4 CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 



the waves of the sea, the whole dependence of the world upon coal 

 may be upset. That day, however, has not yet come; and until it 

 does we may consider our coal as the surest insurance which we can 

 have that America can meet the severest contest that any industrial 

 rival can present. It is more than insurance it is an asset which 

 can bring to us the certainty of great wealth, and if w r e care to exer- 

 cise it, a mastery over the fate and fortunes of other peoples. 



Next to the fertility of our soil, we have no physical asset as valu- 

 able as our coal deposits. Although we are sometimes alarmed be- 

 cause those deposits nearest to the industrial centers are rapidly 

 declining and we can already see within this century the end of the 

 anthracite field, if it is made to yield as much continuously as at 

 present, yet it is a safe generalization that we have sufficient coal in 

 the United States to last our people for centuries to come. An extra 

 scuttleful on the fire or shovelful in the furnace does not threaten 

 the life of the race, even if some Russian or Chinese of the future does 

 not resolve the atom or harness the hidden forces of the air. What- 

 ever fears other nations may justifiably have as to their ability to con- 

 tinue in the vast rush of a machine world, there can be no question of 

 our ability to last. 



The present strike, however, makes quite clear, perhaps for the 

 first time, that it is not the coal in the mountain that is of value, but 

 that which is in the yard. And between the two there may be a 

 great gulf fixed. Therefore, we are put to it to make the best of 

 what we have. We turn from telling how much coal we use to a 

 study of how little we can live upon and do the day's work of the 

 Nation. And this is, I believe, as it should be. Indeed I feel justi- 

 fied in saying that the problem of this strike is not to be solved in 

 its deeper significances until we know much more about coal than we 

 know now, and this especially as to the manner in which it is taken 

 from its bed and brought to our cellars. 



PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY. 



This transfer is effected by a kind of carrier chain, the links of 

 Avhich are the operator, the miner, the railroad, and the public. We 

 choose, to please ourselves, the link in this chain upon which we place 

 the responsibility for its failure to work; but before indulging our- 

 selves in abuse of arrogant coal barons or dictatorial labor unions, 

 it may be as well to ask whether we of the public are not responsible 

 in some part for this failure to function. I do not refer now to the 

 failure of society to provide methods of industrial mediation or other 

 adjustment of such labor difficulties. My question is. Avhether or not 

 the public is at all at fault when a nation wealthy beyond all others 



