288 



GEORGIA. 



Attached to the lower end of the cylinder is an 

 open cage which permits the gas to pass through 

 the interior of the rubber. Immediately above and 

 immediately below the rubber is a cap of metal. 

 Into the upper cap is screwed the pipe (usually two 

 or three inches), which conveys the gas from the 

 bottom to the top of the well. " As soon as the pipe 

 below the paeker reaches tin- bottom of the well the 

 weight of the pipe above bears down upon the 

 upjM-r cap. thus squeezing the rubber firmly out- 

 ward against the wall of the well. This compels 

 the gas to ascend through the central pipe, which 

 is tilted with a valve at its upper extremity by 

 meaii^ of which the gas may be controlled. 



NVn.tiu'lit-iroii >r steel pipe is screwed into the 

 valve, through which the gas may be conveyed to 

 the point of consumption. If the gate valve is 

 closed the pressure increases in the well to about 

 200 pounds in the Indiana field. 



If the gas is to be used for city supply, it is piped 

 t<> the limits of the city, and there the pressure is 

 controlled by valves which work automatically and 

 for domestic use reduce the pressure to a few 

 ounces. Just before entering the stove the gas 

 passes through an appliance called a "mixer," 

 by means of which it is mingled with about 

 ten times its volume of air, after which it burns 

 with a blue flame, giving great heat and no- 

 smoke. It requires about 20.000 cubic feet of nat- 

 ural gas to equal a ton of soft coal in heating 

 power, and about 30,000 cubic feet to equal a ton 

 of anthracite coal. If desired, the gas may be used 

 in connection with a thermostat, which will so reg- 

 ulate the supply for a heating stove that the room 

 wanned by it will remain at the same temperature 

 from one month's end to another. The writer has 

 used one of these devices of his own invention for 

 several years with the most gratifying results. 



In the gas belt, the gas is also used exclusively 

 for cooking, for which purpose it is admirably 

 adapted. The price of gas per stove varies from 

 $1.50 to $3 a month in the gas district, according 

 to the expense of piping. Vast quantities of gas 

 are used for manufacturing operations throughout 

 the gas regions. Perhaps the most common estab- 

 lishment is the glass factory. These plants are 

 quite numerous, as no other fuel is so well adapted 

 to their operation as natural gas, and thus far no 

 substitute can be furnished so cheaply. The gas is 

 also used for firing steam boilers and for running 

 gas engines, which latter give great power for the 

 amount of gas consumed. 



The composition of the gas is as follows: Car- 

 bon, 70.25; hydrogen, 21.45; sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen, 0.17; carbonic acid, 0.02 ; nitrogen (bv differ- 

 ence), . 1 1 . 



The natural gas consumed daily in the Indiana 

 Held alone may be roughly estimated at 200,000,000 

 cubic feet, which is equivalent in heating power to 

 about 10,000 tons of soft coal. This would be 

 equivalent to a consumption of 3,650,000 tons of 

 coal a year. 



M O|{(.l \. a Soul hern State, one of the original 

 thirteen, ratified the Constitution Jan. 2,1788; area, 

 59,475 square miles. The population, according to 

 each decennial census, was 82,548 in 1790 ; 1(52,686 

 iu 1800; 252.433 in 1810; 340,985 in 1H20; 5l(i.H23 

 in 1830; 691.392 in 1840; 906,185 in 1850; 1.057,286 

 in 1800; 1,184.109 in 1870; 1,542,180 in 1880; and 

 1,937,253 in 1890. Capital, Atlanta. 



(overnmrnt. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, William Y. At- 

 kinson, succeeded, Oct. 2fl. by Allen I). Candler; 

 Secretary of State, Allen I), dandier, succeeded by 

 Philip Cook ; Treasurer, W. J. Speer ; Comptroller, 

 William A. Wright ; Attorney-General. Joseph M. 

 Terrell ; Adjutant General, J.'M. Kell ; State School 



ALLEN D. CANDLER, 

 GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA. 



Commissioner, G. R. Glenn : Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture, Robert T. Nesbitt, succeeded by 0. B. 

 Stevens; Commissioner of Pensions, Richard John- 

 son; State Librarian, John Milledge; State Geolo- 

 gist, W. S. Yeates all Democrats; Chief Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, Thomas J. Simmons; Associate 

 Justices, Samuel Lumpkin, H. T. Lewis, A. J. Cobb, 

 W. A. Little, and W. H. Fish all Democrats. 



Finances. The taxable valuation of the State in 

 1896 was $413,307,369, and in 1897 it was $412,321,- 

 369. The valuation of railroads for purposes of 

 taxation was $42,286,457. The State tax on the 

 roads that are taxed 

 on property was 

 $220,312.44, and the 

 county taxes $226,- 

 419.85. Pour roads 

 that are operated on 

 old charters, which 

 provide for taxes on 

 their income, paid 

 $3,347.41 to the 

 State, nothing to the 

 counties. 



Education. The 

 school population in 

 1893 was 604,971. 

 The school money 

 was distributed on 

 this basis in 1897. 

 though several 

 counties reported an 

 enrollment larger 

 than the whole 

 school population 



in 1893. The amount distributed was $1,163,359.23. 

 The teachers number more than 8,000. The State 

 Commissioner says : " We have built more and bet- 

 ter schoolhouses. We are tearing down the old 

 plank shacks and the uncomfortable log huts, and 

 we are erecting in their places cozy, modern school 

 buildings, furnished with comfortable seats and 

 modern appliances. Another significant movement 

 is the centralizing of the schoolhouses and the 

 changing of residences to a closer proximity to the 

 schoolhouses. In both the town and country the 

 sentiment is growing in favor of the same educa- 

 tional facilities for the country as we have provided 

 for the towns and cities." 



The Legislature appropriated $10,000 to the State 

 School of Technology, for adding a textile depart- 

 ment on condition that an equal sum should lu> 

 raised by subscription. This was done, and the ( 'it \ 

 Council of Atlanta added $3,000. Other gifts of 

 money and machinery raised the total to more than 

 $33,000. It is expected that students will be re- 

 ceived in February. The textile school will be a 

 model mill. 



Prisons. The number of convicts in the Peniten- 

 tiary, by the last report at hand, was 2,235, of whom 

 58 were women and 169 were boys. The number 

 unable to work was 345. 



Atlanta has been selected as the site for a new 

 Federal prison. 



Railroads. From a report on railroad building 

 during the first six months of the year, it is lea run 

 that the mileage in Georgia was increased by 62 

 In 1897 the increase was 119 miles. A road is ii 

 process of construction through the pine lands of the 

 southwestern counties. 



Products. The report of the cotton consump- 

 tion in 1897-'98 credits Georgia mills with 25S.C.I7 

 bales, an increase of 31,900. The annual product, 

 of the cotton fields is about 1,200,000 bales. 



That Georgia is no longer a practically all-cotton 

 State, as it was for some years after the war. i;i 

 shown by statistics of other crops in recent years. 



