The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-05
POINTS OF ADVANTAGE

TOlIN UT f1DV xAAN <AdA {, Alahamfans in Congress are conf dent that Muscle Shoals will be se- lected as the source of water power tt furnish the "muscle" for this gigantic industry.
 There are only two sources feasibl, Muscle Shoals, the one; Priest Rap ids, on the Columbia river, the other Over the latter, the former has fnsu perable advantages.
 It is inland. isolated from the
 possibility of attack, in the midst
 of inexhaustible mineral deposits.
 on the banks of a magnificent
 stream, which. in the consumma-
 tion of pending plans. will be made
 navigable from source to mouth
 and in easy access of railroad
 transportation.
 It is on the edge of the phos-
 phate deposits of Tennessee-nec-
 essary in the manufacture of fer
 tilizer-and some of the depos-
 its can be reached from the shoals
 in scows It has or 35 cent freight rate from the highest grade
 limestone of record as being of commercial use.
 It Is the greatest source of latent water power wholly within the
 borders of the United States In
 and around and about Muscle
 Shoals, the government has already
 completed essential surveys.
 It is in the very heart of that
 area which consumes 60 per cent
 of o11 ho
 United States.
 And, to cap the climax, it can be developed for the S2O,0O0,00O which the proposed bill would apA propriate. THE HISTORICAL HANDICAP There is no more fascinating stor, in American industrial developmen than that which will eventually b. woven around Muscle Shoals. In the beginning. 1t offered a ba, insuperable to the navigation of tn magnificent Tennessee From tn source of the river. turning south, tn stream was made navigable up to tn shoals; from the other extremity O the shoals, the river was made navi gable to its mouth.
 Years ago. captains of industry, il order to overcome the handicap of tn SAO%ASs SOAiStA hSlCQ tt IallTOAQ-Ou6 0 the first built in the United States On freight cars. cargoes were trans ported from one extremity of tn shoals to the other. and at the desti nation, put again on boats for the com pletion of the journey
 On account of the increased freigh burden due to the necessity of load ing and relocating and the demand o stockholders in the railroad that the be complimenied with reasonable re turn on their investment. the ilnpro vised plan of undoing what the Create had done was proved infeasible. congress was appealed to. The gov ernment expended great sums of none in attempting to overcome the diff l culty. The result was futile-chiefl because the government was never wil ling to grasp "the bull by the horns, and do the great thing in the grea way that for complete success was es l sential.
 HOPE AGAIN RENEWED
 At the beginning of this session Q Congress, Alabama's representatives made aware of the fact that the feve for preparing the United States agains l possible emergency could not b l checked, devised the bold plan of of fering Muscle Shoals as a solution o the intricate and up to that time. un {! solvable problem.
 l The government experts grasped tn significance of the proposed plan. Fo l of what use were warships. of count 1 less men armed cap-a-pie with moder | weapons. if gunpowder was lacking And how other than by robbing tn | air of its nitrogen. could powder i abundance be obtained were the enem country to cut off the Chilean supply /! And the scheme was especially ar pealing when 1t was shown that in cor nectton with gunpoWder, ferttlixe