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inue eks- -. I Can, YOU lave 1Suits (;roups of exedent idid wvearng the tailoring lieni. -'Ille mu and are $24.75 asChapyNow as -You Could- Before the War?9 Me Iincd with lie det.ails of ifluiav exclu- worth up to $34.75 (1ERTAINLY NOT! -Neither can we. So we have finally had to ask the Public Utilities CommÉission fo r rates that will yield more in- corne. This application to the Commission bas.been put off and put off. We have tried to get along on the same old rates for our service that you paid away back before the war. But we simply cannot do it any longer wit ho ut letting the service slump.0 Ltijl(. P>oiret " itli ja'-kets, m4475 appro<ing .e featured %vool plaids Sale offer- ction e ~j~I 111$ IèVe have been- very proud of. our rate record. In sp)ite of war prices, and rnounting costs of everv kind, we have kept the rates down. A mod- erate sur-charge on the electricai power rate, 4 slight modification of the -wholesale gas rate, and a moderate Increase ini the beating rate have been the only in- creases. Ail through the war and up to now, bornes, offices, stores and the like bave had our elcc-. trie and gas service at the old rates of 1914. The pow- er sur-charge was dropped last May. Since then al cuistomers have been on the 1914 rates, cxcept a dozen or fiftcen very large users of gas in manufacturing, and our heating customers; they stili pay a littie nmore than they used to. You know from- personal expenience that niobody can get along niow on th e price he received in 1914 for bis labor, bis services, his merchandise or his nmufactured produet. You have to get more in- 0 corne to cover your increase expenses. And nearly everybody is getting it. Our situation is no different from yours except in oneC respect: wc are not, getting more nioney to mecet the higlier costs. But your food and clothing bave not gone up any higher than our omterials and labor. Just sec how these costs have risen since 1,914, whie rates are the same as then. Puic goal, an essentiald for an electric, gas, ùl 'Iny other kind of a plant, now costs ncarly three timres the price of 1914. Oul for gas niaking bas alo trebled in price and the quality bas declined. Tb@ 1,'icc of gas generator fuel bas more than doubled.- And so on for practically everything wc buy, from pa- per and penoils to poles and power lîuusù e-qipneat Our materials and labor costs for this year (1920) will be ail of $700,000 more than they were in 1911). That is a conservativce estirnate. It is based on the experience of the first four mnonths ol this vear and prices are stili going up. It ineans a 1920 inerease Ù1 $700,000 on top of a $500,000 increase in the saine items i 1919-an increase of $1,200,00 for inaterial and labor in two years. No busnsca pay these 19020 prices for what it buys, sýell its produet at 1914 prices,'and stay on ita feet in healthy growth. To keep our ser- ,vice up to statidard and provide for thle growing needs of-his conmiunity, we sinply must have the rates w'hich the Publie lTtilitirs Comm~ission bas heen asked for. Our customers here and elsewhere, we believe, are fair-mldnded and are for fair play. The fgcts of our situation are befort you. Wilien you face them, squarely, we believe you will agree that we are entitled te inecased rates. e -ice SrviceCornpany of Northern IMinois mm2 - âàèwïoëàwà mmu"Rmý