The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-08-17
NATURAL GAS
PETITIONERS
GET SETBACK
Fail to Show Jurisdiction
Over Plea Is Vested
in Commission
RESTRICTION is SNAG
Service Only to Industries
May Act as Bar to
Utility Designation.
BY DANIEL M. KIDNEY

Counsel for the Indianapolis nat
ural gas petitioners failed today y
cite a case unfolding public service
commission Jurisdiction in permit
ting a corporation to be declared a
public utility that holds out to serve
a select class of consumers.
Case after case was cited by
Samuel D. Miller, attorney for the
petitioners, in which courts have
held that more than one company
can enter a city, but in each in
stance the utility was ready to serve
any citizen seeking the service in
the territory involved.
Territorial limitations have been
approved by the courts, and Miller
commended that such restriction will
apply also to class service such as
the Manufacturers Natural Gas
Association, Inc, proposes to give
In indianapolis and Marion county.
Restricted to Industry
This service would be restricted
to industrial users and, thus far,
has been contracted for by twenty
six large manufacturers
Commissioner Harry K Cuth-
bertson, presiding at the hearing,
questioned commission jurisdiction
from the start, so arguments were
arranged for today with all commits
sioners, except Chairman John w.
McCardle, who is i'll, attending.
Attorneys for the city and the
Citizens Gas Company were to sup
port Cuthbertson's jurisdictional
contentious this afternoon, al
though they had not raised the
question themselves in opposing the
petition.
Cuthbertson claims that the law
is such that the public service COM
mission can not declare a corpora
ton public utility and thereby
confer upon it the right Of eminent
domain if it does not hold out to
serve the public generally in the ter
ritory, without class distinction.
Seems Majority View
That this viewpoint will prevail
among the majority of the commits
sioners appeared likely today, al
though questions put to Miller by
c onnrnissioners Howell Ellis and
+ .ank Singleton, favored his cause.
of 11ic 1IsOIII10nf1t
Miller admitted:
"If the public service commission
law so is restricted that corpora
ton can not be termed a public
utility that serves a certain class,
then I will admit that this COM
mission is without Jurisdiction. But
I hold that the law offers no such
restrictions"
Miller emphasized the point that
the Kentucky Natural Gas Com
pany, sponsor of the local company,
is and has been ready at all times
to sell natural gas to the Citizens
N,ds Company wholesale at the city
limits, and will be willing to do so
whenever the city takes over the
Citizens company, if it ever does.
Practical View Urged
Manufacturers here need the
natural gas to meet competition in
other cities where it can be OBJ
tanned, he said, and urged the COM
mission to take practical and not
a judicial view of the matter.
"Our manufacturers form the in
dustrial spine of this community"
Miller continued. "They want natu-
raj gas for their heat treating proc
esses. This would not compete with
coal used for fuel and they should
be permitted to have it."
The twenty-siX companies con-
tracing for the gas employ 5000
men, he pointed out. He cited
Kansas City as an example or
where natural gas has been per-
mitted to enter and take the indus
trial field while the artificial COM
pany kept the domestic business.
In closing, he charged the
Citizens company and the city Of
ficials with "dog-in-the-manger
policy regarding the introduction OF
natural gas here.
Their entire attitude is that they
can not supply it and so the manu-
facturers should not be permitted
TO have it, he declared.