The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-18
GAS PRODUCTION
BY FREDERIC }. HAsKIN.

/ The Natural Gas Association Of Amer
! lea meets TODAY in Columbus. q. IL VIII
! be addressed by Governor Harmon. ana
viii take up some interesting matters
/ in connection with the outstanding OF she
natural gas supply Of the country L1he
all other great national resources. the
supply was once regarded as ineNhaus-
! tible. but many miles Of empty gas mains,
and many exhausted gushers, tell mute
story Of the first national resource to
approach exhaustion through the pTodl-
gality Of the people rather than through
| its use. The day was in Indiana when
il was cheaper to leave a gas jet burn
I ing than to strike a match the next time
/ il was desired to light It. But in the
very capital city of that state itself
great gas company went TO pieces be
cause il no longer had gas to HOW
through its hundreds of miles Of mains
and its thousands of house connections
AS if to emphasize the irony Of fate,
new company has acquired the idle prop
erty and viii attempt TO give that CITY
60-cent artificial gas. The big gas manu-
Y factuTers of the country claim that they
cannot do II. The gas trade Journals
are in an Il told you So mood or ex-
/ pectation over it, But the public will
[ hope and pray that it can make Sooo,
as Il is admitted that if il does. 60-cent
/ gas is a possibility in every city OF lVV1V
inhabitants.
But with all the untold millions of feet
Of natural gas that have been used, ana
I the other untold millions that have been
wasted. there is still more than double
as much natural gas used in the United
States as there is artificial gas. The
geological survey places the annual
amount Of the natural product used al
I over 40000d.OG00O0 cubic feet. Add 10 this
/ the 10000, 100000 cubic feet of artificial
gas used. and It would take q gigantic
gas tank two miles in diameter and more
/ than a mile high TO hold it.
/ It is estimated that even today, after
the note OF alarm over the prospective de-
pletion Of the natural gas supply has
been sounded, the annual waste of natu-
raj gas in the United States amounts 70
/ the enormous total of 1,O0O,000Ot0 cubic
I feet. One well in Kentucky is said TO
! have wasted. at current prices $3,0oo,eJ0
worth Of natural gas year for twenty
/ consecutive years. Some wells nave a
I flow of gas as high as 100000 cubic feet
I a day The heating capacity of that
amount of gas is equivalent TO that OF
I 1890 bushels of coal or 1900 barrels or
z oil. With the production of natural gas
amounting to over 1,000O00.O09 feet per
I day, it will be seen that the daily out
put is equivalent to more than l,eO9eJJ
l bushels of coal
Natural gas is the most perfect fuel
and lighting agent known to man, and
/ yet even it cannot show the economical
/ operation that is shown by common
/ insect. When Solomon babe the sluggard
to go to the ant, consider her ways and
be wise. he little thought that the sci
/ entists some thirty centuries later would
be called upon to bid the lighting experts
1 of the world to go to the FREELY and
consider its ways. But such is his to do.
( The FREELY and the glOW-w worm possess
/ secrets of light making that make man S
| feeble effort at producing cheap light
! look like a tallOW candle in the noon
! day sun If man could produce light
+ with as little expenditure of heat as the
FREELY does. the gas bill that is now 81
| would be ! cent.
The first great thinker to investigate
the FREELY and the glowworm in an en-
deavor TO learn their light-producing
secrets was Professor Young. He came
| to the early conclusion that the FREELY
was in class al! by itself His invesu-
cations attracted the attention Of that
great student of deep things. Professor
Langley, for so long secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution. He brought into
play his bOlOmeter-an instrument which
! will measure the heat from the farthest
I star with the accuracy that a registered
thermometer will measure the heat Of 4
room. 1t showed him that the FREELY can
produce given amount of light 400 times
as economically as man can
The FREELY has the gift of luminescence
light without heat Man can produce
light only by incandescence-ligh with
heat. 1t is said that a fortune awaits the
man who viii give the world a practC-
able luminescent lamp. It is true that
such lamp may be made by the use Of
radium. but that article is SO rare that
the interest on the money required to buy
enough radium to make light of one
lcandie-power would convert it into most
costly lighting agent. 1t is said that -
per cent of the energy men use in gen
Grating light is mere waste.
1t is said that in the manufacture of ar
uficial gas the public. pays Just about
three times the cost Of the raw material
from which il is made. There has been
much talk about the harmful effect of
water gas. and the dangers attendant
upon its use. but the geological survey
figures show that nearly tWO-thirds Of
the artificial gas used in the United
States is water gas
The latest idea in gas production Is
LIQUID gas. A process has been discovered
whereby gas can be liquefied under pres
sure. and il viii lend itself admirably TO
the needs of the isolated home or place OF
business. II can be sold more cheapiy
than oil. and is said to give all the ad-
vantages of gas without the use of mains
and pipes Tt is hardly probable that the
new gas will come into general use in this
country or in Canada, but it Is meeting
favor in Germany.
Opinion is sharply divided over the pre-
paid meter system Of gas using. II has
been found to result in a greater number
of installations. but when man buys Il
a quarter a a time he becomes more care
fol about his gas bill with the result that
his new economy almost, or quite, cOun-
fterbalances the added sales from new IN
StaIlations Recently Atlanta was IN
4 tested with gas meter robbers In a sin
, Z gle month more than 200 meters were
robbed OF the deposited coins The loss
fell on the users and not on the COMPANY
which furnished the gas. steps nave been
taken 10 prevent future robberies.
The public has always claimed that the
meters run too fast. Some light was re-
I Gently thrown on that subject by a test
in New York The meters that were COM
blamed of during a given period were
taken out and tested by the public utii-
tiles commission. The result showed that
SO per cent were too fast, and that while
the total amount of gas charged for was
/ considerably in excess Of that actually
- AH~ "a