Year: 1876


Sol So $40 so They will put in oil at an early day
The company has oil in all It's downtown stores


The proprietor OF a store with eleven burners at No
LABS Third avenue Is still burning gas As ne closes
hls store early be doesn't make change just
yet but he thinks that the talk OF reduction is al non
sense. when he was paying SO 90 two or three years
age his bill was just as low u rs now ana Is just as
high now as II was then The gas Is so poor anyhow,
be said that consumers have 10 turn on The meier al
It's ful force IN order To supply Their stores some
nights, even with the lights FULLY on, difficult 10
attend to business from want Of sufficient light Tho
oil gives TAR better hgaL


Another storekecper al the corner OF Third
and Eighty hnh street put IN oil lamps at The begin
for the past year. He now expects judging from tho
experience he has had. 10 light his store with OIL
dental expenses Included. for S45 year.


The proprietor OF the house on Third avenue and
Eighty eighth street put in OIL lamps on January ~
and II has since cost him for oil only 81 e6 while his
gas bills for two months previous were an aggregate Of
$40 He stated that business being so dull during the
winter months TINS was necessary saving All his
customers, he states, say that II any fault may be
found, 10 is that there is TOO much hight from inc
lamps


The middle class shopkeepers who do business on
Third speak bitterly OF the mposi
tion OF the gas companies Many OF the tns
line OF travel from Fourteenth 10 Sxiy-hfth street.
burn gas very late night and they afford large reve
npes 10 the gas companes. But II IS strange that
though on Third avenue alone thousands and thousands
of dollars drawn from the pockets OF the consumers
ofght yet the lmpudence OF the gas monopolisis Is
such that the customer has little 10 say
about. the disposal Of the money which he
is forced TO pay for Illuminating his store or resi-





a buccanecr boards his peaceful craft TO rob and
plunder him Of his valuables and money In OF
the stores on Third avenue the gas bills range as high
500 month, but Is curious fact that there is no
regularity IN the method amount Of the gas com
panies' biIs to their victims. man who keeps
large oyster saloon which open all night summer
and winter, stated that he did not understand how II
that the public did not kck against the gigantic
gas fraud. Sad he:-"Now, II may seem strange
that should say what | gong to say; but,
however strange It may be, | certify to IT,
In January do not light my gas until about hve
he
supply OF gas which use rs, OF course, much larger in
January than II Is IN june when do not light my gas
until about o'clock But III be hanged II my bill
for January not less than IL was for June. Now,
don't understand such management as this. know
six oysters in stew when ought TO give him twelve
fifteen he would kick" don't know how my
cubic feet OF gas barn, but the fellow who comes
here TO collect the bills looks mysterious, and
the other fellow who comes to measure the
meter is SO cheeky and surly that lose all patience
with both of them am certain OF one thing, however,
and that is that the gas company which condescends
TO supply me with gas also condescends to rob me- and
believe that every one else who uses gas on Third
avenue is robbed just like myself"


Twentyseyen stores Third avenue havn dropped
gas from the list Of monthly expenses OF their propre
tors and are using kerosene in the majority of cases,
and in few stores paralino or astral oil Some few
large stores which we're formerly liz by tho
Efforts Of tho swindhng gas companies, last evening
had kerosene lamps burning in their windows, and
there seems to be an earnest desire on the part OF the
people Of Third avenue TO combat the monopolies 10
the last To do this they at present agitang the
necessity OF having special rganzaten TO protect





JERSEY cITY's MONOPOLY


After submitting patiently for years 10 the exortons
OF inscriptions gas monopoly the people OF Jersey
City and Hoboken are taking the only step which can
enectualy bring the socaed Jersey City and Hoboken
Gasisht Company to terms. Stores on the main
thoroughiares and private residences are being ex-
cnslvely lighted with oil at saving Of eighty per
cent The Fire Commissioners Of Jersey City
al their latest meeting passed resolution TO cut of
the gas from the houses OF all the nre companies and
Substitute OIL The people OF West Hoboken have cut
loose from the gas company and now have contract





OF $40 lamp per year The taxpayers of Jersey City
paid 500 rear for each street lamp up TO last May
when the gas company under great pressure,
sented 10 reduce tho price 10 $42 Is lamp and that
rate is now in lorcc The subject was discussed with
great warmth few weeks ago by the Board OF Police
Commissioners, some OF whom favored the substitu-
tion OF oil for gas in all the street lamps. very
by oil lamps The gas company dnding itself
frented by the Indignation OF large population havo
thrown sop TO Cerberus at the eleventh hour The
price of has been reduced from So per 600 feet to
81 75 ana The rent of thirteen cents pee month for
meters is no longer to be exacted But this concession
will not suffice wrestcd under such desperate
straits OF an unwilling corporation. The gas bills
still exorbiiant beyond measure, the exorton prac
tised on hundreds or consumers being almost in
credible.


The gas company charged So so per 900 feet up to
July 1872; SO rs up to July 1873 and SO until the
recent practical protest OF the people Still the
pany manages, through its friendly meter, TO keep up
the bills TO their former cxorbitant rate Large con
sumers purchasing oil at two cents pint
taken in bulk OF 100 gallons or in small bulk seven1
teen cents gallon.


]
Fire Department, observed yesterday, "we save
at least 600 to the city by the substitution OF
oil for In our engine houses have long laborcd
10 effect this economy and II only when directed
the attention OF the Commissioners TO some Of our
bills that they resolved to chcckmate the extoron.
There are two engine houses side by side summit
avenue The gas bill for month In was $l6 while
ils nelshbor was taxed s4ss We exaP'ned tho pipes
with the gas company's official was IN vain and no
remedy left but TO cut loose from It altogether"


A wealthy citizen who took active part in bring
ing official frauds 10 light asked his opinion of the
gas monopoly, and he replied with emphasis and de-
termination in this lnconic ashion;-"Why, II Is n
swndle and fraud Of the worst kind. These fellows
making $50 per cent on thor stock. Whenever
had bIl introduced at Trenton % check them they
went down with their pockets Allied and had the bill
killed. This Is, IN tho brieiest form, the opinion of
the entire community. One Of the city physicians,
who member OF the Board of Health, called the at
tcntion OF tho reporter 10 outrageous gas bill fur
nshed him. Hc took vacation tor few weeks
In the summer last year. and when he rc-
turned his gas bill was larger than in any
former season, although not one-Iwentieh OF the guam
THY OF gas consumed indeed, the house was, TO
all intcnts and purposes, closed He demonstrated in
dgnan,ly al the office Of the gas company but received
redress. In several Instances consumer having
two burners lighted charged nearly twice as much as
his ncighbor with greater number Of burners OF the
same register. The testing OF meters is only farce
being performed by an employs OF the company who,
TO protect the interests OF his employers certain in
ninety cases out OF hundred 10 pronounce II all
right aud attribute the increase Of gas to from
wornout burners some other triaing prctexL The
consumer soon tires OF complaining and remains in the
grasp Of the company.


IL should be added that the monopoly did not abolish
the rent on meters until Dili introduced IN the
Legislature by Mr.. Rabe, OF Hoboken compel II TO
do Al every session OF the New Jersey Legislature
for the past ten years bills introduced for the
lief OF the people from this graspng corporation, but
they were invariably defeated by moneyed lobby.
One bill introduced few years ago passed the Senate
but was defeated by the agents of the company when
II reached the House. IL provided Tor the appointment
Of gas Inspector by the Governor Two bills IN rela
ton to gas companies pending in the present Legs
ialure


CORRUPTION IN POLICE COURTS.


Tho Board OF FINANCE OF Jersey City have been In