Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-08-11
THE VALUE OF LIGHT.
POINT RS Ov TBE PRODUCTIvE
C0Sr OF Gas AND Ell EC7RICIir.

does not manufacture its own light Just a. IL
furnishes water for It's own consumption and
tba, Of the citizens. Ia a small city, where
there is no possibility OF two gas companies,
the manufacture Vi gas becomes a practical
l., ,nopoly. made so by the large investme mt
Of capital required Tor the plant. When the
| complaint Is made that the Or, fits
Of the company are excessive ii
Is very easy matter for an
| officer of the comp,ny to refer
the grumbler to the books, which show very
| reasonable dividend on the nominal amount
of capital invested. But 1t 10 an open secret
that the stock Is "watered" Tor all il is worth.
The proper way to guess the profits Of the
company Is to compute from r, liable data the
cost Of production Of gas and compare 1t with
the rate that is charged here. 10 last Wednes-
days GLonE-REruBLIc the propositions Tor
lighti' 6 the city were lrinted in full. and in
the same article was given the figures of Ev-
Warden Thomas on the cost Of producing gas
at the Ohio penitentiary. Those inter-
ested in the gas company very justly
complain that the cases are not par
allel because the plant here is much
more expensive than these. They talk much
about the cost Of the plant but the papers
showing the actual cost OF construction were
of course beyond the reporters reach.
In an article by Charles Hull Bo,sford in
the current number OF the North American
Review IL Is stated that the London gas COM
panies furnish the b. st q,ality Of gas to their
consumers at 10 cents per thousand cubic
feet, and in some Other English towns the
price is as low as 30 cents per thousand.
Pr.blbly fairer comparis IN than this is the
price Of gas in Chicago. On June 4, 1885,
Theobald Forstall, president of the
Oldest gas company in Chicago
made the following statement in one of the
Chicago papers: This company reduced the
net price Of gas to $l.oO per thousand DELHI
erately, after ma'ure consideration, with the
expectation that increased consumption and
improved methods of manufacture would
make this price mo ierately profitable. Toe
result has fully justified our hopes and con.
firmed the wisdom Of the policy adopted and
this company will now make contracts to
supply consumers with the best quality of
gas for FIVE years at a ne, price Of 81 90 per
thousand feet" Compare this with the 1--WE
years proposition Of the Springfield Cas-
light and Coke Co. to furnish gas to
consumers at $l.65 per thousand and
light the city during the dark of the moon at
$50 per post. The gas is lighted at suoset
that Is, the first lamp, the lighter eeldom fin
lshing his work before 0 :30) and are ex,in.
guished an hour aud q half before sunrise.
This. the average tor the year, eight hours
that the Ras burns per night. Az the posts
are equipped with four feet burners, thirty six
feet per night are burned, 10. .l4O feet per year.
At 81 per thousand, the volume Of the gas con-
sumei on tie "mooulght plan" is $l3.l4 per
post, cost Of care not included. But the gas
men say that the plant here is more exper-
sive because in laying the pipes they some
times had to dive through rock. Allowing
tor this, let them charge $l.l5 per thousand,
and the price per post would be SIS IL per
post. Let them add 10 cents per thousa cd
for care--which every one will admit to be
liberal allowance-making the price $l.25,
and the price per post is $l642 The propc-
stion OF the Gas Company for an all night,
all the year round light is S27 per post. BY
the same computation the price at 800 per
thousand for an all night light averaging 10
hours and 30 minutes, would be 1888 per
pest; at $l.l5 per thousand, $l7.63 per post I;
at $l.25 per thousand $l9.l6 per post. Com
pare these estimates with the tact that the
Springfield Gatlght and Coke c.. has been
and is now lighting the city on the "moon.
light plan for $25 per post, and an approxi-
mately correct gucss at the profits
Of the Gas Company can be
made. The last figure IN the estimate comes
pretty close to the cost Of gas In Dayton,
which 10 $l9 per post Tor u all night light
all the year.
On the cost of producing the electric light
it is not SO easy to get data from dsinterested
parties. Mr.. J. F. Mech, superintendent Of
the Thompson Houston system. stated that
the average cost of producing a light of 2,cOO
candle power varied from 1888 to $9.70 per
month"; depending on the amount of attend
ance required. the price Of coal, etc. The
Champion Electric Light Co. proposes to
council to run SO lights tor 80, 800 per year,
$ll.65 per month. This gives them profit
of little more than 81 per light per month.
on plant which they say has already cost
tn m $4,000, and would require $4,000
more 10 order to carry out the proposed cor:
tract. The new extension which this would
nscessitate includes a new dynamo costing
$3,6o0.50, lamps at $s5 per lamp, 81 $50;
and five or six miles OF construction at $500
per mile. W. A. Scott said that the company
would make no money whatever on the con-
tract and showed the reporter private letter
from the Thomps0n-Ii Houston Office in Boston,
obiecting strongly to the lowness of the bid.
Attached to the companies bid is a state
ment showing the prices paid for the
electric light In few other
cities ranging from 4s $40 cents perlght
per night at Dayton to 65 cents pr night at
New Bedford, Mass, compared with which
their bid for "a 4-lO cents per night certainly
looks very low. The question na,urslly
arises, why the Electric Light 80 desires a
contract from which they can make no
money? A sentence in the above mentioned
private letter will probably give u clue to
the answer. II is: Sand we fear you will
find difficulty 10 raising The price after this
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