The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-31
TO THE COURTS
City Officials Don't Care to
Tackle Municipal Ownership.
They Want Appeal i'm Gas Hear
ing Heard Right Away.

!
for municipal ownership of gas plants
was read on the floor of the gas con-
vention in representative hall and af-
! ter more than an hour of debate sub
stituted a new set of resolutions, ap-
! pealing TO the courts for early action in
/ the gas controversy and demanding
gas rather than trouble and an expen-
| sive special session of the legislature.
S. II. Fiper of Independence started
the fight on the committee resolutions
and when the roll was called, the OPP
] position to the committee resolutions
I was practically unanimous.
In substance the resolutions adopted
at the gas conference merely request
| that Judge William c. Hook and Judge
w. A. VanValkenberg, sitting jointly
| today in the receivership suit involving
an advance of the case, may make
| every effort to give an early hearing in
the controversy concerning the placing
of the state receivers for the Kansas
Natural Gas company in charge of all
of the gas company's property. r. j.
Higgins of Kansas City, Kansas, seem
ed to express the sentiment of the city
officials when he declared that Kansas
towns wanted gas and not litigation or
a special session of the legislature.
The conventions actions on the COM
nittee resolutions came as a surprise
Until debate started on these resoiu-
tions, the municipal officials seemed
undecided and uncertain regarding the
course they desired to pursue. But it
was H. S. Piper of Independence who
started the row and declared that the
adoption of resolutions such sub
mitted by the committee was the very
thing the convention should not Go.
Then the town mayors and councilmen
and city attorneys began to take IN in
tereSt in things. There was more ora
tory and after practically an hour and
a half of debate the following resolu-
lions were adopted a substitute fer
the original document:
Whereas, The business of produc-
ing, transporting and distributing nat
ural gas to the people of the eastern
portion of Kansas and the western
portion of Missouri has become CEN
tered in a corporation known as Kan
sas Natural Gas company;
And, Whereas, The inhabitants of
the entire eastern portion of Kansas
and the western portion of Missouri
are dependent upon said corporation
for natural gas for fuel for domestic
purposes;
"And, Whereas. The said Kansas
Natural Gas company has been adj
judged guilty of violating the anti
trust laws of Kansas and receivers
have been appointed for the company
by the district court of Montgomery
county, and receivers have also been
appointed for said company by the cir
cult court of the United States for the
district of Kansas and the conflict of
jurisdiction between the two said
courts has tied the hands of each set
of receivers and of said company, rem
dering them helpless to provided suf-
f1cient supply of gas for the consumers
of gas in said territory for the coming
winter, unless the said litigation can
be brought to termination before the
early fall;
"And, Whereas By reason of such
legal complications great inconven-
fence and intense suffering will be in
flicted upon the people of Kansas and
Missouri by reason of the scarcity of
gas during the coming winter;
BE 1t Therefore Resolved, That it is
the sense of this meeting and of the
citizens and officials of the cities,
towns and villages in the eastern por-
ton of Kansas and the western por-
ton of Missouri dependent upon the
said Kansas Natural Gas company for
natural gas for fuel, that the said liti-
cation now pending in the circuit court
of appeals of the United States for the
Eighth district should be brought to
the earliest possible hearing, to the
end that the authority to control the
money and properties of the said Kan
sas Natural Gas company may be cen
tered in one body possessing the power
and authority to pursue the proper
measures to supply the people of east
ern Kansas and western Missouri with
sufficient gas for the coming winter,
we most respectfully request and urge
the said circuit court of appeals of the
United States to hear and determine
said cause at the earliest possible
time
One of the most sensational features
of the convention was the speech of
Chairman Charles Kerr, mayor of In
dependence. In review of the gas
situation, Kerr charged that the Kan
was a frame-up and deal on the part
of the gas company officials to secure
an increase in gas rates in Kansas.
Referring to the receivership suit
holder, Kerr charged that the bank
ruptcy petition was prepared in the
office of Eugene Mackey, a gas COM
pany attorney, was sworn to before
Mackey's notary public and that in
the naming of the receivers, Mackey
was placed at the head of the list |
by Judge Pollock. Kerr also declared
that the two remaining receivers were
known to be not unfriendly when they
were named. He urged that Conway
F. Holmes, the second receiver, holds
interests in the gas company and that
the corporation has large sums of mon I
ey on deposit with Holmes Trust COM |
pany. George Sharitt, of Topeka, the
third receiver, was formerly clerk of
the United States circuit court and
according to Kerr's charges, a close
personal friend of the federal judge.
A number of the Kansas municipal
officials. who attended the conference |
in Topeka. went to Kansas City last |
night. where they will today attend the |
hearing in the federal court involving !
the advancing of the appeal from J
Judge MarshalFs court on the appoint |
ment of the Kansas state receivers to |
take charge of the entire holdings of
the Kansas Natural Gas company and |
the original Pollock receivers. /
Should this case be advanced to a hear |
ing in September or early October and /
a favorable decision for the state result, |
& daG hot l