Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-17
FORD THREATENS
TO WITHDRAW BID
ON MUSCLE SHOALS
Continued from Page u

power possibilities Of the country.
'AnG the more we investigated
the thing the more we saw the rot
ten waste of it all-the waste of
millions of dollars raised by tax
ing the people in selling war-built
industries. for junk; the waste in
letting Muscle Shoals lie there I'M
completed and idle and, greatest of
all, as see it, the waste of millions
on millions more of money raised
by the taxing of the people because
of the governments dilatory and in
different ways and methods of do.
ing business generally"
Comparison of Salvage
Mr.. Ford said his offer of $4,000
900 for the nitrate plants is 5.62
per, cent of their cost, or a higher
rate OF return on salvage than on
the Old Hickory powder plant at
Nashville and the wooden ships of
the shipping board. The return on
the powder plant was 4.2S per cent
and on the wooden ships four
tenths of per cent, he said.
BY delaying acceptance of his
offer the government is losing 81
S92 900 a year Mr.. Ford said. This
is made up of S2,0OO,O00 he would
pay in rental and the balance is in
the cost of guarding plants that are
idle and useless he said.
1t was pointed out to Mr.. Ford
that a booklet published by the Ma
tional Fertilizer association, and cir
culated among congressman and
oh 411nf I1ic off
amounts to a subsidy.
Edison VS.. Weeks
Subsidy" he exclaimed. "a sub
sidy means getting something from
the government for nothing. We're
we're giving the
government an offer unprecedented
for it's generosity. Gen. Lansing H.
Beach, chief of the army engineers,
has shown Secretary Weeks that,
during the period of the lease, the
Ford offer means $214,000,000 to the
If they think this offer
means a subsidy, why don't they go
and talk to General Beach? Say,
those fertilizer fellows would climb
the Washington monument rather
than get the -armyS chiefs figures"
''And then" spoke up a reporter,
"they say. Mr.. Ford, thai you can't
make fertilizer down there on a
profitable commercial basis"
"Well, noW-maybe we can't, said
MIR. Ford. "Mr. Weeks says we
have no authority for believing we
can make fertilizer a commercial
success. But Thomas A. Edison,
the greatest eleetro-chemist in the
world, says that with Muscle Shoals
we can give the American people, a
better fertilizer at a much lower
price than they have ever had be-
fore. Why, if we can't make a
good cheap fertilizer down there,
why is the fertilizer trust deluging
congress with statements that II we
get Muscle Shoals we'll wreck their
Three Phases
The question of disposing of the
governments properties at Muscle
Shoals, Ala, to private interests by
lease, purchase or agreement to
complete, was divided today into
three separate parts.
Law officers of the war depart
ment were directed to begin work
of fitting legal phrases to a contract
involving Secretary Weeks desires
with regard to the proposal CT Hen
ry Ford which, the war secretary
would be submitted to
with comments" as soon
as the papers were prepared and
Mr.. Ford's signature affixedl
Although Mr.. Ford remained in
the city during the day, neither he
nor his agents, so far as was known,
were engaged in work on the Muscle
Shoals question. The opinion still
prevailed among officials that the
contract would not be finally draft
ed until next week, and it would be
a matter of about two weeks alto
gether before it was formally sent
to congress for consideration.
Two Others Offers
The offer proposed by @. c. Tink-
Ter, of San Francisco, was being
rushed to that city for modification
SO as to include a provision for the
of nitrates after the
plants and dams had been completed
and were ready for operation. Mr..
was expected to reach San Francis
co early next week. After confer
ences there with officials of the Con-
Company of North Amer
lea, of which he is president, Mr..
Thinker was expected to return here
and formally present his proposal to
the war secretary.
AS third part, MI. Frederick
Engstrum, president of the Newport
Shipbuilding company, of Whining
ton, N. c., and engineers assisting
him, were engaged in a .considera.
ton of making slight changes in the
offer he has already submitted to
Mr.. Weeks. These were said to ir
volve the inclusion CT more def,
mite provision for nitrate manufac.
ture at Muscle Shoals than had been
Secretary Weeks reiterated today
his determination not to announce
what comments" he would make tc
congress on the Ford bid before they
were given to that body. He also
was 1nsistent in referring to the
Ford proposal that it be understood
that his decision in referring the
question to congress did not and
could not imply an acceptance or
lndorsenlent of it OIL his part. Mr..
Weeks explained that he did not
have authority ito accept" the offer.
and that existing laws made it i'm
possible for the war department to
dispose OF any real estate over which
it had jurisdiction without first OBJ
tanning congressional authority.
Turkish Nationalist