The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-11
OUTSIDE CAPITAL
 HELPED DISTRICT
w. I. Underwood Relates Ex-
 perienCe of His Own
IN BLOUNT AND ETOWAH
When Underwood Needed Aid to De. velop Coal Mines, Milton Smith Arranged Loan in Louis
 vile Bank.

The following letter from W. T. Under
 wood the well known mine developer,
 and a Birmingham pioneer, relates some
 interesting personal experience;
 To the Editor of The ge-Herald:
 | I have just read in a recent issue Of your paper MT. H. F. DeBardeleben's let
 ter concerning the state and railroad dif-
 ferences, and I feel that line from my
 self would not be untimely and might pos
 sibly do good.
 In beginning I desire to say that l do
 not believe Governor Conner to be actu-
 ated by motives of the small politician.
 believe that he is convinced that he is doing what is best for the people of Ala
 bama. I believe that his policy is the
 result of error of judgment solely; but | whether from one cause or the other it is
 a mistake which seems to me must result
 in misfortune to the business interests of | the state, and through those interests
 hurt the whole people. l think the ques- l tions at issue should be left to the courts,
 for in that way only can a decision be
 truly accepted by either side and settle-
 ment be final. If law is passed by this
 extra session of the legislature which
 shall be severe on the railroads it may | gratify temporarily those who feel in ] censed against them today; but through | the deadening effect it assuredly must l have on all development, it will react, and will open up future full of loss and | dissension among hitherto harmonious people, whose industrial achievements
 have compelled the applause of the out
 side world.
 | I came to Alabama in 1882 and for 2O- odd years contributed the best efforts of my life, and what resources I could com-
 mand, to It's improvement. Though my
 part was modest compared with that of others, it has been enough to entitle me | to feel pride and great interest in the | Alabama mineral district, to feel anxiety for it's welfare at this time, as well as | for my investments there.
 All that MT. DeBardeleben has said is | true, but he did not go far enough The | benefits of MT. M H. Smiths broad pol 1 lev were not confined to Jefferson county, i nor to the Birmingham district. The peo- l pie along the Louisville and Nashville
 line from the gulf to Tennessee have all
 profited by it. Like other business men, 1 have felt the helpful influence and en-
 couragement of the Louisville and Nash
 vile railroad many times but I will take up your space to mention but one in- | stance, one of my own experience. l In the spring of 1900 I had secured con-
 trol of a body of coal lands in western 1 Etowah and Blount counties, and wanted 1 to open mines. Wanted it badly, but my lands were many miles from a railroad 1 and I was not able to command one-thir
 of the money needed, I preferred opening
 mines on that side of my property near 1 est to the A G. $. railroad, and took the matter up with the Southern officials, but | got no encouragement I then went to
 MT. NJ H. Smith and found no difficulty | in arousing his interest in it. I remember
 his saying to me: If you have the quail | ity and quantity of coal you think you
 have, l will build you road then ex-
 plained that l could not raise more than | a third the money needed for opening
 and operating the mines, and I asked him | if he could aid me with that. He said he did not know but would see. He did not | keep me waiting. but acted immediately | He made me haul 30 wagon loads Of coal l 12 miles for test purposes. He sent eX- | perts and proved the correctness Of my | statement to quantity. He then ar
 ranged with Louisville bank to loan my l company many thousands of dollars,
 which we were allowed to pay off from l our earnings. He began building 12 miles of road for us in May, 1900, and in the l following October were shipping coal | over it. started this business with but l a few thousand dollars of my own, and | within four years time had paid about | $S0OO0 for the land, paid off the banks | and sold the property for very large l sum, most of which money came from | outside of the state and remains invested 1 in Alabama. The country through which
 he built the road, and it's extension on to | Attalla, had been almost wilderness. | The population there has now increased 10 | times or more, and it is prosperous. Other railroads had been asked to do 1 this, but they did not. Had it not been
 for MT. Smiths desire to extend the | sphere of usefulness of his road, his com
 preheasive understanding of business men
 and their needs, as well as of railroads. | and his personal inclination to help men | with good propositions, that section of | Blount and Etowah counties would still | be asleep. Today. and for 50 years to
 come, its mines can give living to many | thousands Of people
 Now the point I would show is this: ! | had no claim on the Louisville and Nash | vile railroad. nor on Mr. Smith. He was | under no obligation to build a road for | l. ,u in
 | only one of many Alabama men for whom | he has done similar things. He did this | solely because he saw good business in | it for his company, and saw another op- l portunity to build up a neglected part of | Alabama. It will be argued that he aids l these developments for nothing but the | profit in it for the Louisville and Nash | vile: but I do not believe it. think that
 he has taken a sincere personal pleasure ! and pride in it all.
 i I deplore the present threatening atti- 1 tude of leading Alabamians toward the | railroads, and I hope that this may be
 read by Blount and Etowah county repre-
 sentatives. as well as others, and cause | them to think seriously before becomin : | party to radical legislation.
 | There is no reason for Alabama becom- 1 ing hystercal over the questions at issue | The case can. and should be, put through
 not without the dignity becoming the peo- 1 pie of a great state. The questions and
 principals involved are too important and 1 far-reaching to be handled in anger. or | to be put through with a hurrah under 1 excitement.
 l I have not seen nor communicated with 1 MT. NJ. H. Smith for year or two. and | do not know what his personal liking may l be as to publishing letters of this kind, l but I am sensible of the fact that the | prosperity of myself and many of my 1 friends, in fact that of the people of the | Alabama mineral district is very largely