The age-herald., 1899-07-26
BIRHINGHAM'S COMMERCIAL INTER- ESTS, AS SEEN BY A SENATOR,
 GOVERNOR AND CONGRESSMAN
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first to unlock natures treasure boxes; two slender rails of iron pushed their way from Chattanooga through Jones Valley to Meridian, and the first railroad to enter Jefferson county became living fact. This was soon followed by another, and our coal and iron was given an outlet to the markets of the country. For centuries the great wealth of this district lay undevel- oped for lack of proper transportation fa- clities and when that was furnished it's growth commenced. In truth 1t may be taken as an axiom that the cost of trans- portation controls and limits the sphere of territory into which a community or country can push its trade, and this is es- pecially true of a manufacturing center, for then the rule works both ways; first, the original cost of the manufactured pro- duct is dependent upon the cost Of as- sembling the raw material at the manufac turing plant; and, second, the cost of trans porting the manufactured product to the markets, where we meet competition.
 Advantages of the District
 "rhe great advantage this district has over its competitors lies in the fact that by reason of the proximity of the coal, iron ore and lime rock to the furnace, the orig inal cost is greatly reduced We have an excellent quality of iron ore, but as good can be found in many other countries. we have A cokeing coal that equals any, put does not surpass that to be found in many of our sister states, but we alone have the coal and iron located in @ few miles of each other, whereas, in other states the one must be transported to the other for a distance of hundreds of miles, You can stand on the crest of Red mountain and see the smoke rising from the colleries at Pratt City. The ores from the Masaha mines travel nearly thousand miles to meet the coal at Pittsburg furnaces, and the difference in assemb bling the raw ma teral at the furnaces in Pennsylvania and with us is nearly $5 per ton. Herein lies our advantage, that nature has given us, and that will ultimately drive out all com petition within the sphere of our trade -ln- fuence, and this is bounded by the cost of transportation to the first market.
 For many years we have produced more iron than the southern market could con- sume and we were first forced to go to the north and west In order to compete with Pittsburg in her own market we were required to pay to the railroad companies $350 for each ton of iron. This freight charge has operated as a protective tarlu wall in favor of Pittsburg, and our origi- nal cost of production must be at least $S.50 per ton less than Pittsburg before VIC can compete with her on equal terms in her own markets. This simply illustrates the necessity for cheap transportation fa- cilities to our ultimate markets. Now that the manufacturing interests of America are producing more than our home mar kets can consume the time has come when we must make the prices in the markets of the world, or close our fac tories and foundries. The all-important question for us to consider is the cost of transportation to the sea.
 "The railroads have done much to de- yelop our resources and will do more, but for our heavy freight they cannot answer the demands of our commerce.
 Must Have Cheap Rates
 "In order to meet our competitors in for- eign markets we must have the cheapest freight rate that can be obtained. It is inn possible ever to obtain those rates from the railroads, for they cannot reduce their rates below point where they can make a profit, and were they to carry our heavy freight at cost they would charge far more than the same freight can be handled profitably by water. This was recognized by the people of Manchester, England, when they built-a ship canal to an interior city at great expens etc themselves.
 q find from government reports that the average freight rate on all freight in the central states Is s.21 mills per ton per mile. the rate on the great trunk lines for heavy classes of freight Is from 5 to 6 mills per ton per mile; the freight from