The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-01
NORRIS ID SEEK FUNDS TOF|N|SH
 CONSTRUCTION
Call Issued by Kahn For Meet ing of House Military Com mittee Today to Further
 Discuss Bids
By Associated Press


 Washington, March 31.-Post- ponement until Congress convenes in December of decision respecting the acceptance or rejection of Henry Ford's and other offers for private operation, lease, purchase and com pletion of the governments war in- itiated projects at Muscle Shoals, ap- peared probable today with the re- turn of the congressional delegation from an inspection of the properties in Alabama.
 Senator Norris of Nebraska,
 chairman of the agriculture
 committee. announced that he
 would introduce n measure for
 npprOpriating money with which
 the army engineers could begin
 work of completing the Wilson
 dam during the summer and for the construction of dam No. !, on
 the upper Tennessee river. He
 declared the dams should be
 brought to completion as soon as
 
 senator's and members of the
 house military committee who
 visited the projects gave their
 approval.
 The agriculture chairman said he was very doubtful that the Senate would be able to decide upon the ac- ceptance or rejection of the private proposals at this session of Congress because of the heavily loaded legis- lative calendar. 1t was his plan, he explained, to give the offers a thor ough study while the construction work was in progress and decide later. probably in the next Congress, whether any of their number should be accepted or whether the govern ment itself should complete the work and put the projects in condition for opergtion under it's supervision. -es Cs.Enmittee Meets Today
 ChairIn %n Kahn Of the House mfli- tary committee issued call for the committee to meet tomorrow to dis cuss the offers it has been investi gating for more than a month and de- termine program of future proceed ings. Senator Norris prepared to present his plan to the agriculture committee at its regular meeting on Tuesday.
 There was some Indication today that the appropriation of funds to be- gin work on the dams would be sought when the army bill reached the Senae. It was suggested that an amount approximating $7,500, ,000 would be tackled on the measure as a Senate amendment at that time. If that was done, it was explained, the army engineers could begin work soon after July l. when the bIll is to become effective.
 Representative Hull of Iowa, who headed the military committee on their Alabama trip. said today that he understood further qualifications would be made in the proposal sub mitted by Henry Ford. by. which the Gorgas power plant, claimed by the Alabama Power company. would be divorced from the properties Mir Ford has offered to purchase and lease Such move, it was said, would re- move the legal complications and greatly simplify the problems the military committeeman have been en- deayoring to solve in connection with their study of the Ford proposal. a Discuss Ford Plans
 Details of plans of the Ford engi- neers to convert the secondary power at Muscle Shoals into primary power by means of storage and power dams on the upper Tennessee river and it's tributaries were considered at a con ference today by C. H. Huston, assist ant secretary of commerce.: J. W. Worthington. representing Mir Ford and delegation from Knoxville Tenn, which included Judge H. B. Lindsay, Gen. l.. D. Tyson, w. J. Saw age and J. G. Grumblss.
 The plans, it was explained. involve construction of huge. reservoir in eastern Tennessee, from which the water could be released in dry pe- riods, thus developing considerable electric energy at the sites of the storage dams and at the same time materially increase the power at Mus cle Shoals, Hale's Bar and other dams on the middle section of the Tennes- see river by augmenting the flow of the stream itself.
 Charts were presented showing the probable sites of power and reservoir dams on the Tennessee river and it's tributaries above Chattanooga, which 1t was said. would yield nearly 1000, DOC, 900 horse power if fully de- veloped. The chief purpose of the Knoxville delegations trip to Wash ington, it was added. was to ask Congress to include 6 provision in the annual river appropriation for 8 detailed survey by government en- gineers looking to early development of the project