The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
xsn Who Have money te Inysst wnl Fiad Coal, Iron, Limestone, cement . Rock, Marble, all of the Woods and other Raw Material. in This ssase.
By ,. T. slataer of s.lma.

By ]. T. sIafaer of Selma.
 Tn Alabama, more than any other State in the Union. are the victories of peace most clearly exemphIieo, and while these victories came after d defeat at arms. they are none the less inspiring, for who shall say # was not a necessary preparation for later achievements.
 Devoted exclusively to the pursuit of agriculture, prior to the civil war, emancipation from the tyranny of King Cotton, has been the absolute and com plete. as the freedom of her slaves. The present diversification of indus trial and commercial activities, within the borders of this commonwealth, urekent a marvellous revelation to the retrospective mind of the ante bellum relict; while to the eye of the new conner. the opportunities and possibil- fties are limitless. Contrasted between the prevailing conditions of the pre- sent and those obtaining before, and during the national unDleasantness, is like comparing the present prosperity of the wohle country to the panicky days of 1893.
 A few short years ago this State emerged from an exhausting conflict of four years duration. with her labor disorganized, institutions destroyed, and the few crude industries. born of pinehing necessity. plotted out of ex- astence. The prospect was one of dis- couragement: the naked fields, the bare hills and valleys, the rugged noun tains and deep forests, were all that was left from which to wiring a liv- ing. It was a proposition of root hog or die" to the white people of the whole State. and the native Alabam- ian preferred to root Today Alabama is reaching out for first place in the manufacture of many commodities. while still advancing in the production of cotton. corn, hay and grain. The magnitude and multiplicity of natural resources has just dawned upon the pioneers who are blazing the way to 8 mineral Kingdom, and those who are so eagerly following the lead sf these captains of industry are heartened and stimulated to greater undertakings by the golden result of their efforts. Be- cause nature has been so considerate and generous in assembling the miner aIs necessary to the manufacture of iron within stones throw of each other, the growth of this industry has been by leaps and bounds. and it will continue, too, for nowhere in the world can pig iron be made at so low a cost This is not due to the low price of labor, for the furnace companies and mine owners pay the same scale of W8kSs dS uO lnOSb HI EGnuSyIVdnla. The real economy of production is found in the natural proximity of the raw material, richness of minerals as- sembled so closely as to avoid the ex~ pense of transportation and many handlings.
 Great Area of Coal
 Alabama has a greater area of coal than Great Britain and nearly four times as much as British America The yVarrfoT. Cahaha and C0Oaa anal Ffeldu have a total area of S,350 square miles. One of these. the Warrior. has fifty seams of coal twenty-five of which are workable. By the usual rule of reckoning. these three coal fields con- tain one hundred and ten billions of tons of coal--a sum which staggers the mind to conceive TO give some Idea of what that means. this tonnage is sufficient to supply one thousand furnaces, making one hundred and fifty tons of pig iron per day. for a thousand years.
 Thirty years ago there was not a coke oven in the State; now, there are tons of coke per day. In the Birming- ham district alone, there are twenty seven blast furnaces. whose yearly output is million and a half tons, representing in cash, at $l5.OO per ton, $22,50O.000. In addition to this there are mined 5.000.000 tons of coal per year, or 17,000 tons per day, which on the low basis of s1.20 per ton, produces a revenue of $2O, 10000 for every work ing day in the year. or, an annual in- come of .$6.3s5.200.0o.
 In so great a production of coal and iron there naturally follows the estab- lishment of manufactories dependent upon these commodities for their raw material-hence pipe works. foundries, car works, steel mills, car wheel works, rolling mills, nut and bolt factories wire mills. nail mills, apd an innumer- able lot of other industries have sprung up, over the State, in answer to the demand for such goods. and because they can be manufactured here cheap CT than elsewhere. It may be said by those uninformed. that such rapid de- velopment is apt to be predicted upon somewhat superficial investigation as to the basic quantity of this raw ma terial, iron. ore. coal and limestone.
 Let us see for a moment just what the prospects are in the Birmingham district in the matter of coal. It has been shown that the three fields con tain. in round numbers, one hundred and ten billions of tons. Suppose this was dug from the earth and heaped into a mountain, 1t would show an elevation of 300 feet above the sur rounding country and reach a distance of $50 miles. Would it not require a good many coke ovens. blast furnaces and foundries. rolling mills and ma chine shops. to. consume such a moun- tain? And is 1t not reasonable to sup pose they would have to run day and night, Sundays and week days for many and many years before they reached the end of the dump?