Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-04-17
70 THn PUBLIC


elPected tia, this Beard uill, nov ,ha, d,
memoru are al present, respond a. fill
Hard 10 the action q portion u the pubiic.
II Is not Improper that We should bFi,dy state
our Conclusions upon fall examination Of tbs
premises. Wilde this Board is willing Il 81
time to meet the public In spirit Of eompro.
mise, yet 10 must not prelsrmii the interests
entrusted TO Us eare by the stockholders
The INT and the only question 10 be- deter.
mined i, 'cAn VIC make ,he proposed reduction,
and At ths same tins make such profit ~ uil
justify our stockholders 10 continuing to be
Such Those Wbo first proposed TO comrsl
this company 70 reduce the prizes II ga ~ g.
per thousand, expressed themselves willing
10 allow the company. say 10 OF % per cent,
which Is not too high for the manufacturer. ~
They had been enormously made to believe that
the profits Of this company wers 81 ~ per
cent In order to satisfy ourselves sud the pub
lie Col. Wheat was requested 10 answer certain
inIerogltorics, Which.hc did upon full eNalnina
ton Of the books, In letter addressed % NJ
Nelson, Esq., heretofore Published and verified
by Mcssr, Ncl,uney and fi1hurh lis 80
lucid and perfectly satisfactory, that candid
minds should have seen and appreciated the
propricty of the'pO,itiou Of thi, COMPANY. Ills
statement shows that the actual dividends, ia.
Guiding tls stock dirdfri, mp 10 this date
Average but 10 IL per cent on the original cap.
Ila. stock while no allowance is made for de.
ierioraIion IN the work., metres, pipes and Sp,
paraius, which is heavy, being on apparatus
alone from - to 100 per cent per annum -
Is this too large profit! VIII This more than
provide against those contingencies which are
ever Impending the manufacturer No nteJi.
gent and impartial citizen, We presume, believes
the niis'statemonl olltn repeated, "that our pro.
its are 81 - per cent, per Nnnum.' II there
are such, We will take pleasure in allowing them
To corrcst their errors FROM personal examua
ton. Col Whcats statement /, as fair and
plain MS possible, aud to It We refer. II must
not be forgotten that most Of the present stock,
holders did not purchase their stock at par, but
much above, aud that the dividends above stated,
are declared only on the par value Of S2a per
share The CITY Of Wheeling sold her stock,
which she paid for in bonds to the company, for
profit Of near $1,000, Oh what cos, her but
$4,000! While many of the Old stockholders
sold out at higher rates Of profit
These are plain matters, which every oncCan
understand who desires to act intelligenuy aud
Iairly. It is not improper 10 state the cost If
gas in some other regions where ihe conSump.
ton IS swaIi as in Wheeling, and we appeal a
short statement:
Price OF o'' Clsys, calam. zAa,,- wlushe,.
F FsSIi: :; metre; T iss "s$ "sSS 50 -
Lamps aanau-ciyyyspd, sc IS per post; oolu,a.
bus, 500 FOR Jas LAnts'iliN tl50 1 feet barnrrs.
We pay the highest water tax in the United
States IN proportion to our consumption, we
doubt not. In addition to this, We have, in
spirit Of compromise, reduced the price Of the
gas furnished the city to price much below
the cost OfprOducing the article. This was done
in a spirit Of compromise on our part, 40 Sua
inducement u which was the fact, ;hat our mi.
vate consumers being tax payers, would thus
reap the benefit OF the reduction to the city. II
seems, however, not TO he satisfactory, and is
even used against US. Were the city to make a
different arrangement, so that the Company
would not lose by furnishing her with gas, some
modification might probably be made in the
price to private consumers As it is, due &c.
gard to the interests OF our stockholders, does
not, in our Judgment, warrant a further Teduc.
ton. II is, of course, matter Of regret to US
that many Of our citizens, otherwise disposed to
do us justice, should have been led by Oft re.
peatcd misrepresentation, to form improper con.
illusions, and to act hastily upon them. 10
such we can only say, that they can convince
themselves, by fair examination OF the facts,
that they have been mised, and have thus done
uSand themselves injustice. This is all that we
can promise to do, their own sense Of propricty
will doubtless then, suggest their action
We call special attention to the card Of Col
Whealc and also to the letter Of this Board Of
Feb. eth, 1868. While We would Checrfully
make any reduction DENIED feasible, If it could
with justice be done, yet we are fully satisfied
that no fair man would desire US to make a re-
duction when, its being done, would make our
stock unremunerative, rs can be demonstrated
from actual results, So far as our meters are
concerned, we purchase them Of the best manu-.
iacturers, at the highest prices, and upon testing
them at the works, have found them accurate,
and We so believe them, but at the same time
we are perfectly willing that they shall be tested
in any other practicable method, for il they are
not accurate ice may lose as well as the conSu.
ner.
We have made thus fair statement, which
we submit TO your candid examination. We
desire to do justice, while we ask it, and hence
have approached this question entirely free from
any Gecliu.; other than desire 10 do justice on
our part, while we would have like justice done
to US aud our motives. Respectfully
JACOB lloNBRooE, 7. SWEENEY.
NJ Nelson, j. C.. CAMPBELL,
j. II. PENhLEroS, A. p. WoOUs,
ii. W. CnAPLlNE.
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