Evening star., 1934-05-10
Figures Produced in 0ppos-
ing Reduction of Com.
mission Funds.
SEVERAL RATE CASES
LISTED TO BE HEARD
r sidents of City Pay $40,719,.
01S, or Average of $8.40
q Year.

The cash outlay Of the people Of
the District Of Columbia for public
utility service far exceeds their out
lay, paid through taxes, for the sup
port of all OF the functions of the
District government. That state
ment, backed up by exact figures, was
made by Chairman Riley E. Elgen of
the Public Utilities Commission. to the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
in asking the Senate to restore the
arbitrary slash of s37,323 from the
budget of the commission, made by
the House-a slash which would mean
the firing of Is employees and which,
Mr.. Elgen said, would very seriously
hamper" the work of the commission
in regulating the utilities here.
LAS an illustration of the import
ance to the people of Washington"
he said, ''of maintaining a competent
and efficient public utilities COM
mission, together with the necessary
staff, the total amount of realty, per-
sonal and miscellaneous taxes paid
in the year 1888 by the citizens of
Washington was $25 883,225.52. The
total utilities bill paid by the citizens
for the same year was S40,719,018.
Ratio is Set at 8 to S.
Thus each man, woman and child
paid an average of $3.50 in taxes
while the utility companies in the
District received an average of $40.
This does not include interstate bus
companies or sightseeing companies.
In other words, the bill which the
people pay for utilities service and
the character of service which they
get is far more important to them,
from a financial standpoint, than the
tax bill on the average"
Mr.. Elgen outlined the enormous
amount of work facing the commits
sion for the coming year. 1t includes
valuation of the Chesapeake 81 Po-
tbmact Telephone Co., completion of
the valuation of the Washington and
Georgetown Gas Light Cos. and the
institution of a system of gas rates
arranged on a sliding scale. similar to
that for electric rates; rerouting the
street car system, providing for the
absorption of the Washington Rapid
Transit Co. by the Capital Transit Co,
an investigation of property of the
Potomac Electric Power Co. claimed
not to be used and useful in the
public service" an investigation of
oil f1r he foln
company set for August l. an investi-
cation of the depreciation rates for
the street car company and many
others.
Extensive Plans Laid.
"Our plans for the next II months
Elgen said, lin order to carry out
only those things which We are re-
ouired to do according to the mandate
of Congress, is possibly as extensive
as the commission has ever attempted.
I'VE feel these things, in addition
to inspecting the service and neces-
sary routine work, justifies the appro-
priation for which We have asked
Congress-
Engineer Commissioner John G.
Gotwals, in somewhat picturesque Ian
guage, described the unequal fight
constantly being waged by the under
stated commission against the aggre-
CATION of expensive legal talent at the
command of the wealthy utility cor
porations.
He said: THE embarrassing thing
about this matter is the fact these
companies, with the public's money,
obtain the best lawyers, the best en-
gineers, that money can get. They
carefully buy something with the pub
hes own money, something which will
be worth while, as they see it, to beat
us, and then We put up a hard fight
many times, and this simply knocks
our feet from under us. There is a
much greater danger in this reduc-
ton. 1t is the danger of the public
being thoroughly beaten"
Sees Public Unprotected.
The public is being wholly unde-
fended?" asked Senator Nye.
Unprotected" was the reply, ''be-
cause We are playing with major
leaguers, so to speak, and We are
little bit of bush league, just to use
a little slang, because the A. T. & T.
bring the best attorneys, the best
valuation engineers and lawyers that
there are in the United States here
and then we meet them with only one
lawyer, and, of course, we put up a
pretty good fight. but. when we can
not have any men at all, our bush
league might be beaten"
Mr.. Elgen pointed out that, since
the commission has only one lawyer
(William A. Roberts) it had been
necessary to suspend hearings in the
gas company valuation case in order
to let him try the telephone rate case
in court.
In answer to questions from Sena-
tor Thomas of Oklahoma, Elgen denied
statement attributed to him by Chair
man Cannon of the House Appropria-
tions Subcommittee, to the effect the
commission had never obtained re-
duction in rates except through vol
untary action on the part of the
utility companies. He listed the
court battle through which the COM
mission obtained, over the opposition
of the power company, change in
the sliding-scale arrangement for elec-
trio rates resulting in "a tremendous
saving to the consuming public" and
other cases Of reductions obtained
otherwise than by consent of the util-
ity companies.
Compares Amount Saved.
Prom the dollars-and-ce point OF
view," he said, there can be no ques-
ton as to the justification for . con-
tinuance of the commission. The ap-
preparation approved by the Budget
Bureau Is approximately $4,000. The
saving to the public as result Of