Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-19
LIGHTING RATE
IS MAINTAINED
AGENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT"
CONTINUES
THREE couNcILMEN VOTE FOR
EIGHT CENTS
Six Members Adhere to Verbal Con-
tract Made with Public Service
Corporation Two Years
Ago

agreement stands, and the electric
light rate for the coming year will DC
the same as last year and the year be-
fore: nine cents a kilowatt hour.
Although a party to the gentlemen
agreement" of two years ago, council
man A. ]. Wallace was the leader or
the movement to break this unwritten
contract and make the rate eight cents
for the coming year. He was supported
by President Pease, who was also
party to the agreement, and by Coun-
Gilman Walter J. Wren, who was not a
party to the agreement When 1t was
made in the Office of Mayor Harper,
Wren refused to tie up his vote for
three years and left the executive ses-
sion when he found what it was about.
In Kicking over the traces" Council
man Wallace explained that he would
expect to keep his word in a personal
business transaction, but that in acting
for the entire Fifth ward he expected to
be guided by the preferences of his con-
stituents and not his personal views.
He declared that the keeping of a
promise depended entirely on the prom
Use. If it was a good one it should be
kept; If it was a bad one there was
more credit in breaking it'than in keep
ing it.
President Pease Regrets
President Pease fully conceded with
this view of Councilman Wallace and,
referring to the agreement, declared:
II will never do it again"
This "gentlemens agreement" has
been one of the skeletons of the coun-
cilmanic closet. While the agreement
was made behind closed doors, 1t has
been generally understood to have eX-
listed, but not until yesterday, during
the discussion of the matter of liking
electric rates, did it actually come out.
Then every member of the council ad-
mitted it's existence, and some OF them
seemed to glory in it.
1t was brought about two years ago.
At that time the council fixed the cleo
trio lighting rate at IL cents. Inc
mayor vetoed the ordinance and then
called a meeting of the council and
representatives of the lighting compa-
MES A verbal contract was made by
which the council agreed to fix the rate
at nine cents for that year and main
tain that rate during their term OF
Office, three years.
Last year they kept the agreement
and fixed the rate again at nine cents.
That the majority of the council clearly
intended to stick to the agreement TINS
year was shown yesterday afternoon
before the session of the council, when
the ordinance was finally passed.
Says Eight Cents is Enough
In his eagerness to get the matter
before the council Lyon moved the
city attorney be instructed to present
an ordinance fixing the rates the same
as last year. But his motion was
made before the council had regular
Iy been called to order Because of its
irregularity this motion was over
looked and Councilman Wallace, who
still shows the results of his recent
serious illness, got on the floor ana
held it for about fifteen minutes, al
though forced to lean on MS desk Ior
support.
He spoke of the gentlemen's agree
ment" that had bound the council for
two years, and said:
ut is not right to be too harsh with
the corporations. They sell their SCI
curities in the east and bring large
amounts of capital here. That all
makes for prosperity in Los Angeles.
But if we make the rate too low that
blunder can easily be corrected by the
law. l do not feel quite the RESPONSE
bility toward these corporations that
/ felt a year ago, because they have
done nothing themselves to give us the
facilities we should have for an intel
ligent manner of fixing rates.
Last year I advocated the appoint
ment of a commission of men skilled
in these matters who could make the
investigation that we, as laymen, are
not competent to make. But during
the interim not one representative or
a public service corporation has taken
up this idea or come to me TO push the
matter.
eft may be that cents is too high,
and it may be that cents will work
a hardship: but don't know. I think
cents will come more near the prop
er figure"
Pease Takes the Floor
President Pease called Councilman
Dromgold to the chair and took the
floor himself.
.Our auditor, Mr. Mushet. has pre-
scented us with an exhaustive array of
figures and arguments that tend TO
show the Scent rate is too high. Mr..
Mushet is a very competent man, and
[ know we all think he is about cor
rect. These corporations are probably
like all other corporations of their
kind, capitalized too heavily. They
want the consumer to pay interest on
this overcapitalization. Why should
the public be taxed to pay the differ
ence between the fictitious and the
real capital?
"I believe that an Scent rate is
fair one. If conditions were right /
believe we could get light cheaper than
that, and if the ordinances we now
have are not sufficient to force these
companies to give us all the inforna-
ton we should have think we should
pass ordinances that will"
Councilman Yonkin said he believed
they should stand by the agreement.
He declared he did not feel bad in fix
ing the rate at cents, because no one
had complained to him about the price
of electric light, and he believed the
average light bill for the small con-
sumner would not reach 50 month. He
said he was glad power consumers
were getting power cheaper than light
consumers were getting light, for
cheap power was a mighty force in
increasing manufactures.
Bound by Agreement
Later Mr.. Yonkin said that if it was
next year he would vote to make the
light rate 6 or cents in order to
force the corporations into the courts
and show their books, something they
are very reluctant to do now. But he
continued, he felt bound by the gen
tIemen's agreement"
Previous discussion had brought out
the fact that the light companies had
not produced any more information for
the guidance of the council than they
to this Councilman Wren said:
'"These corporations are placing
themselves in a very poor light in not
giving us the information we need.
Even if they have complied with the
letter of the ordinance and the infor-
nation elected is not sufficient for our
needs. they should produce all the in