Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-04-23
THE CITY AND rHE Gas COMpANY.

! THE CITY AND THE GAS COMPANY
Representative of both s;Onfer but Fail to
keach AN Agreement.
Last evening the lamp committee OF
citJ councils met in select council cham
DER for she purpose Of considering the mat
ter o. the Dill Of the Lancaster gaslight
and fuel company for the quarter ending
January l, which the city has refused to
pay on the ground Of incomplete service.
The bill as originally rendered was for
about s1,5 SIS, from which the company
had agreed to deduct 800. 4
committee representing the gas com
pany, consisting Of Messrs. 8" Henry
Baumgardner, j. II. Baumgardner and
J. +. Wickersham, was present. and sub
mitted a lengthy written statement giving
their side Of the question. This paper
claimed among other things that there is
the gas company, requiring the latter to
light the street lamps at S1s post, the
contrast never having bsen con-
snmmated by reason Of the pur-
chase by the new company of the
franchises of the old company while
the question of the letting Of the contract
"ssS PCA1uAnS IA OOuISCu1SS 0AS@A H1O u1OttCI
thereupOn dropped. The statement of the
gas people declares that in furnishing the
city with the illuminating material at the
rate offered under the pressure Of q ruin
GUS competition after that pressure was
removed, they have been actuated by u
feeling Of honor and fair-dealing. When
they offered to light the city gas lamps
at 31S each per annum they knew
that they could not prOfitably do 80, but
they were not above the weakness Of
human nature of bidding lower than they
could afford, for tho sake Of the prestige
it would give them. Having offered 70 do
SO, however. they felt in honor bound to
make their offer good, and having thus te,n
generous with the city they ask in return
that the city shall act fairly and
generously with them. Moreover, they
claim that the unsatisfactory service COM
planned of during a period Ofthe quarter,
which is made the basis Of the rejection Of
their bill by the city, was entirely beyond
their control and remedy. They did their
best to keep the lights burning, and were
at considerable expense to overcome the
obstacles encountered in the work Of ell
deavOring to remove the cause Of COM
plaint. In conclusion the statement went
on to show by figures that the city
under present arrangements is being
furnished with gas much cheaper
than in previous years, and this was
reiterated and strongly dwelt upon by
the Messrs. Baumgardner and Wickersham
III the discussion that enSued between those
gentlemen on behalf OF the gas company,
and the members Of the lamp committee
on behalf Of tho city, Chairman Barr and
Mr.. Smeych mainly conducting tho
discussion on the part of the city.
At several points the conversation
became quite warm on both sides,
especially when III iHtimatiOn was thrown
out by one Of the members Of the lamp
committee that there seemed to be dis
position on the part Of the new gas com.
pany to follow in the footsteps Of their
predecessors whose expressions the new
company had been organized to counter.
act an observation which was strongly
resented by Messrs. Baumgardner and
Wickersllam. The representatives Of tho
city's interest argued that former prices
paid for lighting the city had nothing
whatever to do with the pending
issue, which simply presented
itself in the form OF the propo-
sitiOn on the part Of the gas
company to charge full prices for inferior
service. The comparison of present rates
with those Of former years when there cx-
listed an oppressive monopoly, and when in
addition it cost great deal more to manu-
facture gas than it does at present, was
entirely irrevelant, argued the lamp COM
n,ittee, and did not fairly take the form Of
claim upon the city's generosity in this
matter.
After protracted discussion in which
the representatives of the gas company
expressed unwillingncss to make any
further reduction upon their bill, the
lamp committee stated they would report
the facts to councils, with which body the
decision rested.