Informal Extemporaneous Remarks at Sheffield, Alabama on Muscle Shoals Inspection Trip

Governor Miller, my friends:

I think I can almost say, "My neighbors," because, from my little cottage at Warm Springs, from Pine Mountain which lies back of it, I can look into Alabama.

I am here for two reasons: The first is to fulfil a promise made to myself, because, during the campaign, I said that I wanted to see Muscle Shoals. The other is that I do not believe that any person in the world can act or make a recommendation in regard to any great project unless he has seen the project himself.

Today I am looking forward with the greatest interest to seeing this particular part of the Tennessee Valley. I am very confident that the distinguished gentlemen who are with me from the Congress of the United States will be able to work with me and get something practical done.

Every single part of the United States is represented here today. Senator Norris is the author of Muscle Shoals. Senator Dill, who has taken such a great interest in the power question as a whole, comes from the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Scattergood is a gentleman who has done so much to build up the use of electricity in the Southwest. And, finally, another section of the country is well represented by the gentleman who has been for some years the chairman of my own Power Authority in the State of New York; he represents the great St. Lawrence Development. So you might say that all four corners of the United States are here today.

We are here because the Muscle Shoals Development and the Tennessee River Development as a whole are national in their aspect and are going to be treated from a national point of view.

And so, my friends, I am looking forward with the greatest of pleasure to my day here. It is going to give me a great advantage in putting Muscle Shoals back on the map.