The Washington times., 1907-08-01
GAS co. BOOKS
DEMANDED To
SHOW VALUE
Auditor Decides Four
Points in Favor OF
Company.

Show us; we are in the dark. and
want to know" said Corporation
Counsel Edward II. Thomas this
morning, in making formal demand
on the attorneys for the George
town Gas Light Company for full
information as to its affairs in or
der that the actual cash value of
the plant and extensions might be
determined. His demand for in
formation included the minutes of
the directors and stockholders of
the company from June "a, 1904, to
July 81, 1907, the current stock
ledger, the balance sheets or inven-
tories of the company for the en-
tire period of the existence of the
and net earnings and dividends. of
and the names and addresses of the
amount of gas produced and sold.
and the names and addfesse of the
present directors.
All Of these items. said Mr.. Thomas,
were necessary to be shown. in order TO
have full information in determining
what the actual cash value Of the plant
and extensions were He contended that
the attorneys for the company had in
troduced expert witnesses to demon
strate to the court what this value was.
but cited several cases In which the
value Of such properties had been ar
rived at by determining first what had
been the actual history Of the concern
and what II had done He wished to
demonstrate to the court what the ac-
counts Of the company itself might show
the property TO be worth. whether the
result arrived at would be more or less
than that estimated by the experts. or
the same.
Mcnamara Supports Demand.
Stuart Mcnamara. for the Govern
rnent, seconded Mr.. Thomas demand
for the same reasons. Said he: They
have brought their experts and testified
as TO the value OF the property When
we come to our side Of the case. we
wish 10 show what the corporations
books say It has done. 1 unite fully
with Mr.. Thomas in this demand
Mr.. Perry characterized this going
manner IS a fishing expedition" and
strongly denied the applicability Of the
information to be gained TO the pres
ent case. He said the only function Of |
the auditor was 70 determine the actual |
cash value Of the plant and denied that |
the books Of the company would be /
valuable or useful for this purpose. He !
took up each item. and argued against !
its relevancy.
Company Wins Four Points.
Just before the session closed at 12.20 |
O'Clock Auditor Payne rendered his de- |
cision on part Of the demand and re- /
served his decision as to the balance !
until the next session, which will be |
next Monday morning at 10 o'clock. He /
sustained the objection Of Mr. Perry as i
to the relevancy of the items. covering /
the three minutes stock ledger. bal
ance sheets, and names of the direc-
tors. leaving the balance open for con-
sideration in the interim
BENJAMIN Woodruff. secretary of the
Washington Stock Exchange, was the
first witness called this morning. Cor
poration Counsel Thomas questioned him
as TO the sales of stock of the George
town Gas Light Company. which |
brought out the information that 100 |
shares Of stock had been sold on July 1
90, 1916, at 500 a share and on the fol- /
lowing day five shares at $50 The wit II
ness agreed to furnish a statement OF II
all sales from July l to July 30.