The age-herald., 1899-07-26

business men of Birmingham when we bring these matters up in congress, to hold up our hands and aid us by showing an interest in them''
 Greatest Living Statesman
 Senator Morgan was then introduced by MT. McCrossin as the 'greatest living statesman," and was received with a great outburst of applause. The band played "The Star Spangled Banner while the au- dience cheered and the venerable senator simply bided his time. He appeared in splendid health, and from beginning to end was listened to with marked attention. He said:
 "Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen The responsibilities thrown upon me by the chairman of this meeting has greatly em- barrassed me. did not come here to re- ceive an ovation, but to express my opin ions and views upon the commercial inter ests of Birmingham. I do not speak as a citizen of Birmingham, but as a citizen of Alabama, and shall confine myself to my 900 miles can and should be made the great est in the same area in the world.
 Some Win Take Issues7
 '"The statement that we control the mar kets of the world should not be made with over confidence, for there are those who have interests at stake who will take issue with us, and we must be prepared to meet them before we make our boasts. The great future of this district must be meas ured by the past, and you have every req son to be hopeful.
 ''I see little picture in my mind sug- gested by this occasion, which carrys me back to the days of 1S49, when I was then one of band of struggling lawyers who traveled gathering in fees at the county seats throughout the state. l was often called to Elyton, and passed near this spot, which was then field, with no evil dence of the prosperous city. The wealth In these surrounding hills as not unknown and was often the subject of our conversa- tion when we had finished our days work
 That good Irishman or Scotchman in Professor Touwony, of the University, who was state geologist, would tell us of the wonderful mineral deposits and saw then the great future in store. I even ventured to believe that I would live to see the day whn iron dug from these hills would be sold as far away as Baltimore.
 "By the great developments of the past forty years we may make safe calculations on what the future holds.
 Three Great Monopolies
 Birmingham is situated in the center of three great natural monopolies iron, cotton and yellow pine timber. She has on the north the great food products of Tennessee and Kentucky to draw from at low rates; Georgia and Florida on the east and south; Mississippi and Louisiana on the west, with their great resources. In addition to these she has her inexhaustible supply of coal, iron and limestone with good climatic condition for labor and living, but the greatest factor of all is the juxtaposition of the coal, iron ore and limestone, the three clements of iron making which can not be found so closely together in any other part of the world England Is now buying her ores from Morocco, and Spain, Russia Belgium and other iron manufac- turing countries are compelled to seek be- yond their borders for their material, so you can readily see how Birmingham can make cheaper iron than any other place on the face of the globe.
 Iron is one of the elements of civilization. IL IS a IdCtOr III dll lic uSNeloPiH5 pO"SiS of man; in agriculture, in manufacturing and in all other branches of industry it supplies the tools and is therefore, tho elementary factor in development. It Is necessity and you are master of iron, and with the seaboard only 300 miles away, there is no reason why every person in this district should not prosper and become rich.''
 Referrt q to Iron Prices
 Senator Morgan here referred to the iron prices of Europe, and compared the Liver pool cotton market, which fixed the price of the staple with the iron situation. While the United States has a monopoly in the production of cotton the prices are fixed 'n Liverpool he said, because she is the buy CT.
 ''It makes little difference" he continued, "whether there is large or small crop if there are buyers for 1t, and in order to have consumers we must have people with money to buy. If every man in this world had silver half dollar to buy cotton shirt we would get it. This is all I have to say of silver.
 | 'I have this prediction for Birmingham | not in the narrow sense that she will pros l per ct the expense of her sister cities of | the south or state, that she is just entering upon an era of prosperity. the results o