Table II is devoted to the fuel and water conditions and shows the kind of fuel used and the cost of it and likewise the cost of the water supply for each plant for the year. Bituminous coal, coke and wood are the fuels used, the latter in one instance only. The cost of coal ranges from 183 cents to $3.10 per ton; the former price being paid for slack, or fine screenings, presumably at a plant near a coal mine, where the cost is simply that of hauling. The coke used is a byproduct of the gas-coal consumed at the plant and consequently is not an item of purchase.

An analysis of the total investment represented by the several establishments is made in Table III. The items which enter into the statement of total investment are the cost of land, cost of buildings, cost of manufacturing equipment, cost of holders, mains, meters and other accessories. The table shows not only the amount of each item but the percentage of each item of total investment. A wide range of difference is observed in these percentages, but when reduced to averages the whole cost of the land is found to be 3.42 per cent of the total investment; the cost of buildings, 6.92 per cent; that of manufacturing equipment, 25.96 per cent; holders, 11.88 per cent; meters, 7.24 per cent; tools, teams, etc., 1.62 per cent.

The aggregate investment represented by the 25 plants is $2,328,851, and the range in amounts is from $17,000 to $428,000. Nine plants cost over $100,000 each; six cost from $50,000 to $100,000, and ten cost less than $50,000.

Table IV presents an analysis of the earnings of gas works. The items of income as stated in this table are those derived from the sale of gas, from rents and sales of appliances, from sales of byproducts and residuals and from sundry minor sources. Income from the sale of gas is shown under three heads: gas for lighting, for cooking and heating and for power. Of the gross income of all plants 86.39 per cent is derived from sales of gas, and of the total income from this source 72.43 per cent is the revenue from lighting.

Cost of production is considered in Table V under the following heads: General expenses, wages, materials and supplies, general distributing expenses, maintenance (including depreciation) and taxes. General expenses include the salaries of officers, superintendents, clerks, etc., office supplies and expenses, insurance, legal expenses and damages, licenses and royalties, and other kindred items of expense. Materials and supplies include fuel, material

used in manufacture and other supplies. Maintenance covers actual disbursements for repairs and renewals on works, on mains, and elsewhere, and depeciation is estimated separately on buildings, on manufacturing equipment and on the distributing system, including meters and apparatus. Summarizing the amounts expended by all plants under these general heads it is found that they sustain the following relations to total cost of production: General expenses constitute 12.75 per cent of the whole cost; wages, 16.32 per cent; materials and supplies, 28.34 per cent; general distributing expenses, 9.35 per cent; maintenance and depreciation, 30.42 per cent; taxes, 2.82. Great care has been exercised in estimating depeciation, and to this end the buildings and the manufacturing and distributing equipment have been considered separately. The specific percentages allowed for this annual loss in value from use are given in this table for each plant, and they naturally vary with existing conditions as found at the several plants. Making the proper computations for all plants it is discovered that the whole amount allowed for depreciation on all buildings is 2.47 per cent of their cost; on all manufacturing equipment it is 5.70 per cent of their cost; and on all distributing systems, 5.13 per cent of their cost. The aggregate sum deducted for all depreciation is equivalent to 4.68 per cent of the total investment on all plants, exclusive of the cost of land.

Table VI summarizes the results of operation in columns showing, first, the year for which the statement is made, then the candle power of the gas produced, the cubic feet on hand at the beginning of the year and made during the year, the disposition made of it and the quantity remaining on hand at the close of the year. The total amount is accounted for as lost by leakage, used at the works and at the office, sold, and remaining on hand. Percentages are also computed representing the proportions of the whole disposed of in each way by each plant. The aggregate quantity of gas accounted for by the 25 plants is 402,434,374 cubic feet, and of this, 12.16 per cent is lost by leakage; 1.42 per cent is used at the works and offices of the companies; 86.17 per cent is sold, and 0.25 of one per cent is on hand and carried over at the end of the year.

Table VII is the profit and loss account of the several companies. This consists of a statement from each plant of all items of income on the one side, and the total cost of production, including depreciation and taxes, on the other; the difference appears as the amount of

NET PROFIT.

profit or loss in the year's business, and when a profit appears computations are made, showing what per cent of gross income and of total investment the given profit is. This table shows the year for which the report is made, and the income is defined as coming from public service, from commercial service, and from other sources. The relation which the business from each of these sources sustains. to the whole business is expressed in the following percentages: From public service, 1.94 per cent; from commercial service, 87.45 per cent, and from all other sources, 13.61 per cent. This small percentage received from public service is explained by the fact that fourteen of these companies report no revenue whatever from public service, doubtless owing to the encroachments of electric street lighting. Considering only the eleven companies which have an incomefrom public service it is found that 4.54 per cent of their revenues are derived from that source. A combination of the essential features of this table with the facts regarding capital invested and output, as shown in preceding tables, affords the following view of the financial results of operation in all of the 25 plants scheduled. Results of one year's operation of Gas Works Plants in Illinois.

25

Plant No

This epitome of the results of the investigation, as applied to gas works, represents the conclusions reached through a most painstaking and searching study of the physical and financial status of each plant. This group of properties is, as stated, all under private ownership, and the fact that there are no municipal gas works in this State precludes any comparison of public and private experience in gas works. But the statement is not without vital interest, if only as an exponent of the rewards which flow from investments of this kind under private management. Here the net result only is given; the specific conditions which combine to produce it must be sought by tracing each plant through all the tables. The designation of each by the same number in every table facilitates this sort of search. Examined in this way many qualifying conditions will be disclosed more or less. affecting or explaining the net results as here given. These do not admit of very distinctive generalizations. It appears probable, however, that the smaller plants are unprofitable and the larger ones profitable because of their size and the consequent influence of volume of business. It will be observed that the plants are entered in the table according to the amount of their output. The column for output, considered in connection with the adjacent one showing the total investment, sufficiently defines the limitations of the several plants. The further fact of the population of the several communities does not appear in any table because of the identification which this might make possible and which the office is pledged to obscure. It may be said, however, that only one of these plants is located in a town with less than 3,000 inhabitants, under the enumeration of 1890; that eight are located in cities or towns containing from 3,000 to 5,000 inhabitants; six in cities containing from 5,000 to 10,000; nine in cities containing from 10,000 to 20,000, and one in a city containing over 20,000 inhabitants.

The general observation here is that 11 of the 25 plants show more or less loss on the year's business, taking due account of depreciation and taxes as elements in the cost of production, and that 14 have each made a net profit represented here by various percentages, both of gross income and on total investment.

Table VIII is the final table in the series relating to gas works, and is devoted to the complex subject of prices. These are stated primarily for lighting, cooking and heating, and power, respectively. Under the general head of lighting are the prices to private consumers and to the municipality-to the former for ordinary and for pre

payment meter service, and to the latter for meter and for contract service and for Welsbach and other lamps. The quantity of gas used at each given price is also stated in cubic feet. A glance at this table and at the foot notes accompanying it affords an illustration of the difficulties presented in attempting this tabulation. In pretty much all cases there is a nominal price subject to contingent modifications which make quite another price, and the details of terms and conditions are often so many and different as to deprive the nominal price of all significance. A minor table is here presented, the elements of which are drawn from several of the general tables, showing the output, the candle power, the cost and the nominal selling price of gas at the several plants, with the explanatory foot notes necessary to define the real terms and prices at which it is sold..

a Discounts are allowed as follows on monthly bills: On all amounts up to $5, ten per cent; from $5 to $10, fifteen per cent; from $10 to $20, twenty per cent; over $20, twenty-five per cent. One thousand feet of this oil gas is said to be equal to 4,000 feet of ordinary coal gas.

b If over 3,000 cubic feet per month is used the price is $1.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. If bills are paid by the 10th of the month the following rates are charged: Under 1,000 cubic feet, $2; 1,000 and under 3,000 cubic feet, $1.50; 3,000 to 5,000 cubic feeet, $1.75; 5.000 cubic feet and over, $1.60.

d If 5,000 cubic feet, or over, is used per month the price is $2.30 per 1,000 cubic feet. For combined service, lighting and cooking and heating, the price is $1.50 per 1,000 cubic feet.

e On 500 and less than 1,000 cubic feet, used monthly, $1.75; on 1,000 and less than 3,000 cubic feet, $1.50; on 3,000 and less than 10,000 cubic feet, $1.25: on 10,000 and less than 20,000 cubic feet, $1.15; on 20,000 cubic feet and over, $1 per 1,000 cubic feet.