New-York tribune., 1886-11-14
interest. such as the gas interest natur-


TERRITORY OF THE VARIOUS coMPANIES
Nearly all Of them, in fact, on both the North
and East rivers do belong TO single COMPANY
that huge monopoly the Consolidated, which until
recently had strong grasp on The hShufe'
both public and private of the city. Inc 0oh-
solidated as it now stands, is combination OF
six separate companies or branches-the New lorR'
the Manhattan. the Municipal the Metropolitan
the Harlem and the knickcrbocxer. The New
York branch supplies gas 10 that part OF the city
below HOuston-st ani has It's works al The loot
Of East Twenty -fIstst 1t uses the water process
Tie Manhattan branch has ITS mains betNc,'h lio.s
ton and Thirty fourth SIS III makes coaleaS m anu
has two works, one on the East River at tOur-
centh and at Eighteenth st on the MOI Tn klIer.
I no Municipal AMI Metropolitan bianches cover
the territory between 1hirty-fOuIth -. ana sew
nty-ninlh Il. ono makes coal gas anl the other
water-cas Tie works OF both aIc ON the North
River between FouIty second AM Fom@-toutth
st. Tho Harlem ami knlckcrbocker work %
gcther in the district north Of Seventy -nlnih-st,
Both use the same watergas works, at The loot OF
East Ninc;y ninth ST. The SIX COMPANIES to7etner
havo ,apital OF $50 ,OOO.OOO. ami are capable oi
producing 5000 600 cubic feet Of gas day
From SiXty-siXth st. up the Consolidated has
no competition Whale er downtown 1t has two
rather youn: and feeble rivas-the New York Mu,
tual and the Equitable companies. lhe Mutual
has mains in ariOus streets between tie lfatlclN
AM Central Park an watereas works on me Las
hiver at Eevcnthst. 1t lighis few OF uie pun pup
he lamps has i'll all a capital OF about s".,.o'UvV
and acity OF producing 4'ooo'ooo c""0 lce'
a day. - -, .
IS making energetic fight aaanSt The 3Is1n-
dated urCerl idting 10 for the public lighting,
ami cutting rates too IN so Tar as II can suppE
pliN ate l Its las as alica!y stated II fha',
bv the ".Jerzman lwsli process and by series OF
successful eNTeiiments the quality OF II has pe,'l
brought much above the level OF ordlnay ciN
gas aifcctinr in turn the standards or purity
which the Other companies had adopted. ne
Fduiia has mains now between , anal anu fIlN.
Fo, 6rsf-st 1t las a caIital of S3OOo.ocO. an
producing cafacity OF from 2,VOO,oOO 10
1000 GOO cubic feet day
HOW MUCH GAS Il BURNED.
1t is. Of course. imp sSible to tell with any
CuIacy how much illuminatlng gas Is burned III
lie city n a year. Since tie forced rcductioll
of price from 81 10 thousand feet 10 - 20 @ uie
business of al three Of tie companies las be''i
ma e scaled book to outsiders No figures can
be obtained either as To- the consumptl9n Or, or a.
to the real cost of gas There arc some who thin>
gas can and should bc made for thlcciitlS OF lile
| present price and the three companies aie anxious
TO avoid giving any proof for or agalnst tnat i
! pcasing theory. At rough guess, following tho
| estimate of the president If the Equitable q. Ell
above. from four thousand five hundred u hNc
| THOUSAND millions OF cubic feet are DuInel her
| every twelve months. This is less than half OF
the producing capacity of all the works
There are some fi-urcs. however as Ia the cost
| and supply Of gas which the companies cannot
| suppress Tier deaf with the city are all made
public in the quarterly and annual eports Of the
| Public Works Bureau of LAMPS ami Gas From
that report it appears that for the last eight years
| tie average number Of public Cas-lamIs lighted In
| New York has been about 22.OOO In 1870 IL was
| 4 ]
soGdated furnished 1926 in 1878 and l1.o45 lasl
wear Tie Mutual Gas Company had 5s7 eight
years ago: now it has only 5l6 lhe hani'a3e ,Ie
| bean last wear with l,4l1. IL un erbld the
| other Companies decidedly and promises TO maze
| large gains wherever its pipes can be laid 1he
| EQUITABLE has now ifty-thrce miles Of mains down
! tho Mutual has l22 the Consolidated. with lis
| five bran hes 7l6. Eight hundred and ninety
| miles OF these mains arr on Manhattan Island ami
| eighty seven IN the annexed district.
The 22.7O9 lamps lighted by the city stretch
over some 45O miles. Since 1850, 7os electric
ghs have been put up on the SGe's Sounc bas
rasSc-d a res luton request n the Gas Commission
els To put in 2.062 more II tins Is done 9,lSo
additional gas- lamps viii be displaced lhe excess
| # cost for electric lghtinG is SO great however
nearly half million dollars year for tins new
| systern-that the Adermens scheme VIII hardly pe'
| able t. pass the Board of Estimate and ApIorton-
mcnt for some yca,s to come With last winters
reduction # price gss seems likely to hold us own
for purqoscs of street Illumination I'll clectrc
! ful tlan they are now
BREAKAGE CT sTREET-LAMPs.
Each company. Of course puts in It's own lamIs
| liable and so with the Mutual and oonsohda'ed'
| shapes. sizes and coloIs differ with different 10
| calties ami one may meet rather start IN va
rety # lamp-pOss, diScolorcd. broken twisted am
sometimes tOl sy -turNy, uptown on the Iist Sluc.
1t is lucky too there II they have tIe steet
in or the glass panes unbrO>en Inc deNdslAuols
of tie small boy with his slunS-s ot or + "a shooter
aie a stan linz grieyanse OF the 'omIanes a-ails,
the city policemen. One night III uN, Ioo1i Nhtn
the lamIs from Imrd-aVe. TO Avenue were AIs'
. iioLfrd every sn,Ie glass was oxen. and tI,
same thn- happened frequently afterwarI WheI
the lambs were re- lazed. in the month OF Deceln
ha. 1888 7O4O of the Consolidated Company
lsmrs were broken and nearly l.5OO OF the Othel
two colllpanes This is q rate for the year of some
thing like 100. 900. During the m nilS when tlt
,now falls the breakage. of course. Is Greater an
december is taken by the superintendent OI Lamp
and las ia his report be- ausc IL IS Only an a. cIc
month. -. -
Zach comyany. too, lights and puts out IFS Owl
lamis according 20 a schedule prepared by the CITY
COT fHfIn IA q
from the time the fist is lighted ana The clIcule
of tie mcn and boys who look alter ms arc licIe
; fore small In July a lamp buns seven hours an
three qraltc IN December TIME over l0ur'ecii
| hours The total number Of hours burned thlCusl
bV each in a wear is 1000 al rough -ueSs.
Tie prices paid to the three companies for "a:
by the city during the year lssj-lsso were as 10!
! lows To the Consolidated lfOr Wo-thlIds oil a.
tho public lamps in use, sl7 80 year for eacl
r lamp. tie same b. the New-lorl Mutual and ; !.
2 | to the Equitable. The Northern Gas li@hl 'oln
panv and the Central Gas Llght Company wiAci
West Farms get much as $50 a year Ier lamp
i For gas used in the public buildings tho Consoh
@ dated and Mutual CHARGED 81 80 a thousand Zee
: and the Equitable 81 40.
The Illuminating power in candles OF the ga
r Furnished by lie different comTanis .aries widely
4 The Ncy York branch OF the Consolidated can SHOW
"a 80 candle power: the Manhattan branch onl
: 90 the Metropolitan branch, 22yO the Munlc
jpal branch 1925: the knckcrboclter branch
g6 &c The two smaller companies 90 much De'
ter The Mutuals cas- has an Illuminating po"e
> of 2s ; and tho Equitabe's one or 81 l.5l a ga
l. Of 3l.3l candle power Is luxury uIat ie" GU ne
:, en- ov That of London is far inferior anu so
. doubtless is that Of most American cities.