El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-16

!
/ resents millions of dollars Of economic
/ waste to the public at large. The
I biighting influence of a municipal
! smoke pail on the health of a cOmmu-
| nifty alone might justify its abatement
[ for it has been shown at home and
abroad that smoky cities are cities
with high death rates from all bron-
! chiaI and pulmonary diseases In ad-
ditiOn to this the effect on trees and
vegetation in general has been shown
to be harmful and costly. In the parks
of St. Louis each year one tree out OF
/ every 20 dies because OF the smoke
J pail. 1t has been found that the smoke
gases of busy cities frequently injuTe
/ vegetation within a radius of so miles
But a more appreciable smoke loss to
the community is that inflicted upon
the ultimate consumer.
Millions Lost Through Smoke.
One Chicago merchant estimated that
the smoke nuisance cost him S2OCsOOu
year in damaged goods, an expense
that one may be sure was included N
his price tickets. He further esl-
mated that state streets smoke take
amounted to S2,0OO,0OO a year, and that
I it played no Insignificant role when
the price makers were marking the
price tickets. Carrying the matter stlll
further, he declared that the toll that
Cnicaeo's smoke exacted from It's citi-
zens was equal in amount to all the
taxes levied by the municipality.
Out of the 50O,00O,000 tons Of coal
used annually in the United StaeS, less
than 5000, 600 tons is actually turned
into service and power Inc energy
of the remainder is wasted in smoke,
friction. and other ways. Most OF the
waste comes from imperfect power sys-
TENS and might be reduced greatly
were all coal using plants to measure
up to the best engineering practlee- but
the amount that might be saved simply
BY proper combustion methods in eN-
isting power plants throughout the
country would certainly amount to
railroads Make Tests.
These possibilities are Illustrated by
the experience Of a railroad which de-
cided to put its firemen 20 test
One fireman was sent out with an en-
gine to draw a train from one city 10
another, the running time being an
hour and 50 minutes he used SUIU
pounds Of coal to make the trip and
had a hard time keeping up steam all
the way Next day, with a duplicate
train and with weather conditions sim
liar, the same engine under better
fireman. made the trip with $500 pounds
roundhOuse, had the steam against the
pop" the whole distance He left
trail Of steamy smoke. the fireman he
succeeded left one long streak OF black
behind.
On a larger scale the experience Of
the Burlington. Cedar Rapids & North
ern railway is iHuminative OF what rail-
roads have accomplished by adopting
proper firing methods. During one
period Of nine months 1t reduced the
amount of coal burned by nearly nine
percent as compared with the same
months of the previous year, in the
face of an increase OF four percent, IN
train mileage and Of some increase IN
the weight Of the average train The
superintendent declared that three
fcurths of the increased efficiency was
due TO better firing methods
Factories have had similar expert
ences. One plant told its firemen it
would pay them 81 a month extra for
every month they showed a smOkeless
stack They found 1t was Just about
as easy TO have smOkeless lire as 10
make black smoke and the result was
that a factory was able to eliminate
smoke without any cost for installations
and the 81 bonus to the firemen was
more than returned by the saving OF
coal
But there are many big factories with
small boilers and understood furnaces,
and they have to be pushed to the limit
to furnish enough heat and steam for
the days work 1t is with them that
neither the careful fireman nor the
smoke consumer availS TO remedy the
situation, and it is these factories that
are responsible today for the conunu-
ance Of the smoke nuisance Ihey must
work under a terrific strain all day
long Just as a weakling has to work
in keeping up with the moderate eA-
ertions of the athlete
The Real Solution.
But after all, the ultimate solution OF
the question does not depend upon the
improvements in present methOoS OF
firing so much as upon entire changes
in the nationwide methods OF convert
ing the sunshine of byGOne ages into
the power Of today. The really smoke
less town will arrive when our whole
system Of power conversion is changed
Perhaps the first step in that direction
viii be the central heat and power
plant. The government has found that
it can heat a half dozen big Washing
ton buildings, including the capitol, the
two congressional buildings, and the
library of congress, from one cenIral
plant much more cheaply than II could
from half dozen plants The steam IS
conveyed through asbestOs-lined pipes
and there is little loss from radiation
and condensation The same principle
has worked elsewhere, and some think
the engineering practice Of the future
will 90 that way.
But more effective than this is the
producer gas engine. 1t can use the
lowest grade Of coal, even down almost
to mine refuse, and extract about dOu-
Bile the power from 1T that can be eX-
tracted from anthracite through steam
engine practice 1t is asserted BY thoSe
who have tried the producer gas en-
CINE that it is fully as reliable and from
200 to 800 percent more efficient than
the steam engine. and that the next
generation will see it almost uniTcr-
sally adopted. The United states gov
eminent has made extensive tests OF
coal. utilizing 19 different kinds from
II different states and TIE average re-
suits for them all show the producer
gas engine gets IS times as much
power out of a pound of coal as the
steam engine. It is estimated that the
people of the United States spend ST.
500 600 900 for heat, light and power.
Four-fifths of this is used outside of
the homes. With producer gas engines
replacing steam engines. a saving OF
S4OO. 900, 900 a year would be effected
There are still others who believe
tEat the eventual solution of the
smoke problem lies in the suggestion
of sir William Ramsay that we viii
simply set coal on fire down into the
earth. pumping down the necessary
quantities Of air to control the cOmbus-
ton. and thus get unlimited quantities
of producer gas at negligible cost This
would be used TO generate electricity
for the adjacent cities. Pittsburg- Chi
cago. St Louis and innumerable other
cities are situated sufficiently near to
low grade coal deposits to make this
idea feasible from transmission stand
point. When we consider that the man
who owns a coal mine usually gets 10
cents a ton for his coal unmined. and
that the other two, three. four, five,
six or even seven dollars a ton rep
resents the costs and profits of mining,
Transportation and selling, the advan-
tage of the Ramsay idea will readily