Baxter Springs news., 1919-02-21

Manager Ray Warner, Of the Gas
company, has handed rs figures which
he says he will be glad to have any
body verify at the Office. The figures
were taken from the company's books
showing the size Of gas bills on the
average for January last year and
January this year. The figures dis
prove the suppositiOn that the bills
are much higher this year than last
year, in fact on the average they were
only 80 cents q customer higher last
month than in January, 1918. These
are the figures Mr.. Warner gave us:
Total number Of customers last
January ....................--..--.......... OH
Average amount, per customer,
paid for gas ...........................So'oo
Total number Of customers, jan.
uary, 1919 ........."............."......OSS
Average amount, per customer,
paid for gas ...........................$7.46
Mr.. Warner claims that the aver
age amount per customer increase
over January of last year, Is account
ed for in the 10 cent increase over
last year.
One customer, q lady, who like
many others was astonished at her
January gas bill, in a communication
today, expresses the belief that the
meters were not correctly read. The
writer of this article believes the lady
is wrong in this particular. It is a
very simple thing to read gas meter.
Any intelligent person, after being
shown, can read a gas meter as cor
rectly as he can tell the time Of day.
The meters may not be registering
correctly in some instances; but the
company is required by law to inspect
meter If called upon to do so. A
customer who feels his meter is wrong
and wants it inspected must deposit
, $500. If the meter is found to be
registering incorrectly 1t will be cor
rected and the $500 returned; if 1t is
found to be all right the $500 will be
kept. We suppose the company must
make some such requirement as this,
else it would have to be inspecting
meters all the time.
1t is safe to say that the general
fault, if there is any, is not in the
meters or the reading the meters. It
would be more likely to be due to low
pressure gas. Some say that the low
er the gas pressure the higher the
meter will register, because the burn
ers have to be thrown wide open to
get all the heat possible. That is
what Charles Wells contended when
he tried last summer to get the coun-
ell to put a clause in the new fran
chise to compel the gas company to
maintain a certain pressure, or if the
pressure is lower, to reduce the bills
accordingly. A similar bill is before
the state legislature now.
One thing is certain. Even if gas
is costing much more than it used to
Baxter Springs is not as hard hit as
they are elsewhere. In Columbus,
Joplin, Galena and other towns near
here the gas bills are twice as high
as ours and the gas is not nearly as
good. 1t really begins to look like the
end of natural gas as heating fuel
in this section is near and people who
are building should plan their houses
for the use of coal. There will be no
more cheap gas under present condi-
tions.
A movement is on foot to put q
law through the state legislature en-
powering cities in Kansas to combine
and put in their own pipe lines and
own their own gas plants, with hope
that such a course will provide cheap
gas longer. Until we know more
about the subject, this paper declines
to express its views as to wether such
a plan would work or not.
Meanwhile, pay your gas bills or
your supply will be cut off.