The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1912-11-14
A STATEMENT.
Gas Company States Its Reasons
For Minimum Charge.

EQluOr daily banner:
Although it Is not the policy of
this company to take any notice of
insinuations or attacks made
through the press, yet We believe it
| advisable, in view of the repetition
of these newspaper notices, to ex-
plain to the people of Cambridge
something of the affairs and the
policy of our company, so that they
may realize that the company = is
doing everything in its power to
give the best possible service and
to insure its continuity, while pro-
noting the welfare of the city, as
well as it future progress.
The first thing we wish to do is
to explain some of the modern
theories which govern the operation
and control of public service cor
porations. The establishment of
the principle of government regula-
ton of public service companies, as
carried out by the Public Service
Laws in various States, takes BUSH
nesses of this nature out of the
speculative field, and while it linn
it's the profits, it assures the in
vestor reasonable return on his
investment. Following this line of
argument, it can be seen that where
a municipality has permitted the
granting of a second franchise, it
must insure to the investors in
both franchises a reasonable re-
turn.
Apart from this, it is evident that
if the business does not yield a
sufficient return to pay reasonable
interest on the investment no fur
Their capital can be attracted, and
as result of this, the corporation
will enter into financial difficulties,
and then the only thing that we
can be sure of is, that the people
will not get satisfactory service or
progressive management.
The recent talk seems to be due
to the establishment of a minimum
monthly charge for gas consumers,
which had only been done so that
the small consumers may be given
the service without any loss to the
company. Those that complain must
realize how unreasonable their po-
sition is when they consider that
without this charge they are OBJ
tanning certain service without
paying for it, while the larger con-
sumers are made to pay for. the.
same service. In other words, the
big buyer, who, according alt;
business methods, always gets al
lower price, in this case, has 30 pay;
a higher price than thessmal1 buyer.
Without entering into detailed
figures, we can state as a, fact that
unless consumers bills, in the
course of year, add up to Sc the
company will suffer loss: Whether
he consumes this amount Of gas
or not, is really immaterial, as the
larger part of the expense is due
TO certain salaries wages and fix
ed charges, which have to be paid.
no matter what the production ef
gas may be.
We hura it is understood clear
ly that this is to be a yearly chasge,
distributed over the twelve months.
If IN one mouth tie consumption IS
less THAI Soc. there will be cor
respcnGil 6 credit to apply on fu-I
ture bills for the year.
There are n.any more arguments
which might be mentioned, but
suffice it to say that the company
has only the desire to carry on It's
operations in a business like, way,
and it realizes that the most + i'm
portant thing fox i. to do is to- keep
on the best OF terms with it's eli
ents, go that no action is ever ak
en- which is not for the best inter-
ests Of .Le People, although It may
appear otherwise to some.
In closing, We might add that
this minimum charge has the un-
official approval of the Public Ser
vice Commission
Yours very truly,
Cambridge Gas, Electric
Light G. Power Co.
J. H. Slearer, Mgr.