The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-28
A LOCAL GAS MEETING
ONE Is TO BE HELD IN THIS CITY
NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
Mayor Taggart's Call-PetitiOn to the
Governor for an Extra Session
of the Legislature.

Mayor Taggart has called a mass meeting
for next Wednesday night at the Criminal
Court room to take steps to cooperate with
cities of the gas belt in the effort to stop
the waste of natural gas. He received a
letter yesterday morning inviting him to
attend the meeting of the mayors of the gas
belt cities at Alexandria tomorrow
afternoon at 2 o'clock and request
ing him to call mass meeting for
next Wednesday night for the purpose of
appointing committee to wait on Governor
Mount and urge that the State take some
action Accompanying the invitation to the
mayor was a typewriter petition addressed
to the Governor, in which he is urged to
convene a special session of the Legislature
1t is the purpose to have the committee APP
pointed at the mass meeting join with
similar committees from other towns that
are interested, and to have the petition cir
culated at the mass meeting for signatures
Il do not know yet whether l will attend
the meeting at Alexandria" said the mayor
yesterday, "but the meeting here will be
held. This is a very important subject and
probably affects the people of indianapolis
as much as those in the gas belt. as a
good deal of our gas comes from that
source"
Mayor Taggart saw Evans Woollen, Sec
rotary of the Commercial Club. Mr.. Wool
len promised to bring the matter to the at
tention of the Commercial Club, with a
view of having a committee from that body
join the citizens committee when it visits
Governor Mount.
The invitation to Mayor Taggart is signed
by Messrs. A. E. Harley, William F. Ed
wards. A. E. Otto, ]. c. Condo and Perry
Heritage, of Alexandria copy of the in
vitation was printed in the Journal yester-
day.
THE PETITION TO BE SIGNED.
Following is the petition to the Governor,
which is referred to in the letter to the
mayor, and which the Alexandria men sug-
gest should be circulated for signatures at
the mass meeting:
Whereas Within the last past ten years,
the central portion of the State of Indiana
has doubled in population and many times
multiplied its wealth, and cities and towns
of magnificent proportion now stand where
fields and forests abounded, and the hum
of factories and the sound Of the whistle is
heard where the owl used TO boot and find
a rendezvous, and thousands of happy
homes with prosperous, intelligent indus
trious occupants find employment in the
factories, whose smokestackS tower heaven
ward as monuments and sentinels for miles
in area, unbroken from the constant view
of the naked eye, and the farmer through
out said territory has a constant demand
and market for his products at price al
most always in excess of the usual or gen.
eral market for the same, and on account
and by reason of the foregoing, prosp Gritty,
happiness and Astounding success, coupled
with energy. has brought about and ought
to continue the same until the entire world
is attracted thereby;
And whereas, Ali these blessings have
been brought by the munificent gift Of an
all-wise Creator in the form of natural gas
in quantities that with economical use Is
anna flxr q IN "A ct
whereas, in the very heart of the greatest
gas belt known to the civilized world,
small quantity of oil was struck about hve
months since, and hundreds of so-cdlled oil
wells have since, and are now being drilled
by various persons and companies for the
purpose of obtaining said OIL
And whereas, Said persons and compa-
mics so drilling for oil as aforesaid are al
lowing, suffering and permitting natural gas
to flow free and unobstructed from said
wells, and escape into the open air, thereby
allowing and permitting hundreds of mil
lions of cubic feet of the precious 1uel TO
be wasted daily, and the continued ana un-
INSTRUCTED flow from hundreds of holes
from eight to ten inches in diameter is rap
idly reducing the rock pressure of said gas,
and said oil companies are branching off in
various directions, which threaten, and Will
if permitted to continue in the pursuit OF
their vocation within one year, permit, al
low and cause the waste of all the rock
pressure in this greatest of pools of natural
gas, thereby running hundreds of industries
throwing hundreds of thousands of people
out OF employment, bringing want and mis-
cry into thousands of now happy and pros
porous homes, causing people to desert and
leave this part of the State by numbers
untold leaving houses empty. places of bus
mess abandoned, and millions of dollars de-
crease in the value of property and desola-
ton and want where now is prosperity and
plenty;
And whereas, There is a pecuniary profit
in said oil business TO a few individuals en-
gagged therein, the loss to the many is more
than 0,000 times as great on account of the
great waste of gas occasioned by the pro-
cess of obtaining said OIL and whereas,
there is at this time no law in force in this
State that is adequate to speedily remedy
this great and everlasting evil,
Therefore, We, the undersigned citizens,
earnestly pray that your Excelleney will
forthwith and without delay convene the
Legislature of the State of Indiana in extra
session for the purpose of passing q law
that will speedily and at once forever stop
this shameful waste.