The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-11
For the Good of
 the Community

"TO gather the streams from waste
 A and to draw from them energy, labor without brains, and so to save man. kind from toll that it can be spared, is to supply what, next to intellect, is the very foundation of all our achievement and all our welfare "-Justice Holmes, United States Supreme Court, 240 U. s. 32.
 Birmingham people can appreciate the sentiment expressed by Justice Holmes here quoted. Hydro power, obtained from the Coosa river, without the con- sumption of a ton of coal, enables the busi- ness of Birmingham to be conducted with out interruption, while the stores in all other cities not so fortunately situated are closed and industrial operations are cur tailed.
 Had the hydro plant at Lock 12 on the Coosa river been able to supply the needs of all the territory drawing energy from it there never would have been any suspen- sion of business for even an hour in this section of the state as result of the coal miners strike and the resultant coal short age. As 1t was, the interruption to busi- ness was for only about week during low water.
 Alabama streams are said to be capa- ble of developing nearly 100000 horse power of hydro-electricity Approxi- mately 100000 horse power is normally developed from the Coosa river. Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee river with de- velopments now under way and contem- plated will add nearly 100000 horse power.
 With the hydro plants on the Coosa and the Tennessee rivers completed to their capacity enough energy would be devel- oped to furnish lights and power for half a dozen states. How important hydro electricity is, is realized by people of Bir- mingham and of the entire state of Ala bama now. Had the Muscle Shoals plant been in operation when the coal miners strike began there would have been no ne cessity for applying the conservation reg ulations in this part of the country in so far as they relate to mercantile establish ments, amusement places and even to the manufacturing concerns that obtain their power from hydro plants
 There would have been no dark nights Birmingham; there would have been no o'clock closing regulations in force; there would have been no idle wheels be- cause of lack of power to turn them Bir- mingham and North Alabama in fact, would have kept on in the even tenor of CIl0H Way, IIdIlSdCIlIlg UuSlIlGSS III the usual manner and during the usual hours, without drawing upon the nations coal stores.
 The time is coming when hydro power will play an important part in the com mercial and industrial life of Birming- ham. Birmingham coal is now being sought by foreign countries and the de- mand for it will increase as the years go by. The railroads will require more and more as the south develops, and this means an added load upon the Birning- ham mines.
 The use of hydro power, however ex- tensive it may be, will never lessen by even ton the demand or consumption of coal There are large sections of the south inaccessible to hydro plants and these must continue in the future, as in the past, to depend upon coal.
 Alabamas water courses, long neglected both as commercial arteries and agencies of power, are coming to be recognized at their real worth It does not require a long stretch of imagination to see hydro plants on all of the streams and indus trial communities dotting the surface of the state from Tennessee to the gulf and from Georgia to Miccccinni