New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-13
NETWORK TUESDAY, APRIL 49, o1EEl

transit schemes usually form q considerable
portion of this fruitless growth tall spears Oh
life insurance bills, of an ineifablo greenness,
sprout up in patches; and there Is always,
what we are now concerned with, series OF
growing measures that are to regulate the
supply of street gas to our citizens.
The memory of the oldest inhabitant OF this
and adjoining cities runs not back to the Gays
when street gas gave satisfaction. Tho price
has always been high the management thaC
of monopoly. From time to time new CON-
NAMES have arisen, bearing welcome promises
of cheap gas and freedom from the Old, BAD
system. But az soon as their pipes were laid
and their stock taken, or at best after brief
show of improvement, the new concerns par
celed out the territory with the old ones, ana
everything went on as before. Talk TO the
officer of gas-lght company about IT, anu
his reply is: eyes, people always gruInble
"about their gas and their gas bills; we can
"not help their grumbling." Talk TO citizen
about it, and no simply expresses his d'ssatiS-
faction and despair. The whole system on
which gas is supplied to consumers, mas us
narallci only in the "patent safe" or "confi-
"dcncen came. A tin box is put into house.
and the gas is delivered through the box certain
machinery ia said to measure the delivery Aho
occupant of the house is not allowed to open
the box, nor can be have it opened ana OK
anincd by anybody but the gas company
employes. He may be absolutely certain that
the machinery does its work incorrectly, but
he hes no redress. He must pay just what
those concealed wheels register, right or wrong
The quality of the gas may be as faulty as It's
ouantity. 1t may burn as blue as the breath
of the devils that tempted Saint Anthony. Ii
may blacken the family plato and embrown
the walls and pictures and wither the roses or
the greenhouse, aside from more serious effects
ON tho growing sciOns that the parent values
far more than house or furniture. Does he
demur to his gas bill7 Then simply, tho con-
nections are cut of, the tin box IL taken away,
and the house is left in darkness. The law
affords no remedy.
Habit has accustomed us to this system, else
we should be awakened to its absurd one
sidedness. If, for instance, the milkman were
to insist upon supplying only through some
locked meter which he furnished, the natural
Inference would be that he wanted to cheat In
the measure. Ask any chemist whether he
wOuld trust to tho favOrite "dry meter" Tor
the processes of the laboratory; the reply Will
be that not the crudest operations would be
safe if 80 measured. The officers OF the gas
companies do not pretend that their motors
are strictly accurate what they do say is, that
they are as often the losers as the gamers by
the inaccuracy. That is, o certain proportion
of their customers are perpetnally swindled
for the benefit of certain other portion.
That the difference is very great between the
measurements Of different meters is the ex-
perience of every householder who has fre-
uuently moved. A volume might be compiled
in O day of the facts bearing ON this subject ;
perhaps one instance may suffice. Finding the
flow of gas irregular, q gentleman was ADVISED
by the gas-fitter to send word to the company
that supplied it. They Immediately sent q
workman, who did something to the meter.
/ Of course nobody knows the mysteries OF that
tin box, nor what WAS done to it. The flow
of gas was more regular afterwards: but in the
next month, and always thereafter, the gas
bills, which had been quite large enough be-
foro, were exactly doubled. The result was,
that the family moved out Of that house In
the following Spring.
If it were possible to put gas companies under
control of a commissioner, to whom complaints
of citizens might be made known and by whom
grievances might be investigated, possibly some
progress might be made in breaking up the
present system. There arc many branches OF
the abuse that need investigation aside from
those that we have indicated. The lighting OF
the streets, except perhaps the principal thor
oughfares, is generally wretched. In some
quarters the gas is put out long before the first
vestige of morning twilight, so that the adage
about the darkest hour being just ere dawn,
has new meaning for the belated wayfarer
who stumbles in the streets after being carried
a half mile out of his way in the hOrsc-cars
The inventor who will supply transparent gas
meters, as well as the legislator who will carry
through an honest bill for the benefit of gas
consumers, will deserve and get the thanks Of
the community. Really cheap gas would save
millions of dollars every year, that now ar(
burned up in the fires kindled by kerosene.