loss of unpaid gas bills was exceedingly small, while in the other the problem of collecting for all the gas sold is a very difficult one, all due to the different character of the population supplied.

In Coldwater, where the number of inhabitants has been about the same for the past ten years, there has been no chance to increase gas sales through increase in population, and, after the well to do and middle classes were all obtained as consumers, it seemed necessary to supply the very poorest people if a greater consumption of gas was to be attained.

There is no truer axiom than that of Mr. Schaddelee's, "it is better not to sell your product, than to sell it and not get your money," but I take it that no one, on the other hand, will dispute the fact that the stockholders of a gas company desire every foot of gas sold for which the pay is reasonably sure of being obtained, and proceeding on this assumption in the present instance, the question was how to obtain and hold as gas consumers a certain percentage of our families, while at the same time feeling perfctly safe as to the payment of the gas bill's. Our competing municipal lighting plant had a rule, but seldom enforced, requiring a deposit of $2.00 from such applicants as might be deemed doubtful and I understand that is about what is required by some of the smaller gas plants in the state. Now every gas man knows, as stated in this paper, that before there is a chance for a settlement in the case of a delinquent gas bill, a two months' gas bill has been run up. For a liberal consumer, a deposit of this size is manifestly inadequate and in case the gas has to be shut off, there is lost not only the difference between the deposit and a two months' gas bill, but the consumer as well. The indications were that if we were to require an adequate deposit we could not gain as consumers 50 per cent of the families not then supplied and it has since transpired that families are using from $3.50 to $5.00 worth of gas per month who never at any one time have $5.00 which they would spare as a deposit.

I should think it rather difficult to estimate in advance what a customer will use, as is suggested in this paper, and then to double that estimate as a basis for the amount of a deposit, and

I should say that it certainly required a person of tact to call on that customer later and ask for an increase of the deposit, as the first thought of the custo.ner will be that this request is born of a fear on the part of the company that he is about to default in the payment of his next gas bill. It would seem also, in the case of two adjacent families, that if the liberal consumer were compelled to deposit twice as large an amount as the other who chanced to be a small user, it would lead to endless explanation and ill feeling, and the less friction we have with the public the better.

In our case we decided to give the prepayment meter a trial and bought a sample meter as an experiment several years ago, gradually installing more of them after having become favorably impressed with the first one. As Mr. Schaddelee says, we had no sooner installed a few than many other consumers wanted the new style of meter. Bearing in mind the increased cost of this kind of meter, we adopted the rule that we would not set these meters for consumers who did not use $1.25 worth of gas per month, or $15.00 worth per year. This gave us a chance to offer a prepayment meter to a liberal gas user who was unknown or poor pay, while we could demand a deposit of this kind of person who would not agree to use that much per month and we would not be losing profitable business if he refused to make the deposit and failed to become a consumer. We were always careful to impress upon the last mentioned applicant the fact that whenever he would agree to use the stipulated amount of gas, he could have the coveted meter.

To make a long story short, we have at present nearly 350 prepayment meters in use and find that they help to silence the chronic kicker, whom we have with us always; that they collect the gas bills of the dead beat and the party with whom you are unacquainted; make a liberal consumer of the person who would not be able to pay a large gas bill at the end of the month, and the extremely poor, who very rarely have over a dollar at any one time. Our losses from uncollected gas bills for the past three years have been as follows:

1908

1909

35-100 of 1% ..28-100 of 1%

1910 (Last 4 months estimated) 4-10 of 1%

During this period (the last 4 months of 1910 of course being estimated) our sales have averaged 30,000,000 cubic feet per year and we have at present 1625 consumrs. As the population of Coldwater is 6,000, we have sold 5,000 feet of gas per inhabitant per annum and whether we are selling all the gas possible or not can only be judged by comparing with other towns in the country of the same population and very few industries.

Regarding the objections to the prepayment meter as given in this paper, no one can deny that there is an element of danger in its use, especially in the case of the cheaper rooming houses, although we have been so lucky as never to have had an accident. In such cases we impress upon the user the danger of the gas going out in the night and urge that only one person be allowed to put money in the meter, while at the same time in these places we install meters which will not entirely shut off the gas on a moment's notice, but will give a small amount of gas for some time after the gas paid for has beeen exhausted.

The expense of sending one man to read the meters and another man to collect the money seems to me to be unnecessary. I would not keep in my employ any man who had shown himself dishonest even in the smallest matter and as the two men know that the scheme is devised because the management does not feel it can trust either one of them to do the work alone, what must be their feelings? And if they know that is the estimation in which they are held, what is to prevent collusion on their part, if they wish to be dishonest? If you do not have employes that you can trust, the sooner you replace them the better. The man who collects from our meters has been with the company for 15 years. If he should begin to appropriate any of the money, the fact that transients and frequent movers from house to house always have this kind of meter, results in one or more of the meters being brought in nearly every day and this is especially true the first of each month. If they were being under-read that fact would be instantly detected and an immediate investigation made. That dimes and nickels which consumers have vainly used in an endeavor to cheat the company

are brought in to us each month, I also consider a pretty good indication that no money is being withheld.

Regarding the difficulty of a sliding scale of prices, our meters are set at the proper figure for the rate allowed our large consumers whose yearly consumption is known and for those people who occasionally use in one month sufficient gas to entitle them to a rebate from the regular price-and there are only a few we place in envelopes properly labeled the amount of such rebate and keep them at the office until called for; no one ever yet having failed to call for his envelope, each one leaving with a kindly feeling at having the actual money paid over to him by the company.

As stated in this paper we have found it is sometimes the case that there is not as large a consumption with the prepayment meter as with the regular meter that had previously been in use. Especially is this true in the case where a meter of this kind is installed at the request of a consumer who complains of excessive gas bills, but eventually it gradually increases to about the old consumption. At any rate you have a friend of the company in place of a knocker and if the consumer really has been wasteful of the gas when using the regular meter, I think there is no gas company but would like to see that sort of thing rectified. We wish a family to use all the gas it can consume economically, so that a prospective customer will be advised it is the thing for him to put in, instead of being told that it will prove too expensive. As a matter of fact, our prepayment meters show a larger consumption per meter per year than do our regular meters, even though all the stores, factories, hotels and most of our other large consumers use the regular

meter.

As to the nondescript contents of some of the money boxes, we do occasionally find beer and bread checks, but the meter reader asks for their redemption on the spot and we have never yet had it refused. The explanation always is that the consumer, not having a quarter in change, used the bread check instead, with the expectation of redeeming it when the meter reader calls. Regarding counterfeit money, etc., our collection for the the past three years consists of one Hawaiian and one Uruguayan

coin and nineteen lead or mutilated American quarters. We never had but one money box broken open, the instance being that of a bell boy at a hotel, but he was apprehended in less than 24 hours after he had taken the money. The assertion that a prepayment meter wears out more quickly than a regular meter has not proved true according to our experience, but the make we are using has in fact shown more lasting qualities than our regular meters. Regarding the regular meters thrown out of commission by the introduction of the prepayment meter, if the increase in number of consumers will not take care of them, they can be sent to the factory and fitted with a prepayment attachment, but care should be taken to get a good one.

When considering methods of securing payment for delinquent gas bills, the prepayment meter proves a valuable aid. Instead of shutting off the consumer's gas supply, a prepayment meter, set at a price 25 to 50 cents per thousand more than the regular rate, may be installed, and not only a satisfied consumer, using his usual amount of gas, be retained, but the delinquent gas bill gradually be collected as well. This seems to me to be one of the very good points in favor of this kind of meter and in Coldwater we have at present no less than twelve of these meters busily at work collecting old merchandise bills. I do not think we have had 6 cases in the past three years where we have been compelled to shut off gas on account of delinquent gas bills. Our losses have always occurred through the consumer's moving away. The part taken by the prepayment meter in preventng delinquent gas bills in the first place and again in collecting them as a last resort, saves much tme and expense on the part if a collector. I understand that at South Haven where prepayment meters are used exclusively, they consider the added investment more than offset by the saving in not having to make out bills, keep a consumers' ledger, pay a collector or lose any delinquent bills. Personally, if I were to start a new plant in a small town, I should not be averse to installing prepayment meters entirely, if the franchise permitted a liberal minimum. charge.