The San Francisco call., 1898-03-25
held up they add their personal griev-

1 held up they add their personal grlev- ances, which are many.
 Since The Call first exposed the in accuracies of the watt meters those who had not done so prevlousiy nave employed experts to test their meter with the result that in almost every instance the meters have been found fast. None of them have quite come up to the champion of the City Hall. with it's record of 50 per cent fast, but they have shown speed enough to set the sufferers to figuring on how much light they have paid for that has not been consumed In consequence the office of the company is besieged with demands for rebates from all quarters. Then there is the further grievance over rates. Consumers who are paying cents a thousand watts do not see why their neighbor on the same cir cult is only charged 512 or cents, while those who pay 10 or 20 cents are protesting against such barefaced rob- bery.
 All these people are determined to do what they can to put an end to the public job, even though they must re- main temporarily at the mercy of the corporation themselves, and with this determination they are turning to the Supervisors to see what steps, 1T any, will be taken to give rival companies a chance at the municipal contract.
 So far there is one indication at least of an inclination to do the right thing. To be sure, the proposal for bids has been prepared and approved by the Street Lights Committee, and the pro- posal is identically the same as that of two years ago, joker and all; but Chairman Rivers of the committee says that bids will be advertised for next week. That is the one gleam of hope. Heretofore the publication of proposals for bids has been deferred until about ten days before the expiration of the existing contract, and with the clause prohibiting bids upon contingencies precluded all possibility of any but the San Francisco Gas and Electric Com pany, or it's predecessors, the Edison Company, from preparing itself to en- ter upon it's obligations on time. Now however, a full month will be given the companies, and one of them at least can be fully prepared to begin it's ser vice on time if awarded the contract:
 To be sure, much must be done in the way of extending poles and wires to the outlying districts, and so far the Su- pervisors have stood in the way of this being done. The Mutual Company, for instance, as far back as last January asked permission to erect poles and wires outside the fire limits, but the matter was referred to committee and finally acted upon adversely. This com pany has it's wires laid in underground conduits throughout the business DOT tion of the city, but such a system Is very expensive and entirely impracti- cable in the residence districts. The San Francisco Company has erected poles and wires wherever 1t has elect ed to do so, in the downtown section, as well as the outlying districts, and the only authority it has ever been granted is that conferred by resolution No. 15, 139, approved by the Board of Super visors April 26, 1881, granting the Cah- fornia Electric Light Company per mission "tO erect and maintain poles along and upon the streets for the pur- pose of placing electric light wires there on, said poles to be planed and painted" '" The California Company was merged into the Edison Electric Light Com pany and that concern has since been absorbed by the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company. Not a tele- graph or telephone company has been granted a franchise to erect poles in the city, all of them having obtained permission merely by resolution, ano this is all the Mutual Company asks, and so far has been denied. Mayor Phelan says it can undoubtedly man. damus the board to grant it the same