A JOINT RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE FOR THE NATIONAL AND S. 2164 A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISPOSAL OF THE MUSCLE FEBRUARY 16, 19, AND 24, 1932 Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry CONTENTS Fitts, William J., Commissioner of Agriculture, State of Tennessee- Howe, H. E., American Engineering Council, Washington, D. C.. McFarland, W. F., Chamber of Commerce of Florence, Ala., and Porter, J. F., president of the Tennessee Farm Bureau, member of the Muscle Shoals Joint Commission from Tennessee_ Reynolds, Mercer, Chattanooga, Tenn__ 44 TO CREATE MUSCLE SHOALS CORPORATION OF THE UNITED STATES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1932 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, Washington, D. C. The committee met, at 10.30 o'clock a. m., pursuant to call, in the Senate Office Building, Senator George W. Norris presiding. Present: Senators Norris, Capper, Frazier, Thomas of Idaho, Smith, Wheeler, McGill, Bankhead, Bulow, and Caraway. . Senator NORRIS (Presiding). The committee will come to order. This meeting was called by the chairman (Senator McNary) after consultation with Senator Bankhead, who desired some witnesses to be heard. The chairman is unable to be present on account of the meeting of another committee. I think I ought to state for the record to begin with that some time ago, at the last meeting, January 28, 1932, the question was up before the full committee, and I think with the exception of Senator Bankhead there was no one who expressed himself in favor of further hearings. The House had had on this subject, that is, Senate Joint Resolution 15, very extensive hearings; and in the past when on this or some other similar bill, this committee had had unlimited hearings, and had been having hearings for the last 10 years, and it was finally agreed at the meeting to which I refer that there should be no further hearings on the subject, but that as soon as Senator Bankhead was able to familiarize himself with the evidence given before the House committee, a meeting of this committee would be called and we would take a vote on whether we would report the joint resolution favorably or otherwise. After that meeting it seems that some negotiations took place between the chairman of this committee and others, with the result that this hearing was arranged. (The joint resolution and bill before the committee are here made a part of the record, as follows:) [S. J. Res. 15, Seventy-second Congress, first session] JOINT RESOLUTION To provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of the Government properties at and near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, to authorize the letting of the Muscle Shoals properties under certain conditions, and for other purposes. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of maintaining and operating the properties now owned by the United States in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in the interest of the national defense and for agricultural and industrial development, and to aid navigation and the control of destructive flood waters in the Tennessee River and Mississippi River Basins, there is hereby created a body corporate by the name of the "Muscle Shoals Corporation of the United States" (hereinafter referred to as the corporation). The board of directors first 1 |