The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-08-04

VeiOpln6nL WITHOUT COSL 10 IUe govern
ment but wholly at the expense of the
power through the principle of amor
tization of the full cost. In this way
the Muscle Shoals section of the Ten
nesse river would be permanently i'm
proved and an obstacle removed
which has always prevented the COM
successful navigation Of the
Tennessee river and project finally |
completed that was begun in a small
way by congress on May %, 1928.
"The full value of Muscle Shoals
as economic asset to the country |
depends upon the navigation. for as
mentioned above the Tennessee river 1
provides the means Of bringing coal 4
and other minerals directly to the \
nitrate plant by water 1t is obvious \
that with permanent navigation i'm \
provement the location of this plant \
on the Tennessee river is exception I
ally favorable for the operation of \
barge lines for the distribution Of fer- \
tilizer and in the bringing i'm of raw
materials from points above and below II
Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee riv-
er. and on the Ohio, Mississippi and
tributa aries.
I'VE find the objections that have
been raised to the Ford offer are
nearly innumerable, some sincere, 9th
erS insincere. the chief. objection to
| the acceptance of Henry Ford's offer
for Muscle Shoals is the 100 year
lease period.
eve find that in spite of the fact
that the building of these dams at
/ Muscle Shoals involves a power in
stallation four times as great as anv
now existing on any navigable stream
in the country, the objection has been
raised that the lease period is 100
years instead of fifty years as provid
ed for ordinary waterpower plants un-
der the Federal Waterpower Act.
I'VE wish to point out that this
is no ordinary waterpower project. 1t
involves the maintenance ready for i'm
mediate use of what is probably the
largest explosives plant in the worl
it involves the continuous operation
for the last period of the fertilizer
plane. having a capacity equivalent
Ito 100000 tons of Chilean nitrate;
which is equal to all the Chilean nj
.trate used by the American farmers
in normal times it involves build
ing up the industries which are to
use this power: including the probable
complete rebuilding of the nitrate
plants; it involves the unconditional
obligation to pay interest on the cost
.Of generating equipment which de-
Ipends for its usefulness on the regu-
Ilation of the flow of the Tennessee
river and this in turn calls for the
building of several large storage dams
in the Upper Tennessee river or its
tributaries All of these operations
are on a scale without parallel and
call for an investment estimated by
Mr.. Ford's chief engineer at more
than fifty millions of dollars. En-
phatically it is not an ordinary pro-
ject. This was recognized by the
United States Engineers in their re-
port on the Muscle Shoals project on
February %, 1914, when a special
board of engineers reported that the
board is of the opinion that twenty
year lease period is wholly out of
the question and that a fifty year
lease period would prevent the devel-
Iopment unless coupled with a provi-
sion for the renewal of the lease
period for another fifty years period
and further that in this case the lease
period should be properly placed at
/ 100 years, and the board expressed
their agreement with the statement
that 'electro-ehemical and electro-me-
ltallurgical operations upon which pow
er developed at Muscle Shoals must
rely for consumption, require and Sc
cure power at extremely low rates
covered by long period contracts
"They further stated the board
wishes to emphasize the facts that
this power development is not an in
expensive one, that it is'in a region
where coal is cheap, and most impor
tant of all that the power company
must make a market for the power.
There is no demand for anywhere
near the amount of power producible
even by the minimum installation pro-
posed, within reach of the Muscle
Shoals"
1T has been maintained in the hear
ings that the $4,000 payable by Mr..
Ford annually for the maintenance
and operation of the locks and dams,
outside OF the power houses, is in
| SulllNltHl Dul lllC ClllCl VI
has testified that this is a sufficient
sum and his testimony is confirmed
by the experience of the reclamation
service, for it is shown>in the record
that such large dams as the Arrow
Rock (abOut half the size of Dam
No. 2, 349 feet high) built in 1915,
has required an average for the main
tenance expense of $3.50 since it was
completed the amount for the calen-
dar year of 1920 being only 1867. This
is not AN isolated exception, as is
evident from the record of seven
large dams, the most expensive of
which in 1920 was the Pathfinder dam,
21S feet high, built in 1909, which re-
quired $1,3O4 for its maintenance.
AS in the case OF the nitrate plants,
the dam was started during a war
time period of maximum prices and
minimum efficiency of labor, and since
the total cost of the dam, equipper
/ with $4,000 horsepower, was esti-