The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-12-13
MORE Gas.

| ly done. Iho canton Ihb company h"'
a right to full and fair consideration, anC
that ia all we claim,
MORE GAS
Mr.. Editor I'm your comments on my las
weeks communication to you ON the subject o
Gas, you ask for Jacis In the first place allow M
to respectfully remind you that at the tint
the present price was A<ed upon, your re
porter was furnished the document containing
the figures the basis OF our calculation, but wal
subsequently returned without publication
Why2 Since have been waiting for the prope
parties, viz: the Gas Company, 10 ask for thos'
facts, but in vain In fact the proprietors OF th'
Gas Company don seem to be so much injured
as you appear TO imagine, since lis Secretary OIL
two occasions expressed willingness to sign
contract for ten years at our figures. However
am now ready and am only too happy If car
obllge you by furnishing the following prices paid
at that time by our neighboring cities Canton In
cluded) on old contracts:
Massillon, $40 for private consumption, and
$3.50 for municipal consumption Wooster, $3.50
and 500; Mansfield $500 and 2bb Rayenna
SO 90 and 81 Salem 81 7b and $780, youngstown
S2,5 and 82 and Canton, 1925 and S27b These
cities are OF fair comparison with ours both a.
to size and facilities for mailing gas, and by com
putting from the above figures II Will be seen that
the average price paid by private consumers Is
S2,9 and for municipal uses Is S23S. Now con
sderlng the depreciation In all values OF from bO
to 100 ner cent no Intelligent man would question
the justice OF making reduction on the above
prices of % per cent. This would make 1t for pri'
vate consumers, ST. and for municipal use Sl79,
aud by averaging these figures into one price for
both private and municipal az We have 1t, on the
basis that the municipal consumption Is one-seV
enth VI the whole the result will be S2,l6, against
S2,25 as fixed by ordinance Comments are un'
necessary. The public will best Judge Of the fair
ness or unfairness Of the action OF the council In
passing such an nordinance.
In support of the above allow me To draw yOui
attention TO the report of the superintendent of
Gas in Newburg where 1t is shown that gas there
is manufactured at cost of SlO8, including ma
terial, labor and interest on the money invested.
Youngstown IL now furnishing gas on new CON
tract al S75 for large bills, and $40 for small
ones The prices in the cities of Pittsburgh, Har'
risburg, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton varies
from Sl,OO 70 $40, OF course these four latter
cities are not TO be compared with Cantoni they
are mentioned simply TO show that gas eau be
made at good profit at S2,25.
Now, with regard to the charge that there is a
scheme to drive the Gas Company out of business,
is gross injustice, maliciOusly imputed to tine
members of the council Had there been such u
disposition would the alternative been left open
so long us it has for the Gas Company TO accept the
OrdinanCe2 Such presumption issimply absurd
and ridiculous.
AS for my dignity" as councilman from which
you ask me to descend will only say that can
not descend enough to reply to it, will let the
public decide who has too much or too little Of it,
In conclusion, Mr. L litor, allow me 10 express
the hope that this will end this unpleasant con-
troYerSy through the press not desiring to become
man of ofnewspaper nOtoriety and having more
useful occupation shall decline and disregard all
further communication on the above subject.
remain yours with the most absolute obedi'
ence, CHAS. D. MoNNoT.
Canton, Dec 4th, 1877.
Our friend Monnot speaks of "this un-
pleasant controversy" and no doubt it
is, for it must be apparent thatour Council
acted hastily, to say the least, and with
out full consideration. We do not Sim
pute malice," but certainly their action
is calculated to work injustice, This
may be exemplifed by moments con-
sideration of what Mr.. Monnot says of
"the depreciation in all values" With
him it seems to have been mere guess
work, where guessing was not necessary
at ALL as the facts were at hand. His
guessing depreciation, too, was applied to
new contracts in severalinstances, which
was wrong and unjust, ...
Now, the elements of cost in making
gas are COAL labor and lime, and these
have not deprecated % per cent. The
cost of coal at our gas works in 1873 was
So, ,339, and in 1876 it was $26s0 41-the
average for the last seven years being
So, l20-the difference between the aver
age and 1876 being $434. The difference
in lime is $50, and in labor $455 less.
Now, saying Canton consumes five and a
udll ulluOuo OuDlC lCObJ anu IL 10 lObb
than this, these items of difference
make the cost about IS cents per thous-
and feet less, and our city Council make
a cut of 95 cents less Mr.. Monnot and
our City Council may see by this that
facts are serious things-sometimes stub.
born.
1t should be remembered, too, that
Akron, Youngstown and Mansfield con-
sumo more gas than Canton, the gas
posts being as follows: Akron 169,
Mansfield It's, Youngstown 1856, and Can
ton ia. In view of all this, $3.50 per
thousand for good gas in Canton is surely
not too much. This conclusion from all
the data is inevitable, and the Canton
gas company made a liberal offer when
they proposed this figure. They were
not met in the same spirit by majority
of our City Council.
Mr.. Monnot quotes the report as to
the cost of manufacturing gas at the hos.
Dital of NowhurO Rut l., estimating the