The Washington times., 1915-08-25
FREE POWER FOR
RAILWAY CHARGED
Public Utilities Commission
Opens Investigation Of Re|a.
tion Of Companies.
(continied from First PaEe.)

which provides for the interchange Of
facilitieV between utilities. The commits
sion. he argued. has power to act only
when one of the oarties falls to live up
In overrulins the motion to dismiss
the hearing. Commissioner Kutx. chair
man. stated that II was called for the
sS,s express purpose ISI e. ,naur,ng 20 TO to
sale AID distribution Of power by the
Potomac Electric Power Company and
the Washington Railway and Electric
Company. and between the railway COM
pany and It's subsidiaries.
pany declined to eross-exarnine Mr.. Will
liams. statistical expert. Mr.. Bowen
arguing that M formal charges had
been made. and the railway company
had not had the legal ten days notice.
Commission Will Proceed.
The commission intends to proceed
with an investigation concerning mat
ters OF which you have had notice" said
Chairman Kut.. 'The testimony Of this
witness bears on these matters. The
testimony seems 70 indicate Q discrimi-
nation between the street railway COM
panv ana the electric power company
%.s WAY company and It's subsidiaries on the
Until charges are made or some vio-
lation Of duty 10 chersed against these
eompsnie.: or sd one q them them stld a.,sn. Mr
before the commission for US 70 answer
or about which we would desire to in
terrogate the witness"
Commissioner Brownlow asked II
psny pslls prss.n. Who You'd You'd TX. IL TO 70 assist
In the investigation
quiry.: commi.sonsr 4; mi srcws,ow sdded.
Mr.. Bowen again replied that he
sSai ssecr. IT, 1n' but Kaa
ruled the hearing would proceed.
C'bjection to the ruling was made
by Mr.. Bowen on the ground that in
the notice sent to the companies OF
as .aG hs, S issFss ss Fm..tsrs sse unpdsr p5s
consideration ware not within the
missioner Kuts declined to permit the
entry as . part OF the record. an OBJ
missfsn SsHt.Hn on r.fus.d 9a to Furnish the COM
panies with the minutes Of its pre-
iiminary Investigation and the re-
port Of the officials conducting It.
Such information as was obtained. he
ssid; was gathered from The the rspcrtss s,ds
company the officials. he said. should
be familiar and was to be presented
BY the hrst witn~as.
When Vice President Ham was called
to the stand. he was informed by Mr..
voluntarily. but the commission could
subpoena him.
I'VE will consider that he is under
subpoena" said Chairman Kutz.
Must, See Books.
"Is It a fact" asked Chairman Kuts.
that the Washington Railway and
Electric Company received from sub
sidiary companies q sum greater than
1t Paid toward the operation Of the Ben
ming power plant in 1ela?' asked Conn
missioner Kutz.
II couldn't tell without looking at the
books" said Mr.. Hmm.
'I'm afraid We will have to get the
books said Major Kuts.
"Is II fact the Benning plant 10
owned by tho Potomac Electric Power
Company"
Major Kutx wanted to know what part,
II any. Of the depreciation account 10
borne by the street railway company.
a amortization account covering deprecia-
ton in the property Of the companies.
but he did not know the amount OF de-
probation charged off against the street
railway
Producing Power.
What determines the amount the rail-
ways pays toward producing power
at the plant?' he was asked.
Mr.. Ham said he didn't have the fig
ures as to proportion at hand. but they
stood part Of the labor and coal cost.
and other operating expenses
"They are not paying q part Of the
Of the building and equip
ment."
"Not directly. believe. What is done