The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-24
M|NTON FLAYS
RED TAPE IN
RATE HEARINGS
Public Counselor Explains
Short Cut Adopted
by State.
SCORES UTILITY GREED
Failure to Reduce Costs
During Depression Is
ASSaiIed Bitterly.
BY BASIL GALLAGHER
Times staff Writer

In a militant speech to the men,
bers of the Allied West Side Civic
Clubs at the Garden City school
last night, Sherman Minton, public
counselor, fiayed the Indiana public
utilities.
Lack of funds with which to
prosecute utility rate cases, Mr..
Minton explained, forced the Indi-
ana public service commission to
adopt the short cut method of
bringing utilities into hearings on
orders ito show cause" why rates
should not be lowered.
This method will be employed in
the hearing of the indianapolis
Power and Light Company case
Feb. and has been employed in the
recent hearings on the Indiana Pub
lie Service Company, according to
Mr.. Minton.
What's wrong with my asking the
utilities to come into CORTLAND show
cause why their rates should not be
reduced? Mr.. Minton cried. "Ev-
cry business man within the sound
of my voice has seen his books in
the red at some time during the
hard years of the depression"
Water Case Is Cited
THE business men made ire
mendous sacrifices during the hard
times, which I hope have gone for
ever. But did the utilities reduce
their rates? They did not.
I'm the times of the depression
when we saw our neighbor walking
the streets in search of work asking
only that he be given a chance to
earn his daily bread by the sweat
of his brow, the utilities were wax
ing rich making their customary
or Z per cent without any conces-
SionS."
Mr.. Minton described how the
public prosecutor is hampered 10y
the old, tedious method Of rate
hearings. He described the case OF
the Indianapolis Water Company
declaring that the litigation has
dragged on since 1881 and still is
far from finished.
Where are we now in the water
case?" Mr.. Minton asked. I don't
know and I don't think any one
else does. We know that it is in
the courts and that's about all
Hundreds of pounds of evidence are
yet to be read to determine that
factor of fair valuation of the
property on which rates are based
Charges Utilities OvercapitaIized
Charging that practically all
utilities in Indiana are overcapital-
lied, Mr.. Minton spoke of securities
issues against fictitious property
values.
With the utilities bled by their
overloards, the holding companies, "
said Mr.. Minton, 81 feel sorry for
the poor deluded stockholders who
were told in many cases that they
would get their dividends on pre-
ferred stock-becauSe the public
service commission would practi-
cally guarantee them by refusing
to allow rates to be lowered"
But what actually happened?
Did the security holders get their
dividends? No. But Mr.. insult and
his ilk have seen that the divi-
dends on the common stock were
paid-of which they we're the sole
owners-and when there was nc
surplus, the preferred stockholders
were left holding the sack.
IF we must resort to the old
method in order to get rates down
with its lengthy appraisals and high
fees for engineers and lawyers
regulation fails. I have tried to
find a short cut. We are bringing
the utilities in and ordering them
to show cause why rates should not
be reduced"