Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-25
ONE DOLLAR GAS
Another Hearing Before the Senate
District Committee.
STATEMENTS BY TEE COMPANY
Why It is Claimed the Present Price
Should Not Be Reduced.
COST OF TIL P L A N T

tee OF the senate gave IOuTtu uedILi5
yesterday afternoon on the subject of the
| dollar gas bill, now pending before them.
Mr.. McIlhenny, the consulting engineer of
the Washington Gas Light Company. made
| a statement to show that the limit has now
| about been reached in the price of gas to
consumers at which the company can make
| profit. When asked by Senator Faulkner
| and Senator Mcmillan to give an estimate
| Of the value Of the plant as 1t stands to-
| day-that is, the sum that 1t would cost to
| replace 1.-THE said that 1t would be near
100000. The capital stock of the COM
| pany is now s2,0O0,O00, which, Mr.. Nc
| Ilhenny said. is not watered. To demon
| strate this fact he said that the plant
| could be sold in the market today for 3d.
| OOO,OOO, provided that it should be guaran-
| teed a continuation of the present monop-
| oily. He added that the stock is held among
| over 700 share owners, the great majority
| Of whom have very small holdings. There
| are, of course, a few very large holders,
| but an enormous percentage of the stock
holders have but small blocks of stock, and
| a reduction in the retail price of gas would
| result disastrously for them, as it would
| almost wipe out their incomes from the in
| vestment. Mr.. McIlhenny went on to argue
| against what he called the injustice of such
| a proceeding, asserting that most of these
people have invested all their savings in
| this stock.
Quality Of the Gas Furnished.
He further asserted that the gas now
furnished by the company is of high
quality, and compares finely with that pro-
duced in other cities. The legal tests in
the District, he said. are so severe that the
| candle power is made apparently smaller
than in other cities. The local test is by
| means of the round fame of an argand
| burner, while elsewhere the fiat flame, such
| as is used in houses generally, is made the
| means of ascertaining the power of the
| gas. The fiat flame gives more power when
| applied to the photometer, which is the in
| strument used to reach the Illuminating
| value of the gas. Mr.. McIlhenny declared
| dies, or two above the legal requirement,
| even when tested by the round flame. At
| recent convention of gas men in this city,
| he said, the inspector of meters for New
York tested the local product with the fiat
| flame. and declared it's power to be that of
| twenty-four candles. This test, he said, was
verified by DR.. Ford the local inspector of
| meters.
| Mr.. McIlhenny further said that the main
| difficulty that causes most of the complaints
| OF poor gas is the result of insufficient
| piping in the houses. When the houses
| Were built some years ago gas was dear
| and SO much Of luxury that the pipes
| were designed for one burner at each out
| let When the gas became cheaper more
| burners were added, and so the illu,ninat-
| ing power Of each burner has gradually
| been decreased, and in effect the house
| pipes In a great majority of dwellings are
| being used far beyond their capacity.
| No Sale for By-Products.
| AS to the price Of gas, he said that in
other cities it was possible to maintain a
lower rate because of the markets there
to be had for the sale of the by-products
such as tar. coke and ammoniac liquor.
Here. he said, about the only thing that
| could be sold was coke, and there is not
| much of a market for that now there
| should be. Mr.. Leetch interjected the re-
| mark that the revenue from by-producrs in
| Washington is about one-fourth of that
| customarily obtained in other cities. Mr..
| McIlhenny, continuing, quoted the expe-
rience of Philadelphia, which owns its gas
plant and which recently reduced the price
| to 81. The result, he said, had been griev
ously disappointing to the municipal au-
| thorities. who confidently expected great
| increase in consumption. The daily out
put has been raised from 13,0O0,VU to H.
OO0,U)0 cubic feet, and the increase is bare
| ly to be accounted for by the natural
growth of the city. Consequently, the
| revenues have fallen off and there has
| hardly been any profits at all during the
past year. He admitted that the result
| may have been partly due to the fact that
| many of the factories. where it was eX-
pected great quantities Of gas would lie
| used at night, have been forced to smut
| down in whole or in part owing to the dull
times. The committee asked Mr.. McIlhenny
to furnish them a close calculation of the
sum that would be required to duplicate
| the plant, computed by items Of the ex-
penSe.
Senator Faulkner. referring to the report
of the House committee on the District,
called the attention of Mr.. Evan H. Tucker
| the president of the Northeast Washington
| Citizens Association, to the statement
fCctuated from sl.S9 in 1889 to s1.1@ in
| 1892. The Senator asked if Mr.. Tucker
| had any suggestion to make whereby the
company could probably reduce The retail
fh.Ay-
rlent of the sinking fund that is made
necessary by the bond of Indebtedness.
| Mr.. Tucker replied that he believed that If
| the company did not make unnecessary
| extensions of piping such as that recently
made to Takoma and did not create extra
| ordinary expenditures that he declared to
| be useless it could make good profit at
| 81.
| Expenses of the Company.
| Mr.. Leetch, the general manager of the
! company, asserted that the extensions Of
| which Mr.. Tucker complained were re-
| quired peremptorily by the District Com
| missioners. except in the case of Takoma.
| He said that there is law now in force
| under which the company is compelled to
| lay pipes in streets that are being opened
| and improved, whether there may be
he uses upon them or not. In this way, he
| declared, the company has been put to an
! immense expenditure for which there is
now little Or no revenue. and will be none
| for some time. AS further item of ex-
| traordinary expense Mr.. Leetch stated
that the company is under obligations to
| build million-gallon Oil tank in this city
| at an early date The Standard Oil Com
pany. he said has practically ordered the
gas light company to build this tank in
| order that the former company may ship
| its oil to this city to be used by the local
corporation in the production of gas by
water instead Of by rail. He said the COM
pany is also under a constant expense in
| the replacing of the old mains, which are
I too small, by large mains, and this ex-
pense will always continue as long as the
| city grows. In answer to a question by
| Senator Mcmillan. Mr.. Leetch stated that
1t cost from $4,000 to $4,000 per mile to
| lay a gas main, according to the diameter
| of the pipes.
Taxes Paid.
Mr.. McIlhenny, again securing the floor.
| read a statement from the company in
refutation Of the declaration of the Dis
| trict Commissioners that the Gas Light
Company pays no taxes beyond those upon
| its real estate. The company, he declared
| does not pay taxes upon its real estate, but
| upon its capital stock, and in addition, is
| subject to numerous taxes for the privilege