The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-03-02
WARRIOR CANAL A
NATIONAL POLICY
Says ]. A. YanHOOSe, The Father oil
the Project.
TOO MUCH COMPETITION
Among the Iron CenterS Of the COun-
try for Domestic Trade.
BIRMINGHAM MUST GET ABROAD
Into Foreign Fields, Which Will Relieve
the Pressure at Home-Must Or
ganize and Get Appropria-
ton from Next Congress.

that the Warrior canal be constructed,
which was given out to the public only
few days ago, has been most favorably re-
ceived in birmingham.
The first step in the building of this canal,
on which Birmingham's pubic-minded citi-
zens have been working so long, was get
ting congress two years ago to authorize
survey of the canal, and appropriating
$4,000 for that purpose The second step
the rendering of favorable report by the
engineers-has also been realized, and the
third step is yet to be taken.
Former Mayor ]. A. VanHoose, to whom
is given the credit of fathering the idea and
in whose honor it is often called, spoke
most enthusiastically on the outlook yes
terday afternoon.
"As / have always maintained" said he,
1.-THE completion of this canal will be the
greatest thing that has happened to Biz
mingham, without exception. And the IA
vorable report by the engineers who made
the survey is the best thing that has hap
pened so far towards the canals ultimate
completion.
1.-THE next thing for us to do is to perfect
a strong organization in this district, and
all over the country and if necessary,
send some of our citizens out, too, travelling
in the canals interests. Not only the
southern states, but the west, the north
and all the other sections of the country
must be made to realize that this canal is of
national Importance, and that it is not
purely local measure which benefits Biz
mingham only.
Let Birmingham Go Abroad
you see, the various iron centers of the
country, principally, however, Birmingham
and Pittsburg, are carrying on a cut-rate
fight with each other in the iron markets
of this country. The iron interests in these
two centers have grown to be so large that
they supply a great deal more than the To-
cal demand, so that until recently when
the Birmingham district began it's export
shipments, both places had to find a market
for their product at home. These two dis
tricts had to compete with each other, and
prices were necessarily cut down. Uncle
Sam has raised lot of boys, so to speak,
and they have gotten too big for him to
take care of any longer. So one of the
boys, Birmingham, must be told to get out
and hustle for himself, and sell his stuff to
the consumers in the other nations of the
earth.
This is all that Birmingham asks; to get
its products to the ocean by an all water
route, from whence it can send its iron and
coal to ALI quarters of the globe, leaving
Pittsburg and the other iron centers which
are bottled up in the interior of the coun-
try to look out for the domestic trade, ex-
cepting, of course the southern states near
the Birmingham district. Any step which
by the expenditure of ten million dollars or
SO would do much toward lessening the
competition among the American iron
makers and manufacturers, and give one
OF the districts such prestige in the ex-
port business of the world, is to my mind a
national policy which should command the
attention of the whole country.
1T Is almost useless for me to argue
what the government has done for the
Plttsburg district by the digging of canals
and the erection of locks. Birmingham has
the same call on the government that
Pittsburg had; more So in fact for the
reason that the digging of this canal for
birmingham will benefit Pittsburg and the
other iron centers of the north almost as
much as it will Birmingham. For. as 1
have stated, it will remove to very large
extent Birmingham competition from the
domestic markets of the country.
Canal Right Into Birmin CHAM
you remember that the engineers report
recommended in the strongest terms the
digging of seventy-foot canal from the
Warrior to MeAdory.s But in regard to q
seventy-foot canal from McAdory to Five
Mile creek, Engineer Ripley says that there
isn't enough water to fill it. Mr.. Ripley
was sent to Birmingham to survey a sew
enty-foot canal, and that is what he sur
veyed and reported on. He didn't say IN
his report that canal of half that width
would not only be perfectly feasible and
would have plenty of water to operate it,
but that 1t would. be. amply large enough
to fill nearly all the needs of the industries
located along Its banks Neither did he
say that 1t was perfectly practicable to
dig q branch of this canal right into the
heart of Birmingham, coming in by way
of the Birmingham rolling mills, and con-
tinuing on up Avenue c, If the city de-
sires it. Storage reservoirs could be made
near Lakeview and other places on the
mountain which would easily fill small
canal, especially If this branch was not
operated every day and water allowed to
accumulate, as is done in many of the
canals In this country. l have these facts
from some of the. best engineers in Bir-
mingham, and men who are well posted
on canal building. The next time we get
the government to survey 1t will be for a
35-foot canal up to Five-Mile creek, with
a branch running into Birmingham.
Railroads Won't Oppose
IT don't believe the railroads entering
Birmingham would fight this canal as
much as one would think 1t is true that
they handle an immense amount of the
raw materials. on which they probably
make profit. But considering the way
in which these great freight trains tear the
track to pieces, weaken their bridges and
in other ways cause them the greatest in
convenience, think they would be willing
to give great share of their iron and coal
business TO the canal boats in exchange
for their great shipments of manufactured
goods which they would handle from and
into Birmingham
"Finke, said to be before his death the
greatest authority on railroad rates, used
to say that 1t would pay the railroads of