The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-31
ROOM IS R|FLED,
 MUSCLE SHOALS
 LETTERS STOLEN
Copies of Letters on Which Chicago Tribune Bases Its Expose" of Ford Offer
 Stolen From Worthington
By HUGH W. ROBERTS Washington Bureau The Age-Herald
 50O Davidson Building

900 Davidson buuuihk
 Washington, July (Special)- Arthur Henning, Washington corres- pondent of the Chicago Tribune, In the presence of General Lansing Beach chief of the staff of engineers asked J. W. Worthington to identify certain papers as parts and portions of his personal correspondence.
 MT. Worthington is the represen- tative of the people who have for the past 10 years endeavored to se- cure the development of Muscle Shoals.
 Confronted by Henning, Mir. Worth ington exclaimed:
 '"Thls Is part of my stolen corres- pondence. General Beach,"
 Henning replied, Tt was not stolen. It leaked from the Muscle Shoals lobby"
 An thus 1t is possible for the first time to state that the room in the hotel occupied by Mir. Warrington in Detroit, while the Henry Ford of fer for Muscle Shoals was maturing, was rifled. The thieves have not been designated. But copies of let ters on which the Chicago Tribune has based what 1t calls its expose" of the Muscle Shoals situation, in- volving the offer of Ford. were stolen from MT. Worthington during tine time he was the guest of a Detroit hotel.
 The letters are, 1t Is thought, em- barrassing to MT. Worthington. They are embarrassing also to the assistant secretary of commerce, c. H. Huston. They tend to put the Ford offer in an atmosphere of ridicule.
 Stands on Merits
 Otherwise they are not of impor- tance. For the Ford offer will stand or fall on it's own merits. This is the idea of Senator Underwood. It is. the idea of other members of Con- gress who are influential enough t., exercise any bearing on the effort of Ford to acquire the governments property on the banks of the Ten nessee.
 The thieves who ransacked MT. Worthingtons room found a letter which he had written to his cook. In this letter MT. Worthington instruct ed his servant to ascertain from Mir. Huston just what he wanted fo. breakfast. The cook furthermore, was instructed to ascertain of the assistant secretary whether or not he would have guests for dinner and just what he wanted served. There was letter also addressed to MT. Huston in which Mr. Worthington requested the assistant secretary to obtain from the chief of engineers his recommendations regarding Muscle Shoals to the end that such recommendations might coincide with the offer which Ford intended to make. There was also letter ad- dressed by MT. Worthington to Sen ator Underwood in which the writer brought to the attention of the sena- tor the good results which would follow the acceptation by the govern ment of the Ford offer.
 There was also a letter addressed by Mir. Worthington to Gray Silver the inspiration of the farm bureau federation, in which 1t was urged that the farmer organization name Muscle Shoals committee which would be charged with working for the acceptance by the government of the Ford offer. In this letter the Tri- bune charges that MT. Warrington stated that if the organization would ouio SuSH q SoHiiulttee, ne, nlmSelf, and associates, would do the actual work the directing in other words.
 Nothing brought by the Tribune against MT. Warrington is contrary to the idea that Mir. Worthington was animated solely by desire to securs the development of Muscle Shoals and the Ford offer, as stated, VIII stand or fall. on its own merits. Bu. of course, there is embarrassment to certain individuals. Mir. Worth ington and Assistant Secretary Hous- ton included.
 And of course, there is the question as to how the Tribune secured the correspondence. And the fact re- mains that the room of MT. wor. sthington in Detroit was entered dur ing his. absence. and rifled