The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-28
WEATHERLY AGAIN ]. GIVES REASONS FOR TURNING DOWN GAS Says Quality Is Inferior to By-Product Gas in
 Other Cities PRICES CHARGED
 ARE MUCH HIGHER Quotes Government Reports in Con tention That He Was Right in
 Voting Against the
 Proposal

The average price of by-product gas in the United States according to govern ment reports is 3S cents thousand cubic feet according to statements made yes terday by City Commissioner James Weatherly.
 From the same government reports MT. weatheriy states he has learned that the price of by-product gas ranges as low as 10 cents per thousand and the highes. IS 50 and 55 cents per thousand feet. He states that he is unable to find sinsie city which is using by-product gas or less than 575 and 800 British thermal heat units He says that he feels more fortified avery day in the position he took re- gently against the proposal of the local gas company to furnish by-product gas Of ba5 British thermal units at price of 7b cents a thousand cubic feet.
 sIt seems there is some confusion as to the real reasons which I had for vot- ing against the recent by-product gas proposal of the gas company said Com missioner Weatherly. T think Judge Lanes reasons practically coincide with mine and I can tell in very few words just what mine were. Briefly stated they were as follows:
 , First, the proposed gas would be so lean, or low in heat units and illumi- nants that the people would not be sat isfied with it if the company gave 1t away.
 "Second, the price to be charged for the proposed gas Is the highest of any city in the United States, the difference heinz very marked.
 = Third, the quality of the proposed gas is poorer than that being used in any other city in the United States.
 ..Feurth, the special consulting engineer. c. c. Brown of Indianapolis, engaged to gas deal turned turtle a day or two after he came to Birmingham.
 Quotes Browns Letter
 .Following Is an extract from one of MT Browns letters of advice written to the commissioners before he was sum- moned here to meet the representatives of the gas company:
 "'I feel 80 strongly that reduction of heat value below 575 and candle power below 15 will be unsatisfactory, that I strongly recommend that such modiflca- tions in contract and in prices, if neces- sary, be made as will keep the gas about the present minimum, as defined by ordi- nance, if it cannot be made still better
 ''rhis statement sounds peculiar when coupled with the verbal advice MT. Brown gave the commissioners a day or two after the gas negotiations began, in which he stated that the gas company's pro- posal to furnish 525 by-product gas should be accepted.
 T have based my contentious upon two recent federal government reports of the United States geological survey by Direc- tor George Otis Smith. The one report entitled, Mineral Resources of the United States. Volume ?, Non-Metals." issued for the year 1912, gives comprehensive re- view of by-product gas conditions In this country during that year. On page 257 of this volume is the startling statement that the value of the gas (by-product) furnished to domestic consumers varies i, from 10 to 50 cents thousand cubic feet On page 116S and 1164 of the same volume it is stated that the average cost of gas to domestic consumers in the United States Is B cents per thousand feet
 ''The price proposed by the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company, how ever, was 75 cents.
 "And the price of 10 cents was proposed for by-product gas of 525 British ther- nal units while no city in the entire Uni ted States, 1t is said, is satisfied with a gas of less than 575 or 600 B. T. U.
 Consulting Engineer Brown strongly advised the commissioners to hold out for 675 or 500 B. T. U. gas, but when he got to Birmingham he said it would be all right to accept the 525.
 What Other Cities Get
 'sI also have a report which is an off cial publication of the gas companies of the country themselves. It is from this book that get the information that no city in the United States is satisfied with by-product gas of less than 575 or 500 B. T. U.. and 1t is upon such data that base my contention that the 525 gas would not be acceptable to the house. wives of Birmingham at any price. If the commissioners had accepted the gas companys offer, Just as soon as the new gas was turned into the mains a mighty howl would have arisen from the hills and vales of Birmingham. for the differ ence between the present gas and that which was proposed would have been very noticeable; a stream of complaints, per- sonal, written. verbal, by telephone, mes- senger boy and every other way would come pouring into the commission offices about the new gas, and the commission CTS would have had to rescnd their action or the people would hold a referendum and do it themselves. I do not doubt :,