GENERAL INTRODUCTION'. 3 



the trouble is lost in a labyrinth of consequences. Hence it happens 

 that advance! in the entire field of fuel and power has been lagging far 

 behind the march of progress, but not until the shock of war brought 

 matters to a head has the delinquency been commonly perceived. 

 The failure of the energy resources at a crucial moment is a measure 

 of their arrears. Now that the results of their shortcomings are 

 common notoriety, it becomes desirable to determine their deviations 

 from the path of progress with a view to charting the shortest return. 

 The energy resources of prime importance, under present conditions, 

 are coal, oil, and water power.^ In all three respects the United 

 States is more amply provided than any other nation in the world. 

 In the production of coal and oil, she takes the lead, turning out 

 nearly one-half of the world's quota of coal and about two-thirds of 

 the total output of petroleum. She fails of primacy, however, in 

 respect to developed water power. An inventory of the energy 

 situation in the United States, reduced to a per capita basis for ready 

 visuahzation, stands as follows: 



Energy resources of the United States calculated to a per capita basis.^^ 





Current production 



(1917). 



Used to date. 



Unused. 



Coal 



6.4 tons 



120 tons 



35,000 tons. 



Petroleum 



3.4 barrels 



42 barrels 



(«) 



70 barrels. 



Natural sjas 



0.3 ton coal 6 



0.4 ton coal «..; 



(d) 



Water power (coal equivalent) . 



3.6-12 tons e coal per year. 











a Calculations are made on a basis of a population of 100,000,000 and the figures are given in round numbers . 

 Data on coal and petroleum are from publications of the United States Geological Survey. 



b Rough estimate of coal equivalent. 753,000,000 M cubic feet of natural gas was consumed ta 1916. 



c Natural gas has been used so wastefuUy in the United States that the conventional coal equivalent of 

 the total amount used to date would give a misleading idea of the service rendered. 



d Reserve not open to close estimate, but a large fraction of the original supply is already exhausted. 



« Rough estimate of coal equivalent. 



• While the energy resources are used primarily for the generation of 

 motive power, the situation is complicated by the range of lesser uses 

 to which a considerable part of the energy is applied and by the 

 commodity values and commodity possibilities contained in the 

 energy materials, particularly in coal and oil. A clear comprehension 

 of this circumstance is requisite to an understanding of the attain- 

 ments and shortcomings in this field, and for this purpose the whole 

 matter may be simplified and tabulated in a rough, generalized form, 

 as follows : 



1 Wood, while significant, is omitted from consideration in this paper; natural gas, which for the time 

 being enjoys quite a vogue In the United States, is strictly a part of the petroleum resource. See pages 

 50-53. 



