Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-29

due or ought to be credited to sound
| financial methods, judicious investments,
or. general speaking, good management.
| Why, we are gravely told that we are
| neither entitled to the lions share nor the
| lambs portion of the so-called "unearned
| increment that has made washington
famous-because. forsooth. we have con-
| tributed nothing to it's growth and de-
velopment We who have mainly for over
half a century furnished the light with
| out which it would still, to a moral GER
tainty. be a village surrounded by Poto-
mac marshes, Illuminated on moonlesS
nights only by pitch torches 1ack-o-ian
terms and firefies. Nor is this. the ap-
preparation of our share Of the increment,
the height Of our offense-there are those
who stoutly maintain that we should &C
tuaIly be regulated out OF business for re-
investing, from time to time, a substan-
tial part of our talents, as good stewards
usually do. i'm a surplus to promote our
business or to safeguard it against acct
dents to come. These are men of straw.
Mr.. Chairman. HISTORICALLY set up to be
argumentatively knocked down. Here
come the Commissioners of the District
Of Columbia. for instance, emtnently IN
teIligent respectable and honorable men,
all of them. Good men and true-none
better anywhere-let us read their report
upon this bill and see if 1 have overdrawn
the picture:
Favor Proposed Law.
THE Commissioners of the District Of
Columbia have received House joint reso-
luton No 1876 Sixty-trst Congress. sec
ond session, referred to them for eXaml-
nation and report, etc, and they nave
the honor to state that they are heartily
in favor of the legislation proposed there
in
Bear in mind the fact. if you please,
that we are all political wards here IN
Washington, and these gentlemen are our
trustees and guardians. Do you want
any better proof OF prejudice than their
heartily" approving. apparently without
consideration, q measure that denies 10
US the use and enjoyment or our property
to an extent that might be fatal 10 our
corporate lives? Heartily" as though
enjoying a mess OF that magisterial meat
that Caesars immemorially have grown
great upon. Heartily" and that, too.
you will notice, without even of1ering us
that counterfeit presentment OF a day In
court, judicialy styled in official circles
"a municipal hearing" MIR. Chairman, we
are their largest taxpayers. but that avaiis
us nothing; We cheerfully give up to them
does any other utility. that moves them
not; we make a smaller percentage OF
profit than any other of their public-serv-
ice servants. that counts for naught.
Alas! their heavenly wrath and indigna-
ton against US is too firmly set for
square or plumb and we are up against
It, 1t is incumbent upon US, therefore.
however we may prefer to go right on, to
pause a moment to dispassionately con-
slider the real facts of the case. and par
ticularly he false premises generally.
from which bias has drawn here, and
elsewhere. from time to time. the absurd
conclusions I will now. with your per-
mission, endeavor to dispose Of in logical
sequence. What are they? Let us briefly
take them up seriatim. skipping the first
in order as too frivolous for primary con-
sideration.
The Initial Premise.
1. The initial premise. then, always is
this-that gas Is composed chiefly OF wind
and water. and, therefore. costs nothing,
and requires no invested capital to make
it. Let us see about that
Apart from the testimony of DR.. Hum
phreys. q witness who is admitted to be
pre-eminently master of the subject,
we have proof enough to satisfy the most
exacting mind. Here is our annual state
ment, for instance. which. not having
been challenged, you are bound to accept
as unimpeachable-as in fact it is. From
this 1t appears that the Washington Gas
Light Company has paid during the fiscal
year. for taxes alone. something like $500
day. and daily over $1,000 for labor and
materials used in the business. These
three items, wages, materials and taxes,
approximate closely the aggregate of
$4,000 a day for every day in the year,
Sundays included. 1t also shows that we
have. lin round numbers. $10.O0O.0OO in
tangible properties. to say nothing OF
franchises. invested in the business. An
estimate that checks up all round. as
shall show you. with every accepted test
and criterion of value legally and equit-
ably applicable to such a case.
Here is a fact, for instance that con-
clusively indicates and justifies a much
higher valuation that that, to the I'M
biased mind: The Washington Gas Light
Company, with total outstanding securi-
an amount In taxes which will this year
no doubt amount to $15O.OOO or exceed
ing 212 per cent on the par value OF our
entire net earnings, that is to say, about
6 per cent per annum on its S26OO.OOO
capital stock-an amount, by the way,
that, capitalized upon our regular munich
pal tax rates, would make a grand total
of approximately $13OOO.OOO. The fact
is, We paid in taxes the last year (l9O9)
20 per cent OF our entire net earnings.
that is to say, of our gross earnings less
operating eXpenses-without deduction
from interest of capital charges OF any
kind. Does not that bare and simple
fact conclusively demonstrate that We
are enormously undercapitalized?
The Price of Gas.
But inasmuch as / propose to consider
physical values in another part of this
argument, we will pass that branch Of
the case for the present. to go to the
next count of the indictment which has
had an inseparable relation to 1t, that
In the last analysis, it is believed, is at
the root Of the whole case.
1t has been charged over and over
again here and elsewhere that the pres
ent price Of gas go cents per thousand)
tct.
first, with the prices of other things
that are necessary to the comfort and
convenience of mankind: and. secondly,
with the prices paid by our neighbors and
fellow-countrymen under fairly compar-
able conditions Mr. Chairman, is that
charge or either part of it true? Is the
price of gas in Washington. or elsewhere
for that matter, in any sense of the word
high when compared with prices paid for
other comparable things that constitute
the necessities of life?
Now, the incontestible land l am glad
that there is at least one fact which no
one has as yet been reckless enough to
dispute), the admitted fact is that the
price OF gas and its by-products have
been steadily declining year by year since
1S49. Going down. down, down, like Nc
Ginty, OH constantly rising market for
all the other necessities and luxuries of
life, for the better half of century.
During that period of uninterrupted 0e-
scent. without a shadow of turning"
the cost of lighting, Illuminating power
duly considered, has fallen thousand
per cent. whilst the cost of living as to
every other needful thing. except gas.