The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-12-25
CHEAPER GAS.

cheaper GAT' HAeSA'S"bN ''
dcminding that the city shall be sup.
piled nj 81 50 per thousand. At Circin-
matt the Gas Company offers to reduce to
81 90 to the citizens in consideration Of
six years extension Of. theirIpriVilege, but
the papers throw cold water on the offer
and claim that the Company can and
should do better. AT New York they talk
ofmaking raid OH the gas companies by
throwing open the streets to competitors
We notice in the proceedings oil the Com
mon Council Of that city, on Thursday
night last, that the gas question was the
principal topic Of discussion From Che
proceedings on the occasion We make
tho following extract:
"A,derman Gross offered preamble
and resolution calling the attention oil
the Commissioner Of Public Works to the
Eupsr;or cheapness oil the new process Of
manufacturing gas from naphtha and
coal combined, and submitted series oil
reports from engineers and Presidents oil
pas companies IN favor Of the new System.
i'he REPORTS claimed that the same quaint:
THY Of gas could he Manufactured by hall
the force required under the old system,
and at cost Of from SO TO 421 cents per
1000 cubic feet and the report conlinueu
as follows:
"AdduG the cost Of labor, the price OF
IN. c,, ner 600 cubic feet will be htty
odd cents, showing cOncluSiVely mat Dy
means OF the oil process alone gas Tor less
than one dollar per thousand teet-all ex-
nenss incIuIod-mny DO made. On the
bnsis Of the foregoing result, tho financial
condition Of company working on the
new ulau ought to be Us follows: The cost
of loo cubic feet OF gus, adding Tor wear
and tear, Office expense, incidentalS, anu
loss, wilibe, all In all, 81 l9H. II com,
pany manufacture 0,0OQ, 900 cubic feet Of
rNs per aunum the cost OF the whole oil 1t
In the holders would be $375,0OO, and the
to,ul cost S5G2,5OO.
"FOr this volume Of gas the company
charyes its consumers ut the rate oil :! oV
per 1000 feet, being equivalent to n clear
proGt Of $GS7 900. Considering that the
Total consumption Of gus in the city OF
New York may reach i've times b0O, OOO,CuV
il not 8, OOO, OOO, goo Of cubic feet per annum'
mn idea OF the profits OF the five existing
companies can be formed, even II allowing
deduction Of forty per cent from the
above net proceeds on account oil their
still continuing to make the costiier
and poorer coal gus INSTEAD OF the
oil gas. Their joint annual prcf:4 must
nevertheless bc upwards OF t%O million
dollars. II the foregoing cHperlmentSwitH
All improved process Of gus making wOu!;i
have been carried but one step further
namely to dispense with coal entirely, gas
Of II better quality than is now consumed
could be- furnished for One.half its present
price and yet the manufacturers might
grow rich on II. With every increase oil
The proportion OF naptha and a correspond
ing reduction Of the quantity Of coal, the
volume Of gas becomes larger aud its quail
ty better. It can therefore no longer be
doubted TINT the manufacture Of coal gas
at an early day will DO superseded aud oil
gas substituted for 1t. Be it therefore
Rr.olvtd, That the attention Of the Com
missioner Of Public Works is called to the
foregoing interesting facts, with view oil
examining tho question whether tho city
would not do better 10 make Its own gus nc
corlng to the improved process, and save
thereby to the Taxpayers in the ncighbor
hood OF half II million dollars annually.
The preamble and resolutions were ordered
to bc printed, and to lie over until the next
meeting"
The frequent references which We have
made to the gas question Of late show
that all over the country the people have
walked up to The belieithat thcyhaVe been
and are the victims Of excessive taxation
in the matter Of gas, md that the time
has come when there should be ire
form" in the important particular OF
cheaper light. The statistics lately OBJ
tanned from different private manuiac'
tories show that gas can be produced
very much cheaper than gas companies
have been wont to admit. The figures
given by two OF the insane hospitals Of
Ohio show that there are "millions in it.
at prevailing prices. At tho Northern
OHIO Asylum the cost price, in
Guiding interest at 8 per cent on tho
cost Of the gas works, and counting coal
ats3 II per ton, is only 81 Al per thous-
and, and this year they expect TO reduce
1t to 81 90. At tho Dayton Asylum,
counting everything except interest on
tho works, the cost price is 721 cents per
thousand.
Up at Washington, Pa Mr.. A. B
Caldwell, a merchant, has erected gas
works for his own use, rather than pay
the company there's 5Oper thousand.
All these facts bring us TO the question
why cannot we have cheaper gas in
Wheeling? The price now paid is a
heavy tax upon large consumers these
hard times, when business is being done
on such small margins Of profit aud when
tho general drift Of prices is downward.
The history ofthc Wheeling gas works
since they passed into the possession Of
the city shows tina: there is "big thing
in the manufacture Of gas. The price
paid in 1871 for the old apology for gN'
works and gas mains then existing
was S7G,5OO. Since that time almost the
entire purchase has been renovHted-in
fact, made new-and, in addition, the 7!h
and 9Th Wards extensions have been
made. And yet with all these expendi'
lures, involving an immense outlay Of
money, the whole amount ha been paid
out Of current receipts, save $4,000 Of a
debt on tho Island extension, and the or
iginal debt has been reduced TO about
SlG,5O0.
Now we claim that this rapid rate OF
paying of the debt and making extern
sious imposes too great" tax on the old
consumers OF gas. The people did moi
expect or demand any such rapid pro-
gress when they authorized the Gas Com
missioncrs to incur nbonded debt Of Sl5,'
0OOfor the purpose Of making the ex'
tensions to tho Seventh and Eighth
Wards. The privilege thus placed al
the disposal Of the Commissioners was