656 



CONSERVATION 



tistically the extent of the Nation's coal 

 reserves ; but great as are these stores 

 of fuel, at the present rate of increase 

 in consumption, these statistics indicate 

 that the supply of easily mined coal will 

 he exhausted before the middle of the 

 next century. Cheap coal has given 

 this country its industrial supremacy, 

 and it is well to take this account of 

 stock. 



The very abundance of our mineral 

 fuels and ores of the important metals 

 has discouraged economy, so that the 

 problem immediately before us is that 

 of waste prevention. Nowhere are the 

 present conditions more critical than in 

 the case of coal. At every stage in the 

 mining and utilization of coal there is 

 waste to an extent almost beyond belief, 

 and much of the technologic investiga- 

 tion on the part of the Survey is di- 

 rected toward lessening the waste in 

 the production of coal and increasing 

 the efficiency in its consumption. 



Water is unquestionably our greatest 

 mineral resource. All great industries 

 agriculture, manufactures, transpor- 

 tation, and mining depend upon it. 

 and it is fortunate indeed that our 

 President has called the Nation'^ atten- 

 tion to the value of its water resources. 

 The possibilities of our rivers and 

 streams well deserve the investigation 

 I mentioned earlier as being carried on 

 by the Survey. Flood prevention would 

 save to the Nation over $100.000.000 

 annually, and it is believed that flood 

 control could be secured by an expen- 

 diture equivalent to the present losses 

 from the floods of a few years. Inland 

 water navigation is demanded to solve 

 the present-day problems of interstate 

 commerce. Reclamation by irrigation 

 and drainage means the winning to the 

 use of man of vast tracts of fertile land 

 and thus increasing the national wealth. 

 Even more opportune to-day is the dis- 

 cussion of the utilization of our water 

 power. While America is the greatest 

 consumer of coal, more than one-half 

 of the present consumption in the 

 United States has for its object the 

 generation of power. In the presence 

 of enormous undeveloped water pow- 

 ers, this drain upon the coal resources 



seems in a large part unwarranted. 

 Utilize this water power and there will 

 result not only the financial saving of 

 to-day, but also the conservation of the 

 coal. Nor should we think that pos- 

 terity alone is concerned in this con- 

 servation of our resources. Every step 

 toward the exhaustion of our easily 

 mined coal, for instance, will be marked 

 by a rise in price. 



It is, then, only by systematic study 

 of the natural resources of the coun- 

 try that progress can be made toward 

 national conservation. The practical 

 value of the Survey's scientific work 

 has been recognized in this connection 

 and the usefulness of its results appre- 

 ciated by the general public. With 

 reliable information before us regard- 

 ing our stores of natural wealth our 

 present wasteful practices, and our pos- 

 -ihilities of improvement in methods of 

 utilization, there should indeed be suffi- 

 cient incentive to join in the movement 

 for national betterment. 



As a citizen of Maine, addressing a 

 representative body of Maine men, I 

 should speak of the share our state 

 has in this national conservation. In 

 all that relates to natural resources, 

 political boundaries play little part. 

 Most of the important rivers of the 

 country are interstate streams. The 

 distribution of the forests and depos- 

 its of valuable minerals antedated by 

 centuries and ages the definition of 

 state boundaries. Thus the paper man- 

 ufactured from timber from the Maine 

 forest by power derived from one of 

 air rivers may go to a southern city, 

 or again, the steel used by one of our 

 Maine mills may be the product of a 

 Pennsylvania furnace using Minnesota 

 ore. West Virginia coke, and New Jer- 

 sey limestone. It is this interdepend- 

 ence, this community of interest, that 

 makes anything that affects any part 

 of the country a matter of real concern 

 to the citizens of Maine. Yet there are 

 certain phases of this broad subject that 

 touch us more intimately than others. 



The farm, forests, and wa'rr powers 

 of Maine comprise her chief natural 

 wealth and constitute the real basis for 

 her industrial life. Of these I will men- 



