Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-31

hundred Yards Of the gas works Tie
linen manufacturer went to the court.
and got a judgment by which they couiC
not operate that retort house until they
got rid of the smoke and | do not think
they got rid Of il.
Then. from the standpoint % the com.
pany. il is less eXhausting for the men
The work OF a stoker in q coal-gas work.
is not bad as that OF puddler work
ing the old-fashion pudding furnace, hui
ii comes not very far from IL. and yol
had TO pick Your men-they had TO he
very strong men and men who could stapa
quite an exposure OF heat. and there wa.
another reason for the rapid extension
OF water gas. if had gotten difficult &c
get hold OF men 10 handle the coal-gai
process
Mr. Moore-Did il tend 10 shorten then
lives
Mr.. Forstall--I do not know that it did
because they usually got out after seven
or eight years. vi course. there are eN
ceptional men. | have known mon tc
work for ten or fifteen years while WITH
the carbureted water gas the require
ment Is more one OF intelligence and not
50 much OF strength you are not so eN-
posed to the heat. An ordinary Lahore
with moderate amount Of intelligence
can do the work.
Advantage to Company.
Then "A very important advantage 10
the gas company is that there are no
residuals to handle for carbureted water
gas. The manufacture of coal gas COM
pels the gas company to go into four
different kinds of business In the first
place. ii is a gas company. Then il be-
comes a coke company, tar company ano
ammonia company. if coal gas is to lie
made cheaply. The situation was not
so bad in the old days when the gas
companies just sat back and ii the pea.
pie wanted to burn gas. they could come
and apply FOR il and get il. and were
real good. but az il is now. when gas
companies have come TO realize that
their business is a competitive one and
If they are going to get business they
had better go out for il and persuade
people they had better use gas. In the
old days it was comparatively easy IL
dispose in the manufacture Itself OF the
coke. 1t is the bulkiest residual made
in the process Of making coal gas. but
those We're the days when they were
selling possibly 1000. and some very
well managed companies selling 500
feet year per inhabitant OF the town.
Now. in the large cities the consumption
per inhabitant runs anywhere from 1000
to 5000 feet l do not think il would
be possible for any of the gas companies
along the Atlantic coast To dispose OF
all the coke that they make without 10
ii certain extent giving up their gas
business. You have to supply the gas.
ing. and you have to keep your works
running. and tho coke comes in. whether
you have a demand for it or not.
So that was the relief that the absence
of coke and tar and ammonia brought
to the coal gas manufacturer and had
great deal to do with the adopting of
water gas.
One of the prominent English gas en-
gineers visited the Newark gas works
while l was manager of it, and his de-
scription of the pile of coke he had stored
away in the yards of his works was
heartrending. 1t really weighed on him.
and he was over to investigate the ques-
ton of carhureted water gas. He went
home and advised his company to put in
carbureted water gas: they did and got
rid of that coke quite quickly. They not
only stopped making it to a large ex-
tent, but used what they had made.
Monopoly in One Sense.
1 touched on a point there | want to
elaborate. The supply of gas is monop-
oily in this sense, that we have settled
down to the conviction and practice Of
not allowing more than one gas company
to operate in given locality, because
it is to the advantage of the locality
that that should be so. But the gas
company, even though there is no other
gas company in that locality, cannot sell
gas unless the gas is better for light than
electricity; unless it Is better and cheap per
for heat or for other reasons. 1t is more
advantageous for cooking, we will say.
than coal. and they cannot sell il for
heating unless it is cheaper, and SO it ID
really a very competitive business. The
men who are in it, who are running the
business, know how hard ii is to get busi-
ness in competition with the other iilu-
minantS such as kerosene oil and cleo
tricity, and even candles. There are
more candles made now than there were
even before gas or electricity were intro
duced.
Mr. Sins-What do they do with them?
Mr. Forstall-Burn them for lights and
use them in places where there is no
gas. and I think you probably 60 to din
ners where the only lights in the rooms
are candles. ! do not like 1t.
This steady progress has been contin-
ued until. by the report OF the geological
survey, the percentage of water gas made
and distributed through central stations
in the United States is now two-thirds OF
the total amount made. That proportion
has been maintained, according to two
reports. one for 1905 and one for 1907.
Mr.. Sims-Water gas is growth, then?
Mr.. Forstall-1t started from nothing at
all. There was absolutely no wateS gas
made before 1870, and in the thirty-nine
years since then it has gotten up to two
thirds of the total amount made and sold
in the United States.
Mr.. SimS-Have you any statistics
showing the humber OF casualties before
and after the adoption?
Mr.. Forstall-To a certain extent. They
are very hard to get.
Mr.. Sims-I want to ask you some ques-
tons along that line when you come TO
it.
Mr.. Forstall-The apparently small use
of carbureted water gas in Europe has
been referred to. That, as DIR. Love
showed. is being changed quite rapidly.
but there is a good economic reason for
that. The conditions in Europe are not
anywhere near as favorable for the manu-
facture of carbureted water gas econom
ically as they are in this country. Take.
for instance. probably all of the Oil that
is used for making the oil gas has to be
imported. and naturally it costs more than
in the countries from which it is imported.
do not know that il always does. but the
first plant in England was introduced
about 1890. and in the nineteen years since
then its use in England has grown to the
extent indicated by DIR. Love in his state
ment and, of course. in the United States
there are a very few municipal-owned gas
plants, but very striking testimony To
the fact that carbureted waite. gas has
made its way on it's merits seems TO me
to lie in the extensive of it for mI-
continent of Europe. All of the larger
municipal plants in England are using it.
Belfast is using it very extensively, and
the engineer for the corporation has stat
ed he could not get along without ii. and
it has been a great benefit to the COM
munity There is 4 case where it abso-
lutely could not be used If il was not for
the benefit of the community. because tho
community is carrying on the manufar-
ture Of it for itself.
covarnment nunerSlip