Economic theories, however interesting, and however learned the economists who advance them, do not become economic laws, change economic factors, or create economic results. Economic laws, factors, and results arise under, and are influenced and determined by established economic systems. Economic systems, in a democracy, are established or are initiated by the will or choice of the people who are affected thereby, and because of this fact they exist within and are protected by a legal framework consisting of established law as to property and property rights. Economists cannot change these established laws as to property or property rights by merely ignoring economic factors created as a result thereof. Original cost is discussed as a rate base, or as a measure of the present value of the property rights of the private owners of utility properties dedicated to public service. In any discussion of "original cost" it must be remembered that the term "original cost," as used in regulatory matters and as defined in the uniform system of accounts which provides for its segregation does not mean actual cost, but that it is, instead, a descriptive title applied to a mere subdivision of the actual arms-length cost.

The original cost provision for plant accounts, now incorporated in the uniform system of accounts prescribed for most electric utilities, was advanced by certain regulatory authorities as a "requirement of sound accounting practices" and as an "expedient to effective rate regulations." The present program of the Federal Power Commission, as revealed in "original cost" proceedings which followed the initiation of this system of accounts, shows conclusively that this system of accounts, together with the arguments advanced for its adoption, were, to this authority, within the shell of which was concealed an economic philosophy utterly foreign to the American system of private enterprise. Does it not seem that the attempt of this authority to apply this radical economic philosophy to public utilities, as a regulatory policy, may represent the first step in a well-prepared plan to revolutionize the whole American economy and that it may represent the spearhead of an attack on the American system of free enterprise? The distinguishing feature of "original cost" accounting is found in the provisions for the analysis of costs incurred in the acquisition of operating or going concerns, or in the purchase of an earning entity.