The Washington herald., 1908-04-09
COST OF STREET LIGHTING.
Interesting Facts Relating TO Con-
tract with Gas Company.


tract with Gas Company.
From Speech hy Mr. Madden. Of Illinois
/ Il has been stated here that the gov.
/ ernment of the District has a coptracr
with the gas company for the gas it uses
The fact is that the government has nd
! contract for any given price for any
gas that is consumed in the schools OF
the District The government. unfor-
/ tunately, has q contract under which 7,
+ is obliged to pay for the gas II consumes
/ in the street lamps at a price far in ex-
/ cess Of what is believed 10 be an eotltahle
price. The District Subcommittee on An
preparations last year IN the consideration
I OF this question fixed the maximum price
/ that could be paid for gas for street light
/ ing purposes at IS cents a thousand. prior
/ 10 that time the District paid A dollar a
| thousand for all gas Il consumed In the
street lamps. All of the lamps that were
lighted by gas were of the open-Asme
/ burner character, except thirty-six lamps
Those thirty-six lamps at the time this
price was fixed had what is known as
iacandescent mantles" attached TO them.
For tncandesCent mantle lamps a urfeA Of
sz2.40 year, or something ike that was
paid. When the committee inquired why
all the lamps were not incandescent man
tie lamps, it was stated that the gas com
pany Of the District did not own the in
candescent mantle. that 1t could not buv
II. and that the District Commissioners
were obliged TO contract with an outside
company that controlled the ineandescent
mantle. 4 contract was let to this COM
pany to furnish the gas, and this COM
pany bought the gas from the gas com
pany and furnished Il 10 the District Of
Columbia. It was stated to the District
Commissioners that the mantle could be
bought oy anybody, but they denied the
statement. However. contract was au-
thorlzed to be let for open-Aanle burners
at 20 cents q thousand. That price was
modified when Il went to the Senate 1
90 not remember the exact price which
the two Houses agreed upon for gas
street lighting, but It was less than a dol
lar. When the Appropriation Committee
met the succeeding year IL found that all
the streets OF washington were lighted
with the incandescent mantle lamps al
the high price; and when inquiry was
made as to why this change took place.
the committee was informed by the Dis.
trict Commissioners that they had au-
thority under the law TO let the contract
for three years instead Of one year: and
they took advantage Of their right under
that law to evade the reduction in the
price Of gas made by Congress, and paid
the higher price TO the gas company
through the authority to light the streets
with the incandescent mantle lamp.
Now, an open-fiame lamp burns five
feet OF gas per hour. The average num-
Der Of hours per year these lamps are
burned In the city of Washington is 4.0e0.
-Four thousand multiplied by FIVE would
make 10000 feet Of gas. Twenty thousand
feet of gas at dollar would be $50. That
was the price that had been uniformly
charged for these lamps. An incandes-
cent mantle lamp burns siis cubic feet
an hour. Four thousand hours would
make the amount 1900 feet per annum.
At the price of a dollar a thousand feet.
that would make these lamps worth only
Sl4 a year, whereas Under the contract
they are paying something over $40 per
annum for them. So that instead Of re-
ducing the price. as Congress thought ii
was when 1t enacted that law, the Com
missieness BY entering into these con-
tracts have evaded the instruction given
TO them hy Congress.