Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-19
Gas MEN HAVE TAR FOR ROADS
May Enter Field of Competition with
Dust-Lsying Product.
NEWSPAPER ADS ARE ADVOCATED
No Matter ~ Gas Company Has Mo-
nopOIy I'm IT'S Community such
Advertising, Speaker
says, Pays.

Gas manufacturers may enter the field
against all competitors making prepara-
lions for "dustless ~roadways' II they de-
eide to offer their tar by-products to the
public as suggested in a paper read before
the Iowa District Gas association Thurs
day afternoon by wilian II. Taylor, jr.
OF Omaha
As Is well known, the gas companies
have a large amount of tar, each 1000
cubic feet Of gas manufactured producing
seven-tenths Of a gallon of tar. Mr.. Taylor
read a paper on Three Methods of Dis
posing Of Our Tar PTocucts." He said
the three methods were tar as a boiler
fuel, as a generator fuel and for roadways.
He said the disposal of the tar for making
dustless roads was the best field for dis
posing Of the tar and that manufacturers
of gas should push the plan Of disposing
Of the by-produot made In such quantities
and at the same time they would be as
sisting the movement for better roads.
Make a Free Demonstration.
Make a free demonstration on a road
way or boulevard and show what tar will
do for our roads, said Mr.. Taylor. In
applying water gas tar TO a roadway It Is
necessary that the roadway be shaped up
and perfectly dry. 1t is well to apply the
tar only on bright, sunny days. One-half of
the roadway is covered and allowed to dry
and then the other half is covered. 1t is
applied cold and can be spread by a man
with an ordinary sprinkling can or by a
tank wagon with a spray in the rear.
"A road treated in this way will present
a hard, dry surface, free from dust. The
tar will also kill all weeds and objection
able vegetation. 1t is best to coat such
roads with the tar twice each year.
zone gallon Of tar will cover about three
square yards of road on each application.
This, at a price of s cents per gallon for
tar applied, makes the unusually low cost
to the public Of Q cents per square yard,
a price that will enable us to compete with
the prices charged for many of the prep
a~rations on the market, and will still leave
the gas man a good price for his tar"
Mr.. Taylor's paper was declared to be
enc OF the best presented to the associa-
ton and he furnished the members with
copies of 1t containing blue prints of a
tar burner for a boiler furnace, such as is
successfully used by the Omaha Gas COM
pany, and also a blue print illustrating the
method Of introducing tar into the gen
orators.
Gas Man and the Public.
1.-THE Gas Mans Relation to the Public
and to the Employee of His Company" by
w. E. Davis of South Omaha, presented
at the Thursday morning session, brought
out some interesting discussion on the
matter of treating the public, and es-
pecially on donations made by the COM
! panies to public enterprises and charities.
L. L. Kellogg, manager of the Sioux city
Gas and Electric company, and G. w. Cla-
baugh of the Omaha Gas company were
among the first to put their seal of APP
prevail on giving money to enterprises
which promised to assist In developing
the cities. Mr.. Kellogg said it mad been
the practice of his company for years to
give literally. ~
while / believe IN doing our share in
assisting deserving enterprises. the ques-
ton has often occurred to me as to
whether we have a right to give away our
stockholders money" said Mr.. Clabaugh.
only a short time ago a lot of big life
IT. surance companies had trouble in New
York and had to be reorganized because
their officers were making donations with
the expectation of getting large returns.
That we are treading on the same ground
as the life insurance officials has fire.
quently occurred to me. We are giving
away the money of the stockholders with
out their consent, and it is a question
whether we should continue the practice
or not. Still l believe in the gas companies
doing their share, and It might be that il
would be well to have the stockholders set
aside a certain amount for such purposes -
Attack on Hospitals.
Others took about the same view of the
situation, one gas manufacturer making a
merciless criticism Of some hospitals and
showing the ingratitude Of some enter
prises which are assisted.
For years l nave made 1t a practice
to furnish gas and fixtures free to tho
hospitals in our city. which has two such
Institutions" he said. "Now. after all
that. we had a man injured a short time
ago and drove him to the hospital in my
own carriage. His fingers had been taker
off, and before that hospital relieved the
suffering and dressed the wound, the su.
perintendent called up my office and in.
quired who was going to pay the surgeons
BILL"
George s. Forrest of lowe City, Ia, ad
vocated advertising in the newspapers as
method for giving the public to under
stand that the gas manufacturers were
part Of the community and interested fl
everything which other business men ar,
interested in.
Don't think because you are the only
gas company in a city and the people hav'
to buy II or you II they want IL that yol
do not need to advertise in the newspa
pers," said Mr., Forrest. II have founC
that / got direct and good results from
advertising IN the local papers and having
articles published now and then telling
the people something which they want t
know about the gas. gas meters and othe
supplies which we have for sale"
Mr.. Forrest discussed in his paper a
the morning session Bookkeeping of
Small Gas Company"
Homer Honeywell Of Lincoln presente,
a paper on Comparative Value OF Fuels
Available in the low District" MI
! Honeywell said the Goals In the thre,
} states composing the district were no
available for gas-makinT.
MAYOR SAVES THE Y. M. C. A