Excerpt from The Modification of Illinois Coal by Low Temperature Distillation

Concerning the waste of the fuel supply, there are broader reasons for economy than the mere selfish demands of the indi vidual or corporation interested. Notwithstanding the fact that the coal fields of the United States are extensive, the coal supply is not inexhaustible. Campbell1 states that at the present rate of increase, the available coal fields of this country will be used up in ninety years, but if the rate of consumption of 1905 remains constant the fields will last four thousand years. It is hardly possible that the great activity which has so characterized the past twenty-five years, in the building of railroads, steamship lines, and factories will be as marked in the future as it has been in the past. There will be, however, a constant increase in the con sumption of coal unless some new source of power is developed. It does not seem probable that the rate of increase will be materi ally affected for a great many years to come; hence, Campbell estimates that four hundred years will be nearer the truth than four thousand.

The sources of loss are mainly two; one is found in wasteful methods used in the mining, and the other in the combustion of coal. Although it is not within the province of this work to dis cuss the present day methods of mining, it might be well to men tion the fact that from 40 to 60 per cent of the coal is left in the mine in the form of walls, pillars, roofs, dust, etc. In the matter of economic combustion, the advancement has been almost entire ly on the mechanical side as illustrated in the modern stokers, improved combustion chambers, the sizing and washing of coal, etc.

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