The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], June 18, 1913, SECTION D, Page THREE, Image 57

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

Image provided by: University of Alabama Libraries, Tuscaloosa, AL

                
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BIRMINGHAM FAMOUS
ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
AS RAILROAD CENTER
Numerous Initial Lines Already Here and Big Trunk Systems of
North and East All Maintain Offices In Birmingham.
Terminal and Union Stations—Fine Equipment
IIy CLYDE W. K.V.MS
Commercial men make Birmingham
their headquarter* for this section and
state whenever it is possible to do so.
Jobbers consider this city the huh from
which radiates i n every direction the
most efficient railway connections, both
freight and passenger. It lias been said
tout no inland city of I he south possesses
st,eh extraordinarily tine railroad facili
ties us Birmingham
In discussing the railways of this dis
trict and their services what more need
be said? It certainly must be true that
commercial men and jobbers know enough
about railway service to utter the last
word as to a city's possessions in that
connection.
That Birmingham may reach over night
nny city of whatever importance is true.
One may leave here at night and reach
Cincinnati, tlie east coast. Florida. Atlan
ta of course, Louisville, Indianapolis and
almost any city <.f this section in the
fewest hours of travel. As for freight
there are few centers possessed of such
unusual facilities. There is some talk
about freight rates, but as a general rule
those matters can be straightened out—
as they have been in many cases'—when
the railway officials are properly ap
proached upon that subject.
Lines in Birmingham
Birmingham has at this time the fol
lowing initial lines: The Southern Hail
way. H«e Queen and tTescent route, tlie
Seaboard Air Line, tlie Central of Geor
gia, the Illinois Central, the Atlanta. Bir
mingham and Atlanta railroad, the Louis
ville and Nashville, the Frisco lines, the
Mobile and Ohio and the Birmingham
Southern railway. These lines have an
adequate number, of trains leaving Bir
mingham dally in paast tiger and freight
service. All of the companies enter the
$-,<-Q0»000 terminal except the Louisville
and Nashville, the Atlanta. Birmingham
and Atlanta and the Birmingham South
ern, which use the handsome Louisville
and Nashville station down town.
• The railroads built the Terminal station,
which was opened two years ago and
which is controlled by n hoard of railway
officials representing every line. Passen
ger station facilities here are of the best.
In fact few cities have such a handsome
terminal station as Birmingham. With
the exception of New York, Pittsburg,
Washington and a few cities of such size,
no city can lay honest claim to such a
handsome station as this city. The Louis
ville and Nashville station is thoroughly
Adequate and among the best In the coun
try.
Big Lines Represented Here
%i addition to the initial lines of this
cit.- the establishment in recent years of
commercial offices for railways has indi
cated to the thoughtful men of this and
other communities that large systems
.were anxious to get/ in touch with Bir
mingham.
The largest systems iu this country
have representatives here, which include
the Harriman lines, the New York Cen
tral, the Pennsylvania and such railways.
They have in most instances both freight
and passenger men stationed here. This
connection is to route freight to and from
Birmingham over their respective lines.
This recognition of Birmingham as a
freight originating point has opened the
eyes of the whole country to the im
mense importance of this district as a
freight center. When it is recalled and
stated with all modesty that Birming
ham has taken away from Atlanta many
railroad offices the importance of Bir
mingham in the eyes of railway man
agers can be further appreciated. That is
certainly a fact that has taken place here
time and again during the past few
years. It lias been the growing desire
of the railroad reporter’s heart to an
nounce that Birmingham has again won
|
Birmingham, taken us a district, is the
largest shipper of any community in the
south and ranks with.the larger cities of
America.
It is not very widely known, but one
station In this district, that is to say,
the whole state of Georgia. That Is a
fact that is used often by traffic man
agers on railroad presidents to get their
umu aamiuot luihoj.j o»ioiu sdujs a^isuh
offices located in this city.
Where such possibilities abound it is
no occasion for surprise that railroad
men art* anxious to get to that commu
nity. The handlers of freight hero are
all alive and it is no cinch for a travel
ing freight agent to put one over the
other fellow in this community. They
watch the game like hawks and they
are all strong- for routing over their re
spective lines. '
Birmingham is so important as a freight
point Unit a traffic club is maintained
here in the Brown-Alarx building. The!
dub has no buffet or restaurant or roof ,
garden. But it lias tariff Hies and In for- !
mation of value that is often used by the
members. Rest rooms are there provided
and every few w-eeks the traffic men get
together and help each other solve the
problems that constantly arise in the
game here. It is a club of worth which
is helping the traffic men considerably.
All Are Well Built
Physically few tUies have such rail- j
roads as Birmingham. In ballasting,
rails, equipment and motive power the
best is procured for Birmingham and
maintained here. All of the lines have
line shops located in this community.
Birmingham is a division point for all of
the lines and all of them have superin
tendents here except two.
The two notable shops built here re
cently are the Illinois Central and Frisco
line joint shops, which also includes the
Central of Georgia, and the Louisville
and Nashville shops that are located in
Boyles. The former are at East Thomas.
In no center of railroad operations are
Leter shops maintained than at Boyles
and East Thomas. At either of them
wrecked engines may be repaired quickly,
while it would not be impossible for the
shops to build a locomotive.
The shops are equipped with every mod
ern facility. The Louisville and Nash
ville cost nearly $1,000,000 as they now
stand, and it would not be surprising if
they finally cost more.
The worth of this district can be ap
preciated more when it is recalled that
the Louisville and Nashville is spending
over $5,000,000 double tracking its lines
from Nashville to Birmingham. No doubt
exists but what the double track will ex
tend south to New Orleans eventually, j
The Queen and Crescent route, a compet- !
itor of the Louisville and Nashville for
north and south business, is bettering its
lines, even after they have been and are
now in fine shape. That Indicates that
without question the Panama canal bus
iness will be .routed through Birmingham
over the double track lines of the two
railways reaching the southern ports
through Birmingham.
Harriman's Connection Here
As observed, Birmingham lias a fine
place in the railway world now. That
was greatly emphasized when Harriman
bought tlie Central of Georgia to connect
here with his Illinois Central, thus form
ing across the continent connection with
Birmingham as the center of the web.
Birmingham by that proposition became
established as the vital place in the Har
riman southeastern link of railways.
However, from time to time greater
things will be done. The lines are all
keeping in touch with things. They are
building side tracks to keep the mines
running. They are building extensions to
promote industry. They have agricultural
agents that promote farming in this sec
tion and they have alert officials that are
constantly tiguring out some plan where
by the district may be bettered. They
have placed almost perfect service here
CAAT
-Photos- by H. G. Baird
Birmingham Product Sent
Throughout Entire
United States
Birmingham stands far up in the'
list of the cities of the country that
manufacture those “creators of power,”
the boiler. Indeed, so far has the in
dustry been developed that tile product
of the local boiler shops may be seen
in the factories of almost every town
in tlie United Slates, while the loco
motive hollers made in Birmingham
constitute* a traveling advertisement ic
the aide reputation for efficiency this
business in this city has won.
And out of the boiler making in
dustry lips grown another great in
dustry—the making of smokestacks. The
day of the brick chimney has passed
so far as its use on factories and oth
er large buildings is concerned. It has
been replaced by the Iron cast smoke
stack which the Birmingham boiler
factories turn out in sections and which
may lie built up tube by tube at the
top of a structure until they reach
any desired Tieight.
The boilermakers of the city count
in freight and passenger linos. They
have co-operated willingly and at a high
cost to promote the industrial betterment
of this district and as time rolls on the
railroads will be found bettering their
holdings in order to help Birmingham
and incidentally their bond holders in the
progress of the country.
New Koad to Warrior
In connection with the railroad devel
opments here and the alleged discrimi
natory freight rates applying to Birming
ham, it is recalled that the Tidewater
railroad is building an inter-urban elec
tric line from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa,
there connecting with a barge line up the
Warrior river. When that line is built
and placed into operation it is asserted
by Fred Morrisf, who Is behind the pro
ject, that Birmingham will be effectively
unbottled and will enjoy the water-rall
transportation that will cause the district
to blossom like the rose. That this line
Is to be constructed and in operation by
July 4, 1H14, is the promise oftlr. Morris
The line is going ahead now and as ttie
officials are optimistic and possessed of
funds it is believed Mr. Morris will surely
get his line ready by that time.
among their customers corporations
whose contracts call for the entire out
fitting of a huge plant with boilers ami
smokestacks combined. Some of these
contracts run into the hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
“Tlie big men of the big manufact
uring concerns are quick to learn
where they can got the best bargains,“
said a representative of a great west
ern industry who came here to con
tract for boilers and smokestacks for
an additional plant for his firm. “That's
why I’m down here. We wanted a
$10,000 boiler and smokestack outfit.
We wanted it in the quickest possible
time and we wanted it the best that
could be built. We had bought boilers
in other shops many times before, of
course. Hut always they did not prove
satisfactory and always they were not
delivered within months of the sched
uled time. The president ol' our com
pany had heard of the boiler shops in
Birmingham—how they built the best
boilers at the best prices and never bad
to ‘make good’ their guarantee. Also
wo wore told that in Birmingham the
most ex perl riveters in the I’nited
States iii«- employed and that patents
have been obtained upon new systems
of flues which not only conserve fuel
but actually enhance the power. 'Tin
president of the company didn’t send
a man down here right away, but he
sent his chief engineer to a big plant
in the far west- where lie knew that
one of the sort of boilers he wanted
was in operation, made by the Binning- I
ham firm.
“Well, the engineer found out that
that boiler had been beating its guar
antee every day of the five years it
had been in operation and that there
was not so much as a hanging rivet to
show for all tiie work it had under
gone.
“The engineer went to two other fac
tories and looked over other Birming
ham boilers that wore in use there.
Then he went to bhe president of tin
company and reported and the presi
dent sent me to Birmingham to make
the contract within the day.”
ttc.\j6yr~
ALABAMA LAND CONGRESS
ASSET TO FARM OWNERS
“A Billion Dollars Added to the Landed Wealth of Alabama’*
Is Motto of the Organization—Second Meeting Will
Be Held in Birmingham During November
• A Billion Dollars Added to lie* Landed
Wealth of Alabama " 'I bis is the mots »
of the Alabama .Land Congress, and it
does n«•( express a deeper significant *•
than the possibilities open before Ala
ha me. actually contain.
This motto bad its origin in the follow • {
ing facts given to the newspapers a lit11 •
over a year ago, and used to awaken in
terest in ti movement that sought t<» ad
vance the agricultural resources of Ala
bama. Mere is the statement:
"Alabama lias 20,OUO,OUO acres of land
available for farming purposes, in which j
there is a difference of $a0 per acre be
tween them ami similar lauds north t<f
the Ohio river in average price and yet
t host* Alabama lands will produce tin
most in money crops, with 1* ss of laboi
and expense of cultivation. If the owner:
of these lands will go to work and dem
onstrate the productiveness «»I tin* same
throughout ti • stale this difference in
price will disappear within 1<> years. Uni.*
adding to the landed wealth of Alabama
This stall ment was submit ted to
thoughtful and conservative business
men and'land owners, anti without exe'ep
tlon it was proclaitned not otlly reason
able. but entirely feasible, through well
directed efforts and organized plans to
sustain it.
This was then used as an incentive t<»
bring together those most Interested in
such a result, and in a meeting held at
Mobile in November, 1912, the Alabama
Land Congress was formally launched.
Tids legend was adopted as. the motto
of the organization.
No Land Speculation
But there was no land speculative
movement behind it, for it was clearly
announced from one end of the state t<>
the other that such a result was based
on improvement and development. If
there was only system and persistency in
that development the above result was
entirely’ within the bounds of possibility,
and it was thought with such a showing
there would be no difficulty m maintain
ing an organization to give It life and
effectiveness. The forces deemed neces
sary for such an organization were these:
The land owners, the farmers, the com
mercial bodies, the banks, the railroads,
the newspapers and state and national
departments nf agriculture and agricul
tural schools.
These forces were fairly well represent
ed at the Mobile meeting, but as no steps
toward a permanent organization were
taken prior to that meeting, it was left
to the officers chosen there to perfect
such an organization and give it force
and vitality. To this end another general
meeting lias been deemed necessary, and
such a meeting will l»e held in Birming
ham on November I. •'» and i* next, under
the auspices of the farm movement com
mittee of the Birmingham Chamber of
Commerce. .0 which Joseph <J. Thompson
is chairman.
Will Meet in This City
At this in* < tin-', every problem that ef
fects farm life ami farm progress in Ala
bama will be considered. The broad and
world-wide questions of marketing of
erops, rural credits, the high cost of liv
ing. agricultural schools, soil building*
crop specialists of every kind, good roads,
immigration, dairs farming, poultry rais
ing, hog raising, horticulture, advertising
and other kindred and practical subjects
will come before the congress.
As illustrating the relative values of
the present productions of Alabama it
will be no less a source of surprise than
gratification to those Interested in the
agricultural resources of the state to know
that these resources last year were nearly
three times the value of all other re
sources of the state combined, as the
figures will show. The value of the ag
ricultural products of Alabama last year
"'ere approximately $160,000,000, while those
of coal, iron ore. Iron, steel and other
products were approximately $03,000,000,
and yet it. is known that the farming in
terests of Alabama are only in their in
fancy, and that the state has not much
more than touched its normal production
under advanced systems of cultivation
and diversification of crops.
With these facts clearly understood and
stripped of all glowing verbiage, may wo
not ask in what other field of human en
deavor Is there such promise for the peo
ple of Alabama? Is this not enough to
awaken every public-spirited citizen of
tin* state to make an effort commensurate
with the amount to he gained to bring it
(Continued on l*age Four)
EventuaMy You Will Drink
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