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Show 482 ment of the River nevertheless continued. An Army Engineer report in 1916 showed that nearly $10,000,000 had been spent on the River, with some improvement to navigation but without completion of the work.424 With the problems of World War I came action significant here. The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized the Presi- dent to determine the best means of producing nitrates, and to build dams and power equipment for this purpose.425 Al- though not fully equipped, two nitrate plants were built at Muscle Shoals; and Wilson Dam, the most important of three planned by the Army Engineers, was completed in 1925.420 After the war, various attempts were made to find a use for the Muscle Shoals plants. A bill to set up a government cor- poration to sell fertilizer and power failed of passage in the House.427 Senator Norris then introduced a bill to create a Federal Chemical Corporation, with a three-man board, to manufacture and sell fertilizer.428 It would have provided for dams on the Tennessee and its tributaries, for navigation, flood control, and power.429 Power not needed in producing fertilizer or explosives-"surplus power"-was to be sold, with prefer- ence to municipalities.430 This bill foreshadowed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act by more than ten years, stating the prin- ciple of surplus power later to be accepted by the Supreme Court in the Ashwander case.431 Meanwhile, various proposals for private operation of the Muscle Shoals plants were rejected by Congress as a result of a Senate Committee report which declared that consideration 424 H. Doc. No. 981, 64th Cong., 1st sess. (1916) ; see also Sen. Doe. No. 56, 76th Cong., 1st sess., p. 12 (1939). 425 Act of June 3, 1916, § 124, 39 Stat. 166, 215, 31 U. S. C. 745. "'See Sen. Doc. No. 56, 76th Cong., 1st sess., p. 13 (1939). Steam-power plants were also constructed at these plants. See Sen. Rep. No. 678, 68th Cong., 1st sess., p. 6 (1924). 427 S. 3390 and H. R. 10329, 66th Cong., 1st sess. (1919) ; 60 Cong. Rec. 812-13 (1920). 428 S. 3420, 67th Cong., 2d sess. (1922). 429 Sen. Rep. No. 831, 67th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 32-34 (1922). 430 Id. p. 30. 431 Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U. S. 288 (1936); see supra, pp. 50-52, 54-55. |