gas is today manufactured at a cost of eleven and three-tenths cents per thousand cubic feet, and it is believed by the engineers interested in this gigantic scheme that gas could be delivered from the coal mines to the heart of London at about twelve cents. The effect of this would be not only to furnish consumers of power, heat and light an abundant supply of fuel at very low prices, but the exhaustion of England's coal mines would be delayed several centuries.

London particularly needs some escape from the present nuisance of coal smoke, which, it is believed by many, has more to do with London's fog than the dampness of the surrounding sea. In this country the many cities which are today suffering from the soft coal smoke could find similar relief. If gas could be delivered to consumers in London on such a wholesale scale at forty cents per thousand cubic feet-the price the engineers figure onthere is little doubt that similar results could be obtained in many of our large cities located with

trunk lines for gas transmission from a large city to the nearest coal mine, it would be possible to tap them at any point to supply adjacent towns and cities along the route. There would be in fact a gradual disappearance of the dirty coal car and equally dirty coal delivery wagons in towns and cities. Heat, light and

in a hundred or two hundred miles of coal mines. Such delivery of cheap fuel gas would stimulate industry to such a point that probably the consumption would increase fully fifty per cent within a few years. The gas engine would become such an important factor in factor in our industrial conditions that it would create a revolution in existing manufacturing.

More than half the charges made on coal used by consumers in cities today is in the form of freight or transportation rates. By utilizing the coal at the mouth of the mine and transmitting the energy in the form of gas to the cities the railroads would suffer, but the public and manufacturing interests would be enormously benefited. In constructing great

power would be derived entirely from gas under compression.

As a rival of electricity gas transmission promises to occupy certain fields which will make present methods of distribution somewhat antiquated. This change, however, does not pre-suppose the elimination of the electric motor. On the contrary the value of the electric motor would be greatly enhanced. The only change is the substitution of gas pipes for long-distance lines of electrical transmission. It is a well ascertained fact among engineers that the gas can be made and transmitted from the mouth of the coal mine to distant industrial centers much cheaper than electricity can be made and transmitted. In the cities the gas would be used in gas engines to drive

drawbacks not considered in the original estimates. But after making a wide wide margin for such unforeseen contingencies, the figures show that gas transmission from coal-pile to our cities promises great economy in fuel consumption and high efficiency. One of the drawbacks would apparently be in the burning of gas on a large scale, which would to a certain extent tend to vitiate the atmosphere of the town. This, however, would be overcome by the construction of smoke stacks of proper height to carry the unburnt gases into the upper air. At the worst, however, this would be far preferable to the consumption of soft coal in the city with all the smoke, soot, gases and ashes that are freed thereby.

The cost of the original plant would be

the electrical transmission line would be abolished and also the large sub-stations and transforming stations; but otherwise the cost of generating electricity from gas engines would remain about the same as today if the fuel sold for the same price. But it is estimated that gas as a fuel could then be supplied abundantly at about half its present cost.

By utilizing the expansion of the gas from two hundred and fifty pounds pressure down to atmosphere in a suitable engine, about ten kilowatts could be obtained from a direct-coupled dynamo from each one thousand cubic feet of gas per minute. If the gas should be heated before it enters the motor, the power could be increased nearly fifty per cent through the consumption of two to three