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



and slowed down at this point, with a fall in the scale of living and a 

 change in the color of national advance. Thus far this country has 

 attempted to meet this issue almost solely by means of railways, and 

 has ignored the bearing upon the matter of the item of power, 

 although this ingredient engages over a third of the freight capacity 

 of the country and is a prime contributor to the inelasticity of the 

 transportation fabric as now woven. From a broad viewpoint, it 

 would appear that the transportation problem can not be adequately 

 solved without giving due attention to the question of power. 



Conversely, power itself presents a problem of no small magni- 

 tude, since without adequacy in this respect the processes of industry 

 are idle. It is common notoriety that the limiting factor in the 

 supply of power is not a dearth in energy resources, of which, indeed, 

 this country is amply provided,^ but lies in the means for getting the 

 energy distributed to the points of use. The importance of the 

 transportation side of the power problem is reflected in the country- 

 wide system of pipe lines for the service of petroleum, and the con- 

 centration of industry in regions provided with coal — ^both conces- 

 sions to the exigencies of carriage. 



Thus, since the transportation problem embraces the matter of 

 power, while the power problem displays itself mainly in the guise 

 of transportation, the two issues merge, and whether viewed from the 

 one angle or the other, the logical objective for an attack is pre- 

 sented in the form of power transportation. 



PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPORTATION AS APPLIED TO POWER. 



Organized transportation differs essentially from the simple indi- 

 vidual act of carrying only in magnitude. The imderlying principles 

 are the same in the two extremes. "Whether the concern be that of a 

 stone in a neighboring field or a mountain of copper ore a thousand 

 miles distant, effectiveness of transportation involves the same three 

 factors. These are: 



1. The employment of the equipment best suited to the task. 



2. The advance elimination of superfluous weight. 



3. The full utilization of the material transported. 



The individual encounters these principles at every move and 

 Habitually follows their promptings in conserving his personal 

 efforts. The operation of industry as a whole is also fashioned in 

 conformance with them. The developments in the case of power 

 supply provide the only noteworthy exception. Here the practice 

 is at variance, not merely with one of the principles, but with all 



1 So large are the energy resources of the United States that their very size has made 

 it seem unnecessary even to regard power as a national problem. Hence the problem has 

 actually cnme to a hnnd 1n all its seriousness, without any symptoms having generally 

 been recognized in advance. 



