Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1920-09-26
]" assured Colonel Dodson.


while that is probably true" re-
piled Mr.. Lane, "the question is,
whether such steps are being taken as
will really remedy the situation; :;
whether the company is really spend-
ing enough money to put the plant in
to proper condition"
"That is exactly what the compa-
! ny is doing" said Colonel Dodson,
"and at almost prohibitive costs of
some materials that have had TO he
bought"
"We hear reports that the plant
is in bad condition." said Mr.. Lane;
''for instance, it is said the doors of
/ the furnace are in such shape that
mud has to be daubed about them
to close them tightly; we hear the
plant is burned out and about gone"
Shows Absurdities
"I'm glad you mentioned that"
said Mr.. ogers, ''for it shows the abb
surdities of things that one will hear
on the streets. We do have mud and
daub it around the doors of +he fur
mace, for that is the only practical
way of completely closing up these
openings. That is the practice cf gas
plants generally regardless of wheth-
'er new or old equipment is being
used.
"Gas production with us now is
! simply matter of coal. We were able
to produce gas steadily up to a week
or two ago. Last week we ran short
of coal. On Sept. 8 four cars of eight
ordered from Kentucky were started
for Americas. On Sept. 20 we were
out of coal and they were overdue.
That was on Monday. On Sunday l
had made arrangements with the At
lantic Ice and Coal Corporations
manager here to buy some coal in an
emergency. One car of the four on
the way to US arrived on the 31st.
. The coal was to have been gas coal,
but that which arrived was absolutely
insufficient in quality to make gas.
| 1t arrived early in the morning of
that day, and to show you something
: else we were up against, it took all
!, day to get that car to us from the
: Seaboard yards over to the Central
! and to our plant and with our own
men helping. 1t was continual
fight all day to get it.
"We were out of coal when it ar
! rived, so we attempted to use some
of it and see what we could get out
! of it. In IL hours It produced only
10000 feet of gas, which was wholly
insufficient. So | got some domestic
coal from Mr.. Tillman, paying S16.7O
per ton, plus 81 per ton for hauling.
i In IL hours it gave only about 1000
1 feet more of gas than the other coal
proving it poor in gas-maklng quail
i ity, too. So we went back to the 9th
er coal and since have been screening
it and using the Jumps. Three of the
four cars which arrived later have
| been rejected as unfit and not what
we bought.
i Four Cars Rolling
eve have four other cars of block
coal now rolling which were shipped
! the goth. This will last four weeks. |
have made every effort to get these
but have not been able to do so yet.
They should be here very soon. You
see, / bought eight cars, or
4 eight weeks supply to play safe, and
everything would have been alright
had the coal which arrived just when
we were out have been what was or
dered. | have been in telephone com
= WlLil ASAaAlNNas AA0NOA AAAN
II Birmingham and about ten coal COM
panies for coal to be diverted en-
route to relieve our emergency but
so far without any success, and we
have had to keep on using the screen
ed poor grade coal and doing what
we coud with it.
off we can get good coal we know
we can make the gas to satisfy the
people,. Yesterday we made nearly
\ 81, 900 feet of gas, which was nearly
a normal run, and with the forked-
over coal. This morning | was able to
get some coal from Mr.. Council which
will get US by until that in transit
arrives.
at is impossible to order coal for
long distance ahead, for everybody
is driving for coal for export pur'
/, | poses, and when you do buy it you
can't get a guarantee as to its quail
!; ity. Steam coal is easy to get now
but not gas coal.
st is true that the Interstate Com
merce Commission has taken hole
, and made some regulations, putting
public utilities on a preferential list
, but we must order only for ordinary
consumption. And then it is with the
greatest of difficulty that it can be
, gotten at ALL
"Well, do you think you can han
, die the situation now," Mr.. Lane
asked Mr.. Rogers.
!, "You bet," he replied confidently.
; Want Him to Succeed
what the people want you people
to do" spoke up Alderman Taylor,
} SIS to spend enough money to put
that plant in good condition so that
service can be given and the manager
be able to take things little easier
and become a part of the life Of the
community. You as new manager
are under handicap, but the people
wish you well and they want you to
succeed"
i ''The money is being spent" said