The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-14
BROWER COMMENTS. ON PROPOSED RAISE
 OF TELEPHONE RATES.
Additional Burden of $553,987 for People of Alabama, Is Statement Made-Pre-
 War Returns

Alabama people will have an added expense burden ot $553,987, to be paid to the Southern Bell Telephone Com pany, if the proposed raise in telephone rates goes through, according to J. Ellis Brown, city commissioner of public utilities.
 Towns smaller than Talladega will av- craze approximately s1,Ooo per year in- crease. he asserts, and of the larger Ala crease in revenue that they will pay tc the telephone company is here given: Birmingham, gross increase, s2S1. .4So Mobile So,O0o; Montgomery, s50,ooo; An niston. s1o,ooo; Bessemer, slo.oOo; Gadsden s1o,O Huntsville, xo,ooo; Selma, s1o 900; catur, s7,ooo; Florence. s7,0oo; Opelika, g, 600; Sheffield s7,ooo; Troy, s7,ooo; Ath- lens, 5000; Cullman, 5000; Eufaula, $500: Jasper, 5000; Talladega, 5000. Total, $553, ,I7
 The telephone company claims to be asking for 6.2 per cent return on the property used and useful in the state, when in reality it is asking much larger percentage" said Walter Brewer, as- sistant city attorney, who is working on the case.
 SHEFFIELD PLANT
 According to the admissions of Vice President Moxey, who was the star wit ness at the initial hearing October in Montgomery the telephone company has a large and expensive plant in Sheffield that is totally unnecessary, and while still useful is far from. used
 'The equipment was placed there with the idea that the Muscle Shoals project would be permanent and now the com pany wants to make the people of Ala bama pay for the equipment, proposi- tion which is obviously unfair since they are deriving no benefit from it.
 If the value of the plant, together with the book value of the old Peoples Tele- pfcne Company, which was purchased in 1912, and is on their books as an in vestment, were deducted from the total investment in Alabama it would make them receive much larger return than 6.2 per cent on their investment
 The Peoples Home Telephone Com- pany's property is valued at s525,000, and the major portion of it is neither used nor useful in the public service And with all of that staring them in the face they are asking for a return on it.
 Besides that, the company states that it has lost approximately $5,OO0 on the Muscls Shoals investment. They now want the people of Alabama to reimburse them for their loss, loss which was sus- tained through their own imprudence.
 10 PER CENT RETURN
 "Mr. Hoxey explained the Sheffield proposition by saying that in his opinion the Southern Bell Telephone Company was entitled to a return of 10 per cent on it's property.
 "That is very probably true m nfs opinion, and no doubt 50 per cent returns on telephone investments would be in vogue if he had his entire way about it. but the fact remains that commissions passing on the question since the war have held that public utilities are nov en- titled to such large return.
 ''At least two commissions in other states recently held that public utilities should not be allowed to raise rates to yield larger return than they did be- commissions stated that corporations as well as individuals should bear their share of the burdens of the war, and that they should do so unflinchingly.
 This habit that public utilities have of trying to dodge their share of the mis- fortunes of war is funny thing"