Coal, Oil, and Gas 157 



rials could be substituted for these pillars and all the coal 

 could be taken out. 



In using the coal we waste about-another quarter. Stoves 

 and furnaces are usually built so poorly that a large part of 

 the value of the coal escapes as gas and smoke. In large 

 cities and manufacturing districts the smoke becomes a 

 great nuisance. In the making of coke from coal, enormous 

 quantities of coal tar and gas have been lost. Most engines 

 consume a far greater amount of coal than they should in 

 doing a given amount of work. Most of us do not know 

 how to use coal economically in our homes, and thus aid 

 not only in wasting the coal supplies but in making the cost 

 of Uving higher than it should be. All together, in the 

 handling of coal we lose fully half of it. The coal supply 

 of the earth is disappearing very fast, and at the rate at 

 which its use is now increasing it may not last more than 

 one hundred years. 



If we cannot use coal without wasting so much, would it 

 not be wiser for us to turn our attention more fully to the 

 sources of power in the streams which are flowing down all 

 our mountain sides? The use of this power when turned 

 into electricity would enable us to save a large part of the 

 coal, oil, and gas that are now used, and so make them, last 

 longer. 



It is far easier to waste oil and gas than coal, for, when 

 we have drilled holes in the earth, unless we are very careful 

 the gas will escape into the air and the oil will become mixed 

 with water, so that it will be difficult for us to get it. 



Oil and gas are confined under great pressure hundreds 

 and often thousands of feet below the surface. To make 

 clear how easy it is to waste them, we might compare them 



