AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS INSTITUTED 1852 TRANSACTIONS Paper No. 1190 THE VALUATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE CORPORATION PROPERTY.[1] BY HENRY EARLE RIGGS, M. AM. SOC. C. E. WITH DISCUSSION BY MESSRS. F. LAVIS, CHARLES H. HIGGINS, S. D. NEWTON, WILLIAM V. POLLEYS, C. P. HOWARD, J. E. WILLOUGHBY, HENRY C. ADAMS, CARL C. WITT, R. A. THOMPSON, CHARLES H. LEDLIE, WILLIAM G. RAYMOND, W. H. WILLIAMS, P. E. GREEN, E. KUICHLING, RICHARD T. DANA, GEORGE T. HAMMOND, LEONARD METCALF, CHARLES HANSEL, J. MARTIN SCHREIBER, CLINTON S. BURNS, HALBERT P. GILLETTE, ARTHUR L. ADAMS, C. D. PURDON, A. MORDECAI, W. B. RUGGLES, AND HENRY EARLE RIGGS. INTRODUCTORY. The industrial and economic development of the past two decades has opened many new lines of special work in the Profession of Engineering, none of which is more difficult and complicated or of greater ultimate value to the public at large than that of the appraisal or valuation of the property owned and operated by public service corporations; and none of the fields of engineering specialization requires greater care or calls for more skill, experience, integrity, or sound judgment. The individual engineer, or commission of engineers, entering upon an appraisal of large magnitude, particularly one including properties of more than one company, will find conditions varying in every one, and each property presenting new, complex, and confusing elements of value to pass upon and determine. Prior to 1900 there had been few calls on engineers for large appraisals, and the literature descriptive of engineering effort along this line was practically nothing. Since 1900 many extensive appraisals have been undertaken by States, by railroad and banking corporations, and by cities; certain well-defined lines of practice have been developed; many differing opinions as to certain methods and principles have been brought out; and enough has been added to the printed literature to enable one to compare methods of work and to fix with reasonable certainty upon some as correct, and to discard others as improper. There are so many complex factors entering into the problem of valuation, so many widely different plans have been presented, and there are so many thinking men who have opposed and do honestly and sincerely oppose any form of valuation, that a most thorough study of the subject should be made. It should be examined from all angles, and every possibility of danger from legislation regarding it should be weighed with utmost care.