Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-16
|3ES GAS Problem
SOLVED IN REPORT.
possibility of rs or soc Rate
Threatened by Tempor'z'ng
Policy, Says Sheppard
.reARs RISE TO s1.5o

The possibility of seventy five or
I,hty. cent gas here in the tuture II
- ..,ored by'Council's temporizing gas
''. sovs Howard X. Sheppard
m,mber of the municip"' gus ''
mission. . oe rr;ce in.
40 n relief to the u. g. }. Co''
g. 80 sneprard declares. do not ta.e into
~. .,a.rot;on the broad policy laid down
.ho ,oas commission and may uiti-
,,.lv result in gas costing the con-
.nmer $3.50 or $1.75 thousand CUBIC
feet. s., mode II clenr that he
Mr, r.,ommcnting on the gas SITUATION
( was nriyate citizen. AS member, OF
as mmission which decided unan-
the i'm on thp renort. he said the gas
moasH a,a,, ron be solved only by COM
plv.Ionsive study of the report.
preGnnnc;I has passed an ordinance IN
,Ing rho price from 81 to Si.lO'
efea nor Moore now has the ordinance
MI has called public hearings on the
/, s,b,ect for Tuesday and wednesday
next.
u,gb,y Technical Document
,u ann only say that the report OF the
- Commission was highly technical
yss ySasns,mSnt." said Mr.. Sheppard. AS a
u'mher of the commission. l earnestly
m. ,,rse the public and officials to study
snS act on the report ms n whole.
,,It will be-. to say the least. untor-
A,,.to II only ono or two points, such
.u ,ho oucstion of the r. 7. L. versus
ssndcnower, are taken into considera-
.;"n This report was the unanimous
.,~n s."nclusion of all the members Of the
sommission. There was not single
.o;nt In the end on which We differed.
"Of course, in the beginning there
.sre n few points over which. in our
sounsels. we differed. but finally every
th;ng was worked out no that we were
sh,s IN prescnt n unanimous report.
HAs a private citizen | will say that
m matter how much of n palliative is
rSed no matter how generous that pal
istiye Is to the company. the gas prob
lam connot be solved unless the report
. Al The commission rs whole Is fairly
s.udied and considered and used as n
basis.
at is not becoming for me to com.
ment on the action Of Council, but |
nav say TINT | feel there are n great
NAM subjects in the report which
neither Council nor the general pub
m. oprarently. has fully senscd.
Question Centers About Il. T. u.
ut would appear that most of the
Ascussi0n has centered about the ques-
zion Of $50 b. II. L. and has not got
much beyond that. The matter OF
amortization, for example, and the
INSULATION of the whole question in
a broad and comprehensive manner
certainly has not been fully senssd.
"The commission considered this
mpstion of amortization particularly
and the L. G. l. Co.'s contentious, In
the premises, and reached our own con-
elusion. The depreciation during the
next few years will amount TO very
considerable sum. and therefore the
subject is one of vital importance to
the public, especially as the amortiza-
ton has to be met out of the revenues
+ hOm gas
"As n matter of several million
dollars is involved the question should
be considered in obermanent and not
makeshift way. Another question is
the possibility of developing the gas
plant for the manufacture of coal gas.
This would lead to the production Of
coke and in these days, when the prices
d anthracite coal are sky high, coal
gas and its consequent coke should have
! serious consideration.
4 with improved construction coal
gas could be made and put into the
containers at cost of from eighteen
to twenty four cents n thousand cubic
feet. Therefore it will be seen that it
would be wise for all to consider the
ultimate results of what we may do in
handling the gas question.
Again speaking as n private citizen.
! have no hesitancy in saying that il
The policy laid down by the commission
Is followed out 1t will lead to gas cost =
ING only seventy five or eighty cents a
thousand cubic feet. This Is my esti-
mate of what it would cost the public
On conservative basis in n few years.
II, however, we go ahead and re-
sot to palliatives We may expect that
at the termination of the lease the
price will be between 81 80 and 81 .75."