The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-20
IT IS UP TOKANSAS
Utilities Commission Has Power
i'm Gas Matters-DOherty.
New York Gas Magnate in Talk
to Chamber of Commerce.
MILLIONS ON IMPROVEMENTS
Kansas Lines Must Be Connect
ed With Productive Fields.
DOherty Won't Go to Expense
Unless Business Is Assured.
MILLIONS ON IMPROVEMENTS

: It is up to the utilities commission
of the state Of Kansas to talk fairly
and squarely on the natural gas sit
uation before a deal to purchase and
improve the facilities of the Kansas
I Natural will go thru, Henry l.. Do
/ herty of New York, told large au-
dience of business men at the Cham
I Der of Commerce this noon. Mr.. Do
berty has been in a pending deal for
/ the control of the Kansas Natural Gas
company for several months but has
been unable to receive satisfactory as
/ surances of cooperation and rates
from the utilities commission and
Joseph L. Bristow, chairman.
Fair Right of Way.
In blunt. forceful English. H. L.
Doherty told the three hundred gas
consumers at the Chamber of Com
merce this noon that IF the people
of Kansas will give us a fair right of
way that they would get gas"
"A big and costly blunder was
made when the company was put into
the hands of a receiver on the grounds
that it was a trust-cOstly to the con-
sumner and costly to the company.
the gas magnate SAID: Inc only
hope of the company in furnishing an
adequate gas supply lay in being
so-called monopoly 1t was necessary
to gain fields out of the state to fur
insufficient. So the gas interests have
had a merry time being branded as
trust. and prevented from expanding,
and then being assailed for not fur
nishing sufficient gas.
I'VE don't want the earth. Doherty
told his hearers. All we want is to
have that blunder righted. We want
to get together with the individual
consumer and talk sense we want
to get the matter out of politics, ana
nf
community of interests"
Shallow Pools.
And unless the public gets con-
constructively interested in this worst
tangled problem in the country it
will never be settled. The 2S-cent
rate was fixed at the time when the
company was organized, when 1t was
believed that the first discovered pools
would provide gas for tens of years.
All the pools discovered in Kansas
have been shallow. l have known
them to be exhausted in weeks. One
blew up in four days And then when
the Kansas Natural Gas company
reached after new supply they were
cursed as a trust and thrown into the
receivership. The present rates will
not need to be materially raised. We
want only enough to reasonably insure
the big investment necessary.
Wants Better Rate.
Il, of course, cannot fix what is a
compensatory rates But the IS cent
rate is nothing less than confiscatory.
If we can have q rate sufficient to in
sure fair return we will go thru with
our plans. We will invest Two and
one-half million dollars in connecting
our fields with Kansas towns. We
will connect with the new Texas fields
being discovered. Give us a fair OPP
portunity, no more. and this genera
J ton of Kansas need not worry about
their gas supply.
Doherty CONSIDERABLY refrained
from characterizing the public utilities
commission, tho previous to this talk
he remarked that The gas question
: should not furnish political honey for
the senatorial bee buZzing in the bon
net of a certain member of the COM
I mission"
The difficulties in the way of the
development and the subsequent fur
nishing of adequate gas will be large
ly obliterated if Judge Booth, at Kan
sas City. decides that the affairs of
the company are not under the con-
troll of the p. L. c. because their in
terstate relations make their affairs
, one of inter state commerce, accord
! ing to Doherty. Judge Booth has the
, right to make such decision, Do
, herty says, altho he may sidestep any
opinion on this point if he wishes.
However. should such a decision be
rendered, the company has a load of
f trouble in ironing out the rate with
: each individual city.
he ideal way would be to have
r the commission come to terms on
: what constitutes a fair rate" Doherty
remarked, land then we would not
have the bother of squabbling with
each city over rates"
Better Supply Next Winter
| If the tangle is ironed out in the
= near future. Donerty promises better
: gas next winter. 1T will not be en-
tlrely adequate by that time, how
e ever" he states. "A vast amount Of
money must be spent and we cannot
e hope to get enough equipment COM
= pleted by next fall. But give us fait.
\ terms. and you will get a great deal
T better gas than was furnished this
!, winter, and two years from now
Il there viii be plenty for all
Z Doherty states that personally ne
y is in favor of the great part of the
% supply being saved for domestic DIR
X poses, for the small consumer.
8 Thru the expenditure of hundreds
Il OF thousands of dollars sufficient gas
for this generation may be secured,
he says, but the supply is not ever
+ lasting There must be conservation
d and 1t is only just that the small con-
5 sumner reap the advantages while they
: last"
l. Topeka Not Paying More.
Ii Following his talk, he announced
$ himself as primed for any question
< ing, pertinent or impairment
lee Mr.. Dohecty said in reply to ques
p uoning: AS to the efficiency of oui
m lines, about so per cent of the ga.
n that leaves the field arrives at Ger.
n tain cities. 1t will be impossible to fl,
a minimum rate because of our many
+ Tnasters-in other words. our fort,
# distributing companies. the p. L. c
2 and the city officials in each cit,
ic served
Topeka is not paying more thar
any other city Doiie.-ry stated in re
a ply to one question. st Joseph paw
l. SO cents a thousand. And with tn,
n reduction granted after the first on,
= thousand feet. Topeka is paving les