The Commission holds that higher rates may be charged by the applicant for service at its exchange at Pershing as follows: Class A switching service Class D rural service ... Per Month $0 33-1/3 1 25 1 00 The foregoing rates are estimated to yield to the applicant additional annual revenues at Morrison in the sum of $488 and an additional annual revenue to the applicant at Pershing in the sum of $147, these rates to be effective on and after the first day of February, 1924. An order will issue in accordance with the foregoing. ORDER. This case having been duly heard and submitted and the Commission having on the date hereof made a report in writing containing its findings and conclusions, which is hereby referred to and made a part hereof, It is ordered, 1. That the reasonable maximum monthly rates to be charged by the Gasconade Valley Telephone Company at its exchange at Morrison, Missouri, are as follows: C. L. 146] Ordered, 2. That the reasonable maximum monthly rates to be charged by the Gasconade Valley Telephone Company at its exchange at Pershing, Missouri, are as follows: Class A switching service Class D rural service Per Month $0 33-1/3 1 25 1 00 Ordered, 3. That this order shall be in full force and effect on and after the first day of February, 1924. Ordered, 4. That the secretary of the Commission shall forthwith serve a copy of the report and order herein upon the Gasconade Valley Telephone Company and Frederick Toelle and Joseph Augustine of Morrison, Missouri. January 7, 1924. In re APPLICATION OF THE VANDALIA UNION SWITCHBOARD COMPANY FOR PERMISSION TO INCREASE RATES. Case No. 3607. Decided January 22, 1924. Commission Held to Be Without Power to Compel Unification of - Increase in Rates Authorized. Properties REPORT. The Vandalia Union Switchboard Company, which will be referred to hereinafter as the applicant, is a corporation engaged in furnishing telephone exchange service to the public at Vandalia, Missouri, and in the vicinity thereof. The applicant presented a schedule for higher rates to be charged for the service furnished by it, which was suspended for investigation. A hearing was held at Mexico, Missouri, on the seventeenth day of January, 1924, and the case submitted on the evidence. Objections were made to the proposed rates by the mayor of Vandalia and other residents on the ground that the rates should not be increased, unless the telephone service at Vandalia was unified. The Buffum Telephone Company furnishes local and long distance service at Vandalia and many residents have telephones from the Buffum company and also from the applicant. The applicant has no toll service. It would doubtless be to the advantage of the community to have one company furnish its telephone service, but the Commission is without power to compel these competing companies to unite. The Commission, however, has made plans to send its telephone expert to Vandalia to confer with both companies and their subscribers for the purpose of bringing about an agreement for unification of the service and the rates to be charged therefor. Such steps are not sufficient, however, to justify a further delay of the decision in this case, as the final date of the suspension of the rates of the applicant herein will expire on the fifteenth day of February, 1924. Applicant serves 65 direct line business subscribers; 238 direct line residence subscribers, and furnishes switching service to 395 rural stations. The applicant seeks to increase its monthly rates as follows: Business telephones from $1 35 to $1 75 The proposed changes in rates are estimated to yield an additional annual revenue amounting to $1,026. The operating expenses of the applicant for 1923, without allowance for depreciation, were $5,328. The operating revenues of the applicant for the same period were $6,050, leaving a surplus of $722 for depreciation and return. The company has outstanding 285 shares of capital stock which were sold for $10,260. The proceeds of the sale of the stock and money from earnings have been invested in the property of the applicant. For the purpose of this case, the value of the property of the applicant will be tentatively assumed to be $11,000. The customary allowances on property of this character as reasonable annual percentages for depreciation and return are 6 per cent. for [Mo. C. L. 146] depreciation and 7 per cent. for return, or a total of 13 per cent. Thirteen per cent. on $11,000 equals $1,430. The applicant from the present rates for the year 1923, had net earnings of $722 and fell short approximately $708 of earning the aforesaid percentage upon the value of its property for depreciation and return. Therefore, applicant is entitled to higher rates to yield additional annual revenue in approximately the foregoing sum of $708. Increasing the rates for business telephones from $1.35 per month to $1.75 will yield additional revenue of $312; increasing the rates for residence telephones from $1.25 to $1.40 per month will yield additional annual revenue in the sum of $428, or a total of $740, from which sum allowance is to be made for loss of revenues owing to loss of subscribers due to increased rates. Therefore, we conclude that the applicant should be permitted to increase its rates for business telephones at Vandalia from $1.35 to $1.75 per month, and that it should be permitted to increase its rates for residence telephones from $1.25 to $1.40 per month. The Commission denies the request of applicant to increase its rates for residence telephones from $1.25 to $1.50 for the reasons set out above. An order in accordance with the foregoing will issue. ORDER. This case having been duly heard and submitted and the Commission having on the date hereof made a report in writing containing its findings and conclusions, which report is hereby referred to and made a part hereof, It is, therefore, ordered, 1. That the Vandalia Union Switchboard Company cancel and withdraw the schedule of proposed increased rates as heretofore filed by it in this case. Ordered, 2. That the Vandalia Union Switchboard Company be permitted to increase its monthly rates for telephone exchange service as follows: Business telephones Residence telephones from $1 35 to $1 75 from 1 25 to 1 40 Ordered, 3. That this order shall be in full force and effect on and after the first day of February, 1924. Ordered, 4. That the secretary shall forthwith send a copy of the report and order herein to the Vandalia Union Switchboard Company, Chamber of Commerce of Vandalia, mayor of the city of Vandalia, and the Buffum Telephone Company of Vandalia, Missouri. January 22, 1924. In re APPLICATION OF THE SOUTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE Case No. 3718. Decided January 24, 1924. Amendment of Form of Mortgage Authorized. SUPPLEMENTAL ORDER. Application having been heretofore made in this cause to the Public Service Commission under the provisions of the Public Service Commission Law by the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for the consent of the Commission to the issuance by said company of its first and refunding mortgage, thirty-year 5 per cent. gold bonds to be secured by a mortgage substantially in the form filed with and attached to the original petition in this cause; and the said application having been heretofore granted by an order of this Commission dated the fifteenth day of August, 1923; and a supplemental application having been now filed by said Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for leave at its election to amend the form of said mortgage by eliminating from the description of the mortgaged premises the property of the company in the State of Kansas, and by providing that such property may be subjected to the lien of said mortgage upon the company's obtaining such authority therefor as may be required by law, and by providing that the company will not otherwise mortgage its * See Commission Leaflet No. 142, p. 624. 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