Conservation of power resources

Without disparaging other aspects of our progress, it is not too much to say that our time is preeminently the age of power. This applies to the world at large, but especially to the United States. Our population is increasing with unprecedented rapidity, but our mineral production is increasing so much more rapidly that some have called this the age of metal. Steel, copper, and wood are combined in mechanical devices at a rate increasing more rapidly than ore production, so that others have characterized this as the age of the machine; yet that aspect of modern life which most impresses the student of progress is the increasing use of mechanical power through the development of prime movers and the utilization of new power sources. Rapidly as our population advances, it is outrun by metal production, and that in turn by machine building; yet our most rapid progress — the feature in which our advancement exceeds all others — is in the development and use of power.