The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-17
Statement Made That War riOr Has Not Been RecOm-
 mended by Board
BANKHEAD FOR, BUT
 UNDERWOOD AGAINST
Whole Question Up in the Air Be- cause of the Great Number of Sites Offered and Inter-
 ests at Work

' That the interdepartmentai board na
 not recommended the Warrior river, no any other location, for the construction 1 ot a nitrate plant is the statement o senator J. H. Bankhead, in a letter sen to President Charles DeBardeleben of tn, 1 Chamber of Commerce. Senator Osca 1 Underwood also states no report favor ing the Warrior river has been filed witt the President. These letters were in an swer to telegram sent to the two sen 1 ators by Mr. DeBardeleben requestin, them to use their influence in tke location 1 of government nitrate plant on thu 1 Warrior river.
 l Senator Bankhead stated, however, ht would be for the Warrior river location 1 If it were as good as any other sit, suggested, while Senator Underwood un. aualifiedly stated he was opposed to tn, proposition, stating that ito comply with your request would destroy the pur- pose for which have been working for many years,i
 It is understood, however, that the com mittee from the chamber, headed by H. Key Miner will continue the fight with other civic organizations for the Warrior river location for the nitrate plant
 BANKHEAD'S LETTER Tke letter of Senator Bankhead fol- lows:
 Your telegram of July F is received and I am writing instead of replying by wire
 There is very great misunderstood ing as to what the board has recon h1ended with reference to the location of the nitrate plant The board does not recommend the Warrior river. nor does 1t recommend any other river or locf,.,on TOT the plant In submitting their report they named 10 or F locations where they say the plaE. might be erected Their report is si@ a partial one, and they do not go fuft..er than to suggest an ex- perimental plant to cost S4,00o 600. to he constructed on New river or some other small river in West Virginia or East Ten nessee
 The report as it relates to the Warrior llNef, suggests the construction of II power stations, and their connection bv transmission lines to a point at or nea,, LOCK lf The report deais quite largely Wlth the proprety or possibility of aux inary steam plants in connection with water on the Warrior rived. The report contemplates the building of a lock 4 f Northport 95 feet high for the purpose of slpmerging Locks II and 12 and the en- slners estimate it will require two and cne-half years to construct this loct sas. dam During the greater part of the time haNigatlon on the Warrior river would be closed because it would be impossible 10 construct 9 dam ba .;x. point without the suspension of naviga- ton during it's construction The renort says that about 700000,000 tons of coal will be developed on the Warrior river above present navigation
 SOMETIME IN FUTURE
 The whole matter is being, of course. very thoroughly investigated and present indications are that it will be sometime In the future before any definite action is taken. We find that the fertilizer trust, the powder trusts, the by-product coke oven trusts, and the general waterpower trusts are all fighting the construction of a power plant anywhere, and you under stand, of course, what this means. And will not be very much surprised that the construction of a nitrate plant for the purpose of making fertilizer is indefi- nitey postponed if not entirely prevented
 "Construction of this nitrogen plant IS a national enterprise aracting the whole country, particularly the whole southern section. It cannot be localized.
 If the Warrior river is as good a place for this nitrogen plant as any other, am for the Warrior river The Warrior as you know, is my baby, and, of course would like to see it grow to the greatest proportions.
 At present the whole question is up in the air because of the great number of suitable sites recommended by the boards, and the local interests that are actively at work. Sincerely yours,
 ''J. H. BANKHEAD."