The Great Desecration of Nature. 
At present there is staring the 
American people defiantly in the face 
the greatest desecration of nature that 
the world has ever known. In voicing 
and emphasizing this fact that every- 
body knows we make no accusation 
against any one. We are speaking 
from the naturalist’s point of view. We 
believe that the present coal situation 
is not only a desecration of Mother 
Nature’s bountiful supply but a fiend- 
ish mismanagement and an outrageous 
swindle of defenceless human beings. 
There is no supply that Mother Na- 
ture has more bountifully provided 
than the supply of coal buried in the 
depths of the earth where the ravages 
and extravagances of mankind could 
not easily use it all within a short time 
and leave future generations coalless 
with the inconceivable and unthinkable 
loss and suffering that would neces- 
sarily follow. Nothing more plainly 
shows design on the part of the Creator 
than these two things, the supply of 
coal and the difficulty of accessibility. 
It is evident that both capital and labor, 
good method of transportation and 
good distributing centers are required 
to make this bountiful supply readily 
available. But look at the situation. 
It is not a result of the war. It is not 
a matter of one year or another. It is 
a matter of outrageous, contemptible 
design on the part of certain persons 
for a series of years. It is not the mis- 
sion of the naturalist to locate the fault 
nor to tell how it should be remedied, 
but as we consider this great providen- 
tial supply of nature we believe that no 
other question at present stands so 
clearly before thinking men and women 
and demanding immediate solution as 
does this question of coal supply. 
Nowadays in astronomical circles we 
have been hearing much of the doctrine 
of relativity, the thought being that 
size, motion, etc., depend upon the re- 
lation of one thing to another. From 
the point of view of such relation this 
outrageous mismanagement of the coal 
supply has been for a long time rapidly 
hoisting Messrs. John D. Rockefeller 
of the Standard Oil Company and all 
connected with that great, so-called 
monopoly away up into the realms of 
fame and appreciation. If one were 
fully to express the depths of degrada- 
tion into which this coal business has 
fallen, the contrast would canonize 
John D. Rockefeller and all his asso- 
ciates. 
A few years ago we heard many 
complaints of Mr. Rockefeller. He has 
outlived that. He has proved by his 
innumerable gifts to charity, education 
and religion that when there is a sur- 
plus profit in oil he makes good use of 
that profit in the great cause of hu- 
manity. Who ever hears of a shortage 
of transportation, who ever hears of a 
strike of employees of the Standard Oil 
Company, who ever hears any jarring 
or discordant note? Everything goes 
as smoothly as oil itself. On this doc- 
trine of relativity we hold up the 
Standard Oil Company as a bright and 
shining example. The business is 
handled in a businesslike manner, the 
price is kept within reason, and the 
managers make good use of any extra 
profit they may receive. 
But, ye gods, if one were to express 
himself fully on the coal situation it 
would make the linotype machine too 
hot to set the type for this article and 
would require the addition of several 
new words to the biggest dictionary 
ever issued. Now men who know or 
should know may well pause over 
many questions alleged to be pressing 
— the League of Nations, the Russian 
problems, our relations to Japan — and 
consider that the one great problem 
for the United States to solve is this 
coal supply question. 
The government controlled the mines 
during the war and made a mess of the 
business, as it did also of railroads, 
telegraph lines, express companies and 
several other things. The government 
is or should be a business institution. 
In any other business institution when 
