The Washington herald., 1921-08-11
PROPOSAL FAILS
,FOCOVER COST OF
DAMS, EcLAIMED
Provides for No Interest
Payment on Sum Above
s2s,OOO,OOO.
POWER is COSTLY
Question Raised as to Who
Will Pay for Necessary
Water Storage.
POWER is COSTLY
csz Chicago Tribune service

(By Chicago Tribune ssrvice.)
Conclusions Of Mai. Gen. Lansing
II. Beach, chief of the army en-
gineers, in a report to the Secre-
;ary OF War recommending that
Henry Ford's proposal to lease and
purchase the government Muscle
shoals waterway project are beins
questioned here by experts familiar
with the possibilities of the vast
project upon which the government
already has expended nearly $780,
e,0o0.'
Gen. Beach's report was sent to
Secretary Weeks on July %, but u
mas never been made public by the
War Department, the Secretary
having decided to withhold all cor
respondence on the subject until
such time as decision is reached as
u the governments course in rela-
tion to Ford's offer.
Gen. Beach's report was a COM
harrison Of the Ford proposal with
an eight-year old offer of Nthe
Muscle Shoals Hydro-electric Power
NJOhDdnJg q VI NhC
bsma Power Company, his judgment
being that the Ford proposal was
the more favorable one for the gov
ernment and he recommended that
IT be accepted. .
In his report, a COPY of which
vas procured yesterday by the Chi
cago Tribune correspondent. Gen.
Beach says that Mr.. Ford proposes
t. retire in 100 years the entire cost
CT the Muscle Shoals dams, fully
equipped, locks and power develop
rnent." Experts who have studied
the Ford offer and the Muscle
Shoals project declare that the en-
tire cost of the dams, fully equipped
would be, with new money the gov
Crnment would have to spend, no
less than S77,000, 900 and insist that
the Ford offer contains no provision
to retire such a sum or anything
like 1t.
Fail. to Cover Entire Cost.
The Ford offer. they say, con-
teins a provision for amortizing
certain costs up to $4S,000, 900. no
interest being paid. however, on
any sum above S2S,0O0,000. Treas
ury experts also, who are looking
into the Ford proposal at the re-
quest of the President and Secre-
tary Mellon, are said to be at loss
70 understand the declaration that
the Ford offer would retire the
"entire cost" of the dams
Another statement in the Beach
report which has been questioned Is
his statement that the Ford offer,
IL accented, leaves at the end OF
100 years $4,000 horsepower devel-
koped-" Engineers are asking how,
without the building of storage res
ervofrs, II would be possible to de-
velop $4,000 horsepower at Muscle
Shoals. 1t is pointed out that no
where in the Ford offer is there a
suRgestion that Mr.. Ford intends to
construct headwater improvements
at his own expense. nor does the
offer requires the government to
make such expenditure.
Reservoirs would BE Costly. J
The offer requires the governmen nj
to install hydro-electric apparatus
for generating $4,000 horsepower
despite the fact that no engineer
has ever suggested that so~ large a
quantity of power could be made
available at any time of the year
without elaborate storage. For the
government to build such storage
reservoirs, it Is estimated about
$50, 100000 would have to be added
to the enormous sums already cx-
pended.
That Gen. Beach recognized sbe
necessity. however, of storage IA
ciIities is shown in the report,
which, after Quilting the old offer OF
the Alabama Power Company pro-
vidlng for reservoir auxiliaries.
says:
Needs Storage Facilities.
The reservoir auxiliaries pro-
posed by the Alabama Power Com
pany, not being available under the
governments present plans at
Muscle Shoals. it is proper to state
that storage auxiliaries. can be To-
Gated and developed on the upper
tributaries of the Tennessee, which
will serve the same purposes at
Muscle Shoals and give, at. the same
time, important contributions to the
navigation improvement of the
Tennessee River, as well as give a
larger increase in the primary
power at the Muscle Shoals dams.
since the available storage capacity
on the upper Tennessee is more than
six times that proposed by the Ala
bama Power Company on the TaIla-
Poosa and Little rivers"