Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-28
ASKS WORKMEN To
OPPOSE RATE GUT
Edison Official Urges Employees to
Help Defeat Ordinance
at the Polls
DISCUSSES THE SITUATION
Says Electrical Business in Los
Angeles Between Devil
and Deep Sea
DISCUSSES THE SITUATION

EMPLOYEES of the Southern California
Edison company were urged to get out
and vote and work against the light
rate ordinance by r. II. Ballard, secre-
tary and assistant general manager OF
the company, in a speech at banquet
given bv the employees to the officers of
the company at LeVy's last night.
Three hundred were present.
The electric light rate situation was
discussed at length from the companys
standpoint. George Decker was chair
man and b. F. Pearson acted as toast
master Mr. Ballard, who was the
principal speaker said in part;
1.-THE situation is just this-the cleo
tric business Of Los Angeles is between
the devil and the deep blue sea, On one
side is a rate that makes it impossible
to earn interest on our securities, and
on the other regulations of the bond
houses which require them to certify to
a reasonable earning power before they
can dispose of our securities to the In
Vestors. Now there you are.
I'VE cannot make people buy bonds
that will not pay as good return on
the money as other forms of securities,
and we cannot go ahead with eXten-
sions unless we sell bonds to pay for
the extensions.
GIVEN NO CHANCE
1.-THE board of public utilities de-
clined to give us a chance to appear
and present our proof of valuations
and demonstrate the cost of making
and delivering electricity. The council
took I'D their report and rushed 1t
through with unceremonious haste, and
the result is the 7-cent rate ordinance
"A cut of % per cent, and a rate for
the city of Los Angeles which is 40 per
cent below the average rate in nifty
seven representative American cltles'
''You men know where the work OF
electric construction has been going on.
IT isn't only in the downtown districts
nor in the settled residential districts
but out on the new subdivisions where
tracts are being plated and streets
graded In advance of the carpenter and
the mason or the painter, who follow
with absolute certainty in the footsteps
of the men who plant poles, string
wires and lay gas mains
"Most of you were with us during
1907. Money was pretty close that year
and there was not much extension
work. 1t was not until the financial
conditions eased up and the extensions
were continued that the building trades
resumed activity and the city began to
grow again. You have friends among
the real estate men and the builders
and you know that they will confirm
this statement.
in 1907 we could sell some securities
and do some extension work. That was
because the condition was general and
not local and our company was on
good basis and the bond people knew
that just as soon as good times came
back we would be in first class posi-
tion to go on earning a reasonable and
proper return on the money that they
have entrusted us with.
'Now the condition that confronts
lis is strictly local-it is not a general
condition but an arbitrary condition
forced upon us by a drastic piece of
legislation.
"The members of the board of public
utilities freely admit that they did not
have time to so into the subject, and
of course the council did not. l do not