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x3 39324 3 FAG! finally had to ask the Public Utilities Commission for rates that will yield more income. This application to the Commission has 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 without letting the service slump. CERTAINLY NOT! 'Neither can we. So we have We have been very proud of our rate record. in spite of war prices, and mounting costs of every kind, we have kept the rates down. A moderate surcharge on the electrical power rate, a slight modification, of the wholesale gas rate, and a moderate increase in the heating rate have been the only increases. All through the war and up to now. homes, offices, stores and the like have had our electric and gas service at the old rates of 1914. The power surcharge was dropped last May. Since then all customers have been on the 1914 rates. ex- cept a dozen or fifteen very large users of gas in man- ufacturing, and our heating customers; they still pay a little more than they used to. You know from personal experience that nobody can get along now_ on the price he received in 1914 for his labor, his services, his merchandise or his manufactured product. You havie tO‘get more income tocover your increased expenses And nearly everybody is getting it. Our situation is no different from yours except in one reSpect; we are not getting more money to meet the higher costs. But your food and clothing have not gone up any higher than our materials and labor. Just see how those costs have risen since 1914. while rates are the same as then. Public Service Company ‘ . , . .; p a : , . w v Way We , "pnfimfinmg .gfiifi ~ Coal, an essential for an electric, gas, or any other kind of a plant. now costs nearly three times the price of 1914. Oil for gas mak- ing has also trebled in price and the quality has de-_ clined. The price of gas generator fuel has more than doubled. And so on {or practically everything we buy, from paper and pencils to poles and power house equipment. Our materials and labor costs for this year (1920) will be all of $700,000 more than they were in 1919. That is a conservative estimate. It is based on the experience of the first four months of this year and prices are still go ing up. It means a 1920 increase of $700,000 on top of a $500,000 increase in the same items in 1919â€"an increase of- $1,200,000 for material and labor in two years. No business am pay these 1920 prices for what it buys, sell its products at 1914 prices, and stay on its feet in healthy growth. To keep our serviceup to the standard and pmyide‘fordu gar-133$ it)! this community. we simply must have the rates which the Public Utilities Commission has been asked for. believe, are fairminded and are for fair play. The facts ofour situation a'rebeforeyou. When you facethemsqmrely, webelieve you will agree tha we are entitied to increased rate; ~ Pasquesi B 1031 Fort Shernlu residents and husi that the) hiin‘ Mu makmg the mum possible strum- then‘fure twin 1!. x Phone 227 4‘0“ J Plan! New The Northw ()n the “n In \0‘ And who! “I Hull Ihl kmut . All 0 Hm 'I'HIH'H I1 .ng I I‘rlu \\ hlh M 01 BETWHJN m “l S 0 w \14 V)‘ ”.1 Everybo it make: sweetes Calume pericctl keepmg iallures siblc. Bl The W You sav save wn Callior /]’1'H\l l‘ RI Luriy hAR I ”1‘