Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-12-26
COMMUNICATED.
The Gas Works.

In replying to the communication Of
Mr.. Uhler am not disposed to criti-
else him as .'juggler," neither do
propose to question his intelligence. ]
presume, as he does, that the citizens
want cool, dispassionate discussion
of this subject, if they want it at all
l did not have all the figures before
me as he suggests, but copied from
such as 1 had, and can verify my state
ments from the Auditors reports; be-
side that I think the last seventeen
years record of the Alexandria gas
works is enough to convince an un-
biased public that they are sustaining
q plant, and not the plant sustaining
them, as it should do. In 1883 there
was in use liza street lamps against
which were charged IS, 099.76 or 1926
for each lamp at $3.50 of per
thousand feet. Eighty-seven lamps at
the present price for gas would be
81, 166 per annum or S24.90 per lamp;
As to the deficit he first admits it and
then says that 3d." says there was one.
As to the all night lamps, reference to
the reports of 1S9l-92.93 I find that 5
all night lamps cost s59.9S and S93 re-
spectively. an average of S36 per night,
while in the report of 1894 ten all night
lamps are charged with S15.73 each.
why this discrepancy l cannot tell.
After all Mr.. Uhler has said when you
subtract 80, 129, the cost of 81 addition
al lamps proposed to be furnished by
this company, from his records of tie
gas works from their construction to
the past year you have the grand total
of 3,311. But we are told there is to be
a profit of s., 900 this year. lam afraid
it will be something like the selling Of
bonds to reimburse depleted treas
ury which we are witnessing now;
and again he asserts that there
is TO be another reduction in
the price of gas. From this l
respectfully ask City Council to deliver
us, for whenever reduction has been
made my gas bills have increased. To
statement and figures Ipresented show
ing that the citizens would save from
three to four thousand dollars per an
mum, Mr.. Uhler takes no exceptions,
and no allusion is made, and to the
question as to where the city could get
sufficient funds to make the necessary
he is also silent. These
two points in my communication Tin
my opinion) were the most important
to the citizens of Alexandria. The
whole question res Dives itself into this
proposition; j. e., has the city the means
to introduce the latest improved meth
DDS for making gas, and to give our cit
liens gas, in keeping with that furnish
ed in other cities? The price of gas
has but very little to do with the mat
ter when the consumers know that
their gas bills are more now than they
were when the price of gas was 81 per
thousand feet. You might just as well
20 back to the times when the bell
Jeans of Loudoun lined King street
from Hoff 5 run to the Strand, or to the
boys of q few years ago, and
dispense with railroads and telephones.
as to keep in the old beaten track.
What we need, and need badly, is some
in our gas works. streets
and sewerage, and the sooner the City
Council recognizes this fact and makes
some provision, whether it is done by
private corporations ii. e., strangers)
Or by the city, the better it will be for
,hc citizens generally; and, by the way,
we have an illustration of what strang-
BIS will do in New Alexandra, the
Mount Vernon electric railway aud
Del Ray. / was going to add North
West Alexandria, but l believe that
Ices not come within this category, it
having been promoted some years ago
~ home capital. Very respectfully,
F. r nnUNrH