by methods so wasteful that 6,000,000,000 tons were either destroyed or
allowed to remain in the ground forever inaccessible. From 1896 to 1906
as much coal was produced as during the preceding seventy-five years.
During this decade 3,000,000,000 tons were destroyed or left in the
ground beyond reach for future use. Basing his statements on the
investigations of scientists, he showed that at the present rate of
increase in production the available coal of the country would be
exhausted in two hundred years and the workable iron ore within a
century.
