Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-03-28

| 0US MUTE OeCISIO0
Bors War Agencies
From Interfering
The District Public Utilities Com
mission today was entrenched be-
hind a Supreme Court decision il
contending for authority to regulat,
local utilities without interference,
by the Office of Price Administration
and the director of economic stabil
iZation.
In 6-to-3 ruling yesterday, tn.
court upheld rate increase orig.
inally calculated to amount to $20l ).
600 annually which the commission
granted the Washington Gas Ligh
Co., under the sliding scale plan IL
effect here for nine years, over tn.
protest of the Federal agencies
which argued there had been nj
showing of need, and that the in.
crease was inflationary. At the
same time the court went beyond
the purely local aspects of the case
to lay down a principle which seem.
ingly gives State and Federal reg.
ulatory bodies generally broac
powers to function without regard
to any representations by the
agencies directing the wartime
Sterilization program.
War Agencies Argument Rejected.
Recalling the Government argu.
ment that the two price control acts
passed in 1912 SHOW that Congress
intended to prohibit State and locaI
regulatory authorities from per.
uniting any increase in utility rates
which were not shown to be neces.
sary to prevent actual hardship, >
the court, in the opinion read by
Justice Roberts, said:
We are asked, then, not only tc
revise the views expressed in Davies
warehouse Co. VS.. Bowles "a case
Just recently decided) as to the
scope of the acts, but to infer from
a general expression of congress
sional policy the limitation of ex-
listing powers conferred by law on
regulatory commissions throughout
the Nation, both State and Federal
and the endowment of a different
Federal agency with new and SUI
perior rights and powers. This we
are unable to do"
Justice Douglas wrote the dissent
and was joined by Justices Black
and Murphy. He declared that the
decision goes far toward making
ineffective" the provision of the
October, 1912, sterilization law pro-
hlbiting any utility from making
any general increase in rates over
those in effect September is, 1912,
without giving the Presidents
agent the right to intervene in the
proceeding.
Cites Scope of Decision.
1T (the decision) allows the COM
mission so to shape the issues of
the rate proceeding as to exclude
the data most relevant to deter
mination of whether any rate in
crease should be allowed" the dis
sent said.
Justice Douglas also expressed the
view that Congress meant to make
utility commissions at least partial
participants in the war against in
f1ation and gave them a sector of
the front to control" although the
Sterilization law specifically ex-
empts rates of utilities and common
carriers from its provisions.
The commission permitted the in
crease as of November is, 1912
under the sliding scale ARRANGEMENT
which allows the gas company to
make a primary rate of return of
6l2 per cent. The director of eco
nomic sterilization and the OPA
challenged the increase in District
Court and were sustained, but the
Court of Appeals upheld the COM
mission.
Major Issue Raised.
One OF the principal issues raised
by the Government was the refusal
of the commission to re-examine
the basic provisions of the sliding
scale arrangement in the light of
price-control legislation, this action
being hit as a denial of full and
fair hearing"
To the charge that the increase
was inflationary, Justice Roberts
said: "On the subject respect
ing which the petitioners were
especially competent to enlighten
the commission-namely the infla-
tionary effect of a rate increase of
2.28 per cent for one year, amount
ing, on the average, to 3 cents per
month per customer, in the light of
wage increases and increased COM
modify and overall conditions in the
national economy-no evidence was
rendered by petitioners in response
to- repeated invitations by the COM
mission T"