The Washington times., 1919-11-01
UTILITY BOARD
MAY RA|SED.C.
PHONE RATES
company's Attorneys to Ask
100000 Capitalization
Be Added to Valuation.
By BILL PRICE.

Telephone rates may soar after the
Public Utilities Commission concludes
the telephone hearings which will be-
gin Monday morning in the District
Building.
There amt going to be no such
thing as lower rates IL the lawyers
for the telephone company are able
TO sustain the doleful figures they
will present. showing that the Ches-
.peake and Potomac Telephone Com
pany, OF the District. Is not at pres
emit earning one penny OF return upon
its legitimate valuation. This, too,
under rates that were Increased by
the Postmaster General some time
before he turned telephone properties
back to thir owners on August 1 last
Under these rates the telephone
patron who has an unlimited service
in his residence Is paying IS pei
month. when he formerly paid 81. al
the beginning of the war. Proper
efcnately the same increase Is in effect
on all telephone users in the District
Government. commercial. private.
Asked Raise In 1917.
November 30. 1917, the local com
pany applied to the Public Utilitie,
Commission for increase OF existing
rates, claiming severe financial losses
The hearings were somewhat heated
and a sensational feature was the In
PRODUCTION Of statement by Post
master General Burleson that IL per.
mitted to run the local company ht
could operate IL at a profit on lower
rates than were then charged.
5 His proposition was based upon the
idea that he could install automa tic
apparatus that would save large
sums of money paid out to operators
Mr.. Burleson had charge of all the
eountry's telephones for about thir.
teen months Affairs in the local Of.
nee went on about the same as be-
tore. and there has been little talk
Tor long time about automatics
During the control of telephones
and telegrsphs Mr.. Burleson Increased
teiephone rates throughout the
country something like % per cent
BY act of Congress the lines were
restored to their owners August ]
last with the proviso by Congress
that the rates then in force should
continue four months, carrying then
to December l.
Beard Orders HeartnGs.
The District Public Utilities Com.
mission on its own initiative recently
ordered hearings to determine whether
the former rates are to be restored
on December i, or what changes, II
any. will be made.
The local company is to be repre-.
sented at the hearings by T. p. SyI.
van, assistant to the president of the
Bell Telephone Company, owners OF
the c. & p and R W Mayre, general
counsel, both familiar figures at Local
telephone hearings.
me data to be presented by the
company was not available today. Blu,
nigh officials state that IL will be
SHOWN that the present rates are en-
tfrely insufficient to pay any return
At all upon the valuations of the pron-
critics here and that unless the rate,
are Increased the company will not
get the per cent return which the
Utilities Commission is allowing other
utilities
Valuations Also Involved.
To considerable extent the hear
ings about to be held viii also involve
valuation of the properties of the c.
4 p, inasmuch as the commission will
IL
atoms determined.
The attorneys for the company will
make claims for large capitalization
expenditures since their original val
uatlon was hxed by the Commission
on May 2, 1917, just about at the be-
ginning OF the war with Germany
On that date the commission de-
eided that the fair value Of the pron-
erty or the company in the District as
or December 81. 1915, was Sc. 7s3 o32
AZ early as April, 1917, when war
looked TO be certain. the local com
pany. on demand OF the Government
began huge enlargement Of its oper.
atfng department in this city
II viii be claimed that since that
date the company has spent in neU,
capitalization in the District soros'
where around $1,000 900. which sbouId
De added to the valuation found in
May. 1917, from the finding Of which
the company took no appeal to the
courts.
Qsestion Before Consultation
The main question before the COM
MISSION VIII be what proportion of
THIS Increased capitalization Is
enargeaoie to valuation upon which
the telephone users in the District
80 = AC0cCldOlc return.
The Federation of Citizens A.s,-
cations and other civic bodies will
take part in the inquiry along these
lines.
The huge expenditures were aInno.t
wholly for the benefit Of the Federal
government, and IL is understood that
the Government shared, to a large de-
gree. In meeting these expenditures
The claim will be made howevar
That there is chargeable to the gen.
raj public a considerable proportion
OF the capital expenditures owing IA
the necessity for lettering the serv-
zee TO commercial and Individual
users.
Government Paying Fair Rates.
When the company submitted its
eiaim for increased rates two years
ago. the most serious objection the
public had was that the Government
was obtaining especially low rates FOR