Of every one hundred tons of coal mined in the whole world, the United States produces forty-three tons. We supply forty-five tons out of every hundred of iron ore, twenty-two tons of gold, thirty tons of silver, thirty-three tons of lead, nearly twenty-eight tons of the zinc, about fifty-five tons of the copper, and sixty-three tons of the petroleum consumed by all civilized countries. This would be a cause for great national pride if we did not need also to consider the shameful fact that our wastes or losses in the mining, handling, and use of our mineral products are estimated at more than $1,500,000 per day, or, for the year, the gigantic sum of $547,500,000. That is, more than one-fourth of the entire output is wasted! Of all our minerals, the fuels which supply heat, light, and power for domestic and manufacturing purposes, are the most necessary and important. Other materials can not be manufactured without their aid. Almost every particular of modern life would be changed if we no longer had plenty of fuel. Its use means its immediate and complete destruction, which is true of no other resource, and the use of fuels is increasing and will increase so rapidly that their conservation is becoming a serious problem. The principal fuels are coal, gas, oil, peat, alcohol, and wood, and of these, coal is at present by far the most important. The first record of coal mined in this country was in 1814, when twenty-two tons of anthracite, or hard coal, were mined in Pennsylvania. An increasing amount was mined each year, but until 1821 the production was less than five hundred tons per year. In 1822 the production advanced to nearly 60,000 tons, and since that time has increased by leaps and bounds. During the seventy-five years from 1820 to 1895, nearly 4,000,000,000 tons were mined by methods so wasteful that 6,000,000,000 tons were destroyed or allowed to remain in the ground so that it could never be recovered. Within the next ten years as much was produced as in the entire seventy-five preceding years, and in this period 3,000,000,000 tons were destroyed or left in the ground beyond the reach of future use. Up to this time the actual amount of coal used has been over 7,500,000,000 tons; the waste 9,000,000,000 tons.