The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1909-06-23
NATURAL GAS COMPANY ANSWERS
PROTEST AGAINST RAISING PRICE.
Says That It Has Made But 7 - Per Cent.
Dividend All Told And That Its Stock Sells
For Only SI3 Per Share.

iS SNllbi oi ihNiooNh0 A'"Sbi -,
Gas Company has answered the
letter of the joint committees from
Lexington, Mt. Sterling and Win
chester protesting against the rails
ing of the price of gas in the three
cities. The company explains that
in three years and half they
have paid but y per cent. divi-
dends all told and must 90 to great
expense in developing new gas
wells. The letter follows:
GAS COMPANY's LETTER.
Mr.. Lucien Beckner, Secretary
Winchester Commercial Club,
Winchester, Kentucky.
Dear Sir:-Your letter of May
30 has just been received by US.
In increasing the rate at which
natural gas is to be sold, notice of
which has recently been published
in the newspapers in the cities
supplied by us, we were so clearly
within the rights granted us by
our franchises, that we feel that
injustice has been done us by the
adverse criticisms which have APP
peared in some of the newspapers.
When we began business under
these franchises, while there was
no provision for any minimum
rate, we stated that we would sell
gas for the first two years at %
cents per thousand; this rate con-
tinued for about three years and a
half. We were aware at the time
we organized the company, that it
was going to be an unusually
costly proposition to bring gas
from a field with so slow a natural
pressure as that in Menefee
county, from whence we draw our
supply, for the reason that the
natural pressure would not be
sufficient to carry the supply re-
quired after the consumers began
to come on freely, and necessarily
we foresaw that this would neces-
state the construction and main
tenance of a costly COMPRISING
station and the constant drilling
of new wells, with attendant addi-
tons to the field lines, For this
reason, we would not have gone
into the business unless we had
been granted franchises which
gave us the right to charge as high
as 40 cents per thousand. Our
idea in charging % cents per
thousand for the first two years
was for the purpose of introduc-
ing the use of gas, and with the
feeling that this reduced rate
would in a measure compensate
those consumers who assisted us
by coming onto the lines early,
for the expense they would be put
to in piping their houses and we
feel that we have dealt very fairly
and magnanimously with our con-
in continuing this rate for
a much longer period than had
been thought of in the beginning.
The natural gas business is a
hazardous one at best and it is PROV
ing more than usually so in Ken
lucky. There has been drilled in
our Menefee county field, 1913
wells, 50 of which are gas produ-
GERS and A were dry and worth
less. Our field there is confined
to a certain area covering about
% square miles. We have spent
a large amount of money in drill
ing wells in an endeavor to extend
the limits of this field, with but
success. Besides these
wells in Menefee county, we
drilled three wildcat test wells in
Wolfe county, all of which were
non-productive. Our COMPRISING
station in Menefee county has
cost a great deal of money, and