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



And, in conclusion, it may be asked what are the assets and the 

 liabihties in this business of demanding a full accountability from 

 coal. Here is the balance sheet: 



Assets: Liabilities: 



Ample coal resources. Tradition. 



By-product coke experience. Character of the past administration 



Municipal gas-plant installations, of the average public utility. 



Character of our past conduct of tech- 

 nical matters. 



The assets are large, but the liabihties, it must be admitted, have 

 been insistent enough to block progress in the past. Whether they 

 will continue to overbalance the assets will depend upon the course 

 of pubUc opinion. It is up to the man in the streets to determine 

 which shall prevail, A continuation of the present system of coal 

 economics may be justified on the basis of indifference to progress, 

 but not on the basis of ignorance; its unnecessary prolongation 

 should afford a prospect intolerable to the thinking man. 



