The Connecticut labor news., 1923-09-22

The commission was badly divided on both decisions, but the majority of the II members concurred while the mi- nority, in each instance filed vigorous dissenting opinions
 The commission declares that 1t has been impossible to comply with the de- mand of the National Conference on Valuation of Railroads, which was formed in Chicago last May, under the leadership of Senator Robert M. La Toilette and which insisted that the com mission find the amount of money act ual1y expended to date by the roads in constructing their properties Ascert- ainment of original cost, says the com mission. must be made under rules of evidence, and can not be estimated" as was demanded by the members of the national conference at a recent hearing Ibefore the commission
 It was then pointed out by these att torneys that the La Toilette law requires that the commission find original costs, and the commission declares that 1t will do so where carriers records yield this information.
 In the vast majority of instances the carriers records are so defective that they can not be used and If the com mission holds to its decision this most important provision of the valuation law Will De ignored
 The commission says its decision IS made without prejudice to the position of the National Conference on Railroad Valuations in other proceedings now pending before the commission. This may mean that the issue will be re- opened at a subsequent date.
 The commissions method of ascert- aiming the value of a railroad may be briefly stated as follows:
 The engineers representing the corn- mission accumed that the road which was being valued was not in existence They then proceeded in theory to re- construct the road, using substantially the cost of materials and labor prevail ing in 1914, including overhead charges but minus deterioration. Equipment was put in at actual cost, minus deteri- oration
 All land used for railroad purposes was given present day values without regard to what 1t cost the roads. This grants the railroads what will event ua11y be billions of dollars of "unearned increment"
 While this theory of valuation will probably give the railroads at least ten billion dollars more than they actually invested in the roads, 1t will not satisfy the cairns of the railroad executives They contend that in reconstructing the roads the commissions engineer should consider the cost of material and labor at the present time, and that t-ln valu1ng the land they should add very large amount to cover cost of condemnation and other incidental expenses.
 Notwithstanding the fact that the val- uation methods adopted by the commis- sion are most generous to the railroads, the commission finds that about half of the book value of the A. B. & A. and San Pedro railroads Is water" Is S23.245,257. The books of the carrier show $35,000,000 of stock and S24,675,- 176 of bonds, notes and receivers cer- tifcates outstanding, or about 60 per cent more than the value given by the commission for rate-making purposes. The San Pedro is given a final value of $45,00O,000. This contrast with S25,- 100000 of stock and $56,274,000 of bonds outstanding a total claimed in vestrnent of $81, ,274,0O0. According to the commission, 45 per cent. of the roads claimed value i'll water.
 It was stated by Commissioner Pot ter, in his personal opinion, that the final value given the A, B. & A was much too high.
 Probably no one would assert that the property of the A., B. & A. IS worth anything like $1OOO0,OOO," declared Com missioner Potter Certainly, no sane person would pay that amount for 1t. All his securities could be bought for a smaller sum. It never has been and never can be worth that much. I see no justification for according to this property a value of nearly $24,000, 600.
 Shippers for all time to come will