SMOKE PROBLEM PECULIAR.
But Mayor Beardsley Will Fix It if
He Is Re-Elected.
"It is practically impossible to prevent black smoke pouring out over Kansas City as long as soft coal is used for fuel by the manufacturing concerns of the city," declared Professor J. M. Kent of the Manual Training high school, before a meeting of the stationary engineers of Kansas City at 1332 Grand avenue last night.
"Many plans have been tried -- steam jets, checker work and self-feeding grates. In spite of all of these, smoke will get out, if soft coal is used for fuel.
"This smoke problem is a peculiar one, inasmuch as the owners of boilers would make money if they could comply with the city's smoke ordinance. Ever bit of smoke that goes up a chimney and drifts in a cloud over the city, is so much heat value in the coal gone to waste. The big manufacturers and owners of office buildings are as willing as any citizen to comply with the city's smoke ordinance, but no efficient device has as yet been invented."
C. Y. Root spoke enthusiastically of the good that would come to Kansas City from the introduction of crude oil as a fuel. The smoke problem would be eliminated, he said, if oil were used for fuel instead of coal. He thought that it would require very little labor to pipe oil from the Kansas fields to Kansas City.
Mayor Beardsley told of the efforts made by him, as mayor, to enforce an anti-smoke ordinance. He said that if he was elected mayor again there would be no more smoke in Kansas City and that collars could be worn two days. He pledged the next council to this.
