The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-19
COMMITTEE HAS
ISSUED ADDRESS
Entire District Interested in the
Coming Convention
BENEFITS POINTED OUT
Representative People From All the
States In the Co4fon Belt Will
BENEFITS POINTED OUT
representative People From All the
States In the Cotton Belt Will
Come to Southern Cotton
Convention.

officials, commercial bodies and all others
interested in the Birmingham district by
the publicity committee of the CONNER
cial club Birmingham appointed some
time ago to call wide attention to the
convention of the Southern Cotton asso-
citation, which will be held here in jan
uary.
The address directs attention to the fact
that the meeting of the association will
not be of value to the city of Birming
ham but will be of great benefit to all
the business interests of the entire dis
trict.
All classes of people are called upon to
assist in the entertainment of the large
number of visitors who will come to Biz
mingham on that occasion.
Following is the full text of the ad-
dress as issued by the committee:
The Address.
To the People of Birmingham, Bessemer,
Ensley, Pratt City, North Birmingham,
East Birmingham, Avondale. Wood
lawn, East Lake, Gate City, lrondale
ana Otllef Towns Ill llle 1Hlilleuidtt Dit
mingham District:
The third annual convention of the
Southern Cotton association will be held
in Birmingham January HIS and 10.
1t is almost impossible TO eXaggerate
the Importance of this gathering. 1t is
an event of universal interest, beside
which the great national conventions for
the nomination of President of the
United States or the proceedings of Con-
gress fade into comparative insignificance.
Cotton clothes the world and wherever
the cloth is worn-in America, Europe,
Asia, Africa and the Antipodes-some
news of the proceedings of this convention
will find its way. to be read eagerly and
to be quoted hereafter. Birmingham and
the Birmingham district will be upon mill
lions of tongues, and will hereafter be as
ISOLATED in the minds of all peoples with
the one product which concerns them
most. The value of such publicity at THIS
time when we are earnestly considering
ways and means of attracting the at
tention of the better class of immigrants
to the industrial district of Alabama as
serts itself emphatically.
Benefits Are Manifold.
The benefits. direct and indirect. which
Birmingham and the other cities and
towns in the immediate district will de-
rive from the convention are manifold.
upon the lands which they cover. Con-
ventions are foods of humanity, and in
variably contribute to the growth of tho
citi.s land surrounding territory in which
they meet Some of the visitors return
to become permanent citizens; others
make investments in the commercial or.
industrial enterprises which have been
brought to their attention, and all of
them carry away some fact which they
drop as good seed into the minds OF their
friends at home.
The forthcoming convention promises to
be unusually prolific of such results 1t
will be one of the largest gatherings ever
gotten together in the south. with an at
tendance of 5000 or 5000 delegates and
visitors-possibly more. These will come
from all parts of the cotton belt, which
has been enjoying such remarkable pros
perity for several years, and they Will
come, so to speak. with the proceeds or
the sale of 100000 bales of this years
crop in their pockets. But of still more
Importance is the fact that they will
come as southerners, our own kinsmen,
with no stubborn preiudies to be removed,
Greatness of District.
They will view with enkindling pride the
many evidences of the greatness of this
district, and will go home to talk, with
affectionate enthusiasm, of its wonders
for wears to come. Hereafter, throughout
the length and breadth of the cotton belt,
men of ambition and purpose who arc
chafng in the narrow restriction of their
environment. will be constrained to snap
the ties which bind them and seek this
field where opportunities are boundless
and unlimited. This is no flight of fancy:
for today there is scarcely town or
hamlet in Alabama which Is not giving
up its best young men to these develop
ment of the Birmingham district. This
convention will undoubtedly open innum-
cradle avenues, through which the good
red blood of the cotton belt will flow in
unceasing streams into this district.
When Birmingham secured the conven-
ton by demonstrating to the executive
committee of the cotton association that
this city was the geographical and pro-
ductive center of the cotton belt, the
Commercial club appointed committee
on publicity and transportation. The
duties of this committee are two-fold
First, to advertise the convention land
incidentally Birmingham and the dis
trlcD throughout the cotton belt in order
to stimulate the attendance as much "a
possible; and, secondly, to devise methods
of impressing visitors after their arrival.
In working out their plans the committee
soon reached the conclusion that honesty
and truthfulness. which are the basic
elements of all permanently successful
advertising, demanded that the conven-
ton be treated, not as a Birmingham
affair exclusively, but as one in which
all the cities and towns of the immediate
district must be recognized.
And the committee at once determined
to carry out that idea in the advertising
matter sent to the papers in the cotton
belt For instance, the committee has
prepared a number of cuts Illustrating
points of interest in the district. There
will be an attractive headline over each
and underneath a few lines descriptive
of the particular industry and its loca-
ton together with the announcement
that this is one of the objects of interest
which visitors to the cotton convention
may see.
Some Attractions.
Ensley will be credited with the steel
mill; Bessemer and North Birmingham
with furnaces and other Industries; the
residence suburbs with homes and so on.
Thus the visitor whose curiosity has been
whetted will not be deceived He will
know that such and such an object of in
terest is not in the city of Birmingham.
but that he can easily reach it with street
car tickets which will be furnished to
him by the club. In the printed matter
given.
Having determined to carry on It's adj
vertising campaign abroad in this spirit
of fair play, the committee feels encouf-
aged to ask for the cooperation of the
citizens and municipal and commercial
bodies of Bessemer, Ensey, Pratt City,
North Birmingham. East Birmingham,
Avondale, Woodlawn, East Lake. Gate
City, Irondale and other nearby cities
and towns, in the effort to make the best
impression upon visitors during their
liz Il