The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-09
PRESS FORD OFFER TO PASSAGE

PRESS FOHD OFFEk IO PASSAGE .
 No matter what efforts are made to have it appear otherwise, there is abundant evil dence that the overwhelming sentiment in Alabama is in favor of leasing Muscle Shoals to Henry Ford. Wherever popular opinion has been given expression the majority for the Ford offer has been both large and em- phatic. To be for the Ford offer, however, does not imply enmity to legitimate power de- velopment. It rather indicates the implacable enmity of public opinion towards any sort of power monopoly, and towards the political efforts of the power trust to delay congress sional action and to win for itself, through that delay, the prize of Muscle Shoals. Act ing within it's legitimate sphere of develop and not opposing projects of great public value, the power company has the indorse- ment and amity of the public. When the power company transgresses it's legitimate boundaries then there crystallizes into un- yielding resistance those clements and agencies protective of the public welfare that have always existed in public crises
 It is the prevailing opinion among the peo- pie of this section that the purpose of the Alabama Power Company in seeking Muscle Shoals is to tie in that great current with the general distribution system of which the Alabama company is a part. The electric current generated at Muscle Shoals would thus be merged into the super-power system and sent to all sections served by that inter- locking system. Super-power is a project which in general it is not the purpose of the adherents of the Ford offer to attack. But they do attack the plan to nullify the great public benefit which is inherent in the Muscle Shoals situation as distinguished from ordi- nary power sites. The fight is to protect Muscle Shoals in the interest of the greatest service to this nation. The only definite way in which that protection is assured is through such a program as Mir. Ford originally laid down, and which other companies have more or less closely initiated in their campaign to rival plans may approximate, the plan of Mir. Ford, the public does not forget that Mr. Ford was the originator of the plan to redeem Muscle Shoals for the public benefit and that all other plans offered have been reluctantly submitted as a last impeachment in the way of the Ford offer.
 The advantages to Alabama of the opera tion of the project by Mir. Ford are obvious In the first place, the development of indus trial production in North Alabama will pro vide tonnage for export. This tonnage will contribute to the development of transporta- tion efficiency between Alabama points and Alabama's seaport. It will contribute also to the development of shipping at Mobile. The operation1of the project and the develop ment ofNnew; industries will add directly to state. The manufacture of fertilizer nitrates will furnish at lower cost plant food con stituent serely needed by Alabama agricul- ture. The surplus power will be sold in the contiguous area and will furnish competition in the field of power distribution, result that is certain to be of infinitely greater pub lie value than. the consummation of that power monopoly now sought by the power companies.
 
 From national viewpoint the preserva- tion of Muscle Shoals in it's original purpose ss a source of explosives in case of war is of unacceptable wisdom. Mir. Ford agrees to keep the project in war readiness. That is vital. Far more vital in any future war than in the war that called the nitrate plants into being. That defensive purpose of Muscle Shoals cannot safely be lost sight of The people do not lose sight of it. The patriotic members of congress do not lose sight of it. That is all the more reason why there should be determined effort to- minimize all props- ganda against it, and to press relentlessy the passage of the measure accepting the Ford offer.
 COLLEGE STUDENTS AND LAW
 It has been the habit of some writers lightly to assert that college students are