The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-15
PATTE RSON PLANS TO ATTACK LEGAL
 SIDE IF QUESTION
Head of Utilities Board Re- fuses to Accept Tentative Valuation of Power
 Co.'S Property
CContinucd From Page onc.)


 he discussed various phases of the case and the dispute throughout the day. President Patterson declared that the associate commissioners had the same opportunity to present the l7-pase opinion they did to present the last page which contained only the order.
 After the preliminary discussion, President Patterson officially called another conference of the commis- sIon for further discussion of the valuation. Neither associate com mdssioners joined with him. Mi. Gaillard was forced to leave at noon for Mobile to attend the funeral of his cousin, John Gaillard.
 says Has "PoliticaI Bee"
 Charging that 4. G. Patterson, president of the public service com mission, is seeking to use the public utilities as a means of obtaining po litieal advancement, B. H. Cooper and P. Gailard, associate commission CTS Thursday night issued state ments in reply to the charge or Pres jdent Patterson that they were IN ing valuation on the property or tho Alabama Power company without obtainine information regarding the original cost ef the property all element which the law says shall be considered.
 MT. Conpers statement, which was addressed ITO the Public follows.
 "The statement of A. G. Patterson, president of the Alabama public service commission with reference U the valuation base of the Alapal,la Power company. which was pup 1;sbed in The Birmingham Age-Herald
 al.a ments and untruths. It grows out oi his hone to keep this case before the next commissions and to use It ana tl.e Alabama Power company as pltlai To advance his political ambition HE conduct throughout the whole caas, and indeed throughout his tenure oi off;ce as member of this commls- sion. has been shaped with this one purpose; to bait the utilities III tne state and to use the cases anu .ue husiness interests that appear pe cara tha commission Is the sole end of his action in his political aoN"hee> ment.h a Al this point, Mir. Cooper made @ statement close to libel against NIT. Patterson wherein he seeks lo sno's that Mir Patterson was disfesa u it ut -. of proper performance of hls uu'ies and he further attacked Mir. Faeteaa sons yeracity. For this reason ene statement was deleted. so oContrary to his statement, e.e books of the Alabama foWef Soinp' nv have been available 10 ."e countants and engineers CT tue Oo'i mission since 1920.
 Mcdowell Report
 "on June 1, 1922, the eohsult,n enrineer of the commission, l. F. Me Donneu submitted to the eommisslof lis final report on original cost susi' ,enort containing the same resuiliilA fi~ures as shown in the books SUD mitted to the commission by the con nany on Friday, December ', lsz-.
 "The firm of Hagenah x Erlckson appointed by the commission III Aplll 1920. and among the most e&perleheee and eminent appraisal engineers II ,his country. submitted a report o orioinal cost to the coIhmisslon II JuIy. 1921, based on the books II ~1,be Alabama Power company, or September l. 1922, submitted us orls inal report to the commission paset on sucii books.
 ,hera are no cases now pending be fore the commission involving rate of the Alabama Power company ant that consequently there was no ne cessity of valueing these properties is wholly untrue There are wv cases pending, one involving tn' ready -to-serve charge of that com pany. amounting to nearly slooo'vu a year, and the other petition D. inc Ice Manufacturers association for seasonal rates
 .'Mr. Patterson gave out state ment to the press on December d 1922. setting out the immediate ne cessity of completing the valuation of the public utilities of Alabama "A valuation of the properties The Alabama Power company was or dered by the commission in Aprll 1920. and the case was pending be fore the commission when MT. Pat tcrson came into office in January 1921. In a letter dated July IT, la22 the secretary of the commission, a tho direction of MT Patterson, re auested the Alabama Power compan' to file by August l, 1922, report fhe original cost of it's properties His object then was to force de cision in this case during heate' political campaign in order that n might use it for his political pur poses.
 Say. Examination Invited
 Upon the adjournment of tn commIssion on December [, tn Power company invited the com mission to send it's accountant an' engineer to Birmin gham for the pur pose of further examining such rec ords as they desired, and it was un derstood that they were to appear inc offices of the company on tn morning of December S. The as sociate commissioners gave specifi direction to one of the accountants | proceed on this mission. He failed t go and l believe that this direcuol was countermanded.
 .The statement that the account ants letter of July e5 to the Alabami Power company called for infcrma tion relating to this' valuation l wholly untrue The valuation Is mad of the properties as of June 50. la2t The letter of the accountant contain a series of questions with referenc te; the balance sheet of the conpan as of December l, 1921, showing O it's face that it has nothing whateve to do with valuation of these prop critics. This letter was sent at tn direction of Mir. Patterson, who use if as an excuse to delay the vaiua ton in November.
 "A copy of the brief of the Ala bama Power company was forwarde each of the commissioners about O. tober l, 1922. and not in November a stated by Mir. Patterson. The asse ciate commissioners immediately req their copies According tc his ow statement, MT Patterson submitte his copy to the attorney general fe "checking." MT. Cooper here made al other statement considered close libel regarding MT. Patterson's inte sx Iigence. This statement was also elm mated. He added:
 Would Decide Other Cases ssrrbe aSS( cidte commissioners lOI