The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-13

tain by our researches all of the cases
 of record, but our examinations disclose cases where the United States on the one hand has contributed a total oI Sl7 274 ,9s739. and where other interests, on the other hand, for the same purposes,
 have contributed total of B. 4fs. .121.42. F'We call the committee's thoughtful at- tention to numerous cases of the govern
 ment and other interests sharing river and harbor improvements, as disclosed in the records of the rivers and harbors com mittee. {. Will Mean Cheap Power l Tn the year 1890 the wondrous hydro electric development at Niagara Falls was
 an experiment. Now, with It's 450 GOO horse-
 power, the Niagara Falls hydroeectric 1 development and it's amazing economic l influence on the affairs In the electro | netallurgical and electrochencal indus l tries of the world stands as a pleading | precedent for the Muscle Shoals develop ment. The adoption by Congress of the Muscle Shoals project and It's compilation will mean cheap power for the manufac- ture of cotton fabrics from the cotton grown along the banks of the Tennessee river and in the Mississippi valley It 1 will mean the cheap fixation of the ntro- | gen of the atmosphere as fertilizer. | known as 'cyanamid, which cornretes | with nitrate of soda in all its uses and which is found only in the country of | Chile, and from which country the United 1 States for 31 years from 1883 to 1913 inclu- l sivc, imported 6,51s,03l tons of Chilean saltpetre, with value of $209, ,971, ,246. If the committee might wish testimonials a to the value of cyanamid we can offer
 the simple testimony of the Florida fruit grower, using 1t on his grape fruit grove,
 and if the testimony of a great scientist
 might be desired we offer MT. Edison. p-b0 1of al i,, riff xuh h, sldered the list of the wword's grca test inventions since the electric light, wrote down first, Wireless and, second he wrote Nitrogen from the atmosphere, making nitric acid and cyananid--nake us independent of the exhaustion of the nitrate deposits in Chile
 ''The fertilizer bill of this country is now running at about s120,0 GOO annually, and
 nearly $75,0oo,o00 of this is in the southern states
 The accomplishment of the Muscle Shoals project will mean the manufa c.ure of ammonium phosphate, using the phos- phate rock from the phosphate fields of Tennessee nearby Muscle Shoals in com bination with cyanamid Ammonium phosphate contains about five times as much plant food as the ordinary fertilizer
 making it correspondngly cheaper to handle. bag, ship and transfer from the point of manufacture to the farmer.
 Tt will mean that the bauxite deposits
 of the southern states can find the re- quiredr ample low-priced hydroeleotric power for manufacturing aluminium. and
 the commercial value of aluminium .nan-
 ufactured at Niagara Falls is D. 600 per year. Tt will mean the manufacture of steel in electric furnaces. making the high
 phosphorus and high sulphur ores of the southern states at once valuable for the manufacture of the highest grade atecls. "The Muscle Shoals project is chal- lenge to the courage and genius of the President, the Secretary of War. and the Congress of the United States for lnme- diatc adoption"
 The statement appeared to make l deep impression on all the members If the committee.