FOR STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS CONTAINED IN PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS APPEARING HEREIN, THE ASSOCIATION DOES NOT HOLD ITSELF RESPONSIBLE Entered as Matter of Second Class at the Post Office, Easton, Pa. Acceptance for Mailing at Special Rate of Postage Provided for in Section 1103. Act of The Danger of Smog In a New York Times Book Review Mr. Thomas Quinn Beesley writes of "The Eugenic Prospect" by Doctor Saleeby of Edinburgh. We have not read the book but we have read the review and there are portions of the former quoted which are most interesting to the gas man. Dr. Saleeby writes of the health prospects of posterity in which he sees little light for his own Londoners and Edinburghers until those cities learn to do away with their smoke. "Smoggy London" he calls it with its fogs heavy with coal dust and in the comparison of which New York is a shining metropolis. If one may not find much encouragement in his eugenic prospects for coming Londoners one at least may find healthy possibilities for the gas industry's future. Read it from his own pen: "According to the chemist, gas and coke, the combustible residues of coal after its still According to the physiologists, headed by According to every one who has ever tried to cook anything, the gas cooker is civilization, and the kitchen range savagery. The kitchen range, provided for the combustion of soft coal, and the continuance of the "hellish and dismal cloud" which makes our cities so infernal in the Winter, should henceforth be relegated to the museums which exhibit other horrors of the Dark Ages. Probably no woman will consent, even if any woman be allowed, to use such an antiquated abomination ten years hence. Does the Ministry of Health, in defiance of the most obvious and elementary laws and needs of health, propose to allow local housing authorities to minister to disease, and to build houses which-like our battleships, according to Lord Fisher-will last a hundred years, and be obsolete in five?" ว C Mr. Munroe Reviews the Year Address of Charles A. Munroe, President of the American Gas Association, at the Third National Convention and T HE American Gas Association held its organization meeting in the city of New York in June, 1918. It was organized to promote and develop the gas industry and to co-ordinate activities to the end that it might serve to the fullest possible extent the best interests of the public. At the time of its organization the world had been at war for four years. Each of these years, as one succeeded another, brought problems more difficult than its predecessor, finally culminating in 1920, the darkest year the industry has ever seen. But the great distress of our industry was the blending force which brought all of its elements together, and now as we emerge into a world of peace we see that the terrible strain of those days has accomplished one great thing-it humbled every man in this business. Every one became desirous of co-operating with every one else, in order to remedy conditions which were threatening the very life of the business. During this period our Association was fortunate in having as its President a gentleman of great distinction, who endeared himself to all those who worked with him, and who eliminated any possibility of jealousy among the member companies. For how could such unworthy feelings exist in the face of such unselfishness and high purpose as he showed on every occasion. I refer to the Honorable George B. Cortelyou. |