Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-01
ALABAMA AND ATLANTA.


 A convention will meet on Tuesday at Birmingham, which may prove of much in terest to Atlaota. and of great results to Alabama. Il is composed of delegates from .sthe commercial and industrial bodies of that state and the mayors of the several cities or their representatives. lis main object is the discussion and perfectiDg of a plan by which Alabams " be properly Represented at the expos ion
 v 1t will be remem bered .-..t a committee of the exposition directory, headed by President Collier, visited Montgomery during the last session of tbe legislature. They received verbal backing only, and the egislators declined all action upon state exhibit as such and at the proper cost of the state.
 The popular voice of Alabama was raised in protest against the non action, saying that it repeated s'the Chicago shame, '' kwhen the in peuding force bill was used as leNcuse to kill the appropriation bill for the Worlds fair. The result of this popular outcry and of the discussion it provoked lhas been to call more general and direct attention of live Alaoamians to our exposi- Ption and to the great advantages it offers them for advertising the wealth and products of their state. The commercial bodies and the separate cities responded promptly to the suggestion Vf the Bir- i iningham Commercial club. Representa- tive delegates have been chosen and the
 
 settle the question.
 | -sAll indications seem to point to favor- able result-a practical display of the ores, coal, building stones and other mineral products of Alabama, of her vast forestry resources and her less known but largely va1ua be cereal and grazing possibilities. It will be sad day for their state if the effort of these earnest Alabalnians should be nulliaed by the south, or the wis inertia of their people. It is her boast today that j. -Ahbama can sell pig iron in Pittsburg Cheaper than it can be made there; that she can store steamer coal in ships bunkers at Mobile at prices lower than Newport News; that she has the best and largest lumber facilities of any state on the Gulf of Mexico. More than this, Mobile has long claimed to be the natural port of the great granary and meat house of the west, because she has shorter and straighter lines to Chicago est on the gulf. And she further claims and has lately proved by absorbing a large share of New Orleans fruit trade-that she has tue shortest line of water traffic with South and Central America. These things are geographic facts. Alabama can make them commercial facts by a little effort; and, commercially regarded, Mobile Is Ala bama. All her business roads lead to tae Rome of her port.
 And in great degree Mobile may become the port Of Atlanta and o our great out going trade, as we'll as the "port of Chi cago.' II she takes the proper and the practical steps to explain and to prove the truths of her situation, commerce now seeking the new American fields will make its entry through Mobile. To such proofs and to such advertisement of her vast natural wealth as has never before been possible the Atlanta exposition offers the great opportunity. Here will congregate the earnest and curious people of the South and Central American republics. They will have their own display, for our in- formation, but their eyes will be wide open for all information which betters their own rates of buying and for carriage.
 These things Alabama should consider gravey. Her convention of next Tuesday at Birmingham should formulate it's plain direct and practical plan, and the people behind it who make anything to sell and who have anything to buy should hold up the hands of their working representatives by every means in their power.
 Atlanta has given her cordial invitation to the sister next door to her. She has thrown her doors wide to receive and to display any and all products and to pro- mulgate all commercial facts about Ala bama. The rest that state must do for her. self, and she can do it very easily and to her own present and future profit, if she onty-will do 1t.