The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-16

$3.50 to $100 at the close of 1893. AT
first there were deficits, but these rap
idly declined. According to Professor
Rowe, there was net profit during
the eleven months Of city operation In
1897 Of $12S,S15oe, after paying the ex-
penses incurred on account Of gas in
other city departments.
by reason of municipal ownership,
Philadelphia was able to lease to the
United Gas Improvement Company
most valuable street mains, land and
holders, to say nothing Of such portions
of its other plant as with moderate
epairs could be put in good shape, BY
asking for no rental or taxes on this
plant which had been paid for out of
the profits Of city ownership, Phila-
delphia was able to secure a. lease ufl-
der which 1t received ten cents per 1000
feet of all gas sold to private consum-
ers during the first ten years of the
lease, fifteen cents during the next five
| years beginning next January, twenty
cents from January /, 1913, to January
| /, 1918, and twenty-five cents for the
remaining ten years. The city also re-
ceives free of charge 700,000,000 feet of
gas yearly for street lamps and public
buildings, and the maintenance Of those
street lamps by the company
con the other hand, in New York
city during the past ten years. barring
two years of the so-called gas war,
1899, 1900, the people have not only
-oid 81 m nc IN Dl3Io Ha1nbio b,,+ thou
have also paid both for the gas used
by the city and for the care and
maintenance Of the street lamps, while
the taxes received by the city and
state have not been as much per 1,00t
feet as the payment of 10 cents In
Philadelphia"
Wheeling, W. Va, Is given by Mr.
Bemis as an example of what may be
accomplished by municipality, ever
under unfavorable political conditions
Despite Its admitted defects, he says
the Wheeling experiment has been q
financial success, and has been "tht
pioneer throughout the United States
in low charges" He does not agree
with Mr.. Edgar and Mr.. Clark as tt
the value Of the free installation by the
private companies at Atlanta and Nor.
folk, saying on this point:
'"The gas sold In Wheeling during
the sixteen months ending with May
/, 1906, was 162,515,20O feet. The diff.
ference between the price charged a
Wheeling, rs cents, and at Norfolk ant
Atlanta, $1,OO, or % cents multiplied by
these sales, would be S4O,62S.So. II
other words, the saving to the con,
sumner in the price of gas in less thar
one year will cover all the differenc,
between the free services and the me
ter setting from the curb to the hous,
in Atlanta and Norfolk, and the COS
of the same at Wheeling.
Electric Lighting.
That the municipal electric light un
dertaking at South Norwsll1, Conn.,, /
one of the most successful plants, eth
er public or pivate, in the Unite,
States or Europe is the opinion ex
pressed by Mr.. Bemis. The opera
ton of the Chicago plant, also, is com
mended, the expert quoted by Mr.. Be
mis- estimating the profit to the cit
on the plant up to the close of 1905 a
S710,43S. The spells system has bee
singularly kept out of the Chicag
plant, according to Mr.. Bemis. al
though the plant itself is not all tina
could be desired During the yea
| 1905" continues Mr.. Benais, the &C