Evening journal., 1918-02-04
TRACII]h COMPANY
replies TO [R TICS
Official Says Many of Pres
emf Troubles Are Not OF
Concerns Making
WAR DEMANDS
ANOTHER CAUS
Referring to newspaper reports OF th

Referring 10 newspaper reports OF the
discussion in the City Council last Thurs
day evening which followed TIC presen.
tation of the report of the {. mmittee as
to the local electric and street railway
service, the Wilmington and Ph.lade ph a
Traction Company has made the i0ll.w.
AZ statement.
An Of the BOILERS In both our plants
are REGULAR, inspected by the Hartford
steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance
Company and are operated subject t0
their inspection and approval. The boilers
are in good repair; four are pract .cllly
new, one is at present being retubed, and
on the day of the inspection by tho
Council, two others were empty and
being cleaned nnd repaired. These re-.
pairs are Of course made 10 maintain
the boilers in good condition and 70 in
crease output, which is in accord with
the needs Of the community, and th'
demand for power.
These plants are being operated al
full capacity a large part Of the time
and are now being reconstructed, an'
under these and attendant conditions
the physical appearance Of plants s.
situated must in the very nature o
things be open 10 some criticism. in ad
dltion to abnormal conditions. the ex
cossive quantity of cinders and ashei
resulting from the attempt 10 burn large
quaint tics Of coal which has been wei
described a. "fire-proof' accounts foI
large accumulation Of c.nders. This
obstructs passageways and has created
real problem as TO its removal. For.
merly contractors hauled most Of il, but
during this winter they have not taken
any; the railroad will not haul il, a d
barges can rarely be had TO carry IL
away We are now doing the hauling
and filling low land owned by the PARK
commission. a new ash handling sys-
tenn is being constructed to help solve
this problem.
"As 70 the statement that the com
pany is gorgi Z itself with busiie ess
when IL does not have the capacity Ia
handle IL, we publicly stated early last
November that the excessive demands
.or power from ting business, to-
gether with the very inferior coal-both
brought about very suddenly by th, war
conditions, made IL impossible at times
TO carry all Of the load for short periods
that We would have fully met the situ.
alton if extended delays in arrival and
erection OF boilers and allied material
had not occurred. We repeated this
statement in the newspapers in Deccm.
Der or January and again to the special
committee Of Council.
During the past three months
we have refused 70 connect any
large consumers. and now have appli.
cations fer large amounts Of power
which are being deferred until capacity
is available TO serve the same.
In respect 20 tho statement reported
made hy Ar Robertson that on bills foi
electric current furnished no his home
there is charge Of s. cents attached
TO each bill, which nc said every con.
sumner in this city has 10 pay, and dched
contradiction of this assertion; Mr.
Robertson's bills do not contain any
such charge He is simply billed fol
the number Of kilo-watt hours consumed
at the rate OF eight and one half cents
per kilo.watt hour.
"As 10 the statement that the ser.
vice furnished in Elkton by another
company with current supplied by us
is better than IN Wilmington our re.
py is that Interruptions 20 the Eiktor
supply have occurred quite as frequently
as In Wilmington and have occas.oned
just as much complaint, 20 not more
In connection with the lack OF
power, the various lines OF the rolley
system were necessarily stalled 40 times
Newspaper reports indicate that the
trolley service IN Wilmington. notw'th.
standing those Interruptions, viii com.
pare favorably with that IN our ne gh-
boring cities As matter Of fact dur
ing the past week of severe snow storms
the Wilmington lines were kept in oper.
alton when the trolley systems in other
cities were standing si.n.
"When these interrupt ons occur. II oi
longer duration than live minutes pas.
sengers are z ven transfers good on date
Of issue or the one following on any
line In any direction This is con-
s'derat'on % the public which we be-
liove is not given in any other locality
"The transportation department OF
this company makes il their first aim
10 endeavor to carry the workers to
aud from their places of employment
and when Interruptions to part Of the
service are unavoidable due 10 lack Of
power, service Is curtailed on the lines
serving the smallest number of people
and cars are run on such OF the com
panv's lines as beat serve the interests
OF the general community; the West
Fourth. Shellpot and the Delaware ave-
nue. lines are the heaviest Travelled in