PUBLIC UTILITIES - ORIGINAL COST OF PLANT AS ITEM IN COMPANY ACCOUNTS

Forty-four telephone companies, thirty-seven of them members of the Bell system, and seven of them members of another group, sued to set aside an order of the Federal Communications Commission prescribing a uniform system of accounts for telephone companies. The companies contended that the system of accounts ordered prevented them from realizing a fair return on their total investment. The Court held that the order of the commission was valid and dismissed the bill. American Tel. & Tel.

Co. v. United States, 299 U.S. 232, 57 S. Ct. 170 (1936).