L. 146] the farmers and other residents of the Liberty district, south of the city of Salem, formed an organization for the purpose of providing a switchboard for the several lines terminating at Liberty. At this time, there were in all about 13 or 14 farmer lines terminating at that point. During the negotiations, several meetings were called, these meetings being attended by a representative of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company who proposed to extend a pole lead with sufficient lines from the city limits of Salem to Liberty, a distance of about 2.2 miles, and to provide switching service for the Liberty lines through the Salem exchange. This offer on the part of the Pacific company was accepted, and since that time the residents of the Liberty district, and many other districts south of Salem, have been able to receive farmer line switching service through the Salem exchange by building their lines to a connection with the lines of the Pacific company at Liberty, although for the past several years a uniform provision in all the tariffs of the Pacific company, and other telephone companies as well, has required that applicants for this type of service connect their lines with those of the company at the limits of the primary rate area of the company, which is now at the city limits. During the past year the line of the Prospect Hill Cooperative Telephone Company, one of the farmer line organizations connecting at Liberty, became overcrowded and it became necessary to construct an additional line, whereupon negotiations were had with the manager of the telephone company and the construction of the farmer line commenced. When it had been completed and application was made to the Pacific company for a circuit from Liberty to the Salem exchange, it was found that there was none available. Further negotiations disclosed that the pole line in question was not of sufficient strength to sustain an added cross-arm, nor can it sustain the existing lines for any considerable length of time without considerable repair work being done. This the Pacific company does not pro pose to do, contending that the maintenance of this condition constitutes a discrimination against other farmer lines and all other customers of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company in Oregon, the explanation being made that it is. and has been, their intention to correct the situation when the present structure has ceased to be serviceable. It will thus be seen that the primary issue in this proceeding is whether or not the Pacific company should be required or permitted to continue its past practice of providing a pole line and telephone circuits from the city limits of Salem to Liberty for the benefit of the farmer line subscribers of that district, in violation of its legal tariff. Manifestly this is an unreasonable and unjustifiable discrimination against every other farmer line subscriber and all other customers of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company in Oregon, not only in the Salem exchange but in every other exchange of this company in the State of Oregon. Clearly it is improper and unlawful for a public utility company to extend its service lines for a distance of more than two miles south of Salem to meet the lines of the subscribers of that territory, while it requires its subscribers north, east and west of Salem to build to the city limits, or to the primary rate area of the exchange, and yet charge them all the same rate. It appears that this is the only discriminatory condition of this nature existing on the lines of this company in Oregon, and with its correction a very unsatisfactory condition will be eliminated. A situation of this kind should not require an order from this Commission; the Public Utility Act of the State demands that such situations be eliminated. The company will accordingly be required to eliminate this discriminatory condition at the earliest practicable date. The second issue brought before the Commission in this proceeding involves primarily a question of damage suffered by reason of an alleged unfulfilled promise on the part of the manager of the telephone company to provide an additional line from Liberty to Salem to connect with the new line of the Prospect Hill Cooperative Telephone [Ore C. L. 146] Company. Manifestly such an issue is one for the courts to determine and one over which this body has no jurisdiction. However, during the course of this proceeding the officials of the Pacific company recognized their responsibility for the existing situation and promised to place the subscribers affected on the same basis as the others in the Liberty district, it being understood, however, that they did not propose to continue this condition as to any of the Liberty subscribers except for a temporary period. This disposes of the issues before the Commission for determination. However, the Commission is naturally interested in proper and satisfactory arrangements being made for providing service to the farmer lines affected by this proceeding and at the lowest possible cost to the rural subscribers. It being determined that the rural subscribers must bring their lines to the limit of the primary rate area, there are three methods of procedure available. 1. The primary rate area limits of the Salem exchange may be extended from the southerly limits of the city of Salem along the Pacific Highway to a point approximately one-half mile south thereof, to the junction of the Liberty and Jefferson roads, this arrangement having been agreed to by the Pacific Highway. The Pacific company would then maintain the lines to that point. From such point to Liberty, a distance of approximately one and one-half miles, the existing telephone line and the additional circuit promised to the Prospect Hill Cooperative Telephone Company might be transferred to an association of all these farmer line subscribers at a nominal price of $1.00, to be thereafter maintained by them. Such an arrangement has been approved by the telephone company, and this, we believe, is the preferable solution so far as the farmer line subscribers are concerned. 2. The Pacific company will extend its primary rate area as above outlined to the junction of the Liberty and Jefferson roads, and from that point to Liberty will maintain and rent to the farmer line subscribers pole facilities at their published tariff rates of 10 cents per contact, or 50 cents per cross-arm. 3. The farmer line subscribers might build their own lines from Liberty to the extended primary rate area. From the investigation which we have made and the reports of our engineers, we would recommend these solutions in the order listed; however, this is a problem for the solution of the subscribers affected. From a consideration of the foregoing facts and the entire record herein, the Commission is of the opinion, and finds, that the existing practices of The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company in connection with the furnishing of farmer line switching service in the Liberty district, through its Salem exchange, result in unjust and unreasonable discrimination against the remaining farmer line subscribers of the Salem exchange, and of every other exchange of said company, and in an undue preference to the subscribers in said Liberty district. ORDER. It is, therefore, ordered, That as soon as practicable, and on or before the first day of April, 1924, The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company shall cease and desist from the unjust and unlawful discriminatory practices hereinbefore in these findings referred to, which said findings are by this reference made a part of this order. Dated at Salem, Oregon, this thirty-first day of December, 1923. [Ore. TENNESSEE. Railroad and Public Utilities Commission. CITY OF KINGSPORT V. INTER-MOUNTAIN TELEPHONE COMPANY. Docket No. 738. Decided August 15, 1923. City in Granting a Franchise Held to Have Power to Contract for Free Service to Certain Other Exchanges Purchaser of Franchise Held to Take the Same Subject to all Obligations and Limitations Imposed Upon Predecessor Where Messages Could be Sent Either Interstate or Intrastate and it Appeared that All Intrastate Line State Com- OPINION. The city of Kingsport, a municipal corporation in the State of Tennessee, under Chapter 76 of the Private Acts of 1917, approved March 2, 1917, filed its petition with the Railroad and Public Utilities Commission of Tennessee on February 12, 1923, seeking to have this Commission enter all necessary orders to require the Inter-Mountain Telephone Company to furnish to the local exchange patrons of Kingsport, Blountville and Bristol, Tennessee, cities within Sullivan County, Tennessee, free telephone service; that is to say, that persons within the Kingsport area should be allowed to communicate by telephone with persons at Blountville and at Bristol, Tennessee, without charge other than the regular exchange rates. This petition is based upon an alleged agreement or contract entered into between Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company and the city of Kingsport, claimed by petitioner to be |