A WASTEFUL NATION 



BILLIONS of dollars are thrown 

 away each year by the American 

 people, according to the first re- 

 port of the Conservation Commission, 

 submitted to President Roosevelt on Jan- 

 uary 22, 1909. The report contains an 

 impressive series of figures, which have 

 been prepared very carefully by the most 

 expert authorities of the United States 

 government and may be regarded as con- 

 servative. 



The following paragraphs are reprinted 

 from the report for the information of the 

 readers of this Magazine. The figures 

 are so extraordinary that they need no 

 comment : 



The mineral production of the United 

 States for 1907 exceeded $2,000,000,000, 

 and contributed 65 per cent of the total 

 freight traffic of the country. The waste 

 in the extraction and treatment of min- 

 eral products during the same year was 

 equivalent to more than $390,000,000. 



The production for 1907 included 

 395,000,000 tons of bituminous, and 85,- 

 000,000 tons of anthracite coal, 166,000,- 

 000 barrels of petroleum, 45,000,000 tons 

 of high-grade and 11,000,000 tons of low- 

 grade iron ore, 2,500,000 tons of phos- 

 phate rock, and 869,000,000 pounds of 

 copper. The values of other mineral 

 products during the same year included 

 clay products, $162,000,000; stone, $71,- 

 000,000; cement, $56,000,000; natural 

 gas, $50,000,000; gold, $90,000,000; sil- 

 ver, $37,000,000; lead, $39,000,000, and 

 zinc, $26,000,000. 



OUR IRON ORE SUFFICIENT FOR 50 YEARS 

 ONLY 



The available and easily accessible 

 supplies of coal in the United States ag- 

 gregate approximately 1,400,000,000,000 

 tons. At the present increasing rate of 

 production this supply will be so depleted 

 as to approach exhaustion before the mid- 

 dle of the next century. 



The known supply of high-grade iron 

 ores in the United States approximate 

 3,840,000,000 tons, which at the present 

 increasing rate of consumption cannot be 



expected to last beyond the middle of the 

 present century. In addition to this, 

 there are assumed to be 59,000,000,000 

 tons of lower-grade iron ores, not avail- 

 able for use under existing conditions. 



The supply of stone, clay, cement, 

 lime, sand, and salt is ample, while the 

 stock of the precious metals and of cop- 

 per, lead, zinc, sulphur, asphalt, graphite, 

 quicksilver, mica, and the rare metals 

 cannot well be estimated, but is clearly 

 exhaustible within one to three centuries. 



The known supply of petroleum is es- 

 timated at 15,000,000,000 to 20,000,000,- 

 000 barrels, distributed through six sepa- 

 rate fields having an aggregate area of 

 8,900 square miles. The production is 

 rapidly increasing, while the wastes and 

 the loss through misuse are enormous. 

 The supply cannot be expected to last be- 

 yond the middle of the present century. 



The known natural-gas fields aggre- 

 gate an area of 9,000 square miles, dis- 

 tributed through 22 States. Of the total 

 .yield from these fields during 1907, 400,- 

 000,000,000 cubic feet, valued at $62,- 

 000,000, were utilized, while an equal 

 quantity was allowed to escape into the 

 air. The daily waste of natural gas — the 

 most perfect known fuel— is more than 

 1,000,000,000 cubic feet, or enough to 

 supply every city in the United States of 

 more than 100,000 population. 



OUR WASTE IS ON THE INCREASE 



The consumption of nearly all our 

 mineral products is increasing far more 

 rapidly than our population. In many 

 cases the waste is increasing more 

 rapidly than the number of our people. 

 The consumption of coal is over 5 tons 

 and the waste nearly 3 tons per capita. 



At the beginning of our mineral de- 

 velopment the coal abandoned in the mine 

 was two or three times the amount taken 

 out and used. Now the mine waste aver- 

 ages little more than half the amount 

 saved. The chief waste is in imperfect 

 combustion in furnaces and fire boxes. 

 Steam engines utilize on the average 

 about 8 per cent of the thermal energy 



