

 perate and healthful climate have all con- 

 tributed to the making of a prosperous and 

 progressive nation. Without these natural 

 resources the United States could not be 

 what it is. 



The waste of some of these resources is 

 almost beyond belief. In mining, one-half 

 the anthracite and one-third the soft coal is 

 left in the ground in such a manner that it 

 may never be economically recovered. A 

 ton of coal will produce 1,400 pounds of 

 coke, worth $1.50, and 20 pounds of sul- 

 phate of ammonia, worth 50 cents. If all 

 the nitrogen in coal which is turned into 

 coke in Pennsylvania were recovered, it 

 would furnish enough of this element to 

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