The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-16

 of the last fiscal year. The bill he in troduced at the first session of this Congress he mentioned embodied fhe plan proposed by the Muscle Shoals Hydro Electric Power company, cor poration organized under the laws of Alabama and based on the reports made by the two special boards of en- gineers, together with the report of the board of review of the rivers and har- bors committee. Next he outlined the aims of the company and told of the great proportion of the project. The total cost Of the dams. locks and nee, essary lands in connection with the project he said would be $12,000,000, of which the company expects to con tribute to the government $3.000,000 as it's share of the cost.
 Lease of Water Power.
 Tt is conceded" Judge Richardson continued, that the coal area of thss Birmingham district will be the great est competitor of the Muscel Shoals electric plant, and will regulate the charges for electric power. It can be reasonably expected that the cost per year of electricity will not exceed Sz5 per horse power, and this price will cause the coal of the Birmingham dis trfct to seek a market in sections
  Such a power will attract new indus tries which are possible only with cheap available power. Cotton mills, mining industries, street railway sys- tems within the area which Muscle Shoals electric power will cover-prac- tically from the Cumberland river to the Gulf of Mexico and from the south ern Appalachian area to the Missis- sippi river.
 Tt will easily supply with electrical power the cities of Nashville and Mem phis, Tenn, Birmingham. Huntsville, the two Decaturs, Gadsden, Montgor11- cry, Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, Ala.
 There are two propositions. either one of which solves the problem at Muscle Shoals. The first is for the government to cooperate with a private company or corporation, by the government entering into an agree ment with such company, corporation or individuals. to appropriate a certain amount of money ascertained by the government engineers to be necessary to construct under the supervision of the Secretary of War. the locks and dams described and located by tye special board of engineers and the cor poration or company furnish the bal ance of the money. For the money so
 
 public treasury the government shall lease or rent to such company the use of the water power under the pro- visions of a lease for annual rent, run hing for a period of not more than 99 years, with such restrictions and spe- cifcations for the use of the water power as the Secretary of War may prescribe and embody in the lease.
 "The other proposition Is for the N<.lx dams at Muscle Shoals described by inc special board of engineers, for the improvement of the navigation of the Tennessee river at Muscle Shoals, and the water power so developed may be leased by the government for such length of time and for such annual rent to any company or individual that the Secretary of War may determine, and subject to such regulations and restrfc- tions for the protection of navigation as the Secretary of War may determine.
 q am aware that either of these propositions will meet with opposi- ton upon the ground that the govern ment has no constitutional authority to become a party to either one of the propositions above set forth. For my self I have concluded after much iff- vestigation that the government has unquestioned authority under it's su- preIne over tHe HdNledtoh of all navigable streams for the ad- vancement of commerce, to use all the facilities, instrumentalities and means germain to the exercise of its jurisdic- ton, to aid or to enlarge commerce"
 Towards the close of his long speech Judge Richardson made this statements The proposition of the Muscle Shoals Hydro Electric Power company Is to create slack water pools that will cover 2S miles from Elk river shoals to the Florence railroad bridge. These poois of slack water are to take the place of a canal over IA miles in Iength-nar- row and shallow and tortuous, on the northern bank of the Tennessee river into which the silt of 15 streams are emptied, with a viaduct of more than soc feet in length which spans at It's mouth the torrential waters of $
 creek. Engineers who are advised know that this viaduct is constant cause of anxiety in respect to naviga- ton of the canal, which means the navigation of the Tennessee river from Knoxville, Tenn, to Paducah, Ky"