in charge and to tell them wherein the standards are wrong. That is the only way in which the members can absolve themselves from responsibility; and as supporters of this Association it is their duty to do everything they can in that direction. Referring again to the subjects of the papers, I would say that the members of the Association are apt to feel that all of their duty is done when they appoint a Committee to hunt up subjects for the papers; and apparently they expect the Committee to do all the work in developing these papers. Some of the members have facilities for investigation, and they should come forward and give us a paper, and help the Committee along. The Committee has not done all the work it might have done, but at the same time it has been working more or less steadily for several years, and with not very much co-operation generally from the Association. It is to be hoped that in the future the Committee will be able to do better work than in the past, and they earnestly hope that in this work they may have the assistance of the Association.

THE PRESIDENT:-You have heard the report of the Research Committee. What is your pleasure.

MR. C. H. NETTLETON (Derby, Conn ):-I move that the report be accepted, its recommendation adopted, and that the Committee be continued.

Carried.

THE PRESIDENT:-I will appoint as the Committee, on the next place of meeting: E. H. Jenkins, Thomas Littlehales and A. S. Miller.

I will ask Mr. Moses if he is ready to report, as a member of the Committee representing this Association, in the matter of advertising? Or, would he prefer not to make that report in advance of reading his paper?

MR. F. D. MOSES (Trenton, N. J.): I would prefer to make it after.

THE PRESIDENT:-Very well. We will now take up the paper written by Mr. Frank D. Moses of Trenton, New Jersey, entitled What is the Business of a Gas Company?”

(For paper see Appendix, page 1xx.)

THE PRESIDENT:--You have heard a paper by an energetic and successful man in the matter of selling gas, and the paper is before you for discussion. I desire to say at the outset that I hope gentle

men will feel perfectly free to stand upon their feet and give expression to their thoughts; and I especially urge our new members to improve the opportunity given them here to express themselves. No one realizes more than I do the difficulty, or the diffidence, that one sometimes feels in standing and giving expression to those things that we may like to speak of; and I can say to you at the outset that you have my sympathy. I trust you will feel perfectly free in talking at this meeting. I am going to call upon one of the new members at the outset-Mr. Clabaugh, of Omaha, Nebraska.

MR. G. W. CLABAUGH (Omaha, Neb.):- Mr. President, and gentlemen, I am here to learn all that I can about the gas business. I am sorry that this gentleman has written only upon fuel gas. He must not forget there is such a thing as illuminating gas. There is one thing that I would like to have brought out here, now, or in future-and no doubt some one may patent it—but whether it is patented or not, it is very important that we should have a good by-pass which can be used for incandescent lamps. The by-pass which is being used with the Welsbach burner is a poor affair, but I think we ought to use the by-pass in every connection. It means an expense of only four or five cents a month, and it is a pretty good investment. But the by-passes that are now on the market are without doubt the poorest contraptions I have ever seen. They are so hard to adjust, and so easily got out of order, that surely something better can be devised. I speak from experience as to these, for I have tried to adjust them. I think we ought to urge the use of gas in our business in every way we possibly can. If we have arc lamps in the place let us try to push the incandescent gas lamp in every way we can to displace them. This gentleman has told us of the difficulty in introducing heating stoves for the consumption of gas. I believe in doing that most thoroughly. However, in cold countries, such as Nebraska, where the thermometer gets down to thirty degrees below zero, unless a man is a millionaire he cannot afford to use gas heating stoves. But the most important thing is to keep the gas range in the kitchen to do the cooking, for they can use the gas range economically for cooking all the year round, but they cannot use the water heater economically all the year round. So the question must arise of how most economically to heat water in the winter time. Some of our consumers will not take a water heater when for part of the year they must have a coal range to heat the water.

Of course, we do not believe in that, but we feel that we would rather have half a loaf than no loaf at all; and so we make connections with the furnaces in such a way as to give them all the hot water they require in the winter, and without any cost to them. We do it by taking the waste heat from the centre of the furnace. The radiation from the boiler will heat a small kitchen. If you want more heat there you can run the pipe from the furnace through a hot water radiator, and connect that with your boiler. In that way you not only have the heat, but you also have hot water. I believe to-day that we have ninety per cent. of our gas ranges in use in the winter; and we are going to have one hundred per cent. To my mind that is one of the most important things to a gas company. I do not know how many gas companies are doing it, for I have seen very little in the gas journals about it; in fact I have seen nothing except an occasional gas stove advertisement; and I do not know why they have not taken the matter up. This question of fuel gas is not the only thing we have to consider. We want to use gas all the time for all purposes; and we make a step in this direction in the way I have indicated. Of course, we make a charge for the furnace connection of ten dollars. I hope you will pardon me for speaking of local matters, because I am more identified with one gas works than I am with others. I am very certain that the suggestions which have been made have proven satisfactory and profitable to us. We try to get the owners of the property to put them in for the tenants; but where they will not do it, or do not like to do it, we endeavor to show the tenant conclusively that it will pay for itself in a very short time in saving the cost of coal by the use of gas fuel. While we sell a good many heating stoves, we cannot push them as we would like, because the question is often asked whether the use of gas is more economical than that of coal for heating purposes. We know positively that it is not. One of our consumers once

told a gas man that he was the most honest and honorable man he knew, because he had told him the truth. So when I answer a question like that I always remember George Washington, and I tell them that they cannot heat their house as economically with gas as they can with coal,

THE PRESIDENT:-We would like to hear from Mr. Spragle, of Johnstown, New York.

MR. L. D. SPRAGLE (Johnstown, N. Y.):-In selling gas for

purposes other than lighting, each community seems to have its own individual interests to conserve with respect to the different uses of the fuel consumption of gas. Mr. Clabaugh has stated that owing to the cold weather in Nebraska it is impossible to use gas heaters in the winter time. This is, I think, largely true with most of us. I know it is the case at Johnstown, where it often gets very cold in winter; and because of that fact water heaters are almost uniformly discarded in the winter months. I have endeavored to use a connection with the furnace of the kind referred to, in a number of furnaces, but have found that with some designs of furnaces it is very difficult to get in, particularly steam furnaces with a double wall around the fire pot, that is with a water space between inner and outer linings. I would like to ask Mr. Clabaugh how he would make a connection in a case of this kind. Of course, there are ways of heating with gas economically, and there are heaters made which are not only economical in use of gas, but are, owing to their pleasing design and ornamental appearance, bought for the two-fold purpose of utility and ornamentation. We installed something over a hundred of these about two years ago, and the first six months showed a consumption of something over a quarter of a million feet. There are several points at which the customer may be attacked. In this case it was not alone the efficiency the customer was after, but the ornamental design when brought to his attention was something that he unconsciously was looking for and which would always be an ornament, while sometimes warming him.

Then again there is the field for power. I think that sometimes we labor under the delusion that not very much can be accomplished in selling gas for power. We thought so ourselves, but when we once got to seeking this business in a business-like manner, that is, understanding the thing we were trying to sell, and the needs of our customer, we found that there was a good deal of business that could be done by us in this line, which we have done and are now doing.

MR. F. EGNER (Norfolk, Va.):-It seems pretty clear that a paper like that read by Mr. Moses can give us matter for pretty lively discussion; and in it I would like to take some part and keep the ball a-rolling. Presumably Mr. Moses has not told us all that he knows about selling gas stoves, but he has said enough to start a very lively discussion. I must say, however, that I do not

agree with him in all his statements. He says in his paper: "It is easier to build a gas works and produce one million feet of gas, than it is to find a market for the same; therefore, the most important end of the gas business relates to the sale of gas, rather than to its production." In that statement I differ with him. It depends upon how we look on that. I agree with him though in other matters. He tells us that "Many owners of gas properties have refused to invest the funds required for modern betterments and extensions." I have often found that to be the case. There seems to be a great deal of injudicious economy with some directors of gas companies, and with directing officers. For instance, they will not put in services free. And they will not set a meter free. Why? We still have that class to deal with at times in spite of all that has been said. I have figured up the matter and find, for example, that a mile of six-inch main would cost about $3,400, and perhaps a little more. For that expenditure 166 services and consumers' meters could be put in at a cost of perhaps $20 each. This they will not do. But just see if it would not pay. One of the writers of our papers states that the average sales per meter at some place which he mentioned was 32,684 feet. I think that is rather high. But if you will multiply the meters that could be set for the cost, and instead of that mile of main, by the average sale of gas, I think the result would convince anybody that it would be more economical often to put in the services free, and set the meters, than it is sometimes to lay mains. The figures struck me so forcibly that I thought I would bring them before you. You may take them along with you, and they may set some of you to thinking. I hope this will not be the last of the discussion on this subject.

MR. W. S. ALLEN (New Bedford, Mass.):-I think the first step necessary with regard to using gas stoves all winter is to persuade the architects and builders to provide some means for heating the kitchens. That seems to be the proposition which almost every householder will lay down; "We cannot use gas stoves in the winter because we cannot heat our kitchens." It seems to me that the expense of doing that, when the gas is used properly, is so very small that if gas companies would take up that proposition and keep in touch with the builders and architects, and see to it that in erecting apartment houses some provision is made for heating the kitchens, we could get a great deal more gas consumption in