The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-06-26
UTILITIES HEARING
TO. BEGIN MONDAY
Electric Power Company Attor-
MES Fail to Obtain Post.
ponemen tot Ninety Days.

Following the reading " John 3.
Barbour. general counsel OF the To-
tomac Clcctri, Power Company. Of an
answer denying the "'ruth. accuracy.
and fairness of the report u tho vsiua-
tons bureau on the valuations II the
comapny's properties. the Public Jtiii-
ties Commission TODAY overrul,J q re.
quest Of counsel that the hearing on the
valuations. scheulde to begin today. he
postponed first for ninety lays. AMI.
failing In this. for two weeks. An ad-
journment was ordered until 10 o'closk
Monday. with the understanding that
the hearing will he continrsl from day
to day until concluded.
The General opinion OF counsel and Of
fcials Of the company alta the close Of
tcday's session was that the hearing
may last all summer and well into the
fall. he company. In addition to Mr..
Charles A. Douglas and J. J. Darling
ton.
Hearing To Be Long.
Indications Of long-drawn out pro-
ceedings are contained In the company's
answer filed to-day In which II 10 stated
1t cannot now point out In detail where
In the reports of the valuation bureau
depart from the. facts and do such
grave injustice to this respondent be-
cause II has not had sufficient time to
examine and analyze the same"
1t is stated that since obtaining copies
Of the reports Of the company's ac-
countants and engineers. with an ade-
quite corps OF assistants have been
working on them continuously. but up
to this time they have not been able to
proceed further than to ascertain that
there are large and serious discrepan-
cies prejudicial to the company"
Give Engineers More Time.
In arguing for an adjournmnt Of
ninety days Attorney Douglas said that
this would give the engineers time to
compile their reports. and would re-
suit In the end In saving of time and
a minimizing OF work. In answer to
this Engineer Commissioner Kutz said
that the company had practically two
years notice of the intention of the
commission to make this valuation.
Something. he said. must have been
accomplished by the engineers In the
thirty days since notice had been re-
ceived OF the hearing. ~.
REQUEST was then made for two
weeks postponement In order to give
the attorneys time to prepare argu-
ments relating tn the legal methods
under which the hearing will be con-
Quoted: The first question raised was
that the Washington Railway and
Electric Company, as the sole owner
or the stock of the Potomac Electric
POWER COMPANY should be made a
respondent to the proceedings.
Give Formal Ruling.
Colonel Kutz said formal fuling on
this would be given at the next session.
but that under the commissions order
he saw nothing to prevent the appear-
ance and the presentation Of testiomny
relative to the valuations Of the Poto-
mac Electric Power Company by the
Washington Railway and Electric Com
pany. An adjournment of one week
was then ordered.
Among the lesal points raised nv
the company In Its answer fled to-
cay Is a denial Of the right OF the
commission to adopt prima facie as
certainments OF the amount OF money
expended In the construction and
eouipment or the conpany, or re-
quired to ""0duce and replace its
property or to adopt prime fscie AZ
certainments OF the rates or dsprs-
citation upon ex parte Investigations
by the commission or its enlpioves
or bureaus without previous noti1e
and opportunity to examine the eyt-
dence and cross-examine the Wit
nesses unon whose evidence or md
ings such entertainments are based"