Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-21

be paid out the work Of filing and classifying these
bills will have to be accomplished When the actual
work of paying out the money begins more than
100000 separate gas ills will have been handled
at least three times Each of these bills will have to
be handled three times more before the money they
represent be placed in the hands of the persons
entitled to it.
Unless the order of May &c. 1906, which has been
already quoted, is materially modified, Mr.. Shields
will face ten years contract in paying off these
claims in ascertaining and reporting as to the
AMOUNT to be paid to each individual claimant and
to the identity of each claimant.
While Mr.. Shields now has probably as large an
acquaintance any man in New York before his
tremendous job is finished he will know at least
100000 residents of New York city, with each
one of whom he will have come in personal contact
1t is fair to assume that the average gas consumer
pays his company So a month, and there on the
books Of the six companies the names of more than
40S000 persons. Let US how long it will take to
personally question each member of this great army
of gas consumers.
If Mr.. Shields works eight hours a day and con-
sumes five minutes in verifying the receipts of each
claimant and ascertaining the amount due him, be-
sides establishing the claimants identity he will be
able to handle only hundred claimants each day.
1t requires very simple arithmetical calculation to
show that at the rate Of hundred claimants each
day and 300 working days to year the last of the
great army of gas consumers may hope to receive
their rebate somewhere between 1919 and 1920
This calculation, however, has been based on the
supposition that there will be complications To
bring the time limit within the specified boundary
each of these four hundredandodd thousand gas con-
sumers must have resided in the same house for the
entire thiry-tw0 months, paid his gas bill regularly
and his gas meter must have been neither fast nor
slow during that time and consequent rebates or
additions to his bills have been made. AS a matter
of fact, several thousand gas consumers have
changed their place Of residence within the last thirty
two months and have in many hundreds of instances
had to change their gas service from company to
another.
There numerous other obstacles which will pre-
vent the machine from working smoothly 1t is not
unlikely that thousands of New Workers have lost
many of their gas receipts While this fact in no wise
affects their claim to the money due them, it will
necesstate reference to the companys books and the
checking back of many accounts The identity of
heirs and next of kin of deceased persons must in
many be established. Thousands of persons
have sold their claims to Spectators who bought
them up for about thirty per of their value and
each of these claims will have to be established
before the money be paid over. AT least 10000
persons have presented their claims by mail many
of them having moved out of the city, and being
scattered from Maine to California, there will be
long delays before their affairs Strengthened
out through extensive correspondence. small army
Of cheap lawyers preparing 'thrd party orders"
to add tc the troubles of Special Master Shields and
his staff.