Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-04-30
flor the Intslliyenosr.l

therefore, the price of gas ought to be reduced
!! in Wheeling to 50 per 900 feet. Those who have
/ taken this ground of argument osstt1ic the
main fact involved in the controversy. They
have to assume that gas can be manufactured
and distributed in Wheeling at as low rates ms II
can be made and distributed in Pittsburgh
This assumption necessarily supPoseS, the two
companies are in every respect analogous, ana
that what one does the other may do also. Blt
It will be an easy matter to show the analogy Is
I imperfect, and comprises little more than that
they are both gas companies, acting under SINH
lar charters, having certain things in common,
while in its leading features, sthe analogy IS
I forced and far-fetched, and those who use il fur
nish n fair sample of the YetitiO prtnciptS.
| Allowing for arguments sake, that such an
analogy exists. Is it either just or reasonable
that the citizens of Wheeling should demand
the Wheeling Gas Company to adhere to 1t III
all its particulars, while they are guilty of VIC
lating it in one of its essential points? While
| they expect the Wheeling Gas Company to mi
| tate the action of the Pittsburgh Company IN
the reduction of the price Of gas, ought not
| their demands be measured by the conduct OF
| the citizens of Pittsburgh under the same cir
cumstances? This is certainly an even hand
ep rule, and would do justice to both parties.--
But what are the factSr In 1917, alter the
Pittsburgh Company had been in operation fur
eleren gears, the price of Gas was $500 per
| thousand feet. That Company may have com-
menced to furnish Gas at lower rate, and found
/ it necessary to advance on the price, or it may
not; we have no means at hand of determining
this point; nor can we say how many years
after the above date, that price was continued
a reduction in the price of Gas was made, how
ever, before 1852, because at that tiuIe, after
the Gas Company had been sixteen gears az eU-
isteHce, the price per 1000 feet was S2,35. In.
1S43, when the Pittsburg Company had been in
existence scCen yea's, the consumption OF its
Gas wns double that Iof onrs, and in ~, it was
in 40 at this
fire times greater than tue consumption of Gas
in the city of Wheeling. Our Company has
existed gears and with all these advanta-
ges in favor of Pittsburg, our citizens demand
a reduction of 80 per cent less for the price Of
it's Gas than was charged by the PittSburg
Company after it had been in operation elerrTt
gears, and 173 per cent. less than the price
charged by that Company after it had operated
SIXTEEN years, and only 10 per cent. more than
is now charged by that Company in the t1ceHty-
second gear of its existence, with five times the
amount of consumption. Now is not this
curing the weak to bear the burden of the
strong, and demanding of youth that which
alone can be expected of age!
Do not the citizens of Wheeling demand
more of our Company than ever asked of,
or granted by, the Pittsburs Company, at the
same period of its existenceI
We attach no importance to the question of
time involved in this part of the argument; only
those who are continually harping on the price
of gas in Pittsburg," and borrowing from thence
their arguments, and drawing parallels aud anal
Ogies between the two companies, are bound In
all candOr and justice, to extend its advantages
to the company as well us to the consumer. IT
we are to reason from analogy, let it not be con-
fined to SINCE point, and made TO serve per-
SonaI or party purposes, but let it cover the
whole ground of controversy. If we consider
the cost of making and distributing gas in the
! city of Wheeling, it will appear that in the es-
81 l.. ~.
posed to exist between the two companies, has
dc Tdct0, no existence, in the imagination
oftuose opposed to the Gas Company. The
cost of coal in Pittsburg and Wheeling is near
| ~ the same being difference of only one cent
in ten bushels in favor Of Wheeling. But the
Pitts6urg coal is 10 per cent. more lorOtItctirs
The Pittsburg company obtains better price,
and finds more ready market for its coke aud
coal tar, than the Wheeling Gas Company
/ Pittsburgh has 90 1-9 miles of main pipe,
through which it distributes to pricGte consn'
rners, SIXTY nliLtioHS rect of gas; Wheeling has
run of 8 Ia miles ofpipe, through whichit dis
tributes to private consumers, seven millions
| two hundred and ninety thousand.
! The whole amount of Gas manufactured by
the Wheeling works is not quite twelve million
| feet, from which deductng 224 per cent. for loss
and condensation, and the amount consumed by
the public lamps, leayes the balance just stated
1t costs, then, the Wheeling Gas Company, TO
/ distribute fraction over sereh million feet of
! Gas, what it costs the Pittsburg Company to
distribute nearly tscenty.ons million; in other
words, about two miles and one-half of pipe in
Pittsburg, supplies as much Gas as the eight
and one-quarter miles of pipe in the city of
| Wheeling. The Pittsburg Company pays Il
water rent at the rate of 1898 per million feet;
the Wheeling Company, $s8,33 just. four times
las nuchi The Wheeling Gas Company has
never made an extra charge for service pipe
| from inside the curb to meter, stop cock, cou-
] plings, &c, nor required the cousu to use
any specific amount of Gas either IL. winter or
in suElmer; charges nothing for fill. Z meters,
&c, DC, all of which is source of evenuc to
the Company and formed part of 'th- rules and
regulations of the Pittshurg Gas Inpany in
1877, when it WAS selling Gas at SO, % per thou
sand Other facts could be cited, but these are
sufficient to show the Pittsburs Gas Company
has advantages 10 its favor and had, from the
beginning, not possessed by the Wheeling Com
pany; that the assumed analogy between the
4 two Companies is defective in all its essential
points, and that the demand on the Wheeling
Gas Company, to lower the price of its Gas, is
untimely and exorbitant, and one with which it
cannot comply without sacrificing itself to meet
the demand. OBSERVER
The central Democratic organ or'Illinois sty-
les the Buchanan men of that State "a set OF
L. A.. n