In 1931, Public Utilities Fortnightly commissioned one of the most popular poets of the twentieth century to write a poem for PUF's readers. Berton Braley had collaborated with the famous composer John Philip Sousa and was constantly asked to write for the top publications of the day. This Braley poem appeared in the October 14, 1931 issue of PUF:
The gas that lifts the gusher to the sky
The gas that once was squandered in the flare
Of flaming yellow torches blazing high
No longer wastes its riches in the air;
It is done with reckless burning
And efficiently is turning
To the ordinary job of everyday,
Over hill and over hollow
It must dutifully follow
Where the pipe line stretches out to mark the way.
The gas that was a menace and a threat,
That once was roaring power, unconfined,
Now meekly does the work that it is set –
A servant of the will of human kind.
It is cooking steaks and gruel,
It is power, it is fuel
That is changing women’s drudgery to play,
And its lawless days are ended
As it takes the course intended
Through the pipe lines from a thousand miles away,
Now it’s hoarded as a store of weightless gold
As it rises from the subterranean sand,
Now it’s metered and directed and controlled
For our uses – at the turning of a hand.
Here is comfort for our houses
And contentment for our spouses,
Here is energy to serve and to obey,
Here a wizard’s spell is wrought us
And the gusher’s breath is brought us
Through the pipe lines from a thousand miles away.
