The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-03-19
CAPT. LAY GIVES DATA ON ORIGIN OF
 ALABAMA POWER
Writes Letter to Pro-Ford Committee Calling Atten- ton to Some Early His
 tory of Company


 the pioneers in work for development of Alabama's water powers was in Birmingham yesterday and made pub lie letter which he has addressed to the committee of the statewide pro-Ford and anti-Alabama Power company mass meeting"
 In his letter Captain Lay gives in- formation upon the original formation of the Alabama Power company and also brings forward some history in connection with the pro-Ford advo- cates who were forwerly active in in- ducing the Alabama Power company to proceed with it's Alabama develop ments His letter which is an inter esting contribution to the current dis cussion is as follows;
 ..Gentlemen: l notice through the press the appointment of your com mittee and, through the resolutions, the specific duties assigned to you.
 Resolution No. 1: To determine when and where the Alabama Power company was organized and who were the original stockholders.
 That you may know from whom you may get the most of the infor- nation enjoined upon you as to the early activities of the Alabama Power company, l will say; I organized the Alabama Power company in Gads- den, Alabama, my home town, in 1906 under the laws of the state of Ala bama. In the organization I owned 96 per cent of the stock, my son, Earl Lay, owned per cent and my attorney, ? per cent. In the organi- zation 1 was made president, my at torney vice president and my son secretary and treasurer. l can fur nish you all the information you de- side about the early activities of this corporation, and I would be glad to do so. However, for fear you do not call on me and make public your find ings and that silence might reflect un- favorably on the Alabama Power com pany, an institution of which all Ala bama should feel proud. l shall under take, as best l can, to show some Of the particulars and purposes for which this organization was created.
 Quotes From Speech
 ITO do this, 1 shall quote from a speech had the honor of making be- fore the Mobile Basin and Tennessee River Improvement association in Mo bile, November 23, 1908.h l quote from this speech from the fact that it will show what I did was open and above board This speech was printed in pamphlet form and literally scat tered all over Alabama and Washing ton, D. C., and many copies found their way into other states. I still have limited number of copies of this speech, a copy of which can furnish to any person who desires, it.. of inc SnRach which copy is as follows:
 Perhaps it would not be out of place for me to say in this connec- ton, that I have spent many of the most useful years of my life, as well as many of my most useful dollars, in my study and efforts for the eco- homie improvement of this splendid waterway, that the best results might be obtained therefrom.
 "'At first we tried to obtain these joint results through the agency of our national government, as the ob- serving friends of the Coosa we'll know and which is evidenced on page IS of the original memorial of the Coosa River Improvement associa- tion, which, as chairman, I had the honor of compiling, and which is also evidenced in an address l had the honor of delivering before the Ala bama Commercial and Industrial aS- sociation at its annual meeting in Montgomery June 20 and 21, 1901 but after many years of fruitless eff forts in that direction, and waking up to the fact that the creation and use of the water powers along the rivers of the United States. in their natural state, was appurtenantl to riparian ownership and beyond the control of government, and after con sultation with some of the remaining friends of the Coosa, we changed the plan Of our efforts so as to bring about these much needed and valuable improvements by trying to interest private capital in the development and utilization of the water power, in conjunction with the federal govern ment in improving the stream for navigation.
 Tt is not thought for moment that by these suggestions I would in- innate that the government should relax it's work of itself building locks and dams in the aid of navigation, but that by working In conjunction with private enterprises in the de- velopment of water powers at some points, and by prosecuting it's own separate operation at others, the work