The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1910-02-10

public, at the hands of some of our pub
lie service corporations, but I would fore
go to do so as long as l was wrought up
Cto the point of frenzy on account of out
RACES which have occurred with ever
increasing frequency. 1 have repressed
my feelings until now 1 believe I can
speak with camnncss and marked self
restraint 1t is not the time for a pas
sionate outburst, but it is the time to
take deliberate and determined stand
against the further aggressions of such
concerns the Kanawha Water and
Light Company of this city. This cor
poration controls the water, gas and light
Of the City of Charleston. It has it's be-
ing and came into life as the 'sFranken-
steine' of the city council in 1854. can
not speak of it's early history, but / have
followed it's demoniac footsteps for the
last seven years, and during that time
the management, or rather, mismanage-
ment, of that concern has been in the
HANDS of as ruthless and INSCRIPTIONS
heartless and cruel a set of buccaneers
as ever exploited q helpless and apparent
ly defcnseless community. Those who con-
troll and preside over the management Of
this corporation could not have invoked
more justiiable ill-wll and hatred if they
had been paid for this avowcd object and
especial purpose. 1 remember living in
West Charleston when the water pressure
don the use of water up stairs, the public
had to patiently suffer, meekly submit
and unwllingly pay their water bills or
else have the supply Immediately cut Off
Any attempt to describe the staggering
buildozing coarse brutal and inhuman
conduct of this octupus known as the
kanawha Water and Light Company
would fail and / recognize the futility
OF such an attempt. Every water con-
sumner in this city has felt the heavy
and arbitrary hand of this concern and
will continue to feel it unless the City
Council and Board of Affairs adopt rigor.
Gus measures to remedy these abuses Lit
tie is generally known Of the extent of
the abuses and the consequent oppression
OF the public because the great silent and
aggrieved majority will pay tribute
rather than fight the company, when ap-
parently the odds are against them And
the odds are against the people because
in 1854 and at much later times the Coun
ell has granted the company too liberal
and invested them with too
much power and now the company is rid.
ing every water consumer booted and
spurred and unless he submits to the in
dignity and outrage his water is turned
OIL ana all ncighbors are warned not to
let the impudent consumber have any
water on pain of being imprisoned or
famIshcd for water. Now let US take
notice of the gas abuse. The city has had
no metre reader and the gas metres have
been read by the company paid en-
ployes. So it is entirely matter of dis
cretlon with the management of the COM
pany as to whether the people get an
honest reading of the metres or not. No
dlslnterested party is employed to read
the metre and thus you will perceive the
public is again at the mercy Of the com
pany. The franchise under which this
company operates will expire in 1914 and
1t seems to be the policy of the company
to extort every dollar out of the public
they can in order to make their property
show up we'll at the termination of it's
franchise. A clause in the franchise pro-
vldes for the right of the city to purchase
in 1914 in the following way:
The company appoints a man, the city
man and the two appoints a
third party to appraise the holdings of
the company. If in the adinterium of these
four years the company can declare big
dividends then it naturally follows they
can unload on the city for better price
In the meantime they will continue their
pleasant though heinous task of going
through the pockets Of the water, gas
and light consumers of the city. But
lately the company has undertook to sand
bag all the propretors of steam laun
dercrs and they have about succeeded in
their nefarious scheme The company
bases its authority on an innocent little
joker contained in the water works fran
chlse ordinance. In their schedule of
rates they name a minimum and maxi
mum rate for laundries from $15 to 5000
annually, but in another clause they re-
serve the right to install 4 metre and
herein lies the joker. On the basis of a
metre rate they charged the Charleston
Laundry over sixty-four dollars in one
month for water. For the benefit of
water consumers mores especially laun-
dries. hotels. livery bleS and I,ar