The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
ALABAMA WILL BE HOME
 OF GREAT CEMENT INDUSTRY

cement, the engineers are finding fl next to impossible to find anything like the quantity needed. Recently proposals were requested from eight manufacturers and dealers in cement for an Idaho project Only one pro- posal was received and that was at rate 50 per cent higher than the firm would have sold few months before. Still later invitations for bids were sent to twenty-three dealers Again, but one firm submitted bids and thfs was nearly 60 per cent higher than the normal profitable rate of sale by this firm. Other attempts to purchase ce- ment have been similarly unsuccess- ful."
 Cement in the SOuths-
 Turning to the South one is i'm pressed by the wonderful opportunf- ties for development along the line of cement manufacture. Out of eighty four plants in operation in 1905 only five of these were located South of the Ohio and East of the Mississippi. vet probably no portion of the United States promises more industrial devei- opment during the next quarter of a centurH or has made greater strides towards commercial and industriaI up. building during the last few yeafs than the South. The result IS that yearly thousands and thousands of | our Gulf ports for distribution through- out the South, while Southern mills are entirely inadequate to supply the fast increasing demand.
 It is estimated that 12.000, 000 bar rels of cement will be needed to build the Panama Canal, and as Congress has decided to use the domestic pro- duet, if possible, as the following res olution shows, another channel will be opened for the disposition of cement and no portion of the country will have more favorable opportunity for fur nishing this supply than will the South, with her navigable rivers and her excellent Gulf ports This joint resolution of Congress is as follows:
 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled That purchase for material and equip. ment for use in the construction of tho Panama Canal shall be restricted tt articles of domestic manufacture and production, unless the President deem: the bids therfor to be unreasonable ant extortionate, in which case bids may be invited and contracts awarded fol | contracts for material and equipmen of foreign production or manufacture to the extent of the consumption oi such articles as may be required in tn, | construction of said canal"
 AS IL WOutu De lHHpfacIlcaI at pres ent to consider in detail a great many | localities in the South favorable fol l the manufacture of cement the Statt of Alabama and especially that portion of the State lying between and adjacen to the Warrior and Tombigbee riveri will be considered. in which section i, l found an inexhaustfble supply of ce ment material known as "Selms Chalk"
 Industry In Alabama,
 In reviewing the progress of tn, | iron industry in the South one natur ally turns to Alabama as a great iroT | producing State, and, if her natural re sources are such as would warrant it | one would naturally look for great de velopment in the Portland cement in dustry. The production of pig iron ir | the United States in 1905 was abou | 2S,OO0Oo0 tons. The production of pig | iron in Alabama in that period wa, | 1,6O4,062 tons or about seven per cen of the production of the country al | large. The production of Portland cement in 1905 in the country at large was 34,000.000 barrels In Alabama f consisted of the output of one factory | with maximum capacity of 150.0OI | barrels, whereas to equal the percent. | age of the production of pig iron, a' compared to the country at large (seV ! en per cent), it should have been 2. 
 ment plants with a capacity of 300,OOi 1 barrels of cement a year each. Int l only plant in operation in the State i! | that of the Alabama Portland Cemen | Company at Demopolis which was es | tablished in 1S99-190 In 1905, no new | industry of this kind had been estab l lished. The output of pig iron in th' | State in 1899 was 1,OS3.905 tons show 1 ing an increase in 1905 over 1899, O | 52N,l57 tons or AS per cent.
 While the above figures show de i clded lack of progress along the lin | os the Portland cement industry, pros poets for the rapid development in tn
 next few years, during the next de cade, are good. Several projects ar
 now on foot for the establishment o
 Portland cement plants, and unde
 proper and careful management whicl | they are likely to receive should prov
 very profitable investments.
 In taking up the consideration O | possible or practicable locations 10
 Portland cement plants the followinl
 items are of prime importance, and vii
 be taken up in the order given: Quan tity and quality of raw material, trans
 portation facilities and markets for tn
 finished products. available fuel suppl and labor conditions.
 It should be stated in advance of tn dicussion of the practioability of tn | establishment of the Portland cemen
 industry in Middle Alabama that tn
 section here taken note of is not tn
 only desirable territory found in tn
 State. but simply in order, that m
 actual existing conditions may be dea
 with in detail rather than in geners