Evening star., 1940-12-11

troversy and congressional oratory.
Then, faced with a. threatened
shortage of Chilean nitrates for the
manufacture of explosives, the Gov
ernment decided that it would be
necessary to extract nitrogen from
the atmosphere by the use of hydro
electric energy. Accordingly. in the
National Defense Act of 1916, the
Administration of Woodrow Wilson
received authority to select power
sites and manufacture nitrates un-
der Government ownership and op-
Grafton, land not in conjunction
with any other industry or enter
prise carried on by private capital"
Under this Section 124 of the De.
fense Act, the Government also was
empowered to lease out electric
power if the President desired. So
began the construction of the great
Wilson Dam, which was to become
the keystone of the T. v. A.
Emergency Had Passed.
The emergency had passed before
the dam was completed. Work had
begun in February 1918 at Muscle
Shoals. The first test run of nitrates
was made on January II, 1919, two
months after the signature of the
armistice with Germany. The dam
itself was not finished until late in
President Harding's administration
and then only because Congress
hoped to interest Mr.. Henry Ford in
the purchase of the whole works. 1t
was not until 1888, with the creation
OF the Tennessee Valley Authority,
that we got around to completing
the power part of the program and
even then the effort met with stub
born opposition from private finan-
cial and utilities interests. However.
it is satisfactory to note that in 1910
the National Defense Advisory Com
mission singled out the T. V. A. as
an indispensable resource for ma
tional defense and secured from a
hostile Congress in an election year
sufficient funds to increase the au-
thority's installed capacity for pro-
ducing electric energy.
So in the case of the st. Lawrence
River project it is represented that
inasmuch as it cannot be completed
before 1916 it bears no relation to
national defense. We hope and ex-
pect that the present war crisis will
have been safely surmounted long
before that distant year and that
these present dangers will never re-
cur. Just so we hoped after 1918
that We had forever made war i'm
possible-had not Germany been de-
feated? And had not the nations
signed the Kellogg BRAND pact for
the outlawry of war? Then. bang!
Along came Hitler and upset the
apple cart.
President on Firm Ground.
Therefore President Roosevelt Is
on firm ground in making these
long-range plans and beginning
these impressive power and naviga-
tion projects on the St. Lawrence.
Twelve or 20 years from now it may
be of desperate Importance to the
American people to possess the power
resources and the navigation facili-
ties by which our Great Lakes region
will become the industrial arsenal
and the economic bombproof shell
ter for the United States. We have
lived to see the Muscle Shoals prof.
ect, which did not manufacture an
ounce of explosives to be used in
World War No. l. become the in
dispensable element in our industrial
mobilization in the world war No. 2.
And in time Of peace both power
and navigation on the St. Lawrence
will be important attributes of ma
tional wealth and important re-
sources for economic enterprise.
Such, at least, is the argument
behind the Presidents proposal. In
cidentally. had Congress ratified the
St. Lawrence agreement of 1884 we
would now be in a position to utilize
st. Lawrence power Immediately
for the defense of democracy. Fu-
ture generations of Americans may
vet marvel at the lack of foresight
by which our legislators deprived
themselves of a great weapon for
defense just in advance of the great
est menace our Nation has ever
known
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Inc)