6 BULLETIN 102, VOL. 1, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the development of the energy resources of the country. These 

 include such, fundamental issues as the problem of transportation, 

 of national economic policy, of national iudustrial development, of 

 national defense, of food supply, of electrochemical and electro- 

 metallurgical developments, of the smoke nuisance, of the domestic- 

 fuel supply, of industrial emigration, of petroleum exhaustion, of the 

 gasoline supply, and of the high cost of living. 



The energy resource field in its entirety, therefore, is of prime im- 

 portance, not only because of its size and scope, but also by virtue 

 of its success in retarding and blocking many radiating activities of 

 far-reaching consequence. It is also, by the same token, complex 

 and subtle, with its true meaning hidden by manifold details and the 

 strong color of technical surroundings. It is scarcely possible to pre- 

 sent such a subject so that the matter wiU be easy reading, but the 

 attempt is made to show a clear and concise perspective, divorced so 

 far as possible from technicalities and designed with the interest of 

 the average reader, rather than the expert, in mind. To this end the 

 theme is broken into three parts. The first has to do with coal as it 

 presents itself to the average householder in the guise of domestic 

 fuel; the second deals with petroleum with particular reference to its 

 familiar product, gasoline; the third concerns itself with power, and 

 therefore takes up both coal and water power from this common 

 view. The various details will faU into place in this general scheme, 

 while the conclusion will draw out the main issues and present a plan 

 for attacking the problem of fuel and power in its entirety. 



