The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-07-23
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GAS RlT[||:F||||G|I'I |
President Leopold Of : Y B ;
M A Says That's the
Logical Course

M AsSays That's tne
Logical Course
When the Mcnnnglhsia Valley
Traction Company announced that
1t was going % ask the Public ser
VICE Commission permissioa to;I
raise the case rates here and NJ
cidentally give less gas at heI |
hieher price, the Monougahela
Valley Traction Company broke
open 8 hornets nest Of ADVERSE
.prblic sentiment
This Is not tho first Tina that
substantial increase IN gas rates
IhaJe been asked BY the company,
and other. Increases have been
granted without any marked ot'|
organi1ed protest on the part o.
the patient and long suffering u-
tfmafe consumer IN this section
Z may have been presumed by me |
Monongahela Valley Traction
Company that the Fairmont public
would take the new demands N
'that same old docile and kindly
spirit that marked their attttude at
other times, taking the higher ptic-
les and less gas opposition %
merely one Of those incidental de-
|tails Of attlictioV inflicted UPON
the general public IN chs day and
aga. II this be the case, the
Menongahela Valley Traction Com
pany presumed fsr too mnch. The
storm Of public wrath which has
an ready broken ndicates very
clearly that the lonongahela va
ley Traction Company s evidently
going to face real, organized oppo-
.sition from the Fairmont public
when the question, comes up Tor e
hearing before lie Pubic sstTicei
Commission on September 3.
The demand Of the Mononsa aele
Valley Traction Comp q going
10 afford the ,neWly
/ Chamber ofs Commerce. sII3ee w.
Leadership Of Geotse 81 fats6n Aln y!
Thomas D. Council. an excellent.
chance to show It's hand for the
general welfare and common good
Of the community. At least this
g the opinion Of Bert S. Leopold.
president Of che Business Mems
Association Of this city.
In an interview with a West
virginian reporter this morning.
Emf. Ledoold declared that he.
would not feel at liberty to cal q
! special meeting OF the organiEar
ton to take any action on the mat
ter, unless It was the desire Of the
board Of directors and It was his
personal opinion that the Cham
ber Of Commerce Is the logical. or
ganfzation to start the protest
movement and that then other or
ganizations would fall IN Line 70
back up the commerce body.
Later he called up several man-
bers Of the Business Mems board
OF directors and they were OF the
same opinion as Mr. Leopold IN re-
gard to the Chamber OF Commerce
being the logical body to start the
organized protest
The members Of the association
with whom have talked, /" said
| Mr. Leopold, "ne Of the opinion
that the Chamber Of Commere'
snould take up the matter Of pro-
test first. The Chamber Of Com-,
merce Is supposed to be the or
ganization that represents the
Epeople OF this city generally, and
from this organization should
come the first action In regard to
! the gas rate Increase matter. OF
course, i the Chamber Of Com
merce should show an inclination
not 70 take $ne Iead N me matlsf @
Il m1gnt 20 tnG ae bQsMess 80 aeas =.
Assoc,alon Soa 10 4sat aase hes y" sss y ~,
.. ~. sg sed PtSlr. tSon o sss .S.1; f csiS
iss ins to at tate the matter matte IN IN IN our
own organization.