The age-herald., 1898-01-09
;. Warrior Wdt6pWdv.
.BYH. IT. P. EsNCH-

water transportation, and there remains as the new price in Mobile, on board ship, SLID to $1 30 a ton. The price of English coal at the English seaboard is S1. .95 per short ton. And this movement by slackwater to Mo- bile will go on throughout the year. No winters ice or summers drought will sus- pend the traffic; nor will the officers and crew be forced to earn a years support in seven or eight months.
 In view of such facts 1t Is not strange that Mr. William Colquhorn said before the British Iron and Steel Institute, Tn the future the southern district will oe- velope an export trade that Will mt tne United Kingdom harder than any other competitor has ever done. Our 4,OOJ, ,Ooo tons exported to South America, the East ana West Indies and China will fall away to nothing"
 The cotton crop of Alabama, one million bales, only furnishes to the railroads tonnage of 1000 tons, while the iron or Alabama furnishes @ tonnage three times greater The latter should, therefore, have the lowest possible rate. Instead or f12 mills per ton mile to Cincinnati, the rate should be 2 mills less or s1 a ton less, mak- ing the rate to Cincinnati $125 ton. There are plenty of railroads making money by carrying coal at 2la mills per ton mile: Such a rate upon Birmingham iron would permit this district to drive Pittsburg or Cleveland pig Iron out OI OlnClilildti. DuS why should two American districts seek to cut each others throat? Why should they attempt to create congestion or the honhe market?. Why should not Pfttsburg ana Cleveland and Chicago unite to aid tnls district in getting a waterway to the gui1, thereby turning the products of this dis trict into foreign markets instead of the home markets? The building of water way to tidewater would at once withdraw Birmingham iron from the home market. Not a pound of it would be sent north or Kentucky The ronmakers of the north have nearly as much at stake in the War rior improvement as the ironmakers In this district have: for if the latter cannot reach tidewater on good terms, they will be com pelled to crowd their products upon the northern markets.
 Pittsburg is not a bit backward. It is al- ways ready te stand up for the old flag and an appropriation. It recently got an appropriation of $3,500,0O0 with which to make the Monongahela locks free to coal traffic, and now 1t wants $33,0OOOOO with which to build a ship canal to Lake Erie. There is nothing like asking for what you want. The people of the south Will not stand in Pittsburg's way, provided she turns to and helps the iron center of the south to get a modest appropriation Tor slack-water navigation in the Warrior. Pittsburg can in that way secure the build ing of her ship canal, and at the same tune she can rid herself of a dangerous rival. Pittsburg and Cleveland and Chicago have the power to turn every pound of iron or steel that flows out of Birmingham's fur naces towards the sea and foreign mar kets. Give the Birmingham district a waterway to Mobile bay, and it would yield the northern markets to the northern iron makers, and press forward to conquer new and wider markets in other countries. No matter how one looks at the problem, it will be money in the pockets of northern iron-makers if they take steps to promote and hasten the appearance of tugs and barges in the rivers that flow from the mineral district of Alabama to the sea.