The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-09

ment that the proposed improvement of
 the main river, which would require fewer locks and furnish long deep pools,
 would materially improve navigation ia | ciitles over this stretch of the river and | would furnish an important link In gen eral. extended project for the entire river.
 But the question of the development | of power in connection with this project
 of adequate navigation is one ofs such
 vast moment as to make it's deliberate
 consideration difficult You engineers do | not disagree on the fact that three of the four dams contemplated in the Muscle
 shoals project will develop approximately
 100000 horse power. I am aware that l by appliance of most modern methods, 1 steam power can be developed with about 1 two and one-quarter pounds of coal per l hour per horse power: that labor, interest l and depreciation on plant taken into con-
 sideration. power can be developed in
 large units for industrial purposes at about $40 per horse power per annum.
 But no such plant exists today in all the
 Tennessee valley. Paragraph 22 of House document IA puts the price of coal In 1 Tennessee valley at SIPS. But I assure l you. gentlemen, this Is In error A good
 grade of coal for industrial purposes can
 be had at Florence and other junction 1 points in the valley at s2.50, but at local points the price is very much higher
 
 the river, cheaper coal could be had from
 mines above us, but even very large in- i dustries like furnaces, rolling mills and | pipe foundries do not attempt to use the | river for bringing in coal. Navigation is | too slow and difficult. A great many l small plants are In the valley generating power with coal, but 1t Is costing no less l than S90 per horse power per annum to do
 so. At this rate, the Tennessee valley is absolutely wasting of the nations store of wealth the fabulous sum of 5000, 000 per annum, and not securing anything like so valuable or flexible a power as can be furnished by electricity from Muscle shoals and that without depicting the nations store of wealth by a single penny. Much has been said and written | about the criminal waste of natural re- sources In the United States, but no for est fire, no tropical or gulf storm no | tidal wave or earthquake ever created such incalculable waste as the running of the Tennessee river over Muscle shoals | unused. Nine million dollars annually | A sum greater than the annual cotton | crop of the entire Tennessee valley! | sum that would convert 1000 huts into mansions in the Tennessee valley every year. A sum more than double the entire annual tax receipts of the state of Ala I bama, and which would run the public I schools of Alabama on their present basis
 for more than 25 years A sum that | would build and ballast 300 miles of the l best railroad In the country every year! l A sum that would build and equip New
 Yorl1's new Pennsylvania station every | two years and have left that requisite of | all army engineers 20 per cent for con- | tingencies. etc, A sum that would clothe
 the United States army for five years! A 1 sum equal to one-third the annual in- | terest on the nations debti
 With the dual development at Muscle shoals you would not only make possible
 a river navigation on the Tennessee equal
 to that on the Ohio, over which to carry | out coal, timber, marble, iron, phos- I phate cotton-but you would at the same l time generate a power greater than the I combined power of every vessel now | plying the waters of the Ohio The prin- | cipal tonnage on the Ohio is coal for generating power By developing Muscle shoals you not only open a great high way for moving out the coal and other | products from that vast territory but at | the same time you generate power equal | to the burning of 7200 tons coal every | day The waste committed there is | like war that sinks two of our preates, battle ships every year. Or like some | grievous panic that would yearly take | into bankruptcy one after another of the | leading banks of New York city. Or l like some strong-handed and unconquer- | able bandit should every New Years l Day march into Washington and bear away one-tenth of our requisite gold re- | serve. Think of the disaster of terrible and unquenchable fires in Alabama coal mines consuming the appalling sum of 200 tons of coal every day. Two mill lion six hundred and twenty-eight thou
 sand tons a year for all time! Why, i gentlemen, if such condition existed I lip Alabama, the entire army of the United I States would be rushed to the scene If necessary to stop the destruction. But | the equal of that destruction goes on at | Muscle shoals without Interruption. Be- l cause we were not aroused by the shock | of great calamity with it's beginning we allow the waste to continue with little | or no attention. Where could we find I greater waste committed? Where could | the government start with a scheme of 1 conservation with more far-reaching pos | abilities?
 "The governments strong box is under your watchful care If, in the language | of the proverb you scatter wisely from | it's bounty, it increaseth and your people prosper. Should you approach matters | of such moment as this in spirit of pes | simism, and withhold more than Is meet,
 it could but tend to poverty One plan l discussed by you costs the government | $6, Al, TOO and fixes upon the country a
 
 l tential wealth every year. Another plan | you discuss costs the country to com | plete it sS,500,000 more than the first but | 1t puts out the fires which are consum- | ing 2,62S, 600 tons coal annually, makes ad- equate navigation on one of the coun- | try's most important waterways, and
 every year for all time saves to the people | $500,0G0 more than the total additional l cost. I know the amount is large and l that you hesitate to recommend the ex- | penditure of such sums But an oppor- l tunity is offered wonder, gentlemen for developing a great potential asset of the | country, the use of which does not im- | pair it's own value, but adds untold value to the commerce of more than 4O,O00 l square miles of the central part of this
 country's domain. Long centuries pass | without offering such opportunities to 1 men to serve their race and time A 1 recommendation from you for large ap- propriations to be expended wisely for the general good of a great people will not be considered extravagant. Public
 sentiment will uphold you if you progress | Traditions are good in law but indus | trialy the more rapidly we progress the
 more completely we put traditions behind us. The Muscle shoals canal Is a tradi- ton. Let the dead past bury it's dead Commercially and industriaIly this nation
 Iushes forward by leaps and bounds, and yesterdays plans for tomorrow are often
 inadequate. That which Senator Morgan prophesied would come to Us in one or