The greatest reason for conserving petroleum is that it is the source of practically all lubricants. Almost everyone knows that running an automobile without oil is one of the surest ways to spoil the machine, but few people realize that if our supply of lubricating oil were cut off, not only every automobile but every factory, railroad, trolley line, and steamship would soon be motionless. Even the wagons would creak loudly and grow hot at the axles. For a few purposes vegetable and animal oils might be used, but they are not so good as mineral oils, and for many exacting uses in high-speed machinery they are I impractical. So important is lubricating oil and so completely does the supply come from petroleum that our grandchildren may speak very bitterly of our folly and barbarism in using up the good lubri cant which they will need for high-speed machinery far more than , we do. They may also say hard things of us because of the expense in getting such petroleum products as vaseline, parafline, and mineral oil for medicinal use, even though oil shales are still available.
The problem of petroleum conservation is complicated by the fact that petroleum occurs only in limited localities. The owners of those localities reap immediate personal profit by exploiting them as fast as possible. So eager are they to rush the product to market that they waste from 30 per cent to 90 per cent either underground or on the surface. In a very real sense it is a great good fortune for a country like Mexico or Mesopotamia that its supplies of petroleum are only beginning to be exploited, and places like much of Africa, South America and Central Asia may prove to be still more fortunate, for they have not even been explored for oil. Before the oil in these regions is exhausted the world may come to its senses in time to prevent the com plete waste of this rare treasure, but the United States, which now prides itself on having exploited its resources in the most wasteful and rapid way, will be mourning over the folly of the present generation.
(2) The Utilization of Water Power.—The wisdom of using water power instead of coal or gasoline is obvious. As long as the sun evaporates water which falls upon the mountains as rain, the rivers will run. As long as the rivers run they will afford cheap and convenient power. A water power site is perhaps the most valuable real estate in the world—vastly more valuable than a gold mine. The reasons why only one-fifth of the available water power in the United States has vet been utilized include (a) the presence of abundant supplies of coal; (b) the large amount of capital needed to install water power plants; (c) the fact that only during the last few decades has it been practicable to convert the power into electricity and carry it long distances out of the rugged regions where it is generated; (d) the restrictions placed by the Federal Government upon the use of power by private individuals or corporations; and especially (e) the fact that three-fourths of the potential water power is in the new and sparsely settled states from the Rocky Mountains westward. The restrictions have been wisely
placed in order to prevent the water power sites from falling into the hands of private individuals, but they need to be modified to encourage the use of water power instead of coal. Today the water power prob lem resolves itself into framing regulations that will accomplish three things: (1), make water power investments attractive to capital; (2), vest the permanent ownership in the general public; and (3), arrange a flexible scale of royalties or prices to be paid for leases of water power sites so that investors will get a fair return on their investment, while the great increase in value which is sure to come will belong to the public.
(3) The Economical Use of Coal.—For a long time coal will probably be the world's main reliance for heat and power. Yet if the business men of the next generation are no wiser than those of the present, the grandchildren of people now living,—even though the world's coal is by no means exhausted,—may see such scarcity and high prices that industry will be seriously hampered and millions of individuals will suffer. Civilization would probably suffer a serious blow, if people were driven out of the energizing northern climates into the relaxing warm climates where artificial heat is not needed. Just how long the world's coal supply will last can be estimated only very roughly. If the rate of use should increase as rapidly in the future as in the past and if no new supplies of great size should be discovered, the time might be only 150 years, but some estimates increase this to a thousand or more. It must always be remembered, however, that the thing that counts is not the complete exhaustion of coal, but its use to such a point that the price becomes prohibitive. That may come long before all the coal is gone.
Let us analyze some of the reasons why the consumption of coal is far greater than is necessary in proportion to the power and heat which it furnishes. (1) Coal mining is a wasteful, competitive industry, at least, in the bituminous fields. Each producer is trying to get out a§ much as possible in a shorter time and at a lower rate than his competi tors. Hence, the waste is tremendous. Sometimes a good seam two feet thick is wasted by being allowed to cave into an abandoned mine after another one below it and four feet thick has been removed. Again, the method of mining by rooms is used instead of the "long wall" sys tem whereby the whole length of a seam is taken out. This is done because the long wall system requires expensive artificial support for the roof of a mine, whereas the room method leaves large supporting pillars. The room method not only wastes from 20 to 50 per cent of the coal in this way but limits the use of machinery. It costs from eighty cents to a dollar per ton to shovel the coal into mine cars, while loading machines could do this for a few cents.