Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-04-08

is published in full elsewhere in the
| journal, this morning.
1t the opening of the afternoon ScS-
| sion Mr.. Goddard continued his opening
| argument on behalf of the District At
20 he concluded and Judge Bumpers
spoke on other phases of the Districts
| case than those covered by MI. God
dard. He dWelt first on the experience
| Of Massachusetts where about 200 water
systems have been put in, of which
| all but 40 have now been taken over
| by municipalities. Coming 10 the case
| of Augusta, he said in substance: In
this cas-" there is little content ion over
| the value of the physical plant. the
| main difference being as to the time OF
fixing tho most of the pipes and as to
| the amount of depreciation since the
system was nut in. The company
| claims that the gross income should be
taken as the criterion OF the plants
value. but we hold that there are clc-
mentS to be considered which reGuca
| this sum to a lawful income. A large
sum will have TO be expended to get Il
supply of pure water ana this must be
SubtractCd from the sum to be paid the
company. There is the element of the
contract with the Edwards company
by which power is now obtained. This;
has only three years; more TO run and
may then be termir ated by nine
months notice. The value of this
lease is only t&ht of the actual time it
has to run and the prolsi bility of its be-
ing renewed cannot De considered.
There will be no plant at all in three
years and nine months, unless the Dis
trlct builds 4 pumping station at large
expense and that is Il business nrOpo-
sition which must be considered in the
appraisal. The Toguss contract. now
for $500 yearly. presa nts Il serious
phase. That institution Will he closed
before many years and 4 large sourc"
OF income cut OFF. 1t will take $20G,G 900
to put the plant INTO fit condition to
earn an income commensurate with
that now received. The company's en-
gineeTs put the replacement value of
tn" physical plant at $2G0,000. To set
this figure they go Il year into the past.
before the date of valuation, to get 4
| time when iron was high. To get the
going concern value they project u
curve into the future to get high in
come. We hold the value of the iron
should be taken as of the date of val,i-
ation, March I, 1904. That reduces the
tvalue of the physical plant about $25,-
Geo below the figures of the company's
engineers. Then there is the element OF
| depreciation. Depreciation begins the
minute the plant is built and this plant
| is Is years nearer death. There is not
| only the wear and tear but there is thu
value of the market. the new inventions
| that have to be put in, etc. The going
| concern value is 4 simple matter of
fact. The same rules should be applied
| as to any other property, such as 4 no.
| tel. The company has not laid aside
any depreciation fund. 1t has put the
money into dividends. The District
must put aside a depreciation fund and
| this cuts into the net income. The Dis
| trict must not be made to pay money
to the company for things which it
must at once pay money for elsewhere
| The company does not transfer Il sup
| ply of pure water. il canot guarantee
| teh income at Togus, it does not give
a continuous lease Of power at thn
| pumping station. The claim of the con-
| rany must Ee cut down to Il marked
| Xtent.'
| The first witness called for the Dis
| trict was Langdon Pierce. who testified
! as follows: Am Il sanitary engineer
| Graduated 1t Harvard ana at Massu-
chusctts Institute OF Technology. Have
| been associated with Mr.. Whpplc
| Came here last November and have ex-
| amincI sources Of pollution Of the
| Kcnnebec ABOVE Augusta. At Madi-
son. 46 miles above Augusta. found
| well established sewer system dis
| charging into the river. also se1 1eraI
mills The Madison Wonlcn rlil:s and
| Indian Spring wooien mills each have
! about 200 employees whose sewage goes
| directly into river and these mills also
discharge waste, dyes. wool WaShings,
| soap. etc. TIL" Great Northern pulp
mill at Madison discharges daily about
| l40 O00 Gallons OF suInhitr waste. AT
| koWhcgan, "a miles above Augusta,
| there IS also Il sewage system with 1915
people discharginE into the river.
| There are also several private sewers.
Skowhegan's population is $3.50. Tho
American WOODEN mills with 10 hands
| has closets into the river: also the
| Marston worstcd mill which employees
| 80 neople There are two small pulp
mills here, and shoe SHOP. At Shaw
nut. a miles above Augusta. there
| are no sewers. but there are saw mills
and pulp mill. employing 240 men and
| the vaults are direC tly into the river.
| At Fairfield, 4012 miles above Augusta,
sewers serving 240 people go into river.
Isrt. not nri