Still Going Strong

The Tennessee Valley Authority flourished in 1947 as never before. Last week, in TVA's 14th annual report to Congress, Chairman Gordon Clapp listed the facts of progress:

P: From its 26 dams (with two more under construction), TVA supplied 15 billion kilowatt hours of electricity (ten times the 1933 rate).

P: To run everything from sweet-potato curers to washing machines, rural consumers were using electricity at 60% above the national average, were buying it at 16% under the national average rate.

P: By holding back flood waters in storage reservoirs, TVA engineers had prevented an estimated $7.5 million in flood damage last winter.

P: In the 630-mile deep-water channel of the Tennessee, river traffic was up 25% over record 1945.

P: On 4,075 demonstration farms, local farmers, using TVA methods and TVA fertilizers, had increased yields of oats by 175%, of corn and wheat by 100%.

P: In the once-swampy river bottoms, the malarial rate had fallen from 10% in 1938 to less than 1%.

History might yet consider TVA as the most successful of all New Deal projects. But for any Congressmen who still had their doubts, TVA had another bit of news. It could also cook: it was a financial success, sounder than many a private business. By July 1947, TVA had repaid the U.S. Treasury $23.6 million, out of power earnings alone, had plowed $132 million more back into improvements and expansion of the power plant. Last year's take: $21.8 million, a substantial 5 1/2% return on TVA's net investment.

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