The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-01
CORNER STONE LAID
FOR BRUNSWICK'S PLANT
Thousands Gathering for the Ceremony Marking
the Works Of the Mohawk Steel
and Wire Company

Brunswick, Ga, April 30.-Fully 1000
people, from every walk of Bruins
wick's life. assembled at noon to-day
to witness the ceremonies incident to
the laying of the corner stone of the
plant of the Mohawk Valley Steel and
Wire Company.
Addresses were made by Senator
McLaurin of South Carolina, Mayor
A. j. Crovatt, Col. c. P. Goodyear,
Congressman w. G. Brantley and
President Umsted of the Mohawk
company. The interesting feature of
the occasion was the unusually strong
address made by Senator McLaurin.
He handled industrial subjects in the
South in a mastery fashion; was elo-
quent in portrayal, dignified and
charming in delivery, and made a deep
impression on the large crowd as
lows:
From every point Of view, econo-
mic, personal, sectional and patriotic,
1 am filled with delight by the circum-
stances under which we are assembled
to-day. 1 congratulate the people of
the city of Brunswick; 1 congratulate
the people of Georgia and the entire
South; 1 thank God, fellow citizens,
for the existence among us of those
economic and moral conditions which
make possible the establishment OF
this great industrial enterprise.
my belief is that only through the
introduction in this section of the in
dustrial system as it exists in the
North can we hope to attain the pros
perity which our natural resources and
our moral condition justly warrant. l
confidently assert that the trend of de-
velopment for the next twenty years
will be South-for the East is over
populated and the West fully exploit
ed, and now all eyes are turned in this
direction.
THE time will come when Georgia
and Alabama, in wealth and popula-
ton, will be formidable competitors
of New York and Pennsylvania. Time
will not allow me to attempt an enum-
Grafton of that vast empire lying south
of the Potomac and east of the Mis-
sissippi. l can merely touch upon that
portion which includes Brunswick and
Birmingham. By means of the Bruins
wick and Birmingham Railroad, the
resources of the mineral belt of Ala
bama are made practically available
at this point The cost of bringing
the raw material from Birmingham to
Brunswick will be far less than the
cost of transporting similar material
from Lake Superior to Pittsburg; less
even than it is to Cleveland. And the
very fact that after the most thorough
investi cation the Mohawk Valley Steel
and Wire Company has decided to eS-
tablish here an $1,000, 900 plant for the
manufacture of steel and iron is suf-
ficient evidence that it is more econonn-
ical to manufacture at the seaboard
than it is in the mountains. Bruins
wick is the most convenient port for
handling the great mineral resources
of Alabama, and being of easy access
TO Cuban and other foreign ores, with
her timber and long staple cotton. her
great harbor and other resources, ]
predict that the city of Brunswick is
destined to become one of the great
trade centers of this country. With
the completion of the Isthmian canal
the United States is destined to gain
full control of the markets of South
America and Asia.
81 do not suppose in the whole
world there is another place where ma
ture has so completely assembled and
so prodigally stored the raw materials
which enter into the manufacture OF
iron and steel as in the Birmingham
district.
According to the report of the
eleventh census, the combination of
natural advantages in the Alabama
mineral belt makes it possible to
produce pig iron at a very low cost.
A charcoal furnace was built as early
as 1918, but it was not until 1874 that
the manufacture began to assume inn
portance. Birmingham, named after
England's iron center, was founded in
1871, Admission in 1872, Sheffield in 1853,
end Bessimer in 1887. An important