The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1918-05-31
GAINESVILLE for about ss.ooooo,

GAINESVILLE for about $6,O0O.O0,
claiming that he adjusted the rates
to private consumers, and according
to said report, the City of GAINESVILLE
is defending said suit on the ground
that the City had no authority to en-
ploy Weiss to adjust rates to private
consumers. Said report, which is
dated April 5, 1918, further recites
that "Mr. Weiss filed his bill against
the city about a year ago. The City
within a short time, filed demurrer
and Mr.. Weiss has never done any
thing to press his suit"
(c) We also received report from
the City of Hopkinsville, Kentucky,
which states that a Mr.. w. H. Weiss
was employed by the City of Hopkins
vile, to assist in getting a schedule
of rates and charges to be charged
by the light company of that city
lagainst the citizens, consumers, etc.,
a year or more ago. According to the
1Hopkinsville report, Mr.. Weiss was
to be paid as his compensation for
lservices rendered, certain percent
of the amount saved by him to the
city, for a period of three years.
The Hopkinsville report also shows
that Mr.. Weiss first brought in a
claim of about $4,000, which the
city contended was too much, and
offered him $2,500.0O in settlement,
which he refused; and then brought
suit in the U. S. Court at Paducah,
Kentucky, for about $4,000 The
report further shows that the suit
against the City of Hopkinsville is
still pending.
| CD In the course of our inquiry,
our attention was called to the fact
that man by the name of w. H.
Weiss had been operating in the State
of Texas. We, therefore, sent let
tiers of inquiry to that State, with
the hope of learning something of
value regarding his standing and
reputation, and if possible, ascertain
whether the w. H. Weiss, of Texas,
was the same w. H. Weiss that is
now seeking to act as the representa-
tive of the City of Paris. In re-
spouse to our inquiry, we received
report from Texas, stating that a Mr..
W. H. Weiss, a reputed graduate en-
gineer of Heidelberg, Germany, had
succeeded in getting employment to
represent the City of Houston, in re-
adjusting the schedule of rates that
it was paying the light and power
company of that city for light and
power.
From the best information we can
gather, the Houston matter was
threshed out in court, and the Mayor
of said City regarded the position of
| Mr.. Weiss with such a degree of un-r
certainty that he was compelled to
| ignore the services which had been
rendered, as well as the advice which
was offered by Mr.. Weiss in his eff
fort to solve the lighting problems
then confronting the City of Hous-
ton. What we have said regarding
the movements of the man Weiss, as
municipal public utility expert, in
other communities, also applies to the
Texas transactions. All we can say
about the matter is that we have.
made an honest effort to get a line
on the qualifications and standing of
the man now to represent the City of
Paris, in negotiating with our com2I
pany, and have attempted to fair1v)
state to you the result of our inves-
tigation.
In our opinion, it is unnecessary
to go into discussion of the cues |
ton of increased cost of coal, coke, |
Oil, iron and steel products, and other
materials and labor, largely entering
into the production of all public util-
ity service. A man inclined to be
the least bit unfair or arbitrary.
could create great deal of discord |
and dissatisfaction in a community
by contrasting the conditions exist
ing in one town, with alleged condi-
lions existing in some other commu-I
nifty, and we do not propose to be the:
victim Of any unfair controversy at
this time. I
You are fortunately situated at
this time, however, with respect toll
the knowledge of the public, regard
ing the increased burdens of public
utilities. 1t was in recognition OIL
these increased burdens which haveI
been placed upon public utilities oil
this country, as well as recognition OIL
the Importance of the public utilities
to our war program, that moved Pres-J
ident Wilson and Secretary McAdoo1
to issue the letters with which you'll
utilities Of this country. l!
We think that a further consider.J
alton of the terms of the contract
between the City of Paris and Mr.,
Weiss as they have been given to us,
should satisfy the Mayor and other
officials of said City, and also the1
public, that the contract is not only
unprofessional, but is so piratical in
its nature as to preclude all possibil-
ity of their representative being at
all fair in his dealings with our COM
pany,, since the amount of his COM
pensation depends entirely upon how
unfair he can be.
If the representative selected byl
Paris is the Oppressive, overbearingj
and inexcusably arbitrary" gentle
man referred to in the case decided
by the Missouri Commission, then we
believe that the Mayor and other
officials representing the City of
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