The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-21
By Associated Press


 Washington, February 20-An- nouncement by Secretary Weeks to- day that he would submit to Con gress tomorrow for acceptance or re- .jection the Alabama Power com pany's offer to purchase and lease the Muscle Shoals nitrate and water power projects, submitted to him last Tuesday, added to the possibili- ties of further delay in Congress of consideration of Henry Ford's offer for the same properties.
 The Alabama company's offer. it was said, would be addressed toner row to the speaker of the House and president of the Senate and be referred by them upon receipt prob ably to the military affairs com mittee of the House and agricultural committee of the Senate, both of which are engaged in Investigating the Ford proposal. Chairman Kahn announced tonight that the House body would conclude it's study of the offer submitted by the Detroit manu- facturer before undertaking hearings on the new proposal but would not report them separately to the House.
 Plan Joint Report
 The plan in recommending accep- tance or rejection of the offers to the full membership of the House, the chairman said. would be to prepare a joint report on all proposals Con gress might receive. In this man ner, it was explained, the Ford offer would remain in the committee s hands, preventing actfon by the House until the proposals of the Sec retary of War might submit were thoroughly investigated.
 MT Kahn said he expected to con- clude the hearings on Mir. Ford's offer this week and would immedi . ately begin an examination of that from the Alabama Power company, which Secretary Weeks indicated , was consedered better ot- Henry Ford The secretary's com ments on the merits of each offer lie transmits will be made known to Congress by letters of transmission accompanying the proposals. He be- gan work tonight on the letter he will forward with the offer tomorrow and announced that he had no addi tional remarks to make public other than those to be incorporated in the \ letter he was preparing.
 Hammitt Intcrrogated n The House committee today inter trogated J. O. Hammitt, vice president eof the Air Nitrates corporation. a Subsidiary of the American Cyanamid kompany of Maine, who defended the lights of the former concern to pur- .it xla No al MIQrlf -Ihoals upon as favorable terms as the Government might accept from other %private enterprises
 He submitted a contract signed by the corporation and war department of the date of June s. 1918, when il was agreed to build the plant anC which contained a section extending optional privileges to the air nitrares subsidiary to buy the property in thi event it was sold by the government
 This constituted solemn anc binding agreement" MT Hammit said adding that if it was violated by the government through acceptance o would reluctantly instruct it's attor the Ford proposal, the corporation news to resist such action in tho courts. He asserted emphatically that a decision by the government to dis regard the agreement would reduce the standard of business morality ts a lower degree than ever before ap- preached by private concern.
 Would Violate Pledge
 Mir. Hammitt declared the pro posal "to give the plant to man whs did nothing to develop it. and in ad dition give him the cheapest watel mower on the American continent would be a violation of the govern ment's pledge to the Air Nitrate cor poration which, he declared, had plac ed it's every facility, including lt natents and secret processes for nj ;rata production, at the disposal o the country whose needs were great est.
 He said the Air Nitrates compora ton and the Cyanamid company boti had lost money on government con tracts and denied statements previous ly made by the company that the ter men who created the former conceri had made profits aggregating S2,ooo, 900 from a capital of sl.0oO or Wv each.
 The witness also explained that tn'
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