The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-03
~oPExA STATE JouRNAL
INFORMA ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERlC J. izAsyExN. Dirseass.
waahan94sa. p. a
BURN COKE.

y
coke IN your furnace. This is a sug-
gestion from the Bureau of Mines
which is here given publicity for the
| first time. but which from now on will
be dinned into the ears of the Ameri-
cap public.
The purely persopaI and selfish
I reasons why you should burn coke in
stead of coal are that you will have
| a cleaner house, you will not have to
clean your flues, and il your neigh
! bors will also nae coke, you will en-
joy the rare advantage of breathing
smokeless air.
/ The more aitruistic reasons why you
should burn coke are that 80 per cent
; is added to the value of every ton
of coal which is properly coked. and
1 all by-products extracted. instead of
| the coal being burned raw.
The United States Is wasting mil
! lions every year by burning coal raw.
| Nitrogen that we need for fertilizer is
going up our flues, and SO are coal
ftar, light oil. and gas, which should
be extracted and used for their proper
purposes. AS One scientist put 1t. there
Is no more excuse for US to burn our
! fuel raw than there is for us to carve
raw beef steak off the run1p of a
| living Gov, as the Australian bushman
= docs, ~Both pruaices are wasteful and
barbarous.
SO far as the individual householder
4 u
that coke offers him q better fuel than
anthracite coal. Anthracite is almost
as clean and sInokeless, and it Is a
! little easier to use, not requiring quite
as much skiA and care. But anthracite
4 is now obtalna BILE in only small part
of the United States, and the supply
| of it is constantly dwindling.
Between coke and bituminous coal
! there can be no comparison. About
the same amount of full value may
be obtained in coke for the same
money; but it will be cheaper in the
long run by reason of the fact that it
eliminates so much cleaning of flues.
! furnaces and houses. Besides this, 1t
| is the only real solution of the smoke
problem. Residence districts viii new
| er be frees from smoke until coke is
substituted for bituminous coal as a
household fuel.
! Coke may now be obtained by the
| householder almost anywhere in the
region north of the Ohio river. and
east of the Mississippi, and in many
Industrial cities outside of that area.
| 1t can be burned in practically all
ordinary household furnaces. In some
very small furnaces it is difficult to
| burn. 1t requires slightly different
handling from that required by coal,
! but is not any more trouble to use, if
as much, Those who wish detailed
/ instructions on how Ito burn coke can
! obeained them in printed form by ad-
| dressing the Bureau of Mines, Depart
ment of the Interior. Washington,
/ d. C.
economy. and efficiency. the burning
of coal raw is a wholesale waste which
no civilized nation can afford.
ton of coal is worth about seven dol
lars as such. If this same ton of coal
is put thru a modern by-produets coke
l oven, 1t produces about tWo-thirds of
i tone of coke. worth SIX dollars, five
thousand cubic feet of gas worth five
dollars, three gallons of motor OIL worth
Il seYentY+five cents. nine gallons of tar
worth twenty-five cents, and twenty
five pounds of ammonium sulphate
| worth a dollar and a Quarter Thus
! the ton of eoal, properly treated, is
worth s13.25. or nearly twice what. 1t
lis worth as raw fuel.
If the burning of coke in both fac
tory and household. and the resultant
saving of coal by-products became
general. our fuel should be much
cheaper The cost of digging and dis
tributing the fuel would be practically
paid for by its by-products. However,
there is no use in expecting the gen.
eral use of coke to make fuel cheaper
for while, because the producers of
coke will be able to charge, and VIII
charge as much or nearly as much fof
coke as itswould cost the consumer to
Hs
not>go into the pocket of the ultimate
consumer. He. as usual, will have to
content himself with incidental ad-
vanta ges, such as cleaner fuel, less
smoky atmosphere, and the glow OF
patriotic pride which we all feel. OF
course, when we do something to pro-
mote national efficiency and conserva;
: tion.
Even so, there is no doubt about the
, advantages of using coke as fuel, botf
to the individual and to the nation
Nothing stands in the way of its use
j over a good part of the country, ex-
: cept that conservR tisp1 and devotion tC
! habit, which block progress in sc
! MANY directions There are quite {
number of households scattered abou
: the country which now burn coke in
stead of coal. and most of them woulC
not think of going back to the dirtiei
fuel. There are good many people
S who have tried coke, but have not sue
t ceeded with it because they did no
know how 10 use it, and most of thes'
have decided that it is no good. Blu
the vast majority of people nevel
: thought of trying coke in their fur
r naces, and perhaps most of them neye
! heard of using it.
S Coke was used in households SOM
: years ago, more generally than it i
4 now. Gas house coke" was thel
something of a drugs on the market
s because the gas manufacturers had NJ
S use fofTheir coke. It could be OBJ
q tanned more cheaply than could coal
:. But the gas makers later discovered ;
L new method which enabled them t.
Observation-Disclosures
d d SThe George n
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