Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-11-19

for tho public lamps, the Market House, Coun-
Gil Chamber. and City Hail." Even if it were
the only report, the Council has enlarged 1t oy
their official action. 1t was the Council, aud
not the committee man, that is party, and its
action enlarges the report
The contract, then, as agreed upon by both
parties, was that the ''city should pay the Gas
Company $50 per post per annum, and 50 for
lighting, extinguishing, and cleaning the lamps,
making in ALL $50 per post per annum, the city
to pay for repairs; and 81 per thousand for other
gas consumed by the city, payable every SIX
months, and the contract to be terminated only
on sac months notice by either party"
The former Secretary of the Gas Company,
and then the Clerk and Attorney of the city,
Mr. Wheat, states that the contract, as thus
made, was drawn and signed by the Gas Com
pany and fled in the City Clerks Office with a
bundle of papers referring to the Gas Company,
and, strange to tell, naught can now be found OF
these papers but the Culbertson report!! From
1851 to the I'd Tuesday in November, the city
has lived up to this contract, as has the Gas
Company In 1856 the same matters were
mooted in Council, and committee, composed
of Messrs. Matthews and Taylor, actually went
to Pittsburgh, and upon their return made the
following report:
'sEon. Mayor and Council Of the city Of Vice
Lng-The undersigned Committee on Lights,
having, agreeable to order of the City Coun-
Gil, visited Pittsburgh, report the following
They find the Gas Company of the city OF Pitts
burgh charge the city for furnishing light to the
public lamps at 81, O9 per thousand feet, making
the standard u cubic feet per hour, the Gas
Company furnishing all repairs and charging
the same to the city. The lamps are GIFTED and
put out by the police of the city, and are kept
burning as long as the police committee think
desirable, the average cost to each post being
S25, n per year. Respectfully submitted,
Jim. MATTHEW'S
"P. b. TAYLOR,
"WHEELING July IA, 1856 Committee"
Here the matter dropped until recently. The
Company may well complain of the er pnTte
statements of the Chairman of the Committee
on Accounts, when they state that after having
had full access to the books and papers of the
Company nc has Remembered to forget their
entire correlatiye action with the Council, and
has given to the public nothing but the action
of Council, while he has wholly ignored the acts
of the other party to the contract This may
do for the advocate, but hardly for the commit
tee man, who should not only report facts, but
all B.ateriai. facts. ag E.... s.ss..r
| 1t should also be borne in mind, that the city
has not been charged with metres, nor for alcohol
while the city is charging the Company $4OO
per annum for water rent for IL, 100000 feet OF
| gas made per annum, while the city OF Pitts
burgh charges their Company only $500 per
a1Uum water rent, Wlen Tue product Oh gas
there is GO, DOC, 900 per annuln, and the wa
ter is also used by the Pittsburgh Company to
make their tile and brick. Philadelphia charges
81 per gallon for all thu alcohol used in the gas
! fixtures, our Company makes no charge. 1t
may as well be stated here, that the present pay
received from the city, does not in the opinion
of the superintendent, more than pay the actual
cost Of the gGs. We cannot make and distribute
| - 100000 feet of gas, at the same cost per
thousand, that the Pittsburgh Company can
make G0,000000. The reason is obvious, our
coal costs about the same, is % per cent. less
| productive, while the consumption of gas is 80
pcr cent less than in Pittsburgh, while our
necessary expenses would enable us to produce
double the quantity at but 13 additional cost
Whether this additional loss on the city gas is
| to be borne by the private consumers, or rather
| by the real cstate owners is question for pub
lie consideration. But does the city of Wheel
ing pay more for her gas than the city of Pitts
burgh? a plain answer to this question will
profit all parties. The unfairness of Mr. Pax
toms report, is here again apparent. For he
doet not state what, an .tnct is paid by Pitts
burgh per post What does Pittsburgh pay !?
She does not pay by metre for gas posts but by
estimate.
In 1851 the public lamps each, cost the city
of Pittsburgh $33,29 for gas alone. The city
of Wheeling paid $40 per lamp for gas. In 1856
the city of Pittsburgh, according to the report
of Messrs. Matthews and Taylor, paid for each
public lamp $25,77, while the city of Wheeling
still paid $40.
The city of Columbus pays $50 per lamp per
annum, for gas alone Qour feet burners)
The city of Boston pays $23 per lamp per an
mum, for gas alone, five feet burners, estimated
as burning 23OO hours.
The city of Baltimore pays $22,50 per lamp
per annurn, for gas alone, estimated 1900 hours.
The Manhattan Gas Company receive from the
city of New York, $25 per annum for each
lamp, the Company lighting, cleaning, and ex-
tinguishing the lamps. The New York Gas
Light Company, receives from the city of New
York, $25, 10 per year for each lamp, and per-
forms the same service.
These are all the companies whose rates are
known to US. 1t will be thus seen, that the city
of Wheeling pays less per lamp than any Of the
foregoing cities, and it will also be seen how
easy it is to arrive at erroneous results, by
single error in the rate of consumption. Mr..
Paxton assumes that our burners consume but
five feet per hour. 1t is the opinion of the
Company that they burn about 81 feet per hour.
Mr.. Paxton was probably not aware of the fact
that tine burners have been enlarged, at the in
stance Of the city. [See also statement appended
to this reporL] He proceeds with his argument
upon the assumption, that ''rate" in the char
ter, means price, and therefore that Wheeling
must pay the same price that Pittsburgh does.
This Company cannot admit such conclusion.
The word rate means ratio or proportion, and
we concede that on Company can only charge
the city in the same ratio to the price paid by
Driyate consumers that is charged to the CITY