Manufactured gas ís now used by more than 9 million domestic consumers in over 4,60O towns and serves about 46 millíon of our population. In 1921 over 326 bìllion cubic feet were sold to the public by gas companies in the Uníted States.



 The earliest available Unìted States Geologìcal Survey data are for 1898. whìle the growth has been continuous since 1898, the annual growth has been especíally rapíd since 1915, as shown in Figure 1. The slowing down of growth, begìnnìng about 19O8, was due, in a large measure, to the then rapìd increase ìn natural-gas use. The demands for hot-water and incidenltal heating in the home have been rapìdly inclreasìng, yet, at the present tìme, only about one-sixth of the domestic consumers have hot-water heaters and the hot-water heater growth in the future will be much larger.


 
 The geographical distribution of manufactured-gas consumers by
 State is shown in figure 2, where the figures indicate the number
 ìn even thousands of consumers in each State.



The demand for natural gas ìs now greater than the available supply and less will be available each year. This now rapìd declìne will make necessary that the present natural-gas-using towns ultimately use manufactured gas íf they are large enough to maintain a manufactured-gas plant. Many of the applìances now ín use for

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^[1] The terms "artificial" and "illuminating" have been frequently used for this. Typical methods of manufacture and delivery to the home are shown on the folding plate at the front.



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