Ledger, The (Newspaper) - October 11, 1889, Warren, Pennsylvania Y VOLUME 41. WARREX OCTOBER 11, 1889. NUMBER 9. ON A STRIKE BOYCOTTING ON A GRAND The People of Four Cities Strike Against MONSTER MASS MEETINGS HELD IK AND WARREN Protesting Against Increased Prices For Fuel mEREB times since gas has been used for fuel has Warren had op- foi competing the first was in 1885, when Hon. L. D. Wetmore proposed to see that our citizens were provided with gas at lair He had the had the gas land and he could build the A charter was for and wells were put ditches were dug and the pipe ing One morning the new company ceased work and it was shortly discovered that it had merged into the Pennsylvania A year afterward the citizens of the town proposed to build a co-operative line; something over was subscribed in land contracts placed for The people's company pointed a committee to examine the books of the old company and the report ot that without the scheme and worth of stock transferred to the Pennsylvania with a contract to the effect that gas should be furnished at a 40 per reduction for a period of five viding gas could be produced in such quantities as not to make those prices un- reasonably The people thought they had accomplished all thay and probably no question would have ever been raised had the leaders in the ment not obtained large blocks of the Pennsylvania A year later another effort was to form a new company on the co-operative basis if but with the especial point in view of furnishing gas to manufacturers at not to exceed Pittsburg Contracts circulated and signed to the number of about representing nearly quite The largest consumers could not be induced to sign the making the market the proposed reduced so small that it was with difficulty that capitalists could be in- to put their money into the scheme in opposition to so powerful a corporation as the Pennsylvania gas Finally the parties who held choice gas land and bad encouraged the renounced their former wanted a fancy price for their and that scheme fell leaving the Pennsylvania company an absolute monopoly of the business and at perfect liberty to charge any rate they There is no tion that had the people of this town ex- the proper spirit and encouraged the move by signing the contracts without being and even and had the six hundred larger con- who refused to sign the offered their support to the the would have been and the people would now be burning gas at per It was not and the screws have been turned the rates increased and the who refused to aid a competing line two years ago are the ones who cry the thou And the same state of affairs may be ex- of the water business ere long. The Ledger has fought these things with all its It has warned the people of the and was laughed Now that the crisis lias come and there is but one the people must do the best they can. The only thing we regret is that the faithful few must suffer with the a pointing a committee to confer with similar committees from Corry and and devise a plan of action to resist the increase in The band was called the house was Mr. Mintzer acted as a committee consisting of Messrs. Frazine and Muse was appointed to draft appropriate Pending the report of the remarks were made by mayor Mr. Sherman and Mr. of mayor of reverend W. A. George Higgins and honorable L. D. of The committee made their re- port as The Pennsylvania Gas a corporation existing under the laws of sylvania for the purpose of supplying Natural for to the citizens of Warren and about three years entered into an with the Citizens Gas Company then being to supply the citizens of Warren with gas at a certain rate The said Pennsylvania Gas Com- not regarding its said has notified its that on the first day of November 1883. it will increase its present rate of charges about twenty-five per which paid increase is unjust and unreasonable and even the present rates therefore be it That the chairman of this meeting appoint a committee of fifteen of which the or in his absence the assistant shall be a member and which committee are hereby directed to take under advisement and report at a future meeting to be called by the or in his absence the assistant all matters relating to the supply of fuel gas to the residents of this Borough and immediate To confer either as a whole or by sub with like committees appointed at Erie and Corry to de- vise some plan or plans whereby the expense of fuel to the inhabitants of this Borough and vicinity may be permanently and to report the same at an adjourned meeting at this place in one week from to-night or sooner at the call of the chairman of this to appoint all necessary sub committees to assist in this w 3. W. N. M. S. P. J. H. J. The chairman appointed the following John Shirley Frank P. Fred S. E. M. S. Van P. J. John M. George E. T. James J. L. Ale Calvin i At the request of a large number cf This committee was instructed to meet on the stage after the at which time five gentlemen were selected as a committee to meet like committees from the other cities at Corry Thursday The meeting then adjourned to meet next Wednesday or at the call of the The meeting was quite interesting and the eral sentiment being that they would com- bine with the other refuse to burn the gas and go back to and The sub-committee appointed as gates consisted of Messrs. J. W. P. S. E. James P. J. D. and J. L. Me The sub committee appointed as delegates from Warren to attend the meeting at left on the mail At Corry a general meeting was held and the situation discussed at Finally a joint committee was appointed as L. alternate L. W. O. F. H. B. W. C. W. S. E. This committee was instructed to wait upon the Pennsylvania gas company with the proposition to return to last scale of and to make the price for a No. 5 burner more for one store or office than another in the same and to allow the use of the No 3 burner at the old This committe has called for meetings to be held Saturday night at which time papers will be circulated among the people pledging themselves to take out the gas if the company refuses the terras Similar meetings have been held in Corry and where the determination and enthusiasm is even stronger than that in The people tff Warren seem determined to resist this increase in prices bj a refusal to use the They believe the prices asked are unreasonable and that the con- ditions have not changed to such an extent as to make a higher scale Pennsylvania the con- have so changed and give as a reason for the the claim that gas and gas territory is that the stock has not jet paid back to the holders only about 45 per cent of the investment and that during a period covering six 3 gas can be supplied a sufficient length of time to get their out of the business j and a rate of interest on the amount This claim will take two or three years more of undiminished supply nd These are their reasons for making the advance in They claim that the contract mada the company does not prevent the and that the change in con- ditions fully warrant it. The question then that is the statement of the company the supply of gas so materially decreased a8 to make the advance in prices a it is it is but fair to say the company are justified in raising the If on the other the statement is then the increased price is simple ex- and should be resisted to the bitter It is thought that a sufficient number of people in the different towns will sign contracts refusing to burn the gas so that the income of the company will be reduced and the value of the stock de- creased to such an extent that the holders will be compelled to overcome the decision of the directors and return the old In is is that about consumers hare already signed such an and in Erie and Corry nearly every consumer will while in history has demonstrated that not more than 50 per can be counted One of the officers of the company stated to a Ledger representative thai it was the earnest of the company that the people will put in He claimed that with judicious use the meter system ould cost even less than the old Tn Buffalo the meter is used exclusively and gives the best of satisfaction at 25 cen Is per thousand In Jamestown several meters have been in use tor a long time at the same rate and the people are One gentleman in Warren has had a meter on his heating stove during the past three years and during this time he has paid for his gus by the He finds that his ing stove consumes from to 000 per and used all and even more gas than he He claims that he could materially reduce this amount which at the net rate of 19 cents per thousand would save him This statement is given for the benefit of those who Jack information regarding the meter The people have this matter in their own to a great and if a united effort is made they may either compel tbe company to to their less of anything or bust them The boycott is a dangerous and deadly THE FOR BALLOT REFORM THE AUSTRALIAN BALLOT WORKINGS Removed to the Ronse King Evidence Young the man who some weeks since was so badly cut up and hacked to pieces by his old man is still The expense to Warren county in keeping him at Grand Valley was about per therefore the county have had him removed to the Bouse hospital at The question as to wheather he will live or die has not yet been fully His wounds are said to be still Bailey remains behind the bars in Warren the court deeming it best to await the result of his wounds before trying Evidence of the most stratling nature is said to have recently been discovered against the aged who has maintained from the first that the cutting was doue in self It is now claimed that on the evening prior to the fight that he told his daughter that she need not worry about a he would give her one that would completely fill the It is also known that he ground his jack knife only a few hours before the fracas took Titusville Herald Cuba's Dangerous Oct. Cuba which made such a scare at the time of the Johnstown is again attracting and fears for Its safety are ex- The rains of the past week and swollen condition of smaller streams does not tend to allay the feeling of and the people think it ought to be done away George T. an engineer of this that the which Tne holds back tons of a old and it is a question of time wuen it will give In tLu below the damage done by such a liberation of water would be incalculable and entail a loss of V Matter in Which Even Honest Man is the Proposed System I F HE Australian system of v I Is called because first used in i. has been for several years in successful operation with in and It has also been adopted in where it goes into effect in 1889. principal ob- are to prevent bribery and to place all candidates upon an equality before the and to undermine the dangerous powers of political The system will be readily understood by reference to the The upon entering tne polling turns to his right at the point marked where he from two election officers selected from opposing political a single ballot or a single set of ballots according to the local custom of On the back is indorsed a stamp or sufficient and only sufficient to identify the ballot as and on the face are plainly printed the names of the citizens assistant burgess Mintzer called a they claim that the old wells have fallen off public meeting at Library Hall last Wednesday evening for the purpose of is and the new ones are so small that it matter of doubt as to whether natural great would then be able surreptitiously away an official This could be pre- pared for a bribed the proof of its use being his production of a second official That be similarly prepared and and so The printing and distribution of ballots ia a most important part of election lett to private in- as does the funning out of aoy other public to breed ion and build up It makes a for irresponsible organizations which come to wield autocratic power over the political party they claim to and in through almost military in its are by an inner circle of As ballots can neither bo printed nor distributed without and may not be faithfully handled unless trusty workers are rewarded with more than an election day the ation undertaking the work has a ble if not reasonable claim for money from its beneficiaries and official patronage from its It is the necessity of raising these funds and these that justifies gives color of contributions to what in truth are sales of excuses the ion of official patronage to the distribution of the provides ample cover tor collecting a corruption through at the polls a convenient nel for disbursing the in bribes And as corruption funds masked THE MAIL NOTES AND COMMENTS FROM candidates for each with a tion of their respective political after this for 11 el ur for Harvey Jersey of labor are seeking pledges from state and legislative dates that they will favor ballot reform after the Australian Having received his ballot the voter en- ters one of the booths back of the secluded from he pre- pares the ballot by placing in the blank column a cross opposite the name of each candidate for whom he desires to if he by writing the names of of his own nomination in place of those already If there are several candidates for the same kind of as commissioners in the sample ballot or presidential and he wishes to vote the ticket of his he places the cross under the name ot the or draws it through the space in the blank column allotted to the party's which signifies that he votes for each candidates named in that in the sample a cross under the word or through the first two spaces of the blank column to the is one vote each for Allanson Jacobs and Harvey After preparing his ballot by indicating every candidate for he the voter folds it in such a manner as to con- ceal the face and expose the and withdrawing from the gives the ballot to the who it by the endorsement as It is then de- posited in the box and the voter passes out at the gate marked From the time he receives his ballot un- til he casts the voter is permitted to have no communication with any one but the election and with them only for official and only election officers and persons actually engaged in voting are ever admitted within the Upon proof of inability from physical in- or a voter call into the booth ers appointed ond sworn for tue put to nid him in preparing bis and when a ballot is accidently or defaced it must be exchanged ior a clean The importance of the latter may not at once be but to secure every ballot delivered to a voter must be either cast or This explains the necessity for indorsing But for the ment a blank resembling a ballot might be cast by a who in demands for legitimate the pi ice of independence is and the ition becomes more indifferent to party principle as its monopoly of ical power Born of the of volunteer machinery for preparing and distributing it develops into a powerful in the hands of political enables them to buy and sell the sold the Roman poor men rarely obtain political advancement without assuming obligations to be redeemed by official and the obstacles to unallied candidacy have become so great as often to prevent and always to discourage pendent This political monster would be destroyed by the Australian If the state assumed its functions of providing there would be no necessity for at the and the excuse for as well as the best mode of corruption would Assessments could not then levied upon for when at the polls are not re- machines can neither serve nor in- Nor would nominations be for when candidates stand upon an equality in to election and there is no opportunity for bribing merely as have nothing worth while organizations as representatives of principles be approached through commercial Trafficking in office would be replaced by political the power of the chine by the voice of the To this system it is objected that by re- quiring nominations to be made in advance of elections it denies the constitutional right of voters to select candidates from the whole body of From such authorities as Judges McCrary and aud the highest courts of Massachusetts and New it may be safely inferred that a restriction of the franchise to candidates nominated short time before election is a reasonable regulation and not an but the interference is not since the system allows each voter to reject all candidates and write new names upon his It is that by requiring the blind and illiterate to expose their vote to election officer's secrecy of the ballot is as to Under our present tem voting is not it was for that reason rejected by the British parliament and the Australian system The object now is to secure but in aiming at that we are confronted with a class of voters to whom exposure of their ballots to somebody is and an exception must be made in their favor to prevent their Happenings of Interest Detailed by TV T ORTH Oct. Samuel Farmer had his left hand smashed and two bones by a yankey windless last Saturday at Dutchman Smith of a s the happy father of a girl which arrived ast graduate of Jefferson medical lectured Monday and Tuesday evenings at the Evangelical The doctor is a missionary from Siain Clarendon gas company has et a contract for the drilling of another HS old school house has been orn One of the new ones is com- peted and the other one will be John O'Neill is making a vast im- to his residence on Main street the addition of a W. Dalrymple sold his oil and 12 wells to W. H. Misses Lemtner have opening this and display of fall hats and trimmings ire It is one of the most com- plete stocks over brought into Rev. Crosby ol Garland is ing friends in Charles Bruce aiter a four weeks visit with friends in returned Boston reliable clothing A. J. in the post office is ng a rushing business in clothing and Mr. Wiener has a very ine stock of goods which ho is offering at very low and the people of this can not get equal goods at equal prices in the HEAR HEAR Another to be Held at library Hull Pursuant to the instructions of the last meeting and nt the request of the joint committees which met Thursday at I hereby call for a meeting of the citizens of be held at Library hall day evening Oct. 12, at 8 for the purpose of hearing the report of said com- and taking such other action re- garding the gas question as may be A. The Supreme Court of Pittsburgh on Monday handed down an opinion in the case of appeal from the judgement of the Court of Warren which is of great interest to J. H. the contracted in writing with one Chaffee for the purchase of a house and lot in paid a. small amount of purchase took session procured a policy of insurance for upon the house payable to himself or representative and owing debts in excess of the value of his estate exclusive of the insurance The house burned shortly after the death ot Bartlett and the company paid the to Mr. H. administrator of who acting under advise of counsel held that the lund belonged to Bartlett's his account stating that he held said but did not charge himself with the Creditors employed H. J. who was of the opinion that tbe creditors were entitled to payment out of the fund in preference to the Exceptions were filed to the administrators account and the same was referred to for who filed an opinion giving the money to the heirs to the exclusion of creditors which the court The creditors applied to the supreme court where tbe case was argued for the creditors by S. T. whom Mr. Muse with and by D. I. for the heirs The court declared that the insurance money be- longed to tbe estate of Bartlett and like all other property of a decedent is assets for reversed the auditor and court below and directed the fund to be distributed in payment of This was the first time tbe point had arisen in Pennsylvania and the result is doubtless gratifying to the creditors as well as their A Vix As tbe season for fall and winter suits George Ball is prepared to meet the demands of the people not only with goods but with a reduction in prices that is All goods in i the merchant department are i marked and every suit is The stock to select from is and quite Now is the time to buy as the fall trade is setting 6-tf
