Louis Brandeis

“ It said:
'The human race is only recovering from an experience the like of which the world never before endured-a world was-a world upheaval-an economic cataclysm. There are no stable measures of value to-day.'
Upon this the commission departed from the values which then prevailed, and from those that the rule of law prescribed, that is, the values prevailing at the time the property was being used for the public, and reverted to the values which obtained January 1, 1914-values that had not existed for over seven years, and no prophecy could say when, if ever, they would exist again. ”

“ The cost of the materials and of their fabrication was as much a measure of the value of the utility when reproduced as the cost of materials and their fabrication were a measure of the value of the utility when it was produced-a measure of value of reproduction and production. A measure, it is true, of different degree, which it was the duty of the commission to regard, and because the commission did not regard it-that is, because it did not consider the values at the time it was acting-its action was condemned. ”

“ Here the commission gave careful consideration to the cost of reproduction; but it refused to adopt reproduction cost as the measure of value. It declared that the exercise of a reasonable judgment as to the present 'fair value' required some consideration of reproduction costs as well as of original costs, but that 'present fair value' is not synonymous with 'present replacement cost,' particularly under abnormal conditions. ”