The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-08
Mr.. MONROE'S FALSE FIGURES.
Land Required tM Plant h New Yert City Cost
$5.15 pr So. f.; 10 Boston, 80 Cents.
Statement Made by Mr.. Bowers on
Behalf Of Consolidated Gas Com.
pany at legislative Hearing at
Albany, April 18th, 1908.

OF the C1ty OF New YORK. recommending. among
other things. that legislation giving to the City
the power to establish and m alntain electric
plant for street lighting should be had. This re
port was based upon representations concerning
the cost OF street lighting In other cities. and the
claim was made that the cost TO the City OF New
York for public lighting was greater than the cost
In the other cities selected by Mr.. Monroe as =
basis OF comparison.
Tho question whether OF not the public light
ing OF the City OF New York may be best OBJ
tanned by municipal plant BY other means Is.
OF course one for the authorities OF the City to
determine: but Is felt that certain facts should
be laid before this Committee for Its assistance
In determining legislation.
The main points suggested In the report Of Mr.
Monroe are the questions OF the cost TO the Munci
paity OF ordinary gas lamps. the cost TO the hunci
pality OF ncandescent nantes and the cost TO the
Municipality Of electric lights
STREET GAS LAMPS.
The average cost to the City In the Borough Of
Manhattan for ordinary street lamps as furnished
by the Consolidated Gas Company. the standard
Ca Light Company and the New Amsterdam Gas
Light Company. Is $3.50 per lamp. The cost for
similar service In other cities tabulated In Chart
ID of Mr. Monroe's report runs from $3.50 In VIII
mington, Delaware. to Sie7S In Cincihnati then to
SI7 so In Hoboken. and thence by various grades
running through four cities 10 s22 In New Haven,
Connecticut. The highest cost In the Borough Of
Manhattan Is 3l7. so per lamp. This Is lower than
the charges made In most other cities for the same
service.
IL Is true that the cost OF gas lamps to ths City
In the Borough of The Bronx Is s22 per lamp and In
one Instance S2+ per lamp: but In these districts
the City Is furnished with gas from mains, where
the consumption per mile Is much smaller than the
Borough OF Manhattan, and such charges will be
found on investig CATION to compare most favorably
with the cost In other cities for gas m shed under
similar conditions Thus the cost per lamp In
Boston In 1895 the year before the ncAndescent
iamp consrac, We NJ TO Effect was s24 ~ per lamp
IL will thus be seen that the greater part OF
the public lighting by gas lamps In the Borough
of Manhattan Is at low prices even when com.
pared with the cities selected by Mr.. Monroe for
his comparison. With the cost OF public lighting
In Boroughs other than Manhattan and the Bronx
the Consolidated Gas Company has nothing directly
or Indirectly TO do.
In all cases the Consolld, ed Gas Company
4, compelled To attend 10 the lighting and extin.
gushing the repar1ps the pantpe and the
cleansing of the lamps and the supplying and re-
new al of the burners
II cannot therefore he seriously questioned
that the furnishing of gas and the maintenance
of the lamns as above speciled a, the rate of
s7 20 Der lamp or less is reasonable and less than
the cost of supplying similar lamps by any other
method or under any other circumstances the City
can devise Not only Is gas furnished at this
reasonable rate. but the Consolidated Gas Company
extends It's mains when requested by the CITY
authorize, so 10 do Asa matter OF fact the Con.
aolidn,ed Gas Comnany Alone has over forty miles.
of mains upon which there is practically no private
.ohSu.p'o,' anu "a,es y, NO. mans .a,. W
,a'o 'h'ous" so"u 'o.h 'o' va. ~. put i,
.eh''hs ,ue s"ees a' U.s. 'ie "nnua, Nv. ,n
upon "n'." az ioui pei ee',,' =, III, 'sr" ps "
Ivy y, 'ne a-'o a" - 20 'ap , ,.,'s
,ne see'oh 'uhh'nk ho'n o'Nen'h f,enue a. i'o''
sIee. 70 i'oa s.ee. was eons''u.'eu W '.e sea,
i%I AZ oos' VI 1871 nus se ' "su's
amps ne'. eve, ~"s aaS ,n ~ i ~,
y, ga I.o',' .no nam u.' ~, Wv a :, o.,
Inc upoh sho eos' VI 'h'' ''''oh ~ ''"'
"" 80, ~ " " 90 -.
the cry ior the twenty lamps ss,o.a uehel' OF
s.S''o'' "'h' a'o"'.s s' '"e ~ ~ 80
Oh tue RS VI "NAuS .n' Npne e .o
pa's " ~. W " es ". 'ss ~
eushihe' repairing pahuhs' anu e'eah'nx "he
lamps
ana also 'he section on 's'n o'ree' from ave
nue. 70 'he hasI RIVER was cohsuuoteo IN isS'
at cost OF sS~"z rms secuoh nehS nine
lamps. lhete mas never oeeh any piNa.e cou
sumption OF eas from TINS man Inc 'nteres'
upon the cost OF 'h,s section AZ per cent sloS ~
The cost paid by the cry TOT we nine lamps Is
per annum sis"o denc" OF 49, "'hou' allow
ing anything lot tne 'aiue Oh tne gay, e"'
Thcre very little In MI. Monroes report crit.
icising the ABOVE charges ior tne furnishing OF
gas lamps pu' ne complains 'nA' 'ne cost OF mean
descent NANTES Tar cheaper In the cry OF chi
oago than In the City OF New fos. ana states that
II costs Chicago $40 addi'ionai year Tor lamp
with an incandescent burner. WINE IN 'ne Borough
OF Ma nha'tah u COS" sii'"'
INCANDEsCENr GAS MANTLE LAMPS.
A. a., a.. ,..,,.n =, ,,o,nd..o.n, r,.ou..
,.s,.. ..,,h.r own no, .,,n,,v ,h.u,
$1,000 No,xs,h.,.na,nr ,h., m.
.. a. S.. Nsrn.n, ~. no,n,.,e., q, o,,n.,.
80 A., - 5000. /, h.. con,,sn,,v hen on
$3.50 ,n rn..,n. ,..,. oono.rnIn. IN, .dv.nt ..,.
s.s sIr.r.a, ,n...d....n, u.h,. .nd h.. In u..
a, A. A. ,.on, q, Az. orbc., In m. civ of New
-. 81 80, rn,,yr .. ~. soo,, Sn.u and a.
N.,-, 49,, q. -, q. ,h. ..,,g.. "a a.. Cy,y
~ .S...n, nsr,,.s ~, i,n,. Inc CIV nav
80.
r. ,,.,s..o.r, MANILA. in cn,o.ro a.. n, :.
.,.m dIr.,sn, cn...c,., "a a.. motherhood h,,
-, =, o.,I.d nI,o, iieh, which ,u,ns g.s All ~
49,. ,s,,' - -. 80 IN. i.mn 4, no, in ,,s.
g. .,,on ., az. .,,..,. Tn, c,,y a, chic. 90
Vn,n,, $1,000 ~. o,d ~, s.n.d hurn,y lantern.
=, ~. ,nosnd..,.n, .s,v,cs hy nI.cing ,herein an
,..n...c.n, ,,.n,,. ,r,,h . mic. ch,mnev IN, nh.
."..s. ~. ,,,o,n,ad q, .yoidin, ,synen,
~ - 49,, =, en-. .,.n,s TN. ua,t ,h., Il.
-. ~, 49,. n,,,sr. A.. no, cnmn.,, with The
H., 60 a.. o,din.ry We,sh.ch hurn.,
- n.r,.an ~, a.. on ic. ,o tsn,sr, Nth an.
,,,h.,on ,sn,,n ms, Led ~ ia. concIus,on ,h,,
cs,.~, o., nnI,, s,crioces IN. sdvsnt,se. ~ the
s.sNa,n" - w.u,nronorioned boulevard ian
,r mn, ilr.xi.e the ROE quantity of IIrht thai ia
49,, ~ "a, m. wcish.ch lantern
',Sn,n"an, ,.r, hssyIng an his o,..,o, 4.
49,, 49,, "a ,oo, IN. rhirsso south p,yp hoard
.a...ad .nn,,.c, vim the Welshach Comn.nv
=, go 10 NJ, ,nnum nrr lamp. The lIrbts are on
M. 49, per svs san." PCT lamp " ''s VI"