The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-06-30

more Markets for the past week, neatly printed
on letter sheet, may be obtained at our counting
room.
Rr late English paper, we learn that the
frards which are practised upon gas consumers,
ho,o ot Ienctb reached such a height and excited
srcb general indignation, as TO have led 10 an
.D.l;cotior for Parliamentary relief. Notice has
been given that Bill will be asked for, providing
for the appointment of an Inspector OF Gas. Inc
evil 10 be remedied is precisely the one which mas
occssioped such general complaint here. in
England, as in this country, the measurement OF
GAS is entirely in the hands of the companies That
manufacture and sell it The consumer has no
means of protecting himself against the most
outrageous impostion in regard to the quantity
and oualitv of the article for which he pays. The
companv charges its own price-makes out its
own bills-and furnishes its own evidence by
which to prove their correctness. There is none
of that equality between the company and the
consumer which exists between the buyers and
sellers of other commodities which are sold by
measurement. If man purchases pound OF
butter, peck Of potatoes, yard OF cloth, or a
gallon of oil-besides the evidence of his own
senses, which might ordinarily answer to protect
him against any very gross imposition, he has the
standard weights and measures of the country to
which TO appeal. The use of false weights and
measures is almost universally made a criminaI
ogance and the seller is deferred from fraud, not
1oss bv the fear of legal punishment than by the
loss of credit and of custom which would follow
unon exposure. The measurement of gas, how
orar--an article in regard TO which the greatest
checks and safeguards against fraud are
roaded-both because of its absolute neces-
sitv in daily and common use, and its pecu-
liar properties, being alike intangible and
invisible and thus defying the ordinary tests
Of weight and quantity, which are furnished by
the scnses-is left altogether to the conscience and
discretion of the seller. The consumer has no
evidence of the amount of gas consumed, except
the word of the company. There is no measure
of pas except that which the company furnishes
its own meter. With the practical operation of
this instrument the great body of consumers are
utterly unacquainted. They only know that it
sometimes records most extraordinary results, and
they commonly believe that it is not in the least
TO he depended upon. The little DIAL which is
supposed to register the exact number of feet of
GAS consumed in gwen quarter, has been known
to testify TO the consumption of larger quantity
of gas in summer quarter, when the consumers
house has been closed, and his family out of town,
than in winter, when all the burners have been in
use Small families, living in quiet way, and
actually stnug themselves in the use of gas, with
the view of electing saving in the quarters bill,
have been charged with greater consumption than
neighbors living in larger houses, using twice as
many burners and, perhaps, giving frequent en-
tertainmentS. Yet the company processes to charge
strictly according to the meter and the company
AYERS that the meter is strictly correct
Clearly, there is some mistake here Either
the company has some different method of making
out its bills, or is in the habit of averaging them
according TO some rule Of its own-or else the
meters do not always tell the truth. At
present the Company supplies the meter-and not
only undertakes TO regulate it and keep it in or
der, hut positively rejects any interference on the
part of the consumer or anybody else with its
private arrangements for ascertainng the ac-
tual consumption of gas. Now the public, as we
have said, is profoundly ignorant of the process by
which the meter arrives at the results which it
records. The public can only judge of its accu-
racy By those results, and these frequently so
Inconsistent and so absurd as TO have pretty much
destroyed puolic confidence in the fairness of the
process. In but one way can that confidence be
restored, and that way is the one which is about
to be adopted in England standard meter of
gas should be established by law, and competent
and honest inspectors appointed to enforce the
law. Every meter which fails 10 conform to the
Government standard should be destroyed, and
the Company using it subjected to severe punish
ment Nor Is this all. Granting the meter to be all
right 1t IS well known that an inferior and impure
gas Will register a greater number of feet in the
same time than purer quality. Now the public
bargain for supply of gas of certain illumi
mating power, and which the Company agrees tc
furnish at certain price per foot. 1t is possible
that The Company may seek to palm off on consul
mers an inferior quality, which shall give les:
light, and then, in consequence of the greater
quantity consumed, charge them twice as much
Tor IT, There should be some provision against
frauds OF this sort. There are many articles now
SOFA IN our market which are subject to inspection
with the view of ascertaining their quality We
"~tNN'Oi vi 'oooCCOi VI STdlu, vi uOuT
vi ie''her, OF many things besides. Why not O.
gas "Sof Why not an inspection of the fluid
i'Se'' as well as OF meters-so that the public may
nave the means of ascertaining both the quality O
'D' s"s winch 1t consumes and the quantity used
" eacn individual consumer? Recent develope
nie"'S nave demonstrated that the Gas Company
an enormously profitable concern. 1t is time
t"''' 'ie public should know how far those profit
nave oeen egitimaely and fairly earned If tn
""s company were only half as solicifous abou
It's reputation a2 it should be, it would meet til,
Puonc more than halfway in demand for an in
Specuon both of the commodity which it sells. ant
Vi the measure which it uses. The Company canno
Out be aware OF the estimation in which it is nonu
larry held-of the complaints which are dali,
i''ue against it-of the suspicion with which If
lungs and management are everywhere viewed
II only out of regard to lis own good name an,
1le interests, the Company should take som
'p' % "oa'e the evil which is daily GROWING +
IoFe oppres'ive-and for which, otherwise, til
pHo"o wiz sooner or later find out, and apply il
O"H remedy and in its own way.