The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-12-21
FREAR WILL FIGHT
MUSCLE SHOALS
Project To END
Wisconsin Representative
Starts Movement against.
Development of Tennes-
see River Project

Washington, December Especially
Following recent appeal by a large
Alabama delegation for adequate i'm
provement of the Muscle Shoals stretch
of the Tennessee river. Representative
Frear of Wisconsin mas started bitter
opposition to the project and proposes
to fight IL to the end of the chapter.
Frears campaign was instituted by a
bers first were inclined to deprecate as
one of his customary TRADES against
rivers and harbors improvements. but as
he proceeded they became interested,
and there is not any doubt that his
words carried weight and left deep
impression.
/ First denonncing the army engineers
for recommending the Muscle Shoals
! improvement. Frear contended that the
! project had been devised in the interest
of the waterpower trust and of the
General Electric. trust. These alleged
trusts, Representative Bryan inter
jected, were principally foreign
owned In the course of his speech
Frear said;
Character Ridiculous
heretofore projects, however
wasteful or ridiculoussin character they
may appear to be, have offered some
pretense of being intended for naviga-
tion Muscle Shoals, nowsproject recon-
mended by the army engineers, to be
begun by January l.. 1915, and to be
completed by 1890, calls for $1S,701, 900
for the Alabama Power company that
already controls all the power along
the Tennessee and Coosa rivers. -.
Pursuant to the proposal of army
engineers, this $1S,70I, ,000 is to be ex-
lpended at once, and the money is to
| be spent in building dams. locks and
power plant for the Muscle Shoals IIy-
droeleetric Power company, a branch of
| the Alabama Power trust. This govern
menty with the approval and recommen- :
dation5 of its own army engineers, ac-
cording to their report. is about to build
| a water power plant for the Alabama
Power company at a cost of Sol 600,
and to give lease for 100 years-to this
water power trust. Holding the bag
financially speaking, the government
tries to get back sS,376,00O of the
amount During the course of hun
dred years the remaining $1O,325,e00
however, is to be given over as a Christ
mas present.
! ITO be fair in the statements Of facts
III will say that $8,575.000 is ostensibly
FLOR navigation. but through pretense
| is as hypocritical III character as the
offer for public bids between straw
man and a water power trust.
"As document No. 90 throughout its
whole astonishing text of S4 pages. does
not give a solitary fact from which to
determine why $S,57500O is to be spent
| for navigation, / have undertaken some
Investigation of the subject
Army engineers, who were educated
by the government and have ever since
been it's con nfidential paid advisers. have
determined that of the $1S.T01 900 tt
| be expended for water power mathe
nlatical exactness requires that q con-
| tract with the water power trust sloul,
| be so apportioned that our government
will pay sS,575.000 OF the amount ant
| charge it up TO a profit and loss ae
| count of navigation. and S1.T50,000 ad
/ fitional for easements,
I'm "A published statement Senate
Burton mercilessly disseets scores o
projects contained in the 1914 porl
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