The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-17

villages and boat landings" into thriving cities,
 But the greatest advantage to be derived from this work is the erec- ton of a great electrical plant to util- ize this 6SO.O00 horse power already mentioned. But where does the. ad- vantage lie in generating power on the Tennessee river? It is the general opinion, perhaps that the Tennessee is very insignificant stream. This is not true so far as natural endoW- ments are concerned. The stream it. self is larger than the Ohio and the Cumberland combined. And near it's banks are found timber, building stone, marble, coal, minerals of all kinds, and various kinds of agricultu- ral products. We see at once that thiS power can be of use right in the local lity where it is available. It may be used to operate multifarious factories, such as sawmills, iron furnaces smelling foundries, smelting works, marble quarries, fertilizer plants, and gunpowder factories I wish to dis cuss briefly the vital importance ot at least two of these--the fertilizer iplant and the gunpowder factory. Filst. let us consider the advant ages of the fertilizer plant. The Uni ted States sends annually to Chile over | $20, 100000 more thaz the dams would cost--in payment for nitrogen bought there. How improvident it seems to buy nitrogen, when four-fifths of the vast aerial sea above us is composed of it! By a recently invented chemi- cal process, nitrogen can be taken from the air by means of very great lhydroelectric power, and converted into the identical product for which we pay to Chile $20,000,000 annually. A 1 fertilizer plant at Muscle Shoals would save the farmers of the country near Fly $20, 100000 per year, and so help to solve the vitally important problem Of how to reduce the present high cost of living.
 But besides the numerous factories
 that are sure to sbring up, there will
 be made possible Liant that, through
 it's productions, will affect the people
 of the nation as a whole The recent
 ly discovered process of utilizing nj
 trogen means more to the people Of
 the United States than merely reduc- ing the present high cost of living; it
 helps us to solve the grave question
 cf national defense by making it pos
 sible to establish much needed muni- tions plant
 Why do we need more powder factories,
 when we are not even in war? May the time be far distant when we must defend ourselves against aggression. But if the
 
 meet the grim emergency of war sta
 tisties show that our present supply of
 powder wou.l not last an army of 500,000
 soldiers over eight hours. Would our
 factories be able to manufacture enough
 powder for the army? Would not the
 nations hostile to the United States, if
 Nke England-they could control the seas, prevent other nations shipping pow
 der to tls? These are questions of na-
 tional importance. and should be carefully
 considered by every patriotic. liberty low ing citizen.
 Why do we not locate a munitions plant at Niagara Falls? Because it would be within two easy ways of approach for
 attack-the St Lawrence river and the
 Erie canal. If a hostile navy were to
 attack New York city, there is not so much as a barbed wire to protect it; the
 coast defense is ptiable. Could not hos tile soldiers land at New York and march
 across the country and dynamite our