The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-06

| matter to the board today and other well known citizens will speak on behalf of the proposition.
 The location will be finally settled by the state locational board, of which the governor is chairman and which will meet in Birmingham next Saturday. The plan of those in charge of the matter is to have the county build a high 
 1 and Railroad company and offered for consumption in the city by the Bir- mingham Railway, Light and Power company, are of the opinion that the reduction of 2l per cent in price per | 1000 feet gives a fair equivalent for the reduction in the heat value of the gas and that the result is equivalent to an leverage reduction in the price of gas of II per cent per 1000 feet We, therefore respectfully recom nerd the acceptance of the gas con tract.
 "J. FRANK RUSHTON, "F. M. JACKSON, "P. G. SHOOK, "R. H. ELLIOTT, 1 "R. w. EWING "J D. ROSENBERGER, | U. D. COLLINS. 1 MT. Pevear insisted all during the Negotiations that he could make no | further concession. He did not say so but he indicated strongly that George Bullock and associates in New
 York would most likely Instruct him to reject the offer
 Weatherly's Ultimatum | T insist on three things" said Mir Weatherly. Reasonable regulations about extensions (which Pevear agreed lto1; reasonable control by the city of
 
 manency (which Pevear agreed to), and this cents. If that Is left un- done I am through"
 | Mir Ward wanted cents and Is seemingly anxious to get the contract | signed That is to say he wants to accept the lesser heat units and extend the present gas contract three years. mat IS all that Is asked by the com pany However, unless MT. Ward and Judge Lane agree that the contract is 1 good as it is the people will not get the cheaper gas
 Why Jim,'s said Mir. Ward, as he puffed his pipe filled with finely clipped to- bacco it would be criminal to deny the l people this gas. It would simply be crlfn-
 nal This is true even if the city gets
 nothing Here the citizens are offered
 Q gas lower in heat units but just as good for their purposes at an extreme re- ducton in prices. I feel that we are trustees, We should settle this question
 as we see it is best for the people. I be-
 lieve the citizens of Birmingham would md no objections to paying PIE cents
 more than the suggested price, which Is far below the price they now pay. if they get this cheap gas and the Birmingham
 Railway. Light and Power company gives the city treasury the same amount of 1 money"
 That did not appeal to MT Weatherly, and he shook his head in the negative In such a way as to leave no doubt of his his unwillingness to consider the matter further.
 MT. Weatherly went out with MT. Brown. the Indiana expert, and came back pres ently with his 2-cent offer. It was fig ured out by Mr. Brown that on the g. cent basis the city would get the first year SS000. The city would get S9SO0 when the consumption reached 100000 feet and the city would get $3,000 per year when the rate was at the minimum. that is to say, 90 cents per 1000 cubic feet
 Adjourn Until Today
 I MT. Ward, after the 2-cent proposal of MT. Weatherly and after Mir. Pevear had said he would submit 1t to his company. suggested that an adjournment be taken until this morning. This was agree to-
 There seem to remain only two chances
 for the people to get the cheaper gas
 They are; MT. Ward and Judge Lane to vote for the straight Birmingham Rail- way Light and Power company proposi-
 ton.
 The other is for MT. Pevear to meet the
 ultimatum of MT. Weatherly, which it is
 believed MT. Ward will agree to, and may be Judge Lane. Unless one or the other 1 of the two suggestions come to pass there
 will be nothing further to be done except
 for the Birmingham Railway, Light and
 Power company to spend great amount : of money fixing up it's gas plant and sell that gas at the 9o-cent rate. 7 When it was suggested that the Ten
 nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company. producers of the Hopper by-product gas, would concede a portion of the cents : demanded by MT. Weatherly this state ment was given by George Gordon Craw- ford. president of the company: Il Crawford's Statement 5 eve cannot reduce the rate at which t we offered gas to the Birmingham Rail- t way, Light and Power company" he said. 8 Our original proposition was for the tl Semet- Solvay with guarantee of 300 8 British thermal units This gas has the I benzol removed from it. When so much : objection was raised to the low British : thermal unit value I offered the Hopper [ gas which has not the benzol removed | from it. the benzol being worth about 2H s cents per 1000 cubic feet to us This en- s abled our company to raise our guarantee to 525 British thermal units. Twenty per : cent of the gross receipts for the gas of | the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company would give us about 1f
 cents per 1000 cubic feet during the earlier period of the contract, when the rate is 5 75 cents to the consumer. but the larger B portion of our gas would be delivered r during the later periods of the contract when the consumption of the gas would : be increased both by reason of the growth
 of the city as well as by reason of the : increase in the consumption of gas per capita induced by the lower rate. There l fore we expect to deliver most of the gas called for in this contract under cents : per 1000 cubic feet rate. We will have to refrain under the contract from extract
 ing the benzol from that portion of the gas which we deliver to the Birming- ham Railway, Light and Power company at an estimated loss of about 21a cents per 1000 cubic feet of gas. This would make the gas net us only 6h cents per lO00 cubfc feet which Is certainly a very