The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-23
Tennessee Company Unable to Furnish It According to Specifications Original ly Agreed Upon
CITY WOULD HAVE ACCEPTED OFFER
 AT MEETING TODAY
Ward Is Disappointed, But Weatherly and Barber Declare They Are Glad of 1t

President J. S. Pevear of the Birming ham Railway, Light and Power company has withdrawn his offer to the city com mission on the use of by-product gas.
 On the eve of the commission meeting that would have ratified a new contract between the city and the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company whereby through the use of by-product gas, the present rates were to be lowered from 95 cents to 70 cents 1000 cubic feet and reduced cents further whenever the gross receipts amounted to $202, 900, as ac- cording to the last annual report of the company Mayor Commissioner George B. Ward received a letter from President President George Gordon Crawford of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad com pany, which stated that the proposal for by-product gas was withdrawn.
 PEVEAR'S LETTER
 The letter of Mir. Pevear to President Ward follows
 Dear Sir: In reply to proposition submitted by the commission on May 6, our company on May of this year sub- mtted a counter proposition, addressed to you, offering to supply by-product gas under certain conditions. This offer, as I understand it, has not been formally accepted, and in order to relieve both you and our company from embarrassment, I am enclosing herewith a copy of a letter just received from the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, which is self-eXplanatory.
 You will note that the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company refuses to supply gas in accordance with the speci- fications outlined in the contract between the company and the Birmingham Rail way, Light and Power company, and as these specifications have been referred to throughout our negotiations and were the basis for both the offer submitted by the commission and the counter proposition submitted by our company, we find our selves for the time being, unable to pro- ceed and must ask you to consider our offer of May as withdrawn. Respect fully, J. $. PEVEAR, President"
 CRAWFORDS LETTER
 Following is a copy of the letter of George Gordon Crawford to MT. Pevear on the use of by-product gas:
 ITO MT. J. s. Pevear, President Birming
 ham Railway, Light and Power Com
 pany, Birmingham, Ala.
 Dear Sir: From the beginning of your negotiations with the city in Decem- ber 1913, to within recent date the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad com pany produced gas at it's by-product coke ovens, incidental to the manufacture of coke, of a composition which met all the specifications which were agreed upon between us in the contract dated April r, 1915.
 We are operating our by-product coke ovens primarily for the manufa cture of coke, and within the past few months have made changes in the operation of the byproduct coke oven plant which have resulted in the improvement of both the quality and quantity of coke pro- duced
 Knowing that these changes in opera tion tended to change the composition of the gas we began an investigation to de- termne our position under the contract just as soon as it became apparent that your company might reach an agree ment with the city commission.
 We found that the gas as now manu- factured incidental to the production of coke, while still meeting all practical re- quirements, will no longer meet the tech nical requirements of the specification as outlined in the contract
 q have given careful consideration to the several suggestions you have sub- mitted regarding the possibility of chang ing the composition of the gas to meet the specifications embodied in your prop ostion. While it is entirely possible to change the composition of the gas as you suggest, it involves the risk of our com pany being assessed a penalty equivalent to not only the price we ask for the gas, but also a further sum. In other words. we might have to pay for the privilege of giving the gas away.
 COMPANY USES GAS
 'The gas has value to the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway company We ovens and at the boilers at the by-product coke oven plant, and 25,0O0000 cubic feet per day in the open hearth furnace, heat ing furnaces. and at the boilers at the Ensley works-total, 62. .000,000 cubic feet
 The only gas that is wasted is an ir- regular quantity due to the variable op- erations at the steel plant, which would continue to waste even should your com pany take gas from us. As you could not afford to depend upon an irregular supply, which for hours at a time would bn practically none at all, your require ments would necessarily constitute first call on the gas, and we would be un- der obligations to furnish you with gas even before we used any ourselves.
 We therefore, wish to notify you that the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company is unwilling to furnish gas from it's by-product open plant to the Birming ham Railway Light and Power company
 Al--