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Show GAS PLANT HAS BEEN ENLARGED Tho finishing touches are now being be-ing placed on Improvements at tho Plntsch gas plant, which have co3t tho company $30,000 and which have more than quadrupled tho capacity of tho plant. By the Improvements, which nro practically completed, the entire process proc-ess of manufacturing luminous gas has been revolutionized. Last fall the capacity of tho plant was 48.000 cubic cu-bic feet of gas por day. This has been Increased to 250,000 foot per day and, In general appearances, the plant has not been Increased In alzo. Tho now machinery occupies but little more space than did the old machinery. machin-ery. The old method of gas-making, which has been replaced by tho now one, Is known as tho 'retort system and Is tho most common method in use today. Nearly every gas making plant In tho United States Is manufacturing manufac-turing Us product by the old method Only three plants In North America havo Installed tho new low-pressure goneratlvo process. One of these Ib In Montreal, Can , another at Portland, Ore., and tho third Is tho Plntsch plant of this city. The new process, while still In Its experimental stagos, is proving so great a succcbs that it Is ornoctod to comnnto with the artlfl- oxpociua iu cumpeio wim mu .irnii-clal .irnii-clal illuminating gas Industry through Its economic possibilities. The process Is covered by patents owned by the Plntsch gas companj of New York city and will ho Introduced by the company In Its chain of plants as fast as tho demand for a larger output of gas makes the changes expedient, ex-pedient, or whero the old plants become be-come worn out by ago. Of tho thne plants now usjng the new process, all have tho same capacity. At the present time tho local plant Is making 75.000 cubic feet of gas cv-ory cv-ory twenty-four hours. It is supplying supply-ing tho Denver & Rio Grande tho Southern Pacific, the Union Pacific, the Oregon Short Line, the San Pedro, Pe-dro, tho Western Pacific, and all of the branch lines running out of Salt Lako City. Just at thjs. season less gas Is used by tho railroads than at any other time of the year. When the nights become longer, the output of tho plant will be Increased so that in tho winter tho same, cars now using gas will require donblo tho amount for lighting purposes. Tho Improvements (Installed consist ol two high-pressure compressors that will coraprcsE gas ta3a pressure equaling equal-ing 1,500 pounds to tho square Inch These compressors will bo used exclusively ex-clusively for filling transports for Salt Lake City use., Two transport cars will be operated between this city and the capILiJ, each having a capacity of 80,000 cubic feet and which will replace tho old transports now In service. The old transports aro unable un-able to carry more than 6,000, or less than one-tenth tho capacity of tho new. Each of the gas-carrying cars Is mado up of twentseven 9-Inch hydraulic hy-draulic pipes, thirty feet In length, and capable to withstanding a pressure pres-sure of 1,500 pounds to the square inch The gns, when placed In these pipes for transportation, Is compressed to ono hundred tlmqs its normal cubical cu-bical size or, in other words, tho gns under this pressure occupies only one-hundredth one-hundredth part as much space as'whcq under a pressure of about 15 pounds to the square Inch. , Normal atmosphere atmos-phere is under a pressure of 14-7 10 pounds to tho square Inch. Tho transport cars are not n Poca-tello Poca-tello where they were made. Both of them aro completed and are ready for service whenever they are needed. The material for the storage system which Is to bo established In Salt Lako City to take care of the gas Is now on tho ground and the construction work Is about to bo started. Tho storage stor-age plant will be located In tho north yards of tho Oregon Short Line railroad rail-road and will consist of threo store holders, similar to the ones In use at the Ogden plant Two miles of pipe lines are to be laid to the various sta- tlons. The 6torago tanks will hold 11,-130 11,-130 cubic feet of gas under a pressure of 14 atmospheres In addition to the change in machinery ma-chinery which has been mado at tho local plant, tho general appearance of the factory and yard' has been greatlv improved Eight storage tanks which were formerly Inside tho main building build-ing havo been removed and placed under un-der an umbrella shed In the yard. This chaugo made room for the installment in-stallment of the new machinery In the main building. The finishing touches which are now being made consist in painting some of the buildings and in cleaning up tho debris made by the changes. Twenty men aro employed at the plant under the supervision of Georgo Lochhead. It is likely that ono of these mon will be sent to Salt Lako City to tako care of the storage tanks when they are completed. Mr. Lochhead. in speaking of the completion of the Improvements, says that for the first tlmo In six years he la now able to supply tho full demand de-mand of the railroads for gas. no prices ot forty-five classes of commodities, commo-dities, from 1902 to 1910 inclusive, exhibit ex-hibit tho following numbers and relations. rela-tions. G9. 09, 70. 72, 77. SO, 73, 74 and 78 In 1911 these prices wero For January. 78.5: February, 78.6; 3Iarch, 78.9, and April, 80. But as they do not embrace rent or services, thoy fail to show the full extent of tho enhanced en-hanced cost of living. Typical among the causes assigned In England arc the old-age pensions granted by the Liberal government, adding like our pension list, many millions to the gen-oral gen-oral budget, swelling tho tax burden and enhancing rents and the prices of commodities. Our 4;onsu' at Vera Cruz sajrs of Yucatan- "Tho cost of living Is excessively ex-cessively high, notwithstanding that all necessities enter frco of duly," and roports skilled labor at $3 gold and common labor at J1.25 gold per day Tho consul at Valparaiso says that the cost of living has Increased since 190C from -10 to CO per cent, and that wagos havo cropt up to the same lev-ol. lev-ol. This Is truo of the country generally gener-ally In Valparaiso the cost of living has nearly doubled. At Puerta Plata, Dominican ropubllc, the cost of living liv-ing for '"well-to-do classes" has risen I until It Is higher than in the United States. The consul attributes it to taxation. In the Duchr of Snxo-CoburgiGotha the cost of living during the Inst five years has doubled, while In Germany generally It has "materially increased." in-creased." Tho consul at Erfurt and Mannheim allude to "tho Increased cost of living," tho rise ot wages and shortening of working hours, but give no details Similar roports come from Austria, and especially from Bohemia. The consul at Milan reports the sarao of Italy. A "crisis In meats prevails in Lombardy," and pork is "critically high." Tho consuls at Valencia and Barcelona report the same of Spain where the cost of living and labor In twelve years has risen about 50 per cent. The former consul attributes It to high taxes. Similar reports come from Moscow, whore the consul assigns the Increase of rents to taxes and the enhanced cost of living to rents. The consul at Odessa alludes to "the rise In prlcos in immovable property," but gives no details Even distant Afghanistan reports re-ports a rise of prices in the bazars, while in all tho ports of Inla, Bur-mali. Bur-mali. Slam and China tho Increased cost of living Is compelling every stipendiary, sti-pendiary, from the coolie up to tho professional class, to solicit an Increased In-creased stipend In order that he may live In tho accustomed way. With employers who cannot sell their products at enhanced prices there appears to be no future tout ruin; Some of the writers assign tho rlso of prices to taxation, and some to tne rising tide of gold, but none has as yet venturod to surmise with Mr. Ansberry, that It Is due to ''the selfish self-ish Interests of employers." Wall Street Journal. nn offer such a flno target for tho enemy, as the Dreadnaughts now In commission. commis-sion. on . T J; headquarters that Manager Dahlen of f the Brooklyn club had been suspended for three days and Pitcher Scanlon i flnod $25 pro protesting decisions too V vehemently during yesterdav's gam ff with Boston. ' |