The Washington times., 1911-03-22
CONSOLIDATED GAS ABAN.
DONS RATE FIGHT.

The Consolidated Gas Company of
New York has at last been converted.
1t has seen and admitted the error of
its ways. 1t has accepted the new faith
unreservedly. Of its own will and
accord, the Consolidated has decided
not to avail itself of the authority to
reopen the sO-cent gas litigation-an
authority granted by the Supreme
| Court of the United States.
| From now on the Consolidated will
sell gas in New York for so cents
without protest. 1t will not try to
show the Supreme Court it has been
losing money. 1t frankly and freely
admits it has been making more money
at the 80-cent rate than it ever made
before, and it is confident the future
at the price fixed by the Supreme Court
holds nothing but continued pros
perity.
There's a powerful lesson for the
! Washington Gas Light Company in the
experience of the Consolidated. Prob
ably the country has never been treat
cd to a more convincing demonstration
| of the advantage-to consumers and to
stockholders-in cheap public service
When the New York Legislature fixed
the price Of gas in New York City at
! so cents the Consolidated wept and
made dire predictions. Bankruptcy
was just around the corner. The
widows and orphans" who held gas
stock were about to be robbed again
by a constituencies community. The
Consolidated went into court, deter
mined never TO submit to such out
rageous injustice.
Ultimately, the case reached the
/ Supreme Court of the United States
Said the Supreme Court:
! Eighty cents looks about right to US
/ for the price of gas in New York. Try
IL and see what happens. II you can't
| earn a reasonable profit on the value
of your property, come back and well
! talk it over again.
The Consolidated went away, pro-
! testing. For months its officers and
attorneys continued their doleful song
ghen they subsided. G&s receipts in
New York began to 60 up. With
dime knocked off the price of gas
consumers used more of it; also, people
who had not used it before were en-
couraged to do so because of the lower
rate. The first year a per cent divi
dend was declared. The next year it
was ). and last year it was s. Now it
is rumorcd the rate is to be increased
TO S.
And this isn't all. Note this, from
the Wall Street journal:
If a policy of distribution Of earnings
to stockholders 1were adopted, instead
of the present plan of paying for con-
| ings, considerable amounts could be dis
bursed. With the piling up of great
wealth, through the putting back into
property of so large a part of each
years earnings, distributions will come
eventually. The 1910 real earnings, con-
sidering the amounts deducted from
earnings for new construction and de-
veiopment work. were fully l6 per cent.
Now the Consolidated has gone into
court and had dismissed the cases in
which it retained the right to reopen
the SO-cent gas litigation. 1t is con-
vinced that sO-cent gas pays-and pays
big.
The Washington Gas Light Com
pany is beginning to see the light. I'm
der the constant demands of this news
paper it has reduced the price of gas
from dollar to 80 cents, and from
80 cents to So cents. Like the Con-
soIidated, it could not understand the
dollars and cents advantage in cheaper
gas, but it is learning. The process
has been slow. In its blindness the
local monopoly has held out against
the interests of the public and the in
terests of its stockholders.
Once more we direct its attention
to the experience of the Consolidated
Gas Company of New York city. No
better argument for cheap gas for the
District of Columbia could be pre-
scented.