This is shown in graphical form in Figure 7, which shows that 75 per cent of the total gas sold is used for domestic purposes and only a small percentage of the total – namely, 18 per cent – for lighting, so that 57 per cent is used for cooking, hot-water heating, and other heating purposes.



The verdict of hygiene in condemnation of coal smoke is: Of all enemies of national, racial, and social health I know of none which receives or ever has received so little attention in proportion to its importance.^[10]

Smoke comes primarily from improper burning of bituminous coal. In most residential communities the trouble is largely from house chimneys. Smoke-prevention appliances – easily adapted to industrial plants – are not generally feasible in the home. Therefore smokeless fuels should be used.

The first step in the solution of the smoke problem is to educate the public to use gas correctly for the cooking, hot-water heating, and incidental house-heating purposes and eliminate all soft coal use for cooking and hot-water heating purposes.

The second step is to educate the public to use coke^[11] when anthracite is not available. Coke is merely the solid residue of bituminous coal after the volatile matter, which produces the smoke, has been removed; that is, it is a man-made anthracite. Saving this volatile matter in the form of by-product coke-oven gas and increasing the use of coke for the house heating is necessary in order to eliminate the smoke nuisance. The proper use of gas and coke in the home will bring about the necessary public sentiment that must be crystallized in order to effectively control the industrial smoke problem.

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^[10] For excellent discussion of hygienic aspects of the smoke nuisance see The Eugenic Prospect by Dr. C. W. Saleeby.

^[11] Technical Paper 242, entitled Why and How Coke Should Be Used for Domestic Heating, U. S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C., 17 pages of data giving operating details on how to use coke successfully for domestic heating.



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