The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-05-03
What Gas Cn1. be Sold nt-.-s'tncinI,ati
Making Ii for Finy-seycn CesitS "a
rGDO feet

We stated in an article published week
or two since in the Globe, upon the subject OF
the eXorhitant price charged for illuminating
gas in this city, that our own city govern
mcnt have demonstrated at the public
institutions that they Can manufacture
IN article superior to that which the
Boston Gas Light Company dole out ut - "a
per thousand feet for Sl.2J, ami That gas was
manufactured in Cincinnati by the city, in
one of its institutions, at iilty->even cents pei
thousand feet.
One Of our correspondents, possibly an
owner in the Boston Gas Light Company,
sent us Il note doubling the correctness OF
our remarks. We at once addressed our
regular corrcsl .0ndcnt in Cincinnati upon the
subject and learn from him that our remarks
| were strictly correct. Exorhitant charges,
where there is a monopoly, is Il natural con-
sequence, so in Cincinnati the Gas company
charge $50. and their stock. like that OF tho
Boston company, is nearly 100 per cent above
par in its estimated value, and none for safe
1T that price.
Cincinnati Hospital, for Tie year ending
March !, 1871, paid the Gas Company OF
that city $4,000 for Gas consumed. LIN the
following July, the hospital constructed @as
works Of her own at L cost Of $4,000. She
lils since then been burning gas of her own
manufacture. The result is that by this pro-
cess she will pay for her gas works and gas
in one year with less money than the gas
alone cost from the company for the same
period!
Every bushcl Of coal used is weighed, and
every other expense for material is taken
carefully into account in making this csti-
mate Fiity-scyen cents per / ,0GG feet is the
IF tt,t hn fol nf
it herself. This is with coal al l3 cents pei
brshel Of seventy-two pounds. The estimate
does not include anything for extra labor,
because it involves no expense on that score,
rs the duty Of attending to the retorts has
been added to the duties OF the fireman who
has charge Of the heating apparatus.
1t includes the cost OF the coal for heating
the retorts. and does not deduct the value OF
| the coke and the rcSidum. 1t is found that
one pound Of Pittshur@ or kanaWha coal
will make four cubic feet Of gas. No matter
what examples we cite, or what experience
| we consult, the same result is reached con-
! tinllally, and the same conviction follows.
If the city Of Boston can furnish illlmina-
| ting gas in her institutions by actual expert
nent, and under many Disadvantages, ut a
| cost Of from 81 to SI.20 per thousand feet.
| is there any one so blind or unreasonable
enough to believe that it costs the mammoth
monopoly Of New England any more to &c
the business by wholesale tilrn it costs other
| people to do it Oh circllm.cr'i'rd scale and
| ut a higher cost for the raw material - Boz.
ton Globe.
[TEc Globe forgets the superior quality Of
! the Kanawha coal, which, By The way, we
| shall socn have in Richmond. We once had
occasion to estimate tie comparative value OF
coal from two different mines for gas-makin9
purposes, and found that the city could not
afford to use the one kind even if given to il
so long az it could buy the other kind at :,
| Der toni