The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-05
SOUTH OCCUPIES
 CENTER OF S1A9t
Continued from First Pasel

l
 Thalman &s Co., one of the great bank ing houses of New York. with most eX-
 tensive foreign connections. regards this movement as of international import | ance and is certain that it's consumma- tion will to a greater extent than ever before. concentrate ths attentions of the 1 financial circles of Europe upon the south as a center for investment. At wood, Violet X Go. a leading cotton and | banking house of New York and New l Orleans, are equally as strong in their l views as 10 the effect upon the south l of such a concentration of capital in the | development of the iron and coal inter ests of the southern states, looking upon iron and steel as a barometer of trade and having in view the old saying that the production and consumption of iron and coal mark the measure of a nations l advancement MT. Violet is active in his efforts to bring about the fullest realiza- | tion of those who have planned this com bination.
 Banking Houses Have Similar Views. | Similar expressions are heard from various banking houses whose heads have 1 come to a full appreciation of the im- 1 portance of this movement and of what i it will mean to railroads and to the coun- try to double within the next four or | five years the iron and steel output of Alabama, giving that state a dominating power in the worlds iron interests and meaning for the south such prosperity radiating from Alabama as that which heretofore has radiated from Pittsburg.
 Regarded as Bluff.
 Notwithstanding the .rumors widely circulated yesterday that there was possibility of this combination not being effected, very rapid progress is being made. more rapid in fact than could have been expected, considering the diff fculties in the way. The effort of the i hitherto dominating interests in the Ten nessee Coal and Iron company, represent ed by what is known as the Hanover Bank Crowd" to retain control of that company by virtue of their position as directors, regardless of the fact whether they have lost control of the stock or not is generally regarded as a bluff. When sacrifices are for sale and a man
 
 ! them to the extent of control of a com pany. it is not to be supposed that the former management can undertake in this day of enlightment to criticize such an operation, nor to undertake to block such q consolidation merely because they are unwilling to give up control.
 Such action, in this case were 1t even temporarily to delay the proposed com bination. would prove not only injurious to the south, but to every financial inter- est throughout the country. It is incon- ceivable that the Hanover Bank people would simply, out of personal pique or the loss of control of such property, attempt to retard a plan fraught with such tre- : mendous possibilities for the upbulldng of the whole south
 1 Will Act Without Tennessee. "The Hanover Bank people have very wide financial connections throughout the l south, and 1t is not to be supposed that 1 they will continue to retard the develop ment of that section by putting stumbling l blocks in the way of this great under taking However, if they continue their ] opposition till the annual meeting of the | Tennessee company in May, the people i who are handling the merger have formu- lated their plans to combine without de- i lay number of other properties in one corporation with such a large cash cap ital for new furnaces and steel works as to make the new enterprise, even without the Tennessee company. rank in the south as the United States Steel Corporation | ranks in the north and east. The matter has today been put in the hands of the lawyers to work out the details with the various interests to be combined.
 The early completion of the entire combination, and I feel safe in saying that its success is practically assured, will not only mean vast expenditures in the further development of the coal and 1 iron interests of Alabama, but it will mean an unprecedented concentration of thought and capital upon the resources of l the south. In fact, the putting of these properties together in a compact company 1 with millions of fresh capital for the building of new furnaces and steel plants will mean more to the south than Mor- 1 gan accomplished when he took the many i disjointed, disconnected and badly equipped railroads, and out of them cre- ated the compact and splendidly equipped Southern railway system. That operation of Morgan's was of less value to the south and meant less in influence than will be the consummation of the plans looking to the combination of Ala bama's coal and iron interests, with a view to development on so broad scale as to make Alabama the dominant iron and steel center of the world"