49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



than 35. 9d., call for the appointment of three commissioners to reduce 

 the price. And a company may call for a like commission to raise the 

 price if 3s. 9d. will not pay its allotted dividend. 



"With regard to the manufacture of gas by municipalities, the com- 

 missioners say that the best argument in its favor is, that about fifty 

 cents per 1,000 feet of the gas sold must be applied to the payment 

 of dividends to stockholders, while " a much smaller amount than 

 this, at the low rate at which money could be hired by the city, would 

 be sufficient to pay interest on the capital, and at the same time allow 

 a sufficient amount to be laid aside, in the form of a sinking-fund, to 

 entirely liquidate the debt in a few years." However, " as a rule a city 

 cannot manufacture gas as cheaply as a private corporation, since it 

 is almost impossible to avoid the influence of politics on any city 

 undertaking." Concerning the Philadelphia works, which is the most 

 notable example of municipal manufacture in this country, the com- 

 missioners speak as follows: "Notwithstanding all the disadvantages 

 arising from political influence in the management of these works, we 

 find the profits for the year 1875 to have been $793,244.12 ; and after 

 deducting for interest on the bonds, etc., the sum of $302,986.21 went 

 toward the increase of the sinking-fund, which, on December 31, 

 1875, amounted to $2,470,193.93, while the whole amount of outstand 

 ing bonds is $5,400,000 ; thus leaving only $2,929,806.07 to be pro- 

 vided for, when the whole works, costing nearly $14,000,000, will 

 become the unencumbered property of the city." 



The conclusions arrived at by the committee may be summarized 

 as follows: That although Boston is supplied with gas of excel- 

 lent quality, at a lower price than most other cities of the United 

 States, the same could be made much cheaper than it is, by the 

 use of naphtha or petroleum as an enricher, but it is doubtful whether 

 the appliances for using that substance could be employed by the 

 Boston company without paying a considerable royalty, or becom- 

 ing involved in lawsuits for alleged infringement of patents, which 

 are, however, of doubtful validity ; that the " Gwynne-Harris " and 

 " Lowe " water-gas processes offer fair prospects of success, and 

 should be carefully watched and studied ; that the existing compa- 

 nies in Boston, and other cities in Massachusetts, should be granted 

 monopolies in their several districts, suhject, however, to the super- 

 vision of a permanent Board of State Commissioners, similar to the 

 Railroad Commissioners, and to a full annual publication of their entire 

 business, and be required to keep their gas at all times up to an 

 illuminating power of sixteen candles, free from sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen, and from more than twenty grains of sulphur and five of am- 

 monia, per 100 cubic feet; and, finally, that the authorities of the 

 city of Boston should be empowered by the Legislature to erect 

 works and manufacture and supply gas to the citizens in case any 

 company which, by the terms of its charter, is not subject to legisla- 



