The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-02-09
POSSIBILITY SEEN
FOR GAS RATE CUT
City Attorney Thinks De
cision of High Court
Opens a Loophole
VALUATION IS BASIS
Paragraph in Decision Cited
as Affecting Increase in
Other Public Service


n tho supromc courts decision
knocking out the order OF the cor
poration commission which granted
an increase OF 10 cents ihnumud
cubl, feet Of gas delivered by the
Oklahoma Natural GAs company iF
effective In one case 1t Is equally ot-
fcctltc In another. and fOr that rpa
son the temporary order of the com
mission Issued last April authorizing
the gas company 60 increase i'e price
from 3S cents To iS cents a thouHau'
ls also invalid. This opinion wa"
rNpreaacd Tuesday by city officials
and was ooncurrcd In by the oiiys
loyal department.
That the city will take steps Inn
mediateiy 10 have the cNating tenn
porary rate reduced by the supreme
court to the rate In force prior 30
April ~, 1890, was the assertion OF
city Attorney Frank ". Duncan,
after a conference with other offl-
cials.
These officials SEQ q tar-renchlng
effect from the supreme courts de
cision They believe they can knock
out an increase In rates should II
be granted TO tho southwestern
Bell Telephone company In the Same
manner as the gas COmpanys IN
crease was prevented and undor the
same ruling, and that 1t can be ap-
piled to the increase given the Tulsa
street Hallway company recently
IL desired.
The reason for the hopeful atti-
tudo OF officials is contained I'm on,
paragraph OF tho supreme court =
ruling IN tho gas case, which reads
ms follows:
'-The first essential In fixing
rates In to determine tho value OF
the property, and then determine
whether tho rate Ia reasonable,
The commissioners ARE permitted
TO take into consideration the de-
probation, repairing and numor-
Gus other items In determining
what * fair and reasonable IN
fixing a rate but It IL always
essential that the value OF the
property be determined
In granting the ordernfor an IN
crease 10 the Oklahoma Natural.
the corporation com mission did not
ascertain the value OF It's property,
as is evident from a section OF itr
findings. which statos that "the
commission is not ~ this time pre-
pared to express an opinion as to
the fair, reasonable value OF the
property now used and useful In
serving the patrons OF the Oklahoma
Natural Gas company"
Tho ruling OF tho supreme court
states further; ~ reading OF the
entire order COT the corporation
commisssion) conveys the Idea thai
II Is not an order king a rate, but
IL an order whereby certain fund
is to be collected from tho con
sumers OF gas, which Ia to be re-
served and set aside az Spcclal
fund. known as tho patrons fund,
provided by patrons and to be de-
liver<S TO the Oklahoma Natural
Cas- company aud held 10y. IT, and
may he used In the future hy the
Oklahoma Natural Gas company IN
building new lines or compressor
stations. by agreement with the cor
poration commission.
Let us consider the order In view
OF the fact first. that the commits
sion did not determine the value OF
the property; second. IL made no
distinction between the consumers
of gas who purchased gas from the
Oklahoma Natural Gas company
and those who purchased from local
companies: third. from reading OF
tho order Itself IL conveys the Idea
It IN not an order fixing rate
when construed In the light OF these
facts and circumstances. we are
unable to construe the ORDER as m
order fixing ratio within the mean
ing of section 81. article OF the
constitution"
According to Duncan the corpora
tion commission did not ascertain
the value OF the oklahoma Nntura
Gas company when tho temporary
increase was granted last April t'
TO be In force until March, 1921, 'o
until further orders OF the commls
sion. Therefore, he holds that tn
commission had no more authorit!
10 order that increase than II ha'
TO order the one Just knocked on
by tho supreme court, and upon TIM
phase OF the case will the city brini
its action which In to be carried u
the supreme court tor a decision,
Duncan said Tuesday that the cor
poration commission did not lcarl
the value of either the Tulsa stree
Railway company or that OF IN
Southwestern Bell Telephone com
pany. He did not state whether a.
action would be brought against IN
street railway company, as he hd
intimated on several occasions ina
he did not obj,Ct to the 7-cent far
II the company will give etiioion
service.