8 CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 



Crookes has characterized as " first among the immediate practical 

 problems of science," we find ourselves both rich and wasteful, fol- 

 lowing the primrose path, heedless of the morrow and not vet con- 

 scious that the morrow is to be a day of battle. 



In the first place we treat coal as if it were a thing which was 

 exclusively for home use, a nonexportable commodity which must 

 be used " on the farm," whereas it should be treated with profound 

 respect, because we know from Paris that sacred treaties and na- 

 tional boundaries turn on its presence. The world wants our coal, 

 envies us for having it, fears us because of it. It is not only useful 

 to us, but it has a cash value in the markets of the world. There- 

 fore it should be saved. 



In the next place we treat coal as if it were all alike, not selected 

 by nature for specific uses; whereas we should choose our coal with 

 as scientific a judgment as we choose our reading glasses. There is 

 coal for coke and coal for furnaces and coal for house use and coal 

 adapted for one kind of boiler and a different kind of coal for a 

 different kind of boiler. Therefore we should discriminate in coal. 



And again we have shown little willingness to dignify coal by 

 seeking to draw out by improved mechanical processes all the stored 

 content of heat in this lump of carbon. Instead we content ourselves 

 by giving it a mere pauper touch, driving off the greater volume of 

 its value into the air. This is a task for the mechanical engineer. 



Then, too, there is the problem of using coal in the form of steam 

 or- in the more exalted form of electric current. The lifting, bob- 

 bing lid of James Watt's teakettle did not speak the last word in 

 power. We are only beginning to know how we may move on from 

 one form of motive power to another. The wastefulness of steam 

 power as contrasted with electric power is a real challenging prob- 

 lem in conservation by itself. 



And then we naturally ask, Why this long haul over mountains 

 and through tunnels and across bridges and along streets and into 

 houses, by railroad, truck, and on the backs of men, when at the 

 very pit mouth, or within the mine itself, this same coal might be 

 transformed into electricity and by wire served into factories and 

 homes 100, 200, 300 miles from the mine? Why burden our con- 

 gested railroads with this traffic? Why strew our streets with this 

 dirt? This may be a practicable thing, a wise thing; it deserves 

 study if coal is worth conserving. 



Are there no substitutes for coal which we can use and can not 

 export? This question immediately raises the water-power possi- 

 bilities of our land, of which only the most superficial study has 

 been made. Sell coal and use electricity would appear a thrifty 

 policy. 



