The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-11

KELLER G|VESA REPORT ON ROADS
 ID JOINT SESSION
Congressman McDuffie Also Delivers Address Before Two Houses, Urging
 Port Amendment

Montgomery, October 1O-(Speeial.) ) At a joint session of the senate and | house of representatives Monday aft ernoon W s. Keller. state highway Y engineer, gave a detailed report of the work which has been done by the ! highway department since the legis- 1 lature in 1919 submitted the 25.0OO,- 900 bond issue, and John McDuftie, congressman from the First district, appealed to the states lawmakers again tc submit to a vote of the peo- pie an amendment to the constitution which will permit the state to take over the port of Mobile.
 Both speakers appeared at the in- vitation of the two houses, which eX- tended a formal invitation and called joint session in the house of rep , resentatives for the purpose of hear ing the addresses.
 MT. Keller told the lawmakers of the work done by the commission and the difficulties which it has faced since the legislature in 1919 provided for the extension of the activities of the department and for the expendi- ture of $50,000,000 on the public roads.
 He illustrated his address with charts, blue prints and drawings which showed the mass Of details which must be worked out before any projects are submitted to the federal bureau of public roads for approval. MT. Keller said the highway depart ment began work on & large scale in surveying and planning the system oi public roads connecting sll county seats, This was necessary in order that actual construction work could be started as soon as the bonds had been sold and the money made available.
 The engineer showed the legisla- ture a blue print of one project or 26 miles In Coffee county, which contained 125 pages of blue prints and which showed every detail of the proposed road, including the amount of all materials which are to go into it and an approximate of the total cost of the construction work. He Insisted that an adequate organiza- tion for the work is necessary in or der that final plans may be ready when the money Is available and Tn order that the approval of the federal government may be maintained
 Bond Issue Necessary.
 Mir. Keller told the legislature the state has not the funds to match the federal appropriation and cannot op- tain them without bond issue. lie called aLIenIlOH tO liiO Lo~t Nt+-~~ project agreements covering the fed eral funds have been filed in Wash inston, but they are no more than preliminary statements and constTnc- tion work cannot start on the road programme until money is obtained with which to match the federal funds.
 Congressman McDuffie told the lawmakers Alabama has an wonderful opportunity for development if the people will vote to take over the port of Mobile and make 1t state outlet to the sea rather than local port for Mobile. He said the federal gov ernment will be forced to lease the Muscle Shoals development to Henry Ford and that MT. Ford had in mind the development of the port of Mobile when he spent thousands of dollars in obtaining preliminary statements of engineers regarding The value o1 the Muscle Shoals property.
 He outlined the development of he port of New Orleans through the as- sistance of the state of Louisiana, and said this development had made New Orleans the third largest port in the world. Alabama can make wonderful port of Mobile" he contin- ued. Louisiana made New Orleans without the expenditure of any of The states money. Bonds totaling sew enteen odd million dollars were is sued, and with this money the port development was obtained. I was in- formed yesterday that the New Or leans port commission now has in hand sufficient funds to retire the bonds which will mature next wear These funds come through charges for dockage, transfer or cars and other work at the port. and do not come from the public treasury The speaker predicted that the people will adopt the port amendment