The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-20
Alabama Company Belle Oes
 The Demand Is Sufficient for All PoWer # Can Generate

eNplosives) it would consume this amount and give the government cIeltt for same at prevailing rates.
 Buy Back Power
 If the government should find that this power was not needed for the productiou of the output of plant No 9, and should take advantage of the offer of the power company to buy it back, the government would have a new ana profitable source of revenue. If the power is purchased at the cheap rate of SS per 1000 horse power, the sum owed the gov e-nment at the end of the year would be $Soo,oooA
 If under a scheH1e of amortiza ton similar to that 'su&gested and advo- cated by Mir. Ford in behalf of his own offer. this sum was invested by the government at 4 per cent co mpound interest semi annually, at the end of the 50-year lease 1t would have increased to an amount in ex- cess of s10O,00Oo00.
 The future of water power in the south cannot be overestimated, in the opinion of officials of this com pany. By them it is generally pre- dieted that time will come when no possible source of power in the south will be neglected or permitted to go unharnessed.
 Shoals Will Be DevsIPped
 The south. which has clamored for many years for the development of Muscle Shoals. has the game in it's hands. The shoals will be developed either by MT. Ford or the Alabama Power company Congress will not hot e difference of opinion as to the rela- tive blessing which would accrue from an operation by Ford or the power company, mere is not question of the blessing itself
 The weakness of the Ford offer consisted almost entirely in it's lack Of definite nature For that reason tLere was general regret on tho part of southern members of Congress that Mir. Ford would not come to Washington for the purpose of clearing up. in positive manner, all those generalities of which the members of the committee displayed such ignorance. MT. Mayo and MT. worthington could commit Mir. Ford to nothing save what was contained in the proposed contract. MT. Wor- thington was a much better witness
 
 vantage of following Mir. Mayo and thus knowing in advance the char acter of questions that would be propounded. But even MT. Wor- thington could not declare positively tiat Mir. Ford would make fertilizer at Muscle Shoals throughout the lease of the contract. He could not even estimate for Representative Hill the minimum quantity of i'm ished fertilizer that Mir. Ford would produce any year. He could not throw light on the amount or money that Mir. Ford would spend in the development of Muscle shoals. When questioned as to the alleged precarious nature of the investment that MT. Ford called upon the gov ernment to make, Mir. Worthington found resort only in rsferring to other developments undeftaken by the government from which 1t did not recover even per cent interest.
 HnI's Questions
 Representative Hill asked MT Worthington if he did not think that if would be advisable for MT. Ford to come before the committee. MT. worthington replied that he thought If would be useless. Representative Hill reached the Erroneous conciu-
 
 sion that MT. Worthington was re- ferring either to the stupidity of MT Ford or the stupidity of the com mittee.
 MT. Worthington explained that he meant simply that Mir. Ford, were ne to appear in person, could not tell the committee how much fertilizer he would produce or how much money his completed investment would cost
 aBe could no more do so," eontin- ued MT Worthington, than ne couiu have told 2v years ago how many Automobiles he would produce lh
 This seemed to satisfy the com mittee that MT. Warrington was not ridiculing it's intelligence but srill left unanswered the questioh' "Whv does not MT. Ford come down and tell us positively T will or | ff