But the scientists came even nearer home in their studies and statistics.
These are some of the ominous and disturbing facts that are getting to the
ears of the people out of their laboratories and experiment stations:
The coal-fields of the United States (which lie almost exclusively in and
upon the eastern and western edges of the Mississippi Valley) were, at the
rate at which coal was used a few decades ago, practically inexhaustible.
But the per-capita consumption has increased from about a ton in 1870 to
5.6 tons in 1907. [Footnote: Van Hise, p. 23.] Up to 1908, 7,240,000,000
[Footnote: Van Hise, p. 25.] tons had been mined, but over ten million
tons were wasted in the mining of seven billions. You may recall the
prophecy which I quoted earlier, that if the mining and wasting go on at
the same rate of increase as in the past few decades the supposed
illimitable fields will be exhausted in one hundred and fifty years--that
is by the year 2050. [Footnote: Van Hise, p. 25.] This is one of the
statistics of those watchmen on the walls who, instead of standing in high
places with telescopes, sit at microscopes or over tables of figures.
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