Evening star., 1923-10-16

What are the actual. non-controver-
veIopment? What is the Henry Ford
offer, and why is it neither accepted
nor rejected?
Where are Muscle Shoals? Muscle
Shoals are in a stretch of thirty seven
miles in the Tennessee river, in north
ern Alabama. They have a fall Of
134 feet, constituting a barrier to
navigation feeding a territory as
large as England. 1t is estimated
that the shoals have from 624 900 to
$50. 600 horsepower. but no develop
ment of the waterpower had been at
tempted prior 10 1918.
y X x x
On June 3, 1916, Congress passed the
national defense act. and. by virtue
OF authority given in that act. Presi-
dent Wilson, on February 23, 1918,
adopted a project to develop Muscle
Shoals waterpower. for the purpose of
extracting nitrogen from air, to be
used in munitions of war.
Three dams were plsnned-No. /,
for aid of navigation only; Nos. 2 and
8, for power to operate the nitrate
plants.
To comprehend how the project
compares with other dams. note that
dam No, required 1,230.000 cubic feet
Of masonry, while. in their order of
size, others are as follows: Assuan,
Egypt. 1,179,000; Kensico; n. Y, 942,-
600; New Croton, n. Y. $4,000; Keo-
kuk. Ill.-Iowa mississippi river),
$4,000.
The governments total investment
exceeds $105.000,000.
No construction has been done on
dam No. 3. and the percentage OF com.
pletion Of dam No. 2 is: Dam, As per
cent; powerhouse, IL; locks, 10 per
cent. Dam No. 2 (called Wilson
dam"). it is proposed, will not only
create power for the plant, but power
lines will extend in all directions for
a distance Of zoe miles--in competi-
ton with the Alabama Power Com
pany, for commercial power
About six miles from this dam is
United States nitrate plant No. ], con-
structed for the government, during
the war, by the General Chemical
Company, at a cost of S12,8S7,941.31
IT was to produce $4,000 tons of am
monia nitrate per annum, but the
plant is alleged to have proved un-
successful in it's wartime experiments.
1t is now idle, but its maintenance is
costing the government $75,606.42. a
year.
At Muscle Shoals is another nitrate
plant. erected by the Air Nitrate
Corporation for the government at a
cost of $67.555,355.09. 1t produced
1,70O tons of ammonium nitrate in a
two-week test, but has been idle ever
since, costing $237,711 a year to main
tain---less a rental of $4,000 a year
for it's power to the Alabama Power
Company.
There Is also the Waco stone
quarry, costing $1.17s.o76. s0--idle.
Most interesting Of all assets in the
present situation is the government
owned steam plant, known as the
Warrior, located at Gorgas Ala, upon
land belonging to the Alabama Power
ACdSco W Tic
1t was built there because of a coal
mine, so as to use the coal without
hauling. It is an electric plant, with
a capacity Of $4,000 kiiowatts, and
the electricity is carried eighty-eight
miles to operate nitrate plant No. 2.
The cost of the Warrior plant was
s4,979,7s2.33. 1t has been rented to
the Alabama Power Company for
s75, 600 a year-or was until the latter
took advantage of q. clause in it's
lease of the land to the government
and decided to purchase the plant al
"a fair yaluation"-$3,500,9 GOO. The
clause in the lease undertook to give
the lessor the right to purchase, In
case the government failed to vacate
the land within six months after
notice, in time of peace.
In February, 1922, Secretary OF Wai
Weeks, writing to the Speaker OF the
House, called attention to a legal
uuestion-whether the sale clause in
the lease, put there with the sanction
of his predecessor, was binding upon
the government. He stated that the
fudge advocate of the Army had
ruled that only Congress had the
right to sell gevernment-ownedp prop
erty, hence that Tie clause was not
4