The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-02-27
THE GAS QUESTION.

Inc writer OF an article in the American of We'd
nesday, signed Citizen, addressed to u.s. personally
as Directors OF the Gas Company however compli-
mentary to us individually, seems to have been "a
ther hmm to make ois communication the vehi-
Gle OF an attack on the President of the Companv.
than an appeal to our integrity of character as to
the mode by which the operations of the COMPANY
are conducted in supplying the community with the
material for light.
But Whatever may have been the motive of Citi-
l2en while we deny his right to summon us at plea
sure before newspaper tribunal. shown during this
attack upon the Gas Company, with some honorable
exceptions, to be as unfair it is Irresponsible we
feel justified in making some remarks on the present
ciamor excited against the Company by persons who
are on the whole only ignorant of the various causes
that affect the combustion of gas
30 1ar as respects the President of the Company,
the charges made are either unfounded or malicious
we oeeVe the gas furnished to be as good as in any
other city IN the Union, and at as low price else
where where it is not manufactured by the munich
! panty; and where it is manufactured. we have
reason to believe the saving in cost to the consum-
er Is only transferred to the back of the TAXPAYER
! Ii any one had taken the trouble to inquire i'm
partially on the subject he would have found that
the gas bills for the last quarter have not been
terlaly increased with the whole mass of consum-
! ers. Ii particular individuals therefore have had
their bills increased, it be from particular or
local causes, and not from any general action of
the Company. According to the Companys ac-
counts, the aggregate amount of the bills for the
last quarter exceed the aggregate amount of the
corresponding quarter last year by but one per
cent, though there has been increase of ten per
cent of new customers.
The Gas Company for years have been continually
pressed to extend their pipes to the remoter parts
of the city, In complying with this demand they
have been obliged to increase the pressure on the
gas in them, for until this was done there were
great complaints to the insufficient supply of gas
But this increased pressure always be remedied
by diminishing the flow of gas to the meter and
burners when attended by rushing sound and I'M
steady flame, and is therefore uuder the control of
the consumer.
1t Is easy to comprehend that, with stores that
are opened at night where the express object is to
make brilliant display of their wares, there is
constant tendency on the part of their owners to
vie with or to exceed their neighbors in that par
tlcular Again, in the deep and dark stores on our
principal streets, they not only light them up as
soon as the dusk of the evening comes but they al
so burn or less of their lights during ali cloudy
or dark days. Now, record kept by the engineer
shows that there were thirty more cloudy or dark
days during the quarter ending lst February of this
year, than during the corresponding quarter of last
year. Any season OF the year, therefore more
cloudy than ordinary, will have the effect of in
creasng their gas bills with this class of consumers
for they are all more or less affected by the same
| cause.
With private families it is more difficult to ex-
plain the causes why their bills should be sometimes
considerably increased in quarter more than the
corresponding quarter of the previous year. They
forget the different circumstances that affected the
amount OF gas consumed. Many persons entertaia
much more company at one time than another and
though it be in familiar wav and scarcely remam-
bered by them, yet all these instances are recorded
by the meter, and which makes their accumulation
considerable addition to the ordinary uses of
the family. Where they have lights in their kitcl-
ems, they never know the waste made by servants
on all occasions for their convenience either early
IN the morning or late at night, whether to ohviate
the mere darkness around them or in entertaining
their acquaintance after their employers have gone
to bed
The general explanation of the matter where there
Is no defect in the meter is the thoughtlessness and
inattention OF the consumers, for the same com
plants are made against all gas companies wherev-
Ell established. And the principle upon which COM
plant is made is the same by which most persons
complain against grocers, store keepers shoemakers
&C., with whom they keep running accounts. They
are always surprised their bills are so high and very
certain that they got all that is charged
them.
J. H. MCCU1LoH
! ARCH. STIRLING.