The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-04

i the customary F se IA per cent yet which l can be made so economically that 1t can l be supplied to the farmer at half the. cost
 Believing, however, that the process whic, l offers to do this is not the most econom l ical one, the government is undertaking
 ahead with your experimenting: urges tho 1 farmer. hut let's have of that cheap fertilizer that has been assured us, Sixty per cent. plant food at half price is good enough for me-"
 The significance of this offering to agri culture. made possible by Muscle Shoals hardly he overestimated. for. in spite of our enormous total production. our crop yields per acre are hardly more than one half those which Euopean farmers secured
 before the war. Comparison of the aver age yield per acre in bushels shows:
 Wheat. Oats. Barley. Rye. Pots.
 Hnitss Hnr9pe state. E E ss 4 2s as Is Is lss ss At one stroke the American farmer can l secure his nitrogen and phosphorous fer tilizer at the same prices that the European farmer paid before the war. More plant food for less money means larger crops on the same land with the same laboY, which there Is an cver-increasing demand.
 Muscle Shoals Place
 For Great Fertilizer Plant.
 Muscle Shoals Is en,inentiy the place
 for tho great nitrate fertilizer plant. it has been recognized as su"h by the esran- ltshment there of the s3.s0O 900 experiment al plants It has been stated. on most ex-
 celient authority, and never. to the writ. power developed at Muscle Shoals. nj trogen and phosphorcus fertilizer can be produced and distributed more cneapiy there than at any other location In the United States.
 So the second advantage which the de.
 velopment of Muscle Shoals will bring II proposed plans are carried out, is cheap, abundant high grade fertilizer for the
 farmer, which means bigger. better crops With a food shortage which Is worldwide and admittedly here to stay for number of years after the close of the war. the farmers markets seem assured at good figures, and with crops abundant the rest of the community prospers along with tht farmer.
 Power Nct Confined ts
 Muscle Shoals Vicinity.
 The benefits of cheap power, moreover, will not be confined to the immediate VI
 cinity of Muscle Shoals. Syracuse. Y. !. 160 miles east Of Niagara Falls, uses 1000 horsepower of Niagara current in sin gle steel mill, melting the steel in the nlitted as far as Windsor. Ont. 240 miles to the west of the falls Those cities SC fortunate as to secure Muscle Shoals power at distance of 160 or 175 nlilea or less should have at least one powerful ad vantage to offer as locations for manufac- turing plants; Individual motor drive
  overhead shafting and belts, is rapidly re placing them in modern factories through out the country, so that the advent of cheap electric power offers to the manu facturer, large or small. 2 means of ef- fecting a substantial saving in his op- erating expenses. In this fact is found development to it's neighbors. The complete development of Muscle Shoals cannot be made within the present appropriation of S20,000,O00. four millions Nf yvh "a nt6 for the various small plants now building there. The balance of s16.ooo.0oo win build dam No. ? and leave several mil but additional appropriations will be need ed to complete the big nitrate plant
 and to. build the remainder of tue will invest other millions, and 1t is not too much to say that the decision to de velop Muscle Shoals will mean the ex
 penditure of forty or fifty million dollars within the territory which Is commercial 1 ly served by the four great cities men tioned--Nashville Chattanooga Memphls.
 large sums for labor and materials within | the trade territories of these cities could | hardly fail to be of great benefit to them l and constitutes the fourth great advan 1 tage which this development must bring 1 to them.
 l Campaign Must Not
 Be Allowed to Lapse
 | Ihose who nave been acrlye H. inS siudy l and advocacy of the Muscle Shoals deyci- l opment feel convinced that the greatest 1 danger of failure to secure Chs great gov | ernment enterprise in the immediate fu- | ture Hes in the fact u 1t Muscle Shoals l and the nitrate plant are but one small
 item among q multitude of affairs of far l greater magnitude which demand atten l ton from the Washington officials in this
 crisis. Believing that in waglpg great | war abroad, our national strength is l.,
 be maintained only by continuing actively l to build up our industrial strength st l home the members of the Muscle Shoals 1 association are united In the conviction ] that this greas development should be made without further delay l To keep tie matter ,tively before those in authority at Washington, and to
 assist the farmers and their friends ia l their efforts to secure cheaper fertilizer l with which to meet the demands of the | national call for more foodstuffs requires 1 a continued campaign for which addition
 al funds are needed. It is the belief of 1 those best informed that the pressure of | q concerted effort on the part of the l friends of Muscle SI 0als which the cor | tinuance of the cam dRn will secure, viii l sain for the great power site the favore-
 bie decision that tue facts so abnn1antaV l warrant.