The Washington herald., 1909-02-01

pace, u Is gas company. Then II De
comes a coke company, tar company
and ammonia company. If coal ga
IS TO be made cheaply. The situa
ton was not so bad in the old days
when the gas companies just sat back
and II the people wanted to burn gas
they could come and apply for it and
get Il, and were real good; but as It i.
now, when gas companies have come {,
realize that their business Is a com
+ petitive one, and II they are going tC
/ get business they had better go out fol
+ II and persuade people they had better
+ use gas. In the old days It was COM
paratiYeiy easy to dispose in the manu-
facture itself Of the coke II Is the
+ buikiest residual made IN the process oi
making coal gas, but those were the days
when they were selling possibly l,e00, and
some very wen TnaHaged companies sell
Z ing l,sa0 feet year per inhabitant Of
; the town, Now, in the large cities the
consumption per inhabitant runs any
where from 500 70 500 feet I do not
think IL would be possible for any OF
the gas companies along the Atlantic
coast 20 dispose OF all the coke that they
make without, 70 a certain extent, giving
Up their gas business. You have to sup
ply the gas. Il IS the demand for gas
you are supplying. and you have 70 keep
your works running. and the coke comes
in, whether you have demand for It
or not So that was the relief that the
obsenee Of coke and tar and ammonia
brought 10 the coal gas manufacturer,
and had great deal to Go with the
adopting OF water gas.
one OF the prominent English gas en-
gineers visited the Newark Gas Works
while I was manager Of It. and his de-
scription OF the pile OF coke he had
stored away IN the yards OF his works
was heart-rending. Il really weighed on
him, and he was over 10 investigate the
question OF carou=etted water gas He
went home and advised his company 10
put IN carouretted water gas. They cid,
and got rid OF that coke quite quickly.
They not only stopped making it to
isrge extent, but used what they had
made
I touched on a point there I want to
elaborate. The supply OF gas IS
monopoly IN this sense, that we have
settled down 10 the conviction and
practice OF not allowing more than one
gas company % operate in a given
locality because Il Is to the advantage
OF the locality that that should be 80.
But the gas company. even though there
Is no ether gas company IN that locality,
cannot sell gas unless the gas Is better
Tor light than electricity, unless II is
better and cheaper for heat. or for other
reasons; x Is more advantageous for cook
ing, we win say. than coal, and they
cannot sell II fer heating unless Il is
cheaper. and so Il IS really q very com
peutive business The men who are IN
II, who are running the business. know
now hard It IS 70 get business in com
petition with tie other Hluminants such
as kerosene oil and electricity, and even
candles. There are more candles made
now than there were even before gas OF
electricity were introduced.
Mr.. Sims-What GO they do with then2
Mr. Forstall-Burn them for lights and
use them IN places where there is not
gas, and I think you probably 20 10 din
ners where the only lights IN the room
are candles. / do not Ike il
This steady progress has been con-
dnued until, By the report of the Geo
logical Survey, the percentage OF water
gas made and distributed through central (
In the United States IS now two |
-hlras OF the total amount made. That
proportion has been maintained, accord /
ng TO two repOrts-ons for 1866 and one
'or 1907
Mr. Sims-Water gas Is q growth. thenP
M Forstall-It started from nothing al
~. There was absolutely nc water gas 1
made before 1870, and in the thirty-nine 4
'ears since then Il has gotten I'D to 4
wo-thirds OF the total amount made and
Ioid in the United States.
Mr. Sims-Have you any statistics show
ng the number Of casualties before and
liter the RdoptiOn2
Mr.. ForstaIl-To q certain extent. thew
Ire very hard 20 get
1Ir. Sfms-I want 70 ask vou sor,a
Iuestions along thar line when you come
o Il
Mr.. ForstaIl-The apparently small usa
Z carburetted water gas in EuroDe has
cen referred 70. Thzt as Dr. Love I.
howed, is being changed quite rapidly.
u there IS a good economical reason for
1aL The conditions in Europe are not
nywhere near as favorable for the
manufacture Of csrburetted water gas
economically aS they are n this country.
axe, Tor instance. probably al OF the oil I
lat is used for making the oil gas has
Do imported, and naturally il costs :
lore than IN the countries from which 7
IS imported. 7 do not know that II !
ways does, but the first plant in Eng I
nd was introduced about 1880. and In c
he nineteen years since then its use in [
ngland has grown 10 tie extent ipdi- s
ated by Dr.. Love in his statement and 8
course, IN the United States there are {
very few municipality owned gas s
ants; but very striking testimony to c
le fact that ca-burettsd water gas has Q
ade its way on its merits seems 10 be / e
lie in the extensive use Of Il for uu- O
cipal gas plants IN England and On the O
intinent OF Europe. AL OF the larger O
unicipal plants in England are using il.
eIIast IS using u very extensively, and I
-e engineer FOR the corporation has y
ated be could not get along without Il. Z
ID i has been q great benefit 10 The
immunity There is a case where It 7
could not be used II It was Il
( for the benefit OF the community. be- I
use the community Is carrying on the d
anufacture Of II for itself.
Sfr. SimS-GOvernment ovnershfp7 Il
Mr.. FOrstail-EeS. In some cases the Il
makes profit and regulates
g rates By Il. and IN other cases they e.
duce the profit and sell It at abso- q
tely cost price On the continent oil O.
lrope the price CT Oh is stu higher, be- f
use the countries are protectionist and
not produce oil Most Of the oil has h
be imported with a very high tariff u
It But even there js
dr- MoOre-You said something about Y
election Does that Increase the cost n
the manufacture there2 fs
'Ir. ForstaIi-Yes. The economic con- n
ions are not as favorable for the use .,
water gas on the continent OF Europe ',
they are IN America, for instance, n
stin. even there the amount of car n
retted water gas has been steadily IN VI
sasing, while the result In Germany,
countries in the vicinity OF Germany,
ere oil IS especially expansive, has N
n that they distribute blue water gas. %
It contains IS to 30 per cent OF / n
bon monoxide. 1 have here g list Of of
hteen towns, which is taken from q
per read by q prominent engineer. Do
] care TO have that2 -