The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-13

railroad. for the managers, and by J. C. Carter president of the brotherhood, for the employees, adjourned for further ses- sions tomorrow or Saturday with little apparent progress made in bringing the negotiations to a head.
 President Carter and his associates first presented demands which the railroads ......................... this view of the board is not shared by the Alabama delegation in Congress, and representations have been made to the board showing the immense amount of commerce which is subject to develop ment in the rich valley through which this river runs for 800 miles, the board is yet unconvinced that it would be justi- fled In recommending to Congress an ap- propriation which would complete the work.
 Burnett Submits Data
 Representative Burnett, who has for years worked faithfully endeavoring to impress Congress with the importance of opening up this stream, and who insists that the necessity for doing so becomes more urgent now that the Panama canal
 
 before the board of engineers in which he tried to, convert that body to his way of thinking.
 Mir. Burnett declared in his address that in the Il years ending December S1, 1910. the visible tonnage produced in the upper Coosa- Alabama valley had in- creased from 3,S61, ,525 tons per anntim to s,022, 600 tons per annum, or a growth of los per cent, and the value of these prod ucts from s52S16,0OO to S125,92, TOO an in- crease of 13S per cent while the increased production in all Alabama, for the year 1910, over the year 1900, was 103 per cent. The entire production for the Coosa- Ala bama river valley annually is estimated at total tonnage of-13,S1,ooO tons, valued | at $25l S4S,0 GOO.
 1 In the ordinary exchange of commerce. | in return for these vast resources, it is 1 but matura to assume that a like amount | in value, if not in tonnage would be 1 handled, and this would give at the present time a tonnage to be handled In | this valley annually, valued at s5o3, 6S6, GOO.
 Canal Will Be Stimulus The opening of the Panama canal would naturally be a great stimulus to the development of trade in this valley pro- ] vded the river was opened to navigation. 1 because of the fact that it lies so fa- vorable to the gulf coast.
 | In spite of these representations how ever, which have been made time and 1 time again to the board, that body re- | fused to recede from it's position. The board declares. that unless private capi- | tai comes to the aid of the government | in developing the river that as vet no recommendations can be made, and this 1 Is where Alabama appears to be be- tween the devil and deep blue sea" on ] both propositions. The board of engineers I wants private capital to develop the wa- | terpower of the river and thus lend aid to navigation and reduce the cost to the government, then when that is | accomplished they will be willing to recommend appropriations to complete the work and open up the river to the | gulf.
 Private Capital Willing
 Private capital is ready and willing to do part of this work and a very l large part of it. and in fact is doing | it now by constructing dam at lock 12. l The same concern asked the right to construct dam at Lock l s for the pur- lpose of developing water power to be fused in the manufacture of fertilizers 1 from the 5air, and 1t was estimated l by the board of engineers that the iconstruction of this dam would save tho government in the development of the river for navigation the immense sum of $1,622.000. bill was introduced lin Congress. in the last session, and passed both Houses, but was vetoed by the President
 The President believes there should be governmental regulation and control over corporations which are permitted to develop waterpower on naviable streams and he is hostile to any bill which fails to provide for these regu- lations. In his recent message to the House of Representative he took oc- casion to again make his position clear |upon this subject He is supported in this view by several so-called conserva- tionists in the-Congress. On the other hand a large majority believe that the government has no right beyond that of lproteoting the interests of navigation and that the question of control and regulation Is a function of the state in which the power Is developed. They believe that it would not only be an infringement on states rights for ths government to assume such a position but that 1t would also be unconstitu- tional
 Does Not Relieve Situation This, however. does not relieve the situation in which the state of Alabama finds itself at the present time. Ala lbama wants navigation and water power both. The demand for both are be- coming more imperative every day They cannot get the one because the board of engineers says that 1t must first do it's part, before the government will be asked to aid in the project 1t is willing to do its part, but is pre- vented from doing so. because the ex~ lecutive declares that it must first yield to governmental control and regula-