The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-05-02
Henry Ford and the Power Trust

10 the E01IOf OF Inc ASe-11erAIO.
When the politicians at Washington aban-
doned the development at Muscle Shoals,
some of them wanted to sell it for junk at
90 per cent. less than the amount the public
had expended. In beginning its develop
ment some Of the public's officials requested
Mr.. Ford to make a bid for it., which Mfr.
Ford did. -
The whole South rejoiced, realizing what
this meant to the South agriculturally and
industrially. However, the power trust at
once commenced to expend hundreds of thou.
sands of dollasr educating" or propaganda
ing the public. This was done by full page
advertisements in nearly every newspaper in
the South-anyway, all that the writer saw
and by broadcasting circulars. The world g
greatest electrician, Thomas Edison, stated
that the value of the potential hydroelec-
trical power at Muscle Shoals is worth more
than all the gold currency in the world"
The writer thinks this true, although he
hasn't space to amplify. Think of selling
this mighty resource for a few paltry mil
lions to go into the nav of the pork barrel !!
Selling Alabama's birthright for mess Of
pottsge!" Harnessed steam has made Amer
lea what it is today. Harnessed electricity
will make it what it will be tomorrow, so to
speak;
However. it is tragic fact that by its
on the one hand, and millionaires and bill
lionaires on the other. In one way at least,
by counterfeit" wages, produced conditions
in which men, women and children are sold
for paltry coppers and dimes, enormously
called wages" Poverty is the greatest con-
tributary cause of disease Health, in the
present stage of medical science, is a pur-
chasable commodity.
The noted electrician. Steinmetz. in an
article entitled ELECTRICITY and Civilization"
stated that 1.-THE steam locomotion is
doomed" That hydroelectric power and
coal consumed at mines and transmitted long
distances by copper wires will be the source
of electrical power. Yet this precious metal,
measured by service to mankind, immeasura-
bly, valuable metal, is monopolized by few
squatters in both the North and South Amer
lean continents, mainly. the writer thinks, by
the Guggenheims and Anaconda Copper Min
ing Company.
Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, noted New York
City banker and author. stated that we are
a nation of economic illiterates Monopolies
and trusts will keep us there.
Germany, although starving, recently pur-
chased fifty million dollars worth of copper
The Souths potential hydro-power aud power
generated by coal at the mines will be i'm
measurably superior to steam. which is at
present so vital to the South's industrial
life, Besides, the by-products of coal will
be utilized, 1t is estimated that a billion
dollars worth of these by-products is at
present going up in smoke in the United
States annually. These by-products are am
monia, one of the ingredients of fertilizer,
tar and oil. from which valuable medicines
are obtained also dyes, etc. In the writer's
opinion it will be a lamentable tragedy if
Mr.. Ford is not given Muscle Shoals for de-
velopment. Hydroelectrical power devel-
oped, will strike the chains from slave of the
wheel of labor" 1t will bring sweetness
and light" to faces in which there is the
emptiness of ages
plato and the swing of Pleiades the rift
of dawn, the reddening of the rose, the peaks
Of song" will not be meaningless words to
the man with the hoe it viii mean the
dawn of the agricultural and industrial re-
naissance Of the New South tt-
B. F. REA, NJ, d.
Lafayette, Ala, April 20, 1924.