The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-24
For the Good of
the Community


large number of the industrial plants in
the state and the municipal lighting plants
and street railways to continue in opera
ton despite the shortage of fuel coal
brought about by the coal miners strike.
In other days when there was no water
power available in the state shortage of
coal would have compelled the closing
down. or at least curtailment of produc-
ton, at many if not all the industrial
establishments drawing their fuel from
the coal mines.
h Birmingham is peculiarly fortunate in
this respect. The Birmingham Railway,
Light and Power company furnishes the
power to great many of the manufacture
ing concerns in the city and district and in
turn gets its power from the Alabama
Power company, whose generating plant
is at Lock IL, on the Coosa river.
Cotton mills foundries, structural iron
and steel works, machine shops and many
other concerns using power developed on
the Coosa river are thus Independent of
the coal situation and strike or no strike
they can continue in operation
Competent engineers state that several
hundred thousand horse power could be
developed in connection with the locks on
the Warrior river and this would be just
as near to the Birmingham industrial dis
trict as Lock II on the Coosa.
The development at Muscle Shoals,
when complete, will have capacity Of
nearly 100000 horse power, it is stated,
and that with the Coosa river plant will
make available nearly 100000 horse
power for the territory that can be
reached by their transmission wires
These two plants alone would be able
to furnish power sufficient to meet the
needs of all manufacturing plants in the
states of Alabama, Tennessee and Geor-
gia, and with the Warrior river developed
there would be enough cheap power in
Alabama to supply several times the num-
Der of manufacturing establishments now
in this and adjoining states, as we'll as all
the public utilities using electric power.
Alabama, it has been claimed for a
long time, has greater potential water
power than almost any other state in the
union. The larger water courses in the
state are said to be admirably suited for
developing water power and as the state
develops and more and more power is de-
manded all of the streams will be utilized.
Nature has been lavish in her favors to
Alabama With coal, iron, graphite, py-
rites, kaolin, clays and many other min
erals; her large forests of pine and hard
wood timbers; her fertile lands, and last
but not least, her excellent water courses
that may be used for transportation pur-
poses or for generating power, there
seems nothing to be desired, except
little more energy and little more state
pride on the part of her citizenship. -
Switzerland, small republic set down
in the midst of the great nations of Eur
ope, with few natural resources, has de-
pended largely upon water power for the
development and operation of her indus
tries. With an abundance of this cheap
power that little country was able to keep
going at full tilt, kept out of the war, and
grew rich while other nations with greater
population, more industries and more
natural resources, were wearing them
selves out in death grapple.
The highly developed water power is
given the credit for large part of this I'M
interrupted prosperity in the Swiss repub-
lic
Alabamians are gradually beginning to