The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-19
"THIEVESr
 THEY CRIED Citizens Object to Lease
 of Gas Works. PROTEST IS UNAVAILMG Turbulent Scenes in Phila-
 delphla Council. Police Are Called in to Clear Gallery which They Do After Clash
 with Excited and In-
 dignant Crowd.
PROTEST IS UNAvAILNG

of disorder unprecedented in the annals of Philadelphia's legislative body. the City Council tonight voted to lease the city's gas works to the United Gas
 Improvement Company for term of seventy-five years for the total sum
 of s25.o00.00o. the money to be paid in various amounts before the end Of 1907.
 Council chambers and committees rooms were crowded with excited citi- gems protesting against the lease to the United Gas Improvement Company from p. m, when the proceedings opened in the finance committee room, until after 10 p. m.. when the select council passed the bill and sent 1t to the Mayor.
 The climax was reached when the vote in Common Council was an- nounced after three hours debate The moment President George Curdy of the
 Common Council announced the vote a
 great uproar was started in the gal lery, which was crowded to the doors.
 From all over the gallery came misses
 and cries of thieves" The outburst
 was somewhat startling to the presid- ing officer, who made a vain effort to queil it. Finally he sent for squad of police to clear the gallery. which started the disorder anew.
 The crowd continued to hiss and call the councilmen thieves and other
 names until the police arrived and started to clear the gallery. In clear l ing the gallery there were several clashes between the police and some of the spectators. but no one was hurt. | All through the session of the Common l Council there was disorder.
 l. In select Council there were so many 1 policemen on duty that no one dared | to interrupt the proceedings. There 1 was neither a cheer nor hiss when | Al L4r . Hak
 Price Reduced.
 The agitation against the passage of l the bill resulted In the common council
 amending the measure so as to provide | for a slight reduction in the price of l gas. The amendment as adopted pro- vides that the price of gas from the date of the lease until January 1. 1slk, shall be one dollar a thousand cubic | feet, the same as the present price; l from 1911 to 1921, 95 cents; from 1921 | to 1886, 90 cents; from 1886 to 195S, S5 cents and thereafter until the expira- i ton of the lease in 1880, 80 cents.
 Mayor Weaver has announced him
 self as unalterably opposed to the lease and in favor of postponement of the
 whole question, until 1907, when the | first ten years of the present thirty years lease to the United Gas Improve-
 ment Company will expire. At that time the city has the right to take
 back the works on payment to the gas company of the amount of money ex- pended in improvements.
 Mayor Weaver is expected to veto
 the bill and in that event both cham
 bers will probably pass it over his
 veto. The vote in common council
 was "A to and in select council S1 to 4. There is only one Democrat in each
 body and both voted against the lease. There is some talk among the citizens
 who fought the lease of taking the matter to the courts.
 The proceedings of the day began at 1 D. m. when the Finance Committee held q public session to hear protests from citizens organizations. There was a large crowd present and disorder be- gan almost at the start of the meet ing. The committee had before 1t two propositions, one of them from the United Gas Improvement Company ana
 the other from E. B, Smith & Co, bank CTS of this city, representing New York and Philadelphia capitalists. In gem eral the propositions were the same. The Smith bid differed from the other in that 1t proposed to share the pronts
 with the city at the rate of one-tnlro for ten years and one-half for the re-
 maining sixty-five years and also pro
 vided that the city could reduce the price of gas as the profits increased.
 
 The committee began It's session | with the hearing of the report Of subcommittee. which favored the lease to the United Gas Company. The TO- l port stated that the city was in imme- diate need of $49,000.0O0 and that the present borrowing capacity of the mu- nfcipality was only $15,0O0,OO0. In view of these facts, the report stated the best the city could do would De to lease the gas works for Q long term | of years, the money to be paid m ad-
 vance and that the offer of the United | Gas Improvement Company was the best proposition in hand.
 At the conclusion of the meeting the committee favorably reported the gas company's lease to common council. In the latter body the debate was bitter and aroused the spectators to such pitch that the proceedings were Ire ouently disturbed by misses and othes cries of disapproval. The chair a half dozen times threatened to nave the
 gallery cleared but did not put his threat into exc cution until the bill had
 passed, when he completely lost con- troI of the crowd.
 Several amendments offered by op- ponents of the lease were voted down. Fifteen minutes after the bill passed the common council 1t was taken ID by the select chamber, which had taken
 recess to await the measure. IL was
 read quickly and a motion to postp1us
 action for the present was defealed
 Those who favored the bin sait the
 city was In urgent need of money and
 that public sentiment was not against
 the lease