The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-09-19

cooking and m.eny purposes as con
yenienfly or as e. onomically as th'
Gas. and the GAS nro. lem here as wei
as elsewhere goes side by side will
electricity and prices We nnd vary
almost as much. Some cftle>1 pay al
much as we do here, 81. rs per thous
and cubic feet, while at other pisces
it is as low as 81. 90 and even price
of seventy five cents has been found In
city further east. We have been In
formed that in large cities both cleo
| trical energy and gas can be produced
much cheaper than in smaller cities
on account of the large amount Sold
! This is probably true and that it can
! be done, but we do not find that it is
done. Some of the larger cities are
paying high rates and the cheapest
rates on gas especially, as here indi-
Gated, we find in the small places,
some of the villages in this part of the
, state getting gas, and an excellent
quality at that, furnished at about
! two thirds Of what Mankato city is
paying. There has been probably as
many improvements in gas machinery
as there has in the electrical ma
chinery and gas can be produced and
furnished much cheaper than years
ago. The actual cost of producing coal
gas and furnishing the same to con-
sumers is about forty cents per thous
and cubic feet. We have investigated
different processes as they are in use
througout the country and where they
have been fully proved, and find the
cold process of manufacturing gas is
becoming very popular. and the light
that is produced thereby compares
very favorably with the best electric
lights. 1t is the whitest and most
beautiful light produced and we have
a number of plants right in our midst,
one in our own county, namely Am
boy. Madelia also has such a system
and Mountain Lake and Heron Lake.
Some of these places have been visited
by members of your committee and
the lights furnished are in our iudg
mept superior to electricity Amboy
charges private consumers 81. % per
thousand. Madelia and Heron Lake the
same price. Mountain Lake furnishes
gas at 81. The light is so much su-
perior to ordinary coal gas and the
same number of cubic feet furnishes
SO much more light that there is a
more remarkable difference in the ex.
pense than is shown by the price per
thousand feet. williamsburg, Iowa,
and Winfield. Iowa, have the same
system. and the people of each locality
are perfectly delighted with the same.
Works of 1000 cubic feet daily cold
process gas, in brick building 24x60
feet, 10, 900 feet of gas mains, 100 gas
meters, 100 service pipe connections,
ten street lamps set, will cost all COM
plete with building $15, 900. This Ca
pacity can be doubled and as much
more territory covered by mains and
connections and street lamps for
So, 600 additional The cold process
gas system, are taking the place of the
coal gas product and the gas is much
better than is furnished by the private
systems now in use in great many
stores because in large plant it is
filtered and the pressure is uniform.
The same plans of installation and
operation enumerated above for cleo
trio plants apply to the gas plants and
the two systems work together in
cities of any size Both electricity
and gas are needed for the demands
of consumers. Electricity has the ad-
vnatage of being conducted to the
suburbs and sparsely settled parts of
the city with less expense. Gas is the
cheapest for the contested business
and residence districts
CONCLUSIONS.
An up to date electric plant run on
the cooperative plan, as outlined
above. will fill our present needs most
readily and the product should be con-
Quoted over more territory in the
shortest space of time. and we recon-
mend the establishment of such sys-
TEN and on such plan at once, and
that the consumers be as far as posi-
BILE the stockholders Cooperation
gives the strength of all the other
principles and plans of combination
of capital without the Objectionable
and dangerous features of the ordi-
nary monopoly, and by it the patrons
and consumers and small capitalists
are benefited equally with those of
large means and with those who f.
nance the scheme We have here given
you on general lines the benefits and
results of our very close investigation.
We have encountered our report with
no mass of statistics, out give you just
what we suppose you want to know,
namely. such conclusions as are truth
fully and legitimately drawn from the
information and data within our
reach