RECLAIMING 321,000,000 GALLONS OF LIQUID FUEL FROM COAL It has been said, doubtless with a good deal of truth, that Britain owes her manufacturing prosperity to her abundant domestic resources of fuel. But, in the exploitation of our coal reserves, we emulate the rat in the corn-bin. We waste quite as much, if not more, than we ever use. The country around our collieries is disfigured with huge dumps, among which are thousands of tons of what is really low-grade fuel. Occasionally a tip-heap will catch fire, to burn sullenly for weeks and months. One such large dump in the United States burned uninterruptedly for years. This would not be possible if there were not present a large volume of combustible matter--coal--associated with the so-called useless material. The colliery tip-heaps, while formidable in the aggregate, and representing a crushing indictment against our so-called advanced scientific attainments, merely constitute one, and a minor, tangible illustration of the great coal-waste issue. No matter in what direction we may turn in this colossal industry, we find evidences of improvidence and stupendous losses in varying degree. It is a matter for speculation whether any other raw material is so prolific of residuals as coal. Oil is probably the solitary exception, but then petroleum is closely allied to the solid fuel. But refuse in regard to coal is equally ambiguous. The wastes vary so widely in nature, while each grade of residue possesses its individual possibilities. We are disposed to pride ourselves upon the big strides we have made in our exploitation of these residues but, as a matter of fact, we have barely touched the Aladdin’s lamp which it represents. To render full justice to the coal-waste issue in all its kaleidoscopic forms would absorb many volumes. The subject is so vast and complex. It is my intention, within the scope of this chapter, to confine myself to one specific substance derived from coal, one which we persistently declined to consider in its real aspect until the fight for national existence applied the sledge-hammer blows to drive into our heads that we were guilty of criminal neglect. Why we should have required this drastic force to compel us to admit our indifference towards a great national asset it is difficult to explain. Our most formidable rival in trade had been sparing no effort for years to achieve an overwhelming industrial triumph therewith and to our discomfiture.