ILLINOIS.

Commerce Commission.

In re JOINT APPLICATION OF THE COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ILLINOIS SOUTHERN TELEPHONE COMPANY FOR AN ORDER APPROVING THE SALE AND PURCHASE OF PROPERTY.

Case No. 13735.

Decided December 12, 1923.

Sale and Purchase of Property Authorized.

OPINION AND ORDER.

A joint application was filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission on December 10, 1923, by Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company, a corporation, and Illinois Southern Telephone Company, a corporation, praying the consent and approval of the Commission (1) to the purchase by said Illinois Southern Telephone Company and the sale by said Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company of certain exchange and toll property of the latter, and (2) to the granting of a certificate of convenience and necessity to said Illinois Southern Telephone Company.

A hearing was held on said joint application at the office of the Commission in Chicago, Illinois, on December 11, 1923, at which time and place Ben B. Boynton appeared as attorney for the joint petitioners, and evidence was presented in support of said joint application. The matters involved being now duly submitted to the Commission for disposition, it appears:

That the Illinois Southern Telephone Company is a corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Illinois, with its principal office in the city of Murphysboro, in Jackson County, Illinois; that at the present time it owns and operates no telephone

property, although its articles of incorporation duly authorize it so to do.

That Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company is an Illinois corporation which owns, manages and operates a telephone system in Illinois, consisting of local exchanges and connecting toll lines; that it has local exchanges in the cities and villages of Ridgway, Equality, and Shawneetown.

That said Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company has agreed to sell to the Illinois Southern Telephone Company for the sum of $11,500, the following property: all of the exchange property composing the telephone exchanges of the said Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company located in the cities and villages of Ridgway, Equality, and Shawneetown, in Illinois, and one iron metallic circuit from Shawneetown to Ridgway attached to the Shawneetown-Harrisburg lead from Shawneetown to Junetion, and attached to the Junction-Norris City lead from Junction to Ridgway. That said Illinois Southern Telephone Company has agreed to buy said property for said sum.

The joint petitioners now desire the consent and approval of the Commission to the proposed purchase and sale of the aforesaid telephone property for the consideration hereinbefore stated; said Illinois Southern Telephone Company now desires that the Commission grant to it a certificate of convenience and necessity authorizing it to transact the business of a public utility in furnishing telephone service in the territory now served by the aforesaid telephone property.

The Commission having considered the joint application and the evidence presented in support thereof, and being fully advised in the premises, is of the opinion, and finds:

1. That the reasonable and fair value of the property involved in the aforesaid proposed purchase and sale, for the purpose of this proceeding, is at least $11,500, and that the prayer of the petitioners for the consent and approval of the Commission to said proposed purchase and sale is reasonable and should be granted, and that the public will

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be convenienced thereby, and that the purchase and sale of said property should be authorized by the Commission, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter provided and authorized.

2. That the public convenience and necessity require the operation of a telephone system in the territory now served by the aforesaid property and that the prayer of said purchaser, Illinois Southern Telephone Company, for a certificate of convenience and necessity, as aforesaid, is reasonable and should be granted.

It is, therefore, ordered, That the consent and approval of the Illinois Commerce Commission be, and it is hereby, given to the sale by Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company and the purchase by Illinois Southern Telephone Company for the sum of $11,500 of the following described property of the former: all of the exchange property composing the telephone exchanges of the said Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company located in the cities and villages of Ridgway, Equality, and Shawneetown, in Illinois, and one iron metallic circuit from Shawneetown to Ridgway attached to the Shawneetown-Harrisburg lead from Shawneetown to Junction, and attached to the Junction-Norris City lead from Junction to Ridgway.

It is further ordered, That the purchase and sale of the aforesaid property be, and the same is hereby, authorized upon the following conditions and not otherwise:

(1) That the transfer of the telephone property involved in said purchase and sale shall be consummated by the execution and delivery within ninety days after the date of this order, of good and sufficient deed or instrument of conveyance, copy of which, duly certified, shall be filed with the Commission within twenty days after the execution and delivery thereof; and that said purchase and sale shall not be complete until such certified copy shall have been filed with the Commission.

(2) That the finding of value for the property involved herein shall not be considered as conclusive evidence of such value should that question ever be presented to the

Commission in any subsequent proceeding affecting the rates of the Illinois Southern Telephone Company.

(3) That the present rates for telephone service in the territory involved herein shall be accepted and placed in effect by the Illinois Southern Telephone Company as its rates for said service.

(4) That the Illinois Southern Telephone Company shall set up on its books a depreciation reserve equivalent to the depreciation reserves now carried on the books of the selling company with respect to the property involved in this proceeding and shall record its fixed capital accounts in such manner as to conform to this provision.

It is further ordered, That a certificate of convenience and necessity be, and the same is hereby, granted to Illinois Southern Telephone Company, authorizing it to construct, maintain and operate the telephone property and transact the telephone public utility business in the territory now served by that property of the Commercial Telephone and Telegraph Company, which is by this order authorized to be purchased by Illinois Southern Telephone Company; and that such certificate shall be issued by the secretary of this Commission and authenticated by its seal, pursuant to Section 55, of An Act Concerning Public Utilities, approved June 29, 1921, and now in force in the State of Illinois.

By order of the Commission, at Springfield, Illinois, this twelfth day of December, 1923.

INDIANA.

Public Service Commission.

In re PETITION OF THE PEOPLES COOPERATIVE TELEPHONE COMPANY OF CLARKS HILL FOR AUTHORITY TO ADJUST RATES.

No. 7213.

Decided November 16, 1923.

Toll Rates Increased.

MODIFIED ORDER.

On November 2, 1923, the Commission issued its original order* in this cause adjusting telephone rates in the town of Clarks Hill, Indiana.

It now appears that the charge authorized for toll calls. to Lafayette, Indiana, was an error and that a modified order should be issued correcting such error.

It is, therefore, ordered by the Public Service Commission of Indiana, That the last paragraph on page 2 of the original order* in this cause, approved November 2, 1923, and reading as follows:

"It is further ordered, That the Peoples Cooperative Telephone Company be, and it is, authorized to make a toll charge of 10 cents on all calls to Lafayette, Indiana."

be, and it is, modified to read as follows:

It is further ordered, That the Peoples Cooperative Telephone Company be, and it is, authorized to make the following charges for toll calls to Lafayette, Indiana: