The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-31

"That the fertility of this great Tennessee valley is not doubted.
 offer to you in evidence the Twin Cities Albany and Decatur, your
 hosts of the evening, and on the
 morrow you will visit the triplets.
 Sheffield, Florence and Tuscum-
 bia We not only grow enormous
 crops and feed ourselves but we
 build twin and triplet municipali-
 ties just as easy as the average
 section of any other state reaches
 a sufficient population to get
 fifth-class postoffice.p
 That went strong with the business men of Birmingham, for Birmingham has something of a record herself, when it comes to building 8 mumci- pality that covers all corners of crea- 4ion, having half hundred square miles of territory under the supervi- sion of the city commission, But Bir- 1uingham adopted all of the children she took into the family and they now bear the family name.
 TRIPLET MUNICIPALITIES
 Not so in the triplet municipalities
  der the rather unpleasant characteri- zation of having been trying to build a trio of cities for many years, and while they had hard time getting away to any great start. they kept up the fight and took on more faith and hope with each setback but now every struggling municipality or growing city will have to look to her laurels, for when Muscle Shoals is damned up. and 22,000 acres of land is inundated, including approximately 10, 900 acres of farming land, there Is going to be enough power drifting through the spillway over the greatest dam in the world to run anything from grist- mill to 3 battery of turbines big enough to tear the German empire loose from its Inoorings and drag it into the sea.
 There is no use for one man. with one typewriter, and just one newspaper within which to print it, to attempt to tell all in one story or one issue about Muscle Shoals, which in the whole means Florence, Sheffield and Tuscum- bia-the triplets. It is too gigantic, too far-reaching and inconceivable to ask one to believe on paper, There is no language that can describe the whole of this immense project and no eyes other than those of the eagle that can see it clearly. A week spent in care full exploration of the ramifications of this stupendous undertaking of our Uncle Sam would put one just fairly well into the subject. perhaps cut away some of the mist from their eyesI but 1t would take a month to get your bearings in that whirligig of indus trial activity that is turning mems ket in that section like a skyrocket
 THE FIRST IMPRESSIONS
 When one fits his feet on Sheffield soil he begins to get an eyeopener that is irut liguid-but is just as bracing-if he ever had any ambition or pride for his state. Here are men with their lug gage looking for place to lay their heads over night while all night long the atmosphere is reeking with the sweet aroma of hot dogs" ham an, and black coffee, while those sons of Greece use up cans and cans of hog fat and rake in the shekels. The hotel Hobbies are full of the waiting weary ones and the clerk of the hostelry is lord of all crea- tion. He has the mayor, the city council and even the duke of Sheffield Col l. w. Worthington backed off tile map when it comes to having just what the other fellow wants-a room. or even just a cot, with sack of hay that spells sleep, rest and recuperation.
 In Sheffield realtors are far ahead of the dealers in dirt in other cities I have visited. There you find offered for