The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-15

9ls.i .eneAeo 1nsore.
 96,000 industrial plants, 315 electrical utilities. IS railroads and one-fourth of the population of thls country.
 The survey showed that the esti-
 mated cost of making this super power project reality was between $200, O00,000 and $500, 100000. It was not suggested that the government supply any of this expense. The cap ital should be obtained from the in Vestor who ought to be willing tc supply it believing thar the govern ment would offer him the proper pro tection. No attempt would be made to supplant or compete with exist
 ing electric utilities. These would be co-ordinated and supplemented They would upon occasion draw or and feed the general system. Rates
 of course, would be lower on the same principle that it costs an ice manufacturer in Mobile more to gen. crate his own electricity for his own ice plant than it does the ice manu- facturer in Birmingham. who is sup piled with power from Lock F.
 Stability in Business
 "The results of this great system !
 ness in being able to figure it's power at fixed figures, freedom from fluc- tuating and constantly increasing market for fuel, dependent to great degree on the cost of transportation | from the coal fields; the electrltlca- 1 tion of railroads within the zone reducing their fuel costs and the number of employees handling coal and coal burning engines, and the re- duction of the cost of hauling coal for the railroads own use.
 "A gigantic conception you will say, amazing in its possibilities. You who know MT Hoover know that ne would not sponsor such plan were he not convinced of it's feasibility Tn every way, and that his support or gives it immediate favor and strength situation During War
 "There exists another report with a superpower system for it's basis, which 1 has not yet been brought to the atten- ton of the cabinet. There was like wise published in 1921, by authority of the Secretary of War, report ol army engineers under the supervision of Colonel Charles Keller of the corps of engineers. This report deals wlth something which is nearer home to us. 1t considers the water and steam rover resouces of the southern states anC points out the most economlcai and reliable sources of power tha' could be utilized to serve the lnaus- ] tries of the south with view to se- curing the maximum economy any generation. The best economy aho reliability could not be secured by any one development, by the use oi hydro power by flow of stream, oi bv storage, or steam power; but. sucf economy and reliability would be oo' tained by a suitable combination ol these different sources and by al interconnection of the systems sup piled by them.
 "The World war brought about th' lproposed solution of these grea questions. The disasters which th' country feared during the war, no through strikes, but by the possipl' | crirpling of the industries in on section of the country, brought t' those who studied these great prob Items the solution of this difficulty oS an interconnection of the power sys tems.
 "This report deals with each com nary individually, setting up it. plants and their capacities. Thes' lengineers studied the systems or th' Southern Power company, the Caro lima Light and Power company, th' lTennessee Power company, the Geor eia Railway and Power company, th' Columbus Power company, the Ala lbama Power company, and other gen erating plants. They studied the uh deyeloped water power sites Tn al these states. One feature to whlcn gave earnest consideration was tn l storare reservoir on the Tallapoos' river within 50 miles of Montgomery lthis reservoir covering approximatel. 60 900 acres and containing o4'VoV' loco 900 cubic feet of water.
 "The engineers studying thls grea problem turned their attention Muscle Shoals, which was then peins developed by the government. The lbad studied the capacity of the Coos; and Little rivers, and other rivers II Alabama, of the Chattahoochie. Iui Ir1lah. Tugaloo, Flint, Savannah an 1 Ocmulgee rivers in Georgia, of tn II catawba and other rivers in Nortl and South Carolina.
 Disadvantage To Individual
 "Neither the government nor pri
 vate individual they concluded coui
 very well afford to develop the MHs
 cle Shoals power alone. The prlmar
 mower to be developed by the tw
 dams hardly exceeds 1S0,000 hors
 mower. The secondary power is es
 t;mated from 400, 900 to 100000 hors
 mower at various times. The pupil does not desire secondary hora
 mower. The manufacturer wan mower that he can depend on. So tn only economical use of these grea mowers of Muscle Shoals was in cou function with other developments an storage reservoirs.
 This survey of the governmer engineers was not new. When M James Mitchell and his associate came into the Alabama situation l 1912 and furnished the funds to DC gin this great development they plan ned the construction Of the dam the Tallapoosa river to which nav referred as resulting in reservo of 64.00O, 100000 cubic feet capacit' But serious litigation retarded tn development and forced MT. Mitche to the Coosa river where he pui Lock 12. It was his plan to tie I the Tallapoosa situation with tn Tennessee and thus, offsetting on by the other, using the power frol one river when the other was lov bringing about an economical Al rangement which would benefit tr consumer and assure the investor
 a return on his property.
 ",rhe superpower project which M Hoover recommended to the cabint
 is not reality. The superpowe
 project m the southern states IS te day reality. Less than six month aro the rivers in these states Wer