The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-06
TO FIGHT IT
Kansas Towns, Backed by P. U.
c., Oppose Gas Raise.
Mayor House Explains Situa-
ton as 1t Now Stands.

Kansas cities, backed by the state
public utilities commission. will direct
a fight in the state and federal courts
to block the gas rate advance. Repre-
sentatiVes of all cities affected by the
dollar rate order will hold meeting
in Kansas City next Wednesday TO
talk it over. Members of the state
utilities commissions from Kansas and
Missouri will also be present
Mayor House and George P. Hay
den, city attorney, will represent To-
peka in the meeting. Members of the
Kansas public utilities commission
will also attend the session, as well
as members of the legal department
of the state commission. Plans for
legal battle to prevent the collection
of increased rates, will be discussed.
1t is probable that action will be taken
before bills are sent to consumers in
August.
Practically all towns supplied by
distributing companies of the Kansas
Natural have agreed to advance rates
from so to so cents or 81. The Kan
sas H--tural, however, is not a party
to the move and has announced thru
its attorney that it will await a test
! of the 60-cent rate before seeking an
advance.
House On Situation.
Mayor House said today, regarding
the gas situation:
There are, and always have been,
three conflicting interests in the gas
situation, all supremely selfish. They
are the producing company, the dis
| tributing ompanies and the consumer.
| The consumer wants gas as cheap1y as
/ he can get it and doesn't care whether
| the producing and distributing COM
panies make any money or not
The producing and distributing
companies want to make as much
| money as they can, but their interests
are as widely separated as are those
| of the producer and consumer, or
those of the distributor and consumer.
The distrib ting company l. Topeka,
which is a type of its kind in every
| doesn't get along with the Doherty
! company any better than it gets along
! with the consumer.
The Producing Company.
1.-THE Doh rty company is the pro-
ducing company. 1t delivers the gas
| at the gates of the various cities and
| sells it to the distributor at a certain
Doherty company is not asking an in
crease in rates. The writer was in
| Minneapolis last summer when the
| 60-cent rate was fixed by Judge Booth.
| There and elsewhere he talked with
| Mr.. Doherty many times.
Frequently Mr.. Doherty expressed
| this view: T don't know what con-
stitutes a compensatory rate for gas
| in this field. L shan't know until I
| have made the extensions that are
necessary, found out approximately
| how much gas shall have to sell, and
| have figured the cost of the rehabili-
tation of Il Z property. I do not ex-
| pect to make any money for the pres
| ent. What 1 want now is a rate that
| will shut off gas consumption to the
| point where can supply the demand.
I want a rate high enough to shut off
most of the furnaces. but sufficiently
| low for me to market any surplus
above that used for cooking and
| lighting that I may be able to pro-
| duce. Profits in gas are in maximum
production, and we have not hitherto
bee1 able to sell gas at a profit at a
| raN in excess of IS or 40 cents
| thousand cubic feet. At a rate above
| that consumption falls off and profits
! decrease
| Upon the showing submitted to
him Judge Booth of the federal court
! fixed rate of so cents He an
nounced that it was a temporary rate
esta blished to hold until testimony to
| show a compensatory rate should be
| submitted.
The Distributing Company.
'The distributing companies are be-
hind the present hullabaloo. Like the
producing company, profits for dis
| tributing company lie in a maximum
sale of gas. The distributing COM
panies have gone thru series of lean
years, due to gas shortage. Most of
them are far in the hole. Some of
| them are in the hands of receivers
| There is no doubt that they have
all lost money But their losses were
not so much due to the rate at which
they sold gas, as to the fact that, much
| of the time, they had no gas to sell.
Like the producing company an>- the
consumer, the distributing companies
are supremely selfish.
''They want to get their money back.
1t appears as tho they wanted to get
| it back in a lump. The present quar-
rel is between the distributing com
panies and the consumers. AS we
diagnose the situation, the distributing
companies want to L AXE up the &C.
ferred dividends. If this is not a fair
statement of the case we ask 10 be
corrected.
THE real weakness in the position
of the distributing companies is that
having gone to a federal court for jus
tice, they are now trying to evade the
decree of that court on technical
grounds. 1t doesn't look like a sport
ing DrODoSitjon