New-York tribune., 1885-01-25
PRICE THREE CENTS.
GAS CONSUMERS AROUSED.
A MEETING TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY
TIE CALL SIGNED BY wELL-KNowN MEN - TALKS
WITH SOME OF THEM.

TIE CALL SIGNED BY wELL-KNowN MEN TALKS
WITH SOME OF THEM.
The grievances of gas-consumers in this city nave
at last reached head and will soon fad voice
in an old-fashioned indignation meeting, at
which measures of immediate relief : will
be considered. A call for such
meeting, signed by fifty prominent citizens,
most OF them large consumers of gas IN hotels,
theatres and restaurants, was sent ont yesterday
by +. s. Gardner, assistant secretary of the Board
of Trade. 1t rectes briefly the unsatisfactory quality
of the gas supply as furnished by the Consolidated
Company, voices the conviction that the large in
crease in capital by reason of the recent amagama-
tion is leading to continued exactions from which
the public has escape, and calls npon good citizens
to unite in consumers association for mutual
protection and relief. One of Dclmonicos parlors
uptown has been secured for Tuesday evening and
it is likely that the widespread feeling of dissats-
faction that pervades the community will find
vigorous expression there and then.
Among the names signed to the call is that Of
John H. Sherwood of the Fifth Avenue Bank, well
known as an uncompromising foe of the cncroach-
ments of the gas companies As large gas con-
sumer his views have additional weight,
and he expressed them with great
frankness to TRIBUNE reporter who
called yesterday at his house at One-hundred-and-
ffteenth-st. and SIxth-ave. He said:
81 suppose that am largely responsible for the
meeting called for Tuesday night. I resolved to
ventiate this subject early last fall when the plans
Of the consolidation were first broached. In talk.
ing with my friends found them Of like mind with
myself-thOse at least vino were not gas stock
holders--in cOndemning the whole policy of the
gas companies in piing up fictitious capital to in
crease the already enormous taxes which they an-
nually wiring from the gas-copsuming public.
| know one real estate owner who pays
Why, the entire plant to supply Manhattan Island
with gas could be duplicated for one-third Of
forty mdoP the present dcaptazaMto%n 1T S the
mains in almost every street in the city. their sys-
TEN OF distribution Is mlserably inadequate to the
increasing consumption 1t has not kept pace with
the growth of the city; needed improvements have
been sacrificed to a greed for dividends and now
all over Manhattan Island complaints are heard Of
excessive pressure, by which three,foot burner
ia made to consume eight and ten feet
an hour, thus burning more gas without giving adj
ditlona light OF course the pressure is excessive.
The gas cannot be forced through the small mains
and into large apartment houses without IT, Among
other things, gas-hoders are needed in various
parts of the city to give uniform pressure at all
attitudes. Then the consumer who lives on the
Harlem flats and the resident of Washington
Heights can begin to economic on their sgas bills
1t seems TO me that city which pays gas bill OK
ten millions a year, more than twenty-five per
cent of which is profit to the producer, should have
some means of mea1roing and testing tue commo-
ulty WHICH III Duys DcIteT tDdU tHOsc now III use
There are two kinds of gas made in New-York.
One is mmeasurably superior to the other in point
of brlliancy aud candle power; yet the inferior
gas is made and sold large quantities to please
old-fogy managers. who learned gas-making under
Murdock. and have added nothing to their know
ledge in the last quarter of century. DO you
know that make gas enough III my cellar to sup
ply this whole house-goOd gas, too-and 1t costs
me less than | would have to pay the Consolidated
Company, whose pipes are laid all around mel
There is something rotten in Denmark when such
a condition of things exists. | hope that
the meeting next week will enlist the
support and couptenance of all good citizens, and
J. for one, am in favor of carrying injuries to
Albany and seeking redress by every legitimate
means"
Jackson s. Schultz. another of the signers, echoed
Dir. Sherwoods' opinions on the subject of the gas
monopoly. He thought that the present was
good time TO for the citizens to revolt and put q
check upon the aggrandzing tendencies of the Con-
solidated Company. "The difficulties" lie said
''in carrying such popular movement to sue
cessful issue could be met only by keeping it aloof
from all improper influences. MANY bills
had been introduced at Albany TO
restrict the powers .of the gas companies
IN late years. They were unsuccessful, because
legislators suspected that they Were introduced for
striking purposes. This should be citizens
movement, and if actively prosecuted / believe it
will inaugurate thorough and much-needed re-
form"
Other signers expressed similar views.