It is evident that there is much more coal for future consumption than most conservationists have claimed. This is a pleasing fact, for it indicates that industry should not be seriously hampered by lack of this source of power for many years to come. The argument that there is enough coal and to spare is used, however, to further selfish ends. It causes bad management of coal lands at many places. Notwithstanding the fact that the United States is so favorably endowed with coal it is coming to be known that some of the better bituminous and anthracite grades most favorably located are doomed to early exhaustion. The rapid increase in the use of these is causing some of the eastern States to show deep interest in conservation.

During the year the conservation of coal was directed mainly towards larger recovery from the mines, to the study and prevention of mine accidents, especially those caused by explosions, to improving the methods of use whereby more power is derived, and to the saving of byproducts in coke making. The National Bureau of Mines lead in most of these investigations. Several States, mostly in the eastern province, studied the same problems, as for example, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama. Illinois was equally active in the interior province. Practically all coal mines are now inspected by delegated authority.

The bee-hive coke oven produced relatively less coke during the year than the by-product oven in which is recovered coal tar and other useful products of considerable value. Investigations definitely proved that the most economic way to use certain soft coals is in the manufacture of producer gas. The culm heaps in the Scranton and Wilkesbarre districts were drawn upon more than formerly for the production of the smaller sizes of washed coal. This is an important utilization of what formerly was waste.

It would seem that every one in this Congress should be deeply interested in the conservation of coal whether his State produces it or not, for the permanence of this resource has a power relation, one that affects the industrial and social development of the whole country.

PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS.

These are uncertain resources as to their occurrence and permanence of development. The amount of production, however, is very large, coming from several States, and having increased from about 63,000,000 barrels in 1900 to over 200,000,000 barrels in 1911. New pools were developed in each province, though the annual production fell off at places. The largest developments were in California and Oklahoma, yet Illinois, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Indiana were important producers, as they have been for sev

eral years. No new conservation movements were inaugurated except that California took more definite steps to prevent waste at the wells. Adequate tankage, together with a high degree of attainment. in refining, are the two leading factors in the conservation of petroleum. This industry is a splendid example of conservation for special interests, yet the public is supplied with many useful commodities, such as kerosene, gasoline, waxes, paraffine, oils, etc. Kerosene has a close commercial relation to the gas engine and the automobile industry. The price of gasoline, for reasons not fully understood by the speaker, made a marked advance. Just how this may affect the future building of gas engines is not known.

The production of natural gas is even more erratic than petroleum. It is readily used in the manufacture of brick, tile, glass and cement. A lack of permanence gives to the gas-using industries a migratory character, a movement to and from gas regions. For several years such plants have operated up to their full market capacity in Kansas and Oklahoma. The financial depressions of 1907 and of the past year checked some of factory building in and near the gas regions. For about two years certain companies have been diligent in selling equipment for making gasoline from natural gas.

The conservation movement is partly responsible for the decrease in waste of natural gas. Formerly the unused wells of Oklahoma and Louisiana, especially, were allowed to cast their millions of feet of fuel into the air without even a remonstrance from the States. Flambeaux burned night and day in the streets of small towns and many persons between Indiana and Texas were then heard to say that gas is cheaper than matches. The States stand indicted. This wrong to nature and to present and future industry cannot be repaired. The deed is done, and our only hope is that we may escape without having to suffer for such an offense.

IRON ORE.

This is the basis of iron and steel manufacture. It supplies the materials used in harnessing the power of fuel and water and has importance in mining, transportation, smelting and milling. The industries connected with iron and steel making in the United States are conducted in a much larger way than in Great Britain and Germany next in rank. The increasing use of steel by railroads, in highway construction, ship-building, the making of engines and farm machinery, and for large building is causing many persons to wonder how long this progress can continue unhampered. Is there no limit to our high grade ore and to the development of the gigantic enterprises dependent upon coal, iron and steel? What appears to be the correct answer to this question has been made by good authority. It is that the supply of high grade ore, like that now used, is not permanent-that it will not

last many years. If this is true, the time will be when it will become necessary to mine less desirable ore, grading lower and lower as production continues. This, without doubt, will have an unfavorable effect upon our whole industrial organization.

The history of iron in the United States is most interesting. It shows that one by one many of the small districts were abandoned for the richer fields of the Lake Superior region, the Birmingham and Guernsey districts. The States that lost out in this change now realize that production may again return to their borders when the richer and larger deposits are exhausted. In consequence of this several States are beginning investigations looking to the future utilizing of low grade ores. At the smelters more than usual thought is given to the quality of output, making it more durable or otherwise better suited to the use for which it is intended. Experiments are under way for the purpose of testing out hydro-electric smelting in parts of California and other western States where the ore is distant from coal.

Much of the iron and steel conservation is directed by corporate. interests in whom the ownership of ore and the development based thereon are definitely established.

WATER RESOURCES.

Dr. W J McGee, whose death we mourn, once said that "water is the prime necessity of life." He also discussed its importance for drinking, in navigation, for power, and in the production from the soil of such materials as food and clothing.

The drinking water of the country and small towns is obtained principally from underground through wells and springs. A few States are trying to improve their domestic water supply by making sanitary surveys, noting the relation of the wells to drainage from lots, privies and other dangerous sources. Typhoid epidemics, due to sewage entering the water system, occurred in several towns. More than usual activity was manifest in making careful studies of streams in their relation to floods, drainage, power, sewage, water supplies and navigation. The Lakes and Rivers Commission of Illinois has gathered and published more data than other States in this line. The subject, "Navigation of Inland Waterways," with special reference to the Mississippi and its "Lakes to the Gulf Route," received new impetus principally because of its relation to the Panama Route. The Gulf States are now supported by Illinois especially in a campaign for larger attainments in this development.

Irrigation had a good year, especially so in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions. The irrigation development is an important contributor to the larger industrial life of the whole country.

LAND AND SOIL.

The United States has vast areas of land of many kinds. The soil of this land is our greatest physical resource. Its fertility feeds the crops and is therefore of fundamental importance in agriculture and industrial development based thereon. Nevertheless, it is true that many disregard this great fact in their farm management. They conserve their own selfish interests and not the state. Just how to develop the State's view point in land management is not known. The southern States, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agricul ture, are making progress in the solution of this problem. In many places there, the farmers are showing rapid improvement in crop rotation and methods of cultivation.

In Texas and Florida, much of the wet alluvial land is being improved by drainage. The Levee and Drainage Board of Texas surveyed over 300,000 acres last year and constructed 100 miles of levees. Land valued at twenty dollars an acre became worth seventy-five dollars to one hundred dollars at a cost of thirty dollars per acre. Deep floods of the Mississippi River did great damage in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky, causing the Delta region to put forth a plea for National aid in draining the wet lands of the South. It does seem that their plea for support should not go unheeded when such a vast, fertile area lies unreclaimed.

Nearly every State is studying soil erosion, the tenant system and land taxation. Dr. E. N. Lowe, State Geologist of Mississippi, reports that his survey endeavored to secure the enactment of a law that would tend to check the great losses in the northern part of the State caused by soil erosion. The bill was opposed by a prominent senator on the ground that it would interfere with the personal rights of land owners. The bill did not pass, but Dr. Lowe is to conduct a campaign of education before the next Legislature is convened. The difference in viewpoint here shown, is the difference between the meaning of "legal" and "right." Does any one have the right to ruin the land?

Cooperative soil surveys were carried on during the year in the various States with complete success. Every State now sees the need of reliable study and mapping of its soils, to serve as a basis for farm management, taxation, and real estate. At a recent meeting of the National Tax Association, held in Des Moines, Iowa, the relation of land surveys and taxation was discussed with considerable detail. It was the conclusion that land value maps should be prepared by soil surveys to serve as a physical basis of taxation.

FOREST RESOURCES.

Though originally endowed with vast areas of forest on public domain, some having great value, our Federal Government was slow