The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-01-27

life. are found in large quantities in only 8 few places on the earth's sur face. One of those places in Chile, South America, from where the Unit ed States buys practically all its ni- trates. The annual nitrate bill of the country has now come to be about $100,0OO,000, and according to figures compiled by the American Farm Bur- eau Federation the United States has paid Chile since 1887 approximately $1, O,000,00O for the precious salt. By 1928, at which date the Muscle Shoals plant may be in full operation. s1.5oo. .ooo, 900. :! Fixing Niuates Requires Electricity
 ne only practical way yet found for the artificial manufacture of ni- rates on a large scale-and it is this that constitutes the supreme i'm portance of the Muscle Shoals-is to current for the "fxation'' or the com bination of the free nitrogen of the air with other chemical elements. This process is known as the cyana- chemical used, and has been success fully employed for number of years in Norway.
 As for extending the rivers naviga- ganizing a large steamer route on the Tennessee, which will carry the cot ton crop to the seaboard and thence abroad. The river route will also
  articles when the industrial zone IS developed.
 As a producer of dro-electrical energy the significance of Muscle Shoals can be understood when 1t IS pointed out that more energy will be developed at that point than is rep resented at present by the hVe states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia-aI1 o'-ates which have made cons1dera ble advances in this respect. The total ,s slter power now in use in the United States is only approximately S,VoO,OUO orsebower, or about twelve times the potentia lities of Muscle Shoals.
 Surplus Horsepower is 500, 900:
 The operation of the nitrate PianI at the shoals will require only 10o,. GOO horsepower. leaving a surplus of more than 500.000 horsepower for the use of towns and cities included in a 3O0-mi1e radius of the plant. This territory embraces Memphis, Firm fngham, Chattanooga, Nashville, Knox vile, Montgomery, Jackson, besides the new centers that will be developed in the course of years; Ine G1y Ga1yooOn On horsepower from Muscle Shoals at cost of 50 per cent less than the power now employed.
 Farmers of the South are now talk- ing of nothing else but the fertilizer plant which they believe Will ln- crease the value of their land about S25 an acre. Both Fora ana Eol- son believe that the COSl O1 Aoi ti.AH co1,ld be cut so as to save something ike s75.oOo, 900 annually in the gre pro' ductton of the cotton crop alone. Phosphates, sulphates and lime de- posits. all of which are snnsidnary s+t1;zn eies found in large quantities in the ter ritory of Alabama and TenneSsee: aonIste ana and thus the production of compete Ter tilizer could be carried on at the Muscle Shoals plant
 Fertilizer Cost Would De Cut.
 With the water transportat1on available at Muscle Shoals it is be- lieved that the new fertilizer could pc delivered almost anywhere in the United States with a sanf reduction nricea oi z0 to 50 per cent. over present plioes.
 Considered for it's wartime possi- sufficiently inland to make IL saIe from attack by airplanes or an In vading army.
 All the materials needed for the manufacture of high explosives are in easy reach and it is believed thai no more ideal combination Of cond1- tions could be found anywhere in the United States.