The morning times., 1896-01-08
SAME OLD BILLS AGAIN
District Legislation Seems to
Move in a Vicious Circle.
IT is ALMOST HUMOROUS
Annually the Cheap Gas and Tele-
phone Measures Bob Up and the
Whole Thing Ends With Bond Bills
and Street ExteDsion-wtIat Bush
ness Men Think.

The recent plan of campaign announced
by the spokesman OF the Senate District
Committee in conjunction with the Com
| missioDers for the reduction of such neces-
| saries of life as light .and fuel and such
| business convenienCes as telephones ap-
pears TO be That same Old thing over again
| which has failed so persistentiy for the
past three or four years
| AT the opening of Congress there is always
a flourish of trumpets by some members OF
the District Committee; war is declared on
| trusts; the people must be taken care of;
gas is -tco frigf; telephones are too dear:
electricity is he'd at proscriptive prices;
subcommittee are appointed TO give the
people u SLOW TO lie heard and in the end,
| what?
| The Senate and the House discover that
what the poor people really need are not
better police force; not a better fire
Department.; not pavCnlents in tile sections
where the poor people live but asphalt road
| ways and sandstone pavements in tie
extreme north and northeast where rabbits
abound and the few inhabitants can slide
into the city on the dcclivlties of their
native hills.
Incidentally they also want sewers as q
side issue with these streets, on which u
moderate precipitation OF rain seeks the
lowlands at the rate of sixty miles an hour.
| Ii this is an exaggerated statement there is
no matter Of record to show tnat there has
becB anything but a projected improvement
| for the last three years.
IT is HUMOROUS
| One of hc%eXquisite humors Of the situa-
ton is the perennial bobbing up of the
cheap telephone and cheap gas bills. The
telephone bill has already been practically
asphy xiated, and the next move will be
TO electrocute the gas bill. This latter Is
now in process Of execution.
This state OF affairs has made more than
one business man very mad, and one Of
them unburdened himself yesterday TO this
effect
II ike the way in which The Times this
morning is disposed tU hook matters i'll the
| face about everything i'll general, but parti-
cularly about that decision of senator Nc
MILAN and the Commissioners about the
non-necessity of cheaper telephone service.
1t is a plain notice for all possible com
petition To quit whenever 1t is possible
| TO grant privileges to monupoles, or TO
| maintain those they already possess. The
| Commissioners In this one instance have
| taken the people on their knees and iectured
them into the belier that it is better To be
/ connected with ten thousand people whom
you may not want at 4 figh rate than to
be connected with people whom you do
want at a cheap rate.
/ Bat note this au offset to what they
evidently intend as Il principle suppose
the United States Electric Light Company
argues that it is much better for all the
people To subscribe To their company, and
that in course of time (some indefinite
I time) the price viii be reduced? What
would OF could the Commissioners say 10
! that proposition? Haven't they already
said that competition in that case is
mighty good thing, aud haven't they given
permit To another company TO do thing
which they refused 10 allow to be done
~ ns,f
be mean enough To suggest even that the
stringing of the new cumpany's wires as
far as Eckingtou and the resuscitattn OF
| a certain dead electric plant there had any
Thing To do with this variance of official
opinion on matters of pure principle.
PRICE OF GAS.
Again, that was an interesting thing
Mr.. Mcmillan said about the Washington
Gas Light Company going to reduce its
price il IL were given n little time. Does
Mr.. Mcmillan mean that the company
should have a little more time added 10 the
twenty-five years they have already had
or really little more time rs measured by
the pace that things against the corpora
tfons are rushed through with incorporate
haste in the Senate? / notice, too, that Mr..
Mcmillan is not sustained as to his state
ments about the gas people by the gas
people themselves, who ought to know
more or at least much about their pri-
vate affairs as Mr.. Mcmillan.
"Everbody knows that Mr.. Mcmillan was
| much interested in a certain gas monopoly
in Detroit which charged exactly the same
prices as those charged by the Washington
gas monopoly. Mayor Pingree went in
for reform IN this abuse, and he finally got
the price down to one dollar; but there was
| enough vitality in the opposition to secure
privileges for monopoly at a dollar to keep
out all competition for ten years. 1t now
be manufactured in the next ten years or
what new iiumInant may be invented, the
dollar gas is Just as great u monopoly as the
dollar and a half gas.
~ have read between the lines, think.
in what Mr.. Mcmillan has said about cheaper
gas and what the gas people have intinlated
that ir there is to be a fight behind tie
scenes as usual, there will be no routing OF
tie monopoly in Washington, but contin-
uance OF it at a reduced price, say even
one dollar gas service. That the Detroit
monopoly is still doing good business is
evidenced by what Mayor Pingree thought
a feasible plan, which was not accepted.
Mayor Pingree's idea OF cheap gas was not
based visionary figures and calcuia-
tions The following extract from the New
| York World OF Sunday shows the progress
OF the fight ard its results:
They were getting $1.25 net per
| 900 feet, and 81 80 for delinquents.
|
ing a ten-year franchise, with gas ut
ninety cents per thousand, and 10 per
cent off for prompt payment. This
| was modified by the committee on streets
and ordinances, which recommended that
the company be permitted. TO charge S1.1O
with 10 per cent off If raid within thirty
days But 1t was finally fixed at 81 90 per
thousand feet for illuminating, so cents for
fuel gas, and a sliding scale SO regulated
that eventually Illuminating gas was to be
so and rs cents per thousand depending
on the volume used by the city.
PRICE FORCED DOWN.
"'Tben the price was forced down from
S1.5O to ST per thousand through the
mayors stubborn stand, although the court
went against the city on the main issues.
These were reasonable prices for gas, and
! the company has not suffered.
" 1t was brought out during the gas war
that one OF the gas companies had been
| operated for years without any franchise
| from the city at all, and that an ex-mayor
OF the city was The president ofthe company.
This was the usual course OF The oorpor-
ationist in office, placed there to see
Justice done Tie city, but operating 'On the
quiet to make money out OF the city or
State, and urging that departments and
boards or the government be nOn-pOlitical.'
This all suggests that either nothing will
be done, which is very likely, or that the gas
| company will be forced to reduce prices
| which is not likely in view of past ex-
pcriences. 1t is interesting to note, too,
that senator Mcmillan predicates his hopes
| for cheaper gas on the assumption that the
company would be in position TO reduce the
price by reason of a recovery of the COM