HARBURGER CHARGES BRIBERY Conspiracy Nation

Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6 Num. 96
HARBURGER CHARGES BRIBERY

Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6 Num. 96
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("Quid coniuratio est?")

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HARBURGER CHARGES BRIBERY
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Says the Gas Companies Control Legislation
at Albany and Throttle Relief Bills
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[New York Times, February 3, 1904]

Julius Harburger, Under Sheriff and Tammany leader in the Tenth
District, declared that the gas companies control legislation and
throttle relief bills, in a speech which he made last evening at
a meeting of the Tammany Club of the Tenth District at 42 Second
Avenue. Sheriff Erlanger(?) was another speaker at the meeting
over which Judge Boesch presided.

Mr. Harburger said that while a member of the State Legislature,
from 1898 to 1901, he introduced bills for the reduction of the
price of gas and also to compel companies to give better and
purer gas. None of the measures was passed because the Gas
Committees of the Legislature were packed by members supposed to
be in the pay of the corporations, while a horde of lobbyists
thronged the chamber, reinforced by the best legal talent which
the companies could employ.

"Some members of the Legislature," declared Mr. Harburger, "are
nominated and elected for the especial purpose of protecting the
interests of the corporations in whose pay they are."

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THE LIGHTING MONOPOLY
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To the Editor of The New York Times:
[February 4, 1904]

Commenting on the remarks made by John De Witt Warner before the
Acorn(?) Club concerning home rule for the city, published in
your edition of the 1st inst., in alluding to the matter of gas
and electricity, "that it was only a matter of time when all the
companies serving the city would be in one vast combination
unless the citizens of New York stepped in and demanded the
control of their own affairs in their own way." It is a singular
fact that a gentleman so well versed in matters pertaining to
this city should not be better informed as to its gas and
electric lighting.

As a matter of fact, for several years the Consolidated Gas
Company has practically owned and now controls every gas and
electric light company of Manhattan. A more outrageous monopoly
never existed. There is scarcely a consumer that cannot bear
witness to the imposition practiced upon the patrons of gas and
electricity by this octopus and the impossibility of obtaining
redress, however obvious the imposition is. If their demands are
not complied with, a threat is made to cut the lighting off, in
which case the sufferer must either go back to kerosene and dips
or submit.

It seems impossible that an intelligent community permits this
wrong to exist. The Legislature during its present session, it is
hoped, will come to the relief of the people; if not, the subject
promises to be made a leading one at the next election of
representatives to Albany. No longer will they submit to the
arbitrary action of this gigantic lighting monopoly.
PRO BONO PUBLICO
New York, Feb. 1, 1904