The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-08-17
DIR. /. /. LADD'S
WEEKLY LETTER
The Farmers and Ford For Cheap
~ Fertilizer -, Z

have already stated my views re
garding the disposal of Muscle Shoal
and have sworn my faith in Henr,
Ford to produce fertilizer at the low
est possible cost to be supplied to th'
farmers. / am presenting the view!
Of Senator Capper of Kansas mem
Der of the Agricultural Committe.
who supported me when I presented
the bill to Congress for leasing Mus
Gle Shoals to Henry Ford. From Cap
per's Weekly I present the Senator.
views as follows: . .-.
'The first battle for the Henry
Ford development of Muscle Shoals
has ended in defeat. Or perhaps il
would be more accurate to say in q
dog-fall.
The Senate committee on Agricul.
ture declined by vote of 7 to 9 to
report favorbly the Ford proposition
Likewise, by vote of to the COM
mittee decided against the Norris Bill
for government development of the
project.
To put it another way, the bill con-
tanning the Ford proposition will be
reported the Senate with majority
report opposing it and minority re-
port for it. The Norris bill also will
be reported with a majority report op-
posing it and minority report favor
oring it.
While the Ford proposition failed
to- get majority vote of the commit
tee, so did the bill sponsored by the
chairman of the committe. Senator
Norris of Nebraska. The final battle
will have to be fought out on the Sen
ate floor.
Senator Ladd of North Dakota, and
myself and five Democratic members
of the committee made up the seven
senators who stood for the Ford pro-
position. Senator Page of Vermont,
who was absent had authorized SEN
ator Keyes to vote for him and Keyes
voting with the seven senator's in the
Norris group, made the majority of
one against the Ford offer.
I am for the Ford proposition un-
reservedly, because Henry Ford is the
best man in the United States to han
die the Muscle Shoals job. When
make a personal business deal for any
mans services, I select the best man
l can find regardless of his political
views. In the same way I am for
Ford and his proposition without res
ervations. Furthermore, Ford's pro-
position is the only private proposal
having enough merit in it to entitle
it to, any consideration whatever. On
this point even the committee was un-
animous. The proposal of the Ala
bama Power Company and the other
two private proposals were rejected by
the committee at once, as being wholly
lacking in merit.
1t is plainly case, either of the
development of this great project by
Henry Ford, or it's development and
operation by the government under
direction of the Secretary of War,
Weeks. I think the farmers prefer
Ford to Weeks for this job. They be-
ieve that Henry Ford, an intensely
practical industrial genius will come
nearer to smashing the Fertilizer
Trust than will Secretary Weeks,
whose close affiliations with big bust
ness are matter of knowledge. Nor
have the farmers forgotten that Sec
retary Weeks has on numerous occasi-
ons publicly expressed his opposition
to the farm bloc and has no sympathy
for agriculture or interest in the pro-
blems of the farmer. Ford wants to
see the farmers have fair play.
After being here on the ground in
Washington and seeing Government
mismanagement of. railroads ard ship
ping Board at close hand, / have no
hesitancy in supporting the Ford pro-
position strongly. @ .: -. -.
Ford is the man who breathed
the breath of life into Muscle Shoals.
Until he interested himself in the pro-
ject it was dead; it had been about
decided by the war department to
abandon it and charge the enormous
amount Of invested money there off
the books as one of the regretable but
inevitable losses Of the war. Then
Ford and Thomas A. Edison looked
the project over and Ford decided he
could complete the project and dew
elope a plant that would produce at
minimum cost not only an enormous
amount of hydro-electric power, but
also great quantities OF commercial
fertilizer at q cost SO low that it would
free the farmers of the United States
from the grip of the Fertilizer Trust.
There is no question, ! think, about
the latter proposition I believe thoroly
in the sincerity of Ford and his abil-
ity to smash the Fertilizer Trust.
That is one of the reasons / am for
his proposal. ss.s- e.
Y However, great cry arose ait once
that an effort was being made 10 give
Ford something for nothing; that it
was proposed to hand over to the De-
troit manufacturer the country's s
greatest waterpower for song. For
gotten entirely was the fact that the
government was annually sinking
great sums Of money IN keeping up
the abondoned project; that to com
plete it's development and operation
BY the Government would mean an