The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-01-03

Gas and Coal Company, its successors
and assigns, were, by ordinance of the
City of lola, granted the exclusive
right and privilege of laying and
maintaining gas pipes and mains in
the streets of said city, and of operat.
ing a gas plant therein. This grant
of these exclusive rights and privil.
eyes was for period of twenty-five
years, and was upon the condition
that the work of developing the gas
should be prosecuted in good faith
1t was further provided that failure
to carry out the objects of the ordin-
ance for five years should work for
fixture of the franchises granted. By
the terms of the ordinance it was to
become "a contract between the City
and the lola Gas and Coal Company
if said company should file with The
city clerk its written acceptance
This was done.
This ordinance contains no restric-
tions whatever in regard to the prices
to be charged citizens for gas. AT
the time the city passed this Ordin-
ance everybody felt that the new
company should be encouraged; not a
single person so far as L ever heard,
objected to the terms of this ordinance
or even suggested that the prize of
the gas used by the citizens should
be fixed by it. If at that time any
man had suggested that in the event
at actual cost, he would have been
regarded as an enemy to his town and
grossly unfair to his neighbors who
furnished the means necessary for
the enterprise.
1t is well known that although the
lola Gas and Coal Company expend-
ed large amount of money in the
attempt to develop gas, it utterly
failed to do so. The stockholders
were discouraged. They had invest
ed all the money in the uncertain
business of gas-hunting they intend
ed to, and it certainly was hap
Ply day for them when they succeeded
in unloading the business on to the
firm of Pryor & Paullin. This is
not said by way of censure. No one
blamed the lola Gas and Coal Com
pany desiring to retire from bust
ness whose only promise was loss
upon loss.
1t was under these circumstances,
and with the knowledge of the losses
sustained by their predecessor that
Pryor d Paullin undertook the task
of finding that which every one
wanted and which no one had been
able to discover. They commenced
operations under a contract, executed
September u, 1889, between them and
the lola Gas and Coal Company. By
this contract Pryor q Paullin were re-
quired to prosecute the work diligently
and their charges for domestic use
were limited to $3.50 per month for
each stove. This would amount to
$50 per year for one stove, $50 for two,
and $50 for three. Some of the MEM
bers of the lola Gas and Coal Com
pany are now members of the Coop
erative company, and presumably
assisted in making these prices. This
contract was considered good thing
for the city and its citizens, and it
was.
The facts that the ordinance men,
toned did not undertake to restrict
the prices at all, aud the contract
with Pryor & Paullin fixed them as
above stated, should serve to remind
all disconnected people what theywere
willing to pay for gas before they
had any.
The exclusive privileges granted by
the ordinance and the prices permit
ted by said contract were the induce
ments held out to Pryor & Paullin
to continue the expensive search for
gas. They performed their part of the
contract and finally discovered what
appears to be an abundance of it. 1t
takes but moment to state that they
succeeded when others failed but it
should not be forgotten that their
success came after five years of unre-
mitting and unremunerative toll. Ev-
cry man in lola knows that during
/ the years he was engaged in develop
ing this gas, Mr.. Pryor worked like a
slave. He had but little to encourage
him and no one to assist him except
his partner, who put into the business
+ from time to time, all the money he
could raise. a short time before the
last we'll was completed it was de-
sired to borrow $500 to further prose-
cute the work, giving the plant as
/ security. Some of the best Informed
men in lola said the security was not
sufficient. Think of it, the result of
five years oflabor, to say nothing of