THE ROMANCE OF COAL AND OIL 
In Asia, Persia produced about 35,000,000 barrels in 
1925. During that year, India and the Dutch East 
Indies produced together about 30,000,000 barrels, with 
no indication of noticeable increase. 
When domestic production and foreign imports are 
no longer sufficient to meet the American demand for 
petroleum, the deficit will have to be supplied from sub¬ 
stitutes such as alcohol, benzol, oil-shale products, and 
above all, from the low-temperature distillation products 
of coal in recent years. Synthetic petroleum has been pro¬ 
duced from coke and water-gas under high pressure at 
a very high temperature. This process will soon be per¬ 
fected so as to produce commercial quantities at a price 
not too high, at least for countries where oil is expensive, 
as in Germany or England. 
Through the use of coal and mineral oil our generation 
is able to utilize the fuel accumulations of past geologic 
ages. In ancient times, man’s only fuel was furnished 
by wood of living trees. Coal and mineral oil may be 
looked upon as stored solar energy which is released again 
when it is burned to warm our homes and turn the 
wheels of our factories and machines. When we drive 
our motor cars, we rarely think that it is solar energy 
which is harnessed to run the vehicle. But the light from 
the sun was captured by plants which used it to make 
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