The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-21
THE GAS SUPPLY.

the Kansas Natural Gas company, and
a possible increase in the gas supply,
appear to be following their custom
airy course, or the one that has been
in order for the past two or three
years, and ever since this company
was placed in the hands of receivers.
and the lawyers got to mauling it.
They are still in the talky-talky
stage.
And here is the summer season
nosing into its last laps. ana with the
prospects of the same old talkfest be-
ing continued until the time is
reached when it will be impossible for
the company through it's receivers, or
by itself. should it be restored to SOL
vency, to consummate any plans that
might be adopted to increase the
company's facilities and. thereby the
supply of gas to the consumers for the
coming winter season.
Even if the affairs of the gas COM
pany were settled now, and it was
able to go ahead with the expenditure
of two or four or any number of mil
lions of dollars on its plant and new
gas wells, almost superhuman efforts
would have to be expended to make
such improvements. as might be I'M
dertaken, available for the winter
ner.
So the prospects for a better gas
supply this winter are not very allur-
ing; certainly not any more so than
they were a year ago this time.
But the periodic failure of the gas
supply when really cold weather
comes. or in Topeka. at any rate. is
evidently not due solely to the volume
of gas produced by the Kansas Nat
ural Gas company and sent ON its way
through the pipe lines ana to the
consumers, even though the supply
produced by the parent company may
be inadequate for the winter demands
made upon it, as it undoubtedly is.
Considerable of the fault for the To-
cal gas shortages would appear to be-
long at the doors of the local distrib-
uting companies, or on their facilities
for distribution.
This seems assuredly the case in
Topeka.
Some concrete evidence that ap-
such a conclusion can De seen today
on Seventh street, west of Topeka ave-
nue..
A gas leak of some extent was de-
tected in that neighborhood recently.
Excavations located 1t and showed
that the supply pipe. the one from
which string of houses on both sides
of the street obtained their gas, would
have to be replaced.
And this supply pipe. out of which
many households have been endeavor-
ing to get enough gas in severe winter
weather to run their cook stoves and
lights, their little gas heaters and
CRATES, and even their furnaces, was
a relic, of course, of prehistoric gas
days in Topeka. {
1t YVES little two-incn pipe that
was originally laid to supply the
houses of the neighborhood, and
where there were not nearly so many
of them, with nothing more than a
sufficient quantity Of gas for lighting
purposes, for the gas cook stove didn't
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the natural gas arrived. The price
of the manufactured gas was prohib-
tive for cooking purposes as far as
most families were concerned. And
the use of gas in furnaces was I'M
dreamed of then.
How patiently impossible it would be
for such small pipe to carry enough
natural gas to meet the demands for
it in cold weather, even if the supply
were at hand.
And the inadequacy of such a sup
ply pipe to meet the demands of even
a small neighborhood is being con-
fessed by the local gas company in
asmuch as it is not replacing the old
worn-out and leaky gas pipe of two
inches in diameter with one of the
same size. =
The new pipe which is being put ii
is twice as large. It is a four-inct
pipe.
Could there be more emphatic o,
convincing evidence that all of the
blame for the winter shortages of ga.
does not rest on the shoulders of the
Kansas Natural Gas company, tbs
producing concern?
A share of it must be carried by tn,
local distributing companies, or thi!
seems to be the case in Topeka.
And it would appear that at leas
some of the facilities of the Topeka
distributing company are even NOR
Inadequate than are the facilities O
the Kansas Natural Gas company il
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ing it to the distributing centers.
BOYS BABY BEEF CLUBS.
Changes in the beef industry hav
resulted in the organization in variou