The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-23
I'm FAIR HANDS"
Effort of Kansas Natural to
Make Gas Useful.
Place Supply ON Firm Basis
With Better Rates.

Kansas City, Mo, Sept. 2S.-When
Victor A. Hays, president of the Kan
sas Natural Gas company filed an ap-
piicatiOn last Wednesday, in the Mont
gomery county district court at Inde-
pendence, Kan, for the discharge of
the receiver of that public service cor
poration and it's restoration to its own
ers move was made leading to inn
mediate establishment of natural gas
service upon a stable and permanent
foundation.
Following the discharge of the re-
ceiver, should this desideratum be the
outcome of the application, the Kan
sas Natural Gas com pany will be able
to operate as factor of public useful
ness, upon the firm base of enjoyment
of compensatory price, for it's
Notwithstanding which, according
to twenty disinterested jurists. scatter
ed over many states, it has long been
denied.
The Kansas Natural Gas company
has been nearly Obligated to DEATH
and by the placing of the organization
upon sound financial basis, the pay
ment of its obligations and the dis
charge of the receiver. the occasion
Tor continuation of litigation Will
cease. If this condition is brought
about, that public service corporation
VIII confine its activity to the single
purpose for which it was intended
that is, to furnish its patrons with
natural gas at the lowest price, pos
s1ble to its resources.
Must Have Money.
When the stockholders of the KAN
sas Natural Gas company recently
met in Pittsburg, Pa, it was proDosed
tnat a new stock issue, sufficient to
discharge the indebtedness of s3.25O.-
V0O and leave approximately S175O,-
VoG Tor extensions and improvements
DC negotiated. Contingent only upon
securing a compensatory rate for gas
ana upon the carrying out of the
creditors agreement, by which the
! debts or the company were to be paid
the stockholders determined among
themselves, upon underwriting the
new flotation of stock. Without the
new rate, which is a slight advance in
cost to the consumers, no money
would have been available for the i'm
essary. In fact, without the new rate,
the Kansas Natural Gas company
could not have continued business. Its
very existence was at stake.
1t is the consensus of opinion
among fair-minded patrons of the
natural gar service that there is little
| objection to a slight increase in the
rate, if millions of new capital are to
be expended for the extension of large
carrying-mainS to the prolific gas
producing fields When the Kansas
Natural Gas company was organized.
it owned nearly 100000 acres of gas
producing lands, at a distance of 125
miles from Kansas City, while the
Kansas City and the state of Kansas
are dependent for their gas supply, is
232 miles distant from this point
Service VS.. Destruction.
The new rate will tend to discourage
the use of natural gas in furnaces anC
for industrial purposes, and will thus
conserve for the longest posi- BILE time
the use of the product for a great null
tiplicity of domestic consumers.
By way of contrasting the present
constructive trend in the affairs of the
Kansas Natural Gas company with the
destructive course which for a lone
time threatened the organization, the
situation today is interesting, because
the most economical, most sanitary
and most enduring fuel known has
been saved for public use.
Had the service furnished by the
Kansas Natural Gas company beer
abandoned, by reason of an negotiable
rate for it's commodity, its properties
would have been confiscated, its pipe
lines wrecked and it's plants disman.
tled-more than $16,O0O,OOo engaged
in useful activity reduced to scrap.
heaps, briefly
But there would have been under
| such set of circumstances, another
. | sufferer-the public! Hundreds O
thousands of families would have los
their investments in gas stoves and
gas-burning equipment, thus reducins
sum, amounting to many more mil
lions, belonging to the people, to the
value of junk; and besides they would
have been compelled to pay the in
creased cost of other kinds of fuel.
3 GAS SUITS FILED