The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-07-24
Receivers Told to Ignore Order
of Henderson Martin.
In an Opinion Handed Down by
Judge Marshall.
VIOLATES PRINCIPLES OF LAW
? Utilities Commission Has No
~ Right in the Matter.
Is without Jurisdiction Over
Oklahoma Oil Fields.
COMPANY MAKING NO MONEY
Cannot Be Compelled to Spend
What 1t Has.
Cannot Be Forced to Furnish
Any Gas, Court Says.
, Utilities Commission Has No
y Right in the Matter.
Is without Jurisdiction Over
Oklahoma Oil Fields.
COMPANY MAKING NO MONEY
Cannot Be Compelled to Spend
What 1t Has.
Cannot Be Forced to Furnish
ANY Gas, Court Says.

Directors of the Kansas Natural Gas
company are directed not to obey the
order of the Kansas public utilities
commission in an order received today
in the Topeka offices Of the United
States district court from Judge John
Marshall of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Judge Marshall declares that the writ
issued by Henderson Martin, as chair
man of the utilities commission and
directing the gas companies to extend
their pine lines to new gas fields in
Oklahoma. is not founded upon sound
principles of law.
The Marshall opinion means that the
courts and utilities commission cannot
compel the gas company receivers TO
spend all or any portion of the mill
lion dollar earnings now on hand in an
effort to provide an adequate gas sup
ply for the Oklahoma-Kansas and Mis-
souri, consumers next winter. Judge
Marshall does not deny in his opinion
that ample gas can be secured by an
extension of the Kansas Natural pipe
lines to new fields distance of from
thirty to fifty miles. But the federal
Judge says there is no law which per-
1mfts a Kansas utilities commission to
compel the receivers to perform ser
vice in another state over which 1t
holds and claims to hold no jurisdiction.
Rates Too Low.
Going still further into the justice
of the Martin order, the Salt Lake
City judge recites that evidence pre-
sented to him in a former hearing in
dicates that at the present rates the
company is unable to earn money and
that a compulsory order to spend the
money now on hand would be unjust
The kansas Natural Gas company is
not a common carrier, as many people
assume, the opinion reads. However,
the company has been granted the
rights of eminent domain and its bus
tness has been such as to give the
pubIic an interest in it. Yet there Is
no specific contract or charter pro-
vision compelling the Kansas Natural
to supply gas in any quantity or to
build one mile of pipe line that 1t
might fulfill the needs of the people
dependent upon it.
Looking still further into the contro-
versy, Judge Marshall calls the atten-
ton of the public utilities commission
to the fact that there is no obligation
on the part of the gas company which
compels it to furnish gas and certainly
none which compelS it to increase it's
investment in an institution which is
at present in financial straits and in
the hands of a receiver.
The federal court backs up it's line
of argument by the assertion that
railroad company might be chartered
in Kansas and never build one foot of
road But that company would not
be liable to the state for failure to
build. This is a fundamental princi-
pal of law" says the court 'and I
think applies in the present case"
Apart from the fact that there is
every evidence of a lack of contract
rights permitting the state to compel
the gas company to extend its pipe
lines and secure new gas contracts,
Judge Marshall declares that the lack
of power on the part of the Kansas
commission is even more clear than
any other argument. Thus the court
says: The order of the commission is
without legal efficacy"
a Flat Refusal
Judge MarshalPs opinion is brief
But it is right to the point. He makes
clear the fact that he does not have
a high regard for the order of the
Kansas utilities commission and both
from the standpoint of lack of legal
power and failure to produce from
the charter anything binding on the
gas company to extend its mains and
for the still further reason that a KAN
saS commission cannot make an order
anect1ng operations in another state
the federal judge flatIy refused to per
init the receivers of the company TO
obey the mandate issued July II by
Henderson Martin as chairman of the
state commission.
The Marshall decision today follows
the action of the state utilities com
mission, which on July TO- ordered the
receivers for the Kansas Natural Gas
company to extend its pipe lines to
new gas fields in Oklahoma and TO
prepare to supply ample gas pressure
for consumers of this state Chair
man Martin. who wrote the order
gave the gas company just one week
in which to comply with the order In
stead of obeying the order, the fed
eral receivers rushed to Salt Lake
City, Utah, where they presented the
case to Judge Marshall and asked for
directions.
Before the federal court, Attorney
General John S. Dawson and Chairman
Martin stated that the order had oee1
issued upon the report of Special Com
missioner Morrison who investigated
the affairs of the Kansas Natural and
had filed a sensational report with the
state officers. In that report, Morris
son charged that just prior to the re.
ceivership, the Kansas Natural had
misappropriated practically $3.50, 900 OF
Its earnings and that since the an