St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-20
GAS VS.. COAL.
Trads ia DwsL;y Diam ,nds Bsing affected
Or the Ertensiv@ Use Of Natural Gas.
From the Pittsburg Dlspatch

Trads ia DWsky Diam onds Being affected
bJ the Ertensiv~ Use of Natural Gas.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
500 you really think natural gas will sup
plant coal9'
Most certainly" said a prominent coal
man. at is being discovered in all quarters,
even in Iowa and Michigan. The lake ports
have natural gas wells which have been dis
covered near them, and as to railroading
coal, it is getting to be poor business. Look
first at our home trade. 1t has been ex-
cellent; but see how many of the mills are
! putting in appliances for the use of gas. 1t
will not be long before all the mills and
factories will be using this cheap and clean
fuel. Well, where is our coal markets Not
certainly in the private residences, for alarge
number Of them will use the gas. Then so
many mines as we have will overstock the
market Now, what can be done! The river
mines have the Southern trade and that may
last for some time to come; but no one
knows how long. We railroad mine OPP
orators, having no market at home, must go
elsewhere; but that is impossible at the pres
ent price of mining. Why, the lake ports,
and Chicago and other points, can get coal
by paving less for it than our freight rates to
those places amount to. l know we have no
chance to compete with other localities, and
the only times when we can get sales are
when the Hooking valley and Northern
Pennsylvania miners are on strike"
THE OUTLOOK NOT ENCOURAGING.
''But won't your men resist any reduc-
tion.''
l-n1 haIv 4hrr Il ~
tell you that this present system among the
miners has done them much injury and no
good. In 1869 1 remember ID. r. Jones,
their secretary, told me ne was organizing
the men. l asked him what for and he re-
piled, TO compel you to raise the prices
They did keep up the prices for two years OF
more, and by so doing cut their own throats.
Strange, is it, Now, will not men go to
those places where they can get
the most money for their laborl
Wages were forced up too high, but were
compelled to pay them. The consequence
was that tide of immigration set in toward
our coal fields, and there are to-day two
miners to every one that can get steady work
all the year around. Supply and demand
regulate prices. The rate for mining has had
to fall, and it must come down lower. Men
who have ma nufactOries are not going to pay
high prices for coal when they can get gas.
Neither are they going to railroad their pro-
duet all over the country if they can help it.
l believe gas can be found wherever the car
boniferous or coal formation exists. Gas
wells will draw the mills TO them, and if they
can be gotten nearer the iron ore banks than
the coal fields, will not men in that business
90 to the wells for their fuel! There is no
exhaustion to the supply of natural gas.
SOMETHING ABOUT NATURAL GAS.
sit is not like coal or oil. 1t is formed by
chemical action, combustion or union of
elements in the way down strata of the
earh's crust, and as it is the first element
is generated by nature from a supply of
chemicals which the creation brought into
being. Gas condensed by pressure makes a
liquid, and that under greater pressure is
solidifed 1t is one of the elementary de-
partmcnts in the formation. I find it largely
composed Of hydrogen, the hottest gas, which
can either BE- released from certain metals by
acids or feed from pure water by an intense
heat or electricity. 1t has also some carbonic
acid in it, aud is com bustible fluid com
posed Of a large number Of elementary
chemicals. Certain rocks and metals are
full of il, and all that is necessary is the
proper influences to be brought to bear to
form it. When once at the surface ii can be
conveyed for miles in pipes and that is much
cheaper than railroading coal. 1t is hurting
our trade very considerably, and to compete
with 1t we must get lower mining rates. II |
is q case of an inferior giving way TO a SUI
perior, and the laws of trade recognize such
a condition of affairs. 1t will do the miners
no good to strike, for the price must come
down."