Such a condition of affairs would probably result in
driving the great manufacturing concerns of the country into the region
where natural gas is to obtained. That may be anywhere from the western
slope of the Alleghanies to Lake Erie or to Lake Michigan. And, if the
cost of producing iron, steel, and glass can be so cheapened by the new
fuel, the tariff question may undergo some important modification in
politics. For, if the reduction in the cost of fuel should ever become
an offset to the lower rate of wages in Europe, the manufacturers of
Pennsylvania, who have long been the chief support of the protective
policy of the country, may lose their present interest in that question,
and leave the tariff to shift for itself elsewhere. It should be
remembered that natural gas is not, as yet, much cheaper than coal
in Pittsburg. But it may safely be assumed that it will cheapen, as
petroleum has done, by a development of the territory in which it is
known to exist in enormous quantities. It is quite possible that,
instead of buying gas, many factories will bore for it with success,
or remove convenient to its natural sources, so that a gas well may
ultimately become an essential part of the "plant" of a mill or factory.
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