to aid in
checking it! And yet this imaginary case is actually true in regard to
the best fuel in this country, which is burning uselessly an equal value
in coal, and our coal must some day be used to supply the loss.

We are apt to ignore the greatness of this loss because the gas escapes
into the air and we can not see it, or it burns and we see only its
effect, not the loss of fuel, but if we could see it in the form of oil
we should find that a billion feet of gas is equal to more than a
hundred and sixty thousand barrels of petroleum. Think of it, the
equivalent of one hundred and sixty thousand barrels of oil, for which
no price is paid and of which no use is made, for ever destroyed every
day in every year! Would the oil companies permit it? Would we not all
assist them in saving their property from destruction, and shall we not
ask of them equal help in saving the fuel that in turn conserves our
coal supply? Little objection can be made to the present method of using
gas in the older regions. The waste in domestic use is comparatively
small. Much is used for lighting with incandescent burners, and asbestos
grates and gas ranges have replaced the open-burner stoves and grates.
These are all efficient methods of use, and but little could be done in
the way of further conservation. In factories the gas-engine is in many
instances replacing the open furnace, which requires many times as much
gas to produce an equal amount of power. They should be used in every
factory, and gas companies should also require the use of the best
devices for saving gas in places where meters are not used.

Until last year but one state--Indiana--had an effective law preventing
the waste of natural gas by oil companies. This law says in substance
that a man can not take the oil from the ground where nature has safely
stored it, unless he also provide a market for the gas which accompanies
it. It also says that neither the producer nor the consumer shall be
allowed to waste this valuable fuel, as such waste is against public
policy.

Mr. I. C. White, of West Virginia, in discussing this question at the
Conservation Congress said, "This Indiana statute should be enacted into
law in every state where these fuels exist." Since that time
Pennsylvania and Ohio have passed laws, which are said to be effective,
for the conservation of natural gas.

Much has been accomplished by gas companies, who, since they became
alive to the danger of los