New Britain herald., 1915-11-12
THORNE TALKS ON
 VALUE VARIATIONS
Speaker at Railroad ConferenCe- Private Owners Bear Hazards

Philadelphia, Ha., NOV. | ~ V ei A>' tions in values were. discussed here today before the railroad valuation conference by Clifford Thorne, chair man of the Iowa state board of rail- road commi issioners. He said in part
 Property values may be classl- fled under two heads: tangible and intangible. That which is tangible can be seen CT felt, and is more easily arrived at than that Whlc1 is intangible.
 "The variations in values deter mined by experts are amazing; aho the chief source of this variation IS in the method adopted for the de- termination of intangible values. That does not mean there are no difficulties in the determination or tangible values: for they are many and of large proportion.
 Room for Variations.
 We all agree that there is and always will be wide room for var latlons in Judgment as to values. But 1t is an interesting coincidence that when a city and company employ experts and the findings are sub- nlitted under oath by these witness SS Io d COuII UT COlIlIlllSSlOA, iAO lower valuations are those invariably prepared by the experts in the em- ploy of the city and the higher val nations are those prepared by the men employed by the Utility company. I attack the integrity of no person. merely suggest this as an interesting coincidence. There may be exceptions to the law of rh9non no the tpStinoOnV experts as just stated but I have found not one instance in the scores of valuation cases that I have read
 'It is not fair to imply dishonesty in the ordinary valuation experts The differences exist largely in me- thods followed. Some of these vari- ations in methods have caused un- ending discussions by courts, com missions, attorneys, witnesses and students.
 These variations are not theore- tical but real and tangible whcr reduced to dollars and cents. A few years ago to two expert witnesses ir the Spring Valley Water Works case at San Francisco made estimates o1 the same plant for the same pur. pose and differed more than 30 pel cent. That may be unusual but il is very ordinary for the variation: to range from 100 to 15O per cent. Courts Differ.
 "Our highest courts and commits | sions also differ. One commission l that of New Jersey-a few years ago l allowed 30 per cent for intangible
 values and then allowed 8 per cent | return on both tangible values il l addition to 2 per cent. deprecia tion, making 10 per cent. in all | Practically the same time the New l York commission allowed nothing
 for intangible values, and said ther'
 was plenty of money seeking invest
 ment at less than 6 per cent I'm | man who wrote that decision in Nev 1 York has since lost his job, but h. was immediately employed as a' l attorney for one of the largest rail
 road systems in the United States.
 "A review of the auth critics lead l to this conclusion:
 Justice to the owners, and the bes
 interests of the public, demand tha reasonable expenses actually in
 cured in the construction and es 1 tablishment of a public utility en | terprise, reasonably necessary fo
 public use, shall either be returned | to tie oWueIS or Sudll COHSIluule l part of the value on which the saii | owners are entitled to an adequat, 1 return That proposition is econ
 omlcally, morally and legally correc
 l believe the public is willing to pay
 this in order to obtain the services
 thereby secured; and I believe ther.
 Is money awaiting investment o
 reasonable terms where that is as
 sured."