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Show A LIMl.AI. LIMIT. OPINIONS ON THE MARGINS ALLOWED BY THE NATURAL GAS FRANCHISE.. Two Communication, from Writers Who Maintain Chat Vitnrnl Dm at Thirty Cents per Thousand Ik More Expensive than Coal. Burro Tiatia: Your paper of the 80th Inst has a report ol a inc. tine f the officers of the American Natural (iss company, a number of whom freely criticized the action of the city council in scaling down tin' minimum min-imum price to ! charged for the natural gas from (I to 30 cents. As some of the arguments used on this occasion are misleading, mis-leading, it may be well lo look al the matter mat-ter from a business standpoint, ami in the light of some practical figures. We pay here ill Malt Lake from f!i to $5. Ml per t.ui o ordinary coal. If natural gas is to be good for anything It mutt be furnished at a rate that win make it cheaper to use than coal. Now, it has been ascertained as a matter of fact (not of speculation) that it takes from 91,000 to 87,000 cubic feet of gas lo equal one ton of coal, and at SO cents per 1000 cubic feet yon have a coot of t!.:0 to equal one ton of coal for heating purposes. In other words it would take, even, even at 30 cents per thousand, (6.30 w orth of gtt, to get as much heat as a ton of coal gives us at 16.50. Asking the franchise, the company propose to give us a reduction of .'!; per cent from present fuel rates. How do they propose to do it, in the light of the present figures, uu less the price per 1000 ( libit; feet is reduced even much lower than HO cents? The treasurer of the company, it seems, complained bitterly that the council denies the Natural (las company the privilege of transforming itself at any time, into a manufactured manu-factured gas company. Since when is a city council supposed to protect private in- terprtses? The treasurer is further quoted as say ing that "the company did not pro pose to charge fib cents per thousand to consumers for gas, but deserved that latitude lat-itude in case the supply should in the future decrease, aud the company should find Unit it could not earn interest on its investment. This is misleading, N'o latitude is required. If the company cannot furnish the gas al less th9n the price of coal, it has no mission of usefulness. At iiO cents per loop feet, it would take $10,60 worth of gas (31,000 cubic feet) to equal one bin of coal. We want the natural gas, and appreciate its grct value. Unfit i of value only in proportion to its cheapness, and the council has done wisely to restrict the price. Let us look at a few more figures, fig-ures, and see whether the company may not look forward to a prosperous career, even wilh the restrictions Imposed. First They clsim that the company can furnish 6,000,000 feet of gas per day. Say they can furnish 8,600,000, hall they claim at two-thirds the maximum price, or 80 cents per 100(1. Two million live hundred tlioii-and feet al 20 cents equals f.MK) per day, or $15,000 per month or 110,000 per year. Suppose the plant costs $600,000. Interest on that amount at 10 per ccnl. f."i((,0(X); co-t of operating, $96,000; total 175,000; balance net profit, $105,000, or ll per cent on Investment Invest-ment after interest on original capital is paid. Suppose, they charge the maximum rate allowed of HO cents per loou, then their profits would be fltVi.WHi net. or ;: per cent. Do the public propose to pay more! The natural gas company ought lo consider themselves fortunate in getting as favorable a franchise as they hare, ClTIZB.V, Our (iaa St.-! i Editor Times: Eighteen thousand cubic feet of natural gas contains the same beat ing properties as one Ion of bituminous coal, although there is coal a toil of which Is equal to 34,000 cubic feet of gas. That the Salt Lake basin Is a carboniferous carbonifer-ous formation there is no question, and that abundance of gas will be found here is beet evidenced by the finding of the calcareous eaudrock. When the gc ologlsts arrive they will tell you that the :,a "belt" extends as far north as ( 'ache valley aud shout twenty four miles south of Salt Lake City; that 'the width of tlii belt will properly not exceed eight miles, and that the only practical way to determine the true course of the belt and the extent of the territory ter-ritory is by development. Again, thi gen nine first saudrock having been found, there scarcely is a doubt but what the second, third, ! fourth fifth and sixth sand rocks will be found In their proper places and at greater depth. The second sand frequently contains a heavy oil commonly called a lubricating oil, and the lower sands contain rude pet. rolcum of a specific gravity of forty. live deg. and the reason why we claim liiis basin con-tuins con-tuins crude petroleum is that the formation It compact without faults or fissures the Ss!t Lake being at an elevation of 4000 feet and fresh w ater being found .it a depth of from Hf 'l to Oon feet below the level of the lake jnitifies tfic assertion. The sixth sand is a reecnl discovery in I'cnnsvh aula and is found at the depth of MX) to () feet I M. K. |