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Show CLUFF REFUSED TO PUSH CASE, JUDGE AVERS Federal Court Had No : Alternative but to Make Telephone - Injunction Permanent, Judge Says ! That tb temporary Injunction r-timlnlnf r-timlnlnf tb public utilities com-' mlMlon, Governor Mabey and At-, tornay General Cluff from nfortj- i Ins the oommlMion'a order of March , 121. aralnat the Mountain State Telephone and Telegraph company wai made permanent through the refueal of Attorney General Cluff to defend the action, waa the statement of Federal Judtce Tillman I. Johnaon today when Irf-terrlowed Irf-terrlowed aa to the drrumatancea surrounding the lateat development In thla caao which affected the pocket book a of some 11.000 telephone tele-phone subecrlbera In and surround lna; Salt Lake City. There waa nothtnr elae to do but make th temporary Injunction permanent, per-manent, Judge Johnaon aatd. He waa aurprlad. that any effort had baen made to prevent aeceaa to the court record a of the caae, John W. , Chrlatlsw dark-. ii.liie coux W waa, aummonad by Judge Johnaon to explain ex-plain why the court order of Wedneaday making the Injunction criminatory oan b so mads. And, In tb answsr of ths state, such discrimination was alleged aa affects af-fects th Holltday district, But Judga Johnson denied tbs motion for dismissal which, ordinarily, would hays aent th esse to a bearing bear-ing on merit. Attorney Gensral Cluff then advised ad-vised the court he would stand on hla motion to dismiss, Judjrs Johnson John-son saya. As Judge Johnson had just denied thst motion and Cluff indicated a determination to not ra- .l.t lh. .tl.,n fi.rrh.,, Ih. -..I, manner in which Judge Johnson could clesr ths ess from th calendar cal-endar was to mak th injunction permanent. Aa a result of the order, despite the fsct that ths telephone compsny has recently made the reductions ordered by th utilttiui commission mors than two years Igo. tslephons subscribers who paid th hlghr rst during ths forty months of controversy, con-troversy, from December 1, 1919, to April 1, 19.S, will not securs a cent of refund. It la said. Christ Is told Judg Johnson thst Milton II. Smith, prssldent and general gen-eral counsel for ths telephone company, com-pany, had brought In the papers In th ca and. becau a decree In equity should b ntered en a Jurldlelal day, had so dsted the order or-der for today. Friday. Clerk Chrlstls declared that ha had promised "th party who brought In ths pa para" to withhold thsm from ths public until sftsr th affatr wss closed. But. th caae being disposed of Wednesday, Wednes-day, It did not appear on ths calendar calen-dar for today's session and. consequently, conse-quently, in the ueusl order of things. It would Beyer again have been heard from. ATTORNEYS CROW ACTIVE. Whether or not Judge Johnson's order of July 99, that this csss would be called today either for setting set-ting or dlsmlsssl, led to sctlvlty on th part of the attorney general and counsel for ths telephone compsny, who othsrwls might have let the case die in court. Judg Johnson could not ssy, although he sdmltted that might hav been the ease. Ths rscnt history of this action follows: fol-lows: Bubsequent to th utllitels commission com-mission In July, 1919, reaffirming Its order of March 99, 1921, ordering th telephone company to reduce th Burleeon rate a of December 1, 1919, and to refund to subscribers subscrib-ers ths difference between amounts charged and those allowable under th commission's order, ths telephone tele-phone company carried th matter to th federal court a, asking an Injunction In-junction to prevent enforcement of the order. Ordinarily, It I ssld. ths defendsnt In an injunction proceedings proceed-ings Is diligent in fighting such a petition. Thla does not appear to be ths case In this Inetance. On th contrary, ths record does not show that atata officials attempted at-tempted In any wsy to bring ths action to a hearing, un April i of thla year the telephone compsny put Into effect rates which are ssld to be almost Identical to those ordered or-dered two years prsvlously by the commission. This reduced schedule waa authorised by the commlslson. JUDGE SETS HEARING. Meanwhile nothing wss done on the Injunction petition of the telephone tele-phone company to prevent the commission com-mission from enforcing thess rates from December 1, 1919, forward. On July 99. Judge Johnson called the caae and wbsn nslthsr slds answered an-swered he entered an order that it would be called again today to bs sst for hearing or dismissed. To dismiss the action would be tantamount to sustaining tbs order ot the utilities commission, reduced rates, refund and ell. Subsequent to that order, representatives ot the telephone company are reported to have conferred with etate officials and Inelated that something be done to get the caae out of the federal court, where It had failed to die. Aa a reeult of these conferences a stipulation waa prepared permitting permit-ting ths telephone company to submit sub-mit a supplemental complaint. To thla complaint the attorney general prepared an answsr. Hs also prepared pre-pared a motion for dismlssaL RATE QUESTION SETTLED. Than counssl tor the telephone company and the attorney general Journeyed last Wednesday to Judge 1 1 Johnson's summer home in Ogden canyon. There they secured his sanction to the stipulation, submitted sub-mitted complaint and answsr and duffs motion for dismissal. They explained to Judge Johnson that thsre now exlstsd no difference on the rate queetlon and that the only matter eovered by the Injunction waa that of refund. Under eupreme court rullnga with regard to railroad rates, reductions for unressonsblenees cannot be mads retroactive, but those dls- |