nated P. S. C. Or. No. 104, be continued in effect until modified or amended by order of this Commission, except the toll rate between Portland and Oswego (number service) shall be as follows:

4. The Commission further finds that April 1, 1924, is a reasonable time at which to make the changes in existing rates, grouping of exchanges, etc., as discussed and set out in Finding No. 1, effective.

5. The Commission further finds that the said The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company shall, within thirty days from the date hereof, refund all moneys collected in Oregon for jack service not strictly in accord with the provision of Order No. 689* of this Commission, and the effective tariffs of the said company as hereinbefore interpreted and defined.

ORDER.

It is, therefore, ordered, That The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company shall, on and after April 1, 1924, cease and desist from charging, imposing and collecting the rates and charges hereinbefore found to be unjust, unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory and from imposing, following and observing the rules, regulations and practices hereinbefore condemned, and shall, in lieu thereof, charge, impose and collect rates and charges which shall not exceed the maximum just, reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory rates and charges, and impose, follow and observe the just, reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory rules, regulations and practices hereinbefore in the findings set out, which said findings are by this reference made a part hereof.

See Commission Leaflet No. 113, p. 1082.

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L. 149]

It is further ordered, That The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company shall, within thirty days from the date hereof, refund all moneys collected in Oregon for jack service not strictly in accord with the provisions of Order No. 689* of this Commission, and the effective tariffs of the said company as hereinbefore interpreted and defined.

It is further ordered, That all orders heretofore issued in the matter of rates or service, or both rates and service, of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company within Oregon, not in harmony with this order, be, and the same are hereby, rescinded, and it is so ordered.

Dated at Salem, Oregon, this twenty-first day of March, 1924.

In re INVESTIGATION OF THE RULES, REGULATIONS AND PRACTICES OF THE PACIFIC TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY IN CONNECTION WITH ITS SERVICE TO PATRONS ALONG THE BASE LINE ROAD TO AND INCLUDING THE TWELVE-MILE HOUSE, OR THE PLANTATION INN, IN MULTNOMAH COUNTY.

U-F- 412-Order No. 1070.

Decided March 24, 1924.

Boundary Line Between Exchange Areas Reestablished in Order to Overcome Duplication of Facilities.

OPINION.

This matter primarily affecting the condition along one road, naturally became extended to the other roads upon which similar conditions were found to exist. The record discloses that the boundary line between the exchange areas of the Portland exchange of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, hereinafter called the Pacific company, and the Gresham exchange of the Multnomah and Clackamas County Mutual Telephone Company, here

* See Commission Leaflet No. 113, p. 1082.

inafter called the Mutual company, was informally determined by the managers of the exchanges and a member of this Commission about 1915. However, this determination did not result then in a redistribution of telephone connections, and it is apparent that this boundary line has not been strictly considered as such since that date. At the time of the hearing, there was a considerable number of telephone users whose evident need for telephone service were not confined by this informally determined boundary. However, there appears to have been a recent effort made by the management of each of the two telephone companies to refrain from taking on any new subscribers within the exchange area of the other. It is an instance of such effort, denying service to Mr. E. F. Owen, a new subscriber at a location where service has been previously rendered, that brings this matter before the Commission for determination.

From the record herein, it appears that Mr. A. C. Ruby, The Plantation Inn, and others, located on the Base Line Road, or in the territory adjacent thereto, within the Gresham exchange area of the Mutual company, have for many years past been receiving telephone service at their residences, or places of business over lines owned and maintained by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Com

pany.

Mr. E. F. Owen leased a farm where this same service with the Portland exchange was being given by the Pacific company. He offered payment for a continuation of such service, which was at the time accepted by this company, but which was later returned with the statement that the service could not be continued. However, it appears that changes of ownership at the Twelve-Mile House have occurred without discontinuance of the Pacific company's service.

In the territory adjacent to the Powell Valley Road, there are several telephone subscribers in the exchange areas of each of these companies who have, for some time past, been receiving telephone service at their residences

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. L. 149]

or places of business over lines owned and maintained by the other company.

As a result, the Pacific company owns and maintains pole lines along the Base Line and Powell Valley Roads serving several exchange subscribers, while the Mutual company, in order to serve its subscribers, owns and maintains pole lines paralleling the Pacific company's lines for a considerable distance along these roads and in the adjacent territory. This situation produces a duplication of plant owned and maintained by two utilities in this territory, with resultant increase in the cost of service to both companies.

It should, therefore, be necessary, as a matter of economic public policy, to establish a boundary line for new construction between the Portland exchange area and the Gresham exchange area. Such determination will allow each telephone company to build and maintain its plant to this line, and no further.

The present community of interest of locality is indicated by the service which the majority of subscribers in that locality now have, and the separation of these localities is fairly well defined, so that a line defining the limits of new construction by either company can be drawn between localities now having the greater part of their service from the Gresham exchange and those having the greater part of their service from the Portland exchange.

Section 6109 of Oregon Laws, first effective on May 21, 1917, provides in part as follows:

"No public utility, as the same is defined in Section 6030, shall henceforth begin the construction of a line, plant or system, or any part thereof, in or into any territory already served by a similar utility without having first obtained from the Public Service Commission of Oregon, after a public hearing of all parties interested, a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require, or will require such construction, provided, further, that such certificate shall not be necessary for the construction of telegraph lines or of long distance telephone toll lines for the carrying on of long distance telephone business; and provided, further, that such certificate shall not be necessary for the construction outside of incorporated cities, of mutual

utilities not organized or incorporated for profit; and provided, further, that no plant owned, constructed or operated, or to be owned, constructed or operated by any municipality, shall be deemed a publie utility under or for the purposes of this Act."

The Commission will consider that the placing of a telephone in a new location, or in an old location from which the instrument has been removed without protest, the installation of new circuits for exchange subscribers, or the replacement of poles worn out in service as

construction of a line, plant or system, or any part thereof."

The exchange limits as herein fixed define

"the territory already served by a similar utility."

Subscribers occupying premises where service was rendered prior to 1917, and where such service is still being given or has been discontinued under protest, as in the case of the complainant herein, are entitled to the continuance of such service, for so long a period as the existing pole line construction will properly render such service. The replacing of a pole destroyed by accident or the stubbing of poles where the remaining life of the poles in the line justifies such procedure, will not only be permitted but will be required.

The last portion of the Act as above quoted clearly provides that so-called farmer lines,

"not organized or incorporated for profit"

may construct their lines within the exchange area of an exchange other than the one to which they are connected. This provision of the Act will provide for continuance of service for existing subscribers after the life of the present pole lines has expired.

The foregoing provision will not be permitted to serve as substitute for toll service, and, to this end, connection to only one exchange will be permitted by any one subscriber at any single premises.

Chapter 217 of the Laws of 1921, provides, in part, as follows: