The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-24
SOFT COAL AND BLACK SMOKE
BituIninous Fuel May Be Burned With
out Emitting SCOT Clouds.

The possibility of burning soft coal
with no production of smoke is pointed
out in the Medical Record by an edi-
torial writer. He reminds his readers,
in the first place, that while il is not
against the law TO burn soft coal, 1T is
so by this means TO produce black
smoke and SCOT such as are q nuisance
and A menace to the common health. He
goes on to say:
Bituminous coal can be burned in
such way that chimneys under which
it is used will not bclch forth hidcous
and noxious vapors. Prof, Jones, who
is engaged by the Metropolitan railway,
states in r letter addressed to our es-
teemed lay namesake that in the power
plant of this company there IS little
or no smoke produced, This result de-
pends In no way upon any special ap.
paratus termed smoke-consumer; IN
deed, Prof. Jones knows Of no such ap-
paratus. THE whole trick in burning
soft coal and producing no smoke is to
feed the coal gradually to the furnaces
and in such a way that the smoke pro-
duced is produced only in the front
part of the furnace and is consumed IN
passing over the back part Of the fire,
which is a bed of incandescent coke, the
whole fire being gradually moved from
the front to the back OF the furnace.
The feeding is, of course, done in all
large plants by machinery, both for
soft and hard coal In small furnaces
an intelligent hreman-pone other
should be employed-can get the same
results, no matter what coal is used.
'The city of Cleveland furnishes a
demonstration of smokeless city in the
factories of which soft coal is almost
exclusively used; and this result is
brought about in a community OF nearly
half a million by staff composed of
special engineer and three inspectors
backed up by wholesome public sen,
timent. The public sentiment Is, after
all, the thing that does the work; the
officials are but the instruments. They
have in that city law, Iigidly
enforced, TO arrest not only the fremen,
but the owner, agent, tenant, occupant
or any other person in charge or con,
troll OF any structure other than pri-
vate house.
The chief complaint o those prose;
cuted for these nuisances is that hard
coal is so difficult to get-it is too ex
pensive. We confess there ,s something
in this Hard coal is very expensive
why, is not easy of explanation. Mr..
Baer and his confreres might enlighten
us; but they would probably consider
impolitic a frank statement in this re-
gard. What tho humble citizen can
reason OUT however, is that a year
cents ton for his diggings 1--WE have
not seen what the poor devil gets to
day., while the consumer must pay
nearly ten times as much for the same
amount of coal Evidently there are
somewhere in this business those who
are extortionate. Here, we think, is
a situation in which we might we'll pray
for at least a brief presence among
us of benevolent despot with full
power of life and death. Yes, anthra-
cite comes high; but, as we have point
ed out, it does not have to be used. It
is com mplained that if soft coal cannot
be burned, practically all factories will
have to be closed down. But the con-
trary obtains in Cleveland, where, dur
manufactures has doubled. Literary
Digest.