GENERAL INTRODUCTION". 



individual and highly important specializations. Because of this 

 first consideration, and without reference to the second, these four 

 sources of energy have been exploited as competitors, the cheapest 

 and most convenient one in any given instance being drawn upon. 

 The lavish endowment of this country in all four respects has bounti- 

 fully supported and encouraged this competition up to the present. 

 Thus oil is used in the place of coal and water power; coal is doing 

 its own duty and that of water power as well; natural gas is wasting 

 in the crudest of apphcations. The very abundance of supphes has 

 made it unnecessary to take thought or care in their behalf. The 

 advantages of resource endowment favoring this country have almost 

 completely blocked progress in the field of fuel and power. 



The specific shortcomings on this score are several and register 

 themselves under the heads of production, transportation, and utihza- 

 tion. An advance survey of the whole field may be given in a tabula- 

 tion of the main points at issue; at the same time this will serve as a 

 listing of the problems which the detailed matter to follow is designed 

 to interpret. Thus: 



The economic status of the principal energy resources of the United States. 



Coal. 



Petroleum.. 



Natural gas. 



Waterpower. , 



Production. 



Overproduction. Too many- 

 mines. No storage. Im- 

 proper competition. 



Inappropriate leasing sys- 

 tem. 



Inadequate application of 

 technology. 



Overproduction. Too many 

 wells. Improper competi- 

 tion (more serious than 

 with coal). 



Inadequate application of 

 technology. 



Same as for petroleum 



Underdeveloped 



Legal restrictions. Unsuit- 

 able financial restrictions 

 of high money rates. 



Transportation. 



Undue burden upon rail- 

 ways due to hauUng en- 

 ergy in bulky form. 



No existing common carrier 

 system for coal-generated 

 electricity. 



Satisfactory . 



Satisfactory . 



Satisfactory so far as devel- 

 oped. 



Utilization. 



Almost total waste of com- 

 modity values due to con- 

 sumption of raw coal. 



Great loss of energy due to 

 disorganized utilization and 

 surplus production. 



Needless use in place of wa- 

 ter power. 



Waste of commodity values 

 due to use of crude and 

 semicrude petroleum. 



Loss of energj' due to forced 

 overproduction. 



Needless use in place of coal 

 and water power. 



Loss of energy due to forced 

 overproduction. Needless 

 use in place of coal. 



Satisfactory so far as used. 



The importance of this whole matter is difficult to measure accu- 

 rately or to apprehend fully, for not only is there a tremendous loss 

 in needless labor and needless transportation as result of the back- 

 ward status of affairs, but whole fields of activity of the utmost 

 national importance have been retarded and even inhibited, while 

 the more limited and highly specialized resources, petroleum and 

 natural gas, have been brought to the verge of premature depletion. 

 Something of the meaning of the situation may be presented in sum- 

 marized form in a list of the important national problems that may 

 be solved wholly or in part through the avenue of improvement in 



