VALUATION, DEPRECIATION AND 
THE RATE-BASE 
CHAPTER 1 
INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL NOTES 
Conflicting Views Relating to Procedure. — The need of har- 
monizing the conflicting views relating to the best methods of 
dealing with the establishment of rates that are to be charged 
by public service corporations for the service which they render 
or for the commodity which they supply is recognized by econo- 
mists and engineers. This need is the more pressing in view 
of the fact that the public, in exercising control over the opera- 
tion of the utility through properly constituted authority, may 
and no doubt frequently has established onerous and burden- 
some regulations, resulting at times in the confiscation of prop- 
erty. At any rate the limitations relating to permissible charges 
have frequently been such that the question of the reasonable- 
ness and sufficiency of these charges has been taken into court 
and the courts have reached certain conclusions from which 
there is apparently no appeal but concerning some of which 
the wisdom of permanent enforcement may well be called in 
question. 
Rapid progress is being made in recognizing the fundamental 
principles which should control when an appraisal of public 
service properties is to be made as a basis for the establishment 
of rates for service rendered. This subject is, however, today 
still in a controversial stage. The assembling of facts relat- 
ing to such fundamental principles as will be of service to the 
appraisers of operating plants of any character, whether used