PART IV. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



STATEMENT OF THE ENERGY SITUATION. 



Coal, oil, and water power are the principal sources of energy 

 in the United States. Though commonly regarded separately, 

 they really constitute a single resource group which provides the 

 energy essential to modern conditions and contributes commodities 

 of growing importance besides. Two-thirds of the energy extracted 

 is consumed as power in doing the work of industry and transpor- 

 tation, while the balance is devoted to the production of heat and 

 light and to the furtherance of chemical work. The commodity 

 values held in coal and oil, while having an important and growing 

 bearing upon modern needs, are largely ignored. Not only is the 

 industrial, civic, and domestic life of this country utterly dependent 

 upon the energy materials, particularly coal; but the production, 

 transportation, and distribution of these essentials constitutes a 

 prominent aspect of the country's activity. Thus 700,000,000 tons 

 of coal, 350,000,000 barrels of petroleum, and 6,000,000 horsepower 

 of hydroelectricity represent the annual numerical measure of the 

 field ; over a third of the freight of the country is coal ; the smoke and 

 grime of cities is unburnt fuel ; more than a million men are engaged 

 in the mining of coal and oil alone. 



The energy supply of the United States has given considerable 

 trouble during 1917-18. This is commonly attributed to the ab- 

 normal conditions created by the war. But a careful analysis of 

 the whole situation indicates that all the faults felt acutely during 

 the war were present in the situation before that period, to- 

 gether with others yet to be appreciated. The war produced no 

 new issues in this field. The situation was unsound before the 

 coming of war. A serious fuel shortage affects the country to-day. 

 With the resumption of normal demand, normal labor conditions, 

 and normal railway transportation, this country will still face a 

 critical problem in fuel and power. It is scarcely too much to affirm 

 that the established method of supplying the energy needs of the 

 country has permanently broken down. 



Can this country continue to rely almost exclusively upon the 

 railways for its supply of energy ? Coal alone now engages nearly 

 half the freight capacity of the railways. Can the cities and homes 

 of the country afford to turn to bituminous coal with its smoke and 



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