The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-05
COMBINATION
MEANS HIGH
WATER RATES
Must Pay Interest on
Two Plants.
CALLS" STORY ADMITTED
OFFICIALS TELL WHY THE DEAL
WAS MADE.
Explanations That Do Not Agree
With Statements and Actions
of the Past Four
Years.
OFFICIALS TELL WHY THE DEAL
WAS MADE.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
4AS Rrna6MaN Ian 1.

last March had been put into force by
the two water companies and also that
the two companies had positively COM
bined and that competition was at an end
These statements were verified to-day
by officials of the two water companies,
who admitted that they had found it
necessary TO demand the new rates, and
also that an agreement had been reached,
and that actual consolidation is a neces-
sity.
The Call is in a position to-day TO en-
phasiZe the statement made this morn
ing. Last Saturday there was a positive
agreement ratified between the two COM
panies one article of which is said to be
that the two plants are to be placed on
one footing and under one management,
and that the officers of the Oakland
Water Company will soon be closed and
the Contra Costa Company will assume
control of the allied plants.
The purpose of this is obvious and will
be the means of yet further taking money
from the pockets of the water rate pay
ers. 1t means that instead of the Council
having to fix the rates on the cost of
one plant ii Will be required TO
fix them upon the basis Of the
cost of the two plants, which, according
10 the opinion of the companies own eX-
perts, IS about ten million dollars-siX
millions for the Contra Costa Company
and four millions for the Dingee plant.
Six per cent on this basis would mean
tnat over half million dollars has to be
collected for interest in addition to the
operating expenses and cost Of main
tenanCe.
President Dingee of the Oakland Com
pany declares in an interview that there
was no alternative but TO come to an
agreement and TO charge what the Ordi-
nance allowed. He SAID to-day: What
the future may develop l do not know,
9ut as Yet We have not actually CONSOLE
dated. 1t is absolutely essential that we
nave an increased revenue in order to
carry out our plans TO supply Oakland
WITH water during the coming season
when oIds fdlr TO be a dry one.
Neither company has made money. and
unless We can get some return for our out
lay Oakland may be without water. and
Ii!ls Will give the city a very black eye
Inc dryneSS OF the season makes it nee
essary TO eXpend considerable money to
furnish sufficient water, and as a conse-
quence there must be additional revenue
However, even under the new schedule we
are not charging as much as the law al
lows, by any means. We are merely pro-
tecung ourselves against d waste of wa
Ter Tor baths, closets. lawns, etc.
'Certainly, both companies will charge
the same rate, and as l have SAID the
companies have been forced to take these
steps
This statement of Mr. Dingee sounds
positively funny when compared with the
statements of the Oakland Water Com
paHy made two years ago when COMPETE
uon was at its height. At that time the
AlvaradO supply. on which the new com
pany depends, was said to be sufficient to
supply city OF three times the size of
Oakland. and to be absolutely independ-
ent OF rain, on which the old company de
pends entirely. These statements were
spread broadcast while the stock of the
new company was being f1oated, but now
everything apparently has changed The
president of the new company says that
the citizens should be glad TO contribute
to any scheme that will insure an ada
quate supply when prospects are so
black
Bad as the present situation is. from
a financial point of view, for the water
rate payers, they are not yet being taxed
as. much as the law allows. by any
means, according to Mr.. Dingee. AS the
rates have gone up over 800 per cent since
last January, and 81 per cent since last
month. the taxpayer is standing aghast
wondering what kind Of New Years
joker has been sprung upon him by the
combined companies.
]. II. r. Watkinson is general manager
of the Contra Costa company. The head
quarters of this company is in San Fran
cisco, and whenever Mr.. Watkinson is
asked anything concerning the company
business in the Oakland office, where he
presides he invariably tells his caller
thai everything is done in San Francisco
and preserves silence.
To-day he broke his rule, and said: ut
Is true that the two companies realize
the necessity Of additional revenue, and
TO that end have reached an understand
imperative, owing to the prospects of an
other dry season such as the last. The
rates are not as high as provided in the
schedule adopted by the City Council
They are only midway between the rates
of 1895 and 1898. Under the old rates we
have been barely paying expenses, and as
there is every indication of a dry season
coming, We have been put to extraordi-
nary expense in order TO maintain an eff
fcient service.
Yes, it is true, as stated in The Call
this morning that the Contra Costa COM
pany has been obliged to open an i'm
mense pumping plant at Alvarado in an
ticipation of the dry season. The citi-
zens for four years have obtained water
at nominal rates. and it is only right that
they should now be willing to stand a
slight increase, inasmuch as the company
has suffered in the past"
1t is very amusing to Oaklanders to hear
the managers of the two rival water COM
panies discussing the same question in
such an amicable manner and showing
how completely their two minds think as
one. Four years ago the rivals were
rushing into print denouncing each 9TH
er. circulating thousands of pamphlets
prepared by the Board of Health con-
demning the old company's supply, call
ing each other thieves and reSorting to
every known artifice to steal each other S
business. One of the main pipes of the
new company at AlVarado was blown up
by dynamite and the new company de-
clared it was the work of some emissary
Of it's rival, while the old company sug-
gested that it was done to create sympa-
thy.
This spirit was kept up for two years
and the meanness to which the corpora
lions descended is shown by the fact that
whenever a waterback burst in a CON
sumer's house the opposition company to
the one supplying the house would al
once acquire the burst waterback and
exhibit ii as a specimen of what might
be expected by using the other company s
water.
Then came the great revelation last
spring, when Oakland discovered that the
methods Of the new company We're not
any more along the lines of purity, re-
form and honesty than those accredited
10 the old corporation. The scandals con-
nected with the Council were attributed
as much to one company the other
and doubtless with justice, and all the
pleasant things said of the new company
were called back and the two corporations
stood on an equally unpopular footing in
the community.
Now the incident is closed and the tax
payers who welcomed competition find
that they adopted a serpent. for both
companies being united will demand the
1aoa1 npr cent on every inflated dollar