The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-01-19

length of time TO dock as the port of
Charleston. The fact that Charleston is
the most desirable port of the south At
lantic coast has been prominently pre-
scented by the action of the United States
government in establishing "a permanent
naval station at that port. | do not
intend in the remarks that 1 have just
made to urge upon you the utilization of
Charleston as port as against any 9th
er south Atlantic port. | hope, in course
of time, to see all of our principal south
Atlantic ports open to TRANSATLANTIC
service, But in inauguratng such mo-
mentous undertaking, 1t is necessary fof
the southern states as a whole to con-
centrate upon a given point. We have
selected Charleston, not because this city
is in our state. but because we were In
position from federal and other records
to present her to the powers abroad as
most desirable port-the most centrally
located-on the south Atlantic coast.
Aid From Sister States.
LAS | cave said in the course of time.
with our immense possibilities In direct
import and export trade, | feel that all OF
our available ports on the south Atlantic
will be used by the great steamship
lines, and all | ask is, that knowing our
inability in South Carolina to alone sup
port such line, that we be given the
aid from our sister states which as pion-
be ours from the view point of a combi-
ma ton of common interests. In giving
such aid, it seems to be but proper to
say to you, as | have endeavored to
point our already, that the stream of inn
migration into the south will be stimu-
lated, and that it Is not our desire to
monopolze the people that come, but
on the contrary. to let our sister states
reap whatever benefit they can from this
source.
I'm addressing the association today, |
have probably wandered somewhat from
the main issue. The issue is the direct
benefit that Is to accrue to the cotton
producer not alone of South Carolina,
but of Alabama, of Georgia, of Tennes
see, and of all of our other sister states
of the south. When you consider that
the port of Bremen. with which we have
es TIA blshed connections. takes 500, 54S, S2i
of our southern cotton, and $1525, 1853
worth of our cotton seed meal, you can
easily see that &c Is worth our while 10
ally to the support of a line that runs
to this port, even were nothing involved
but raw material. When you consider in
addition, that in the south we are now
leading in cotton manufacturing; that
the great bulk of our manufactured pro-
duct Is sent to China and that today
most OF this product is shipped by rail
across the American continent, and
thence by water to Shanghai, with many
landings and many commission men in
volved; that by means of the ney line
we can ship this same product with n
short haul by rail to Charleston and
thence direct to the trans-shipping port
of Bremen to Shanghai with one trans
fer. you may then begin to realize the
vital Importance OF supporting such a
line as we are trying to establish.
Consumption of Cotton Crop.
"Of our cotton crop, amounting to about
i, 900 900 bales, we do not consume In
this country more than 100000 bales, the
rest OF 1t being shipped abroad. 1t is
quite remarkable that the fourth largest
cotton shipping port in the United States
should be the City Of New York, where
Il is known that the greatest congestion
of freight traffic in the world exists 1
am scarcely in position now to give
YOU even an idea of the difference In the
mat Ter of rates as between New York and
our principal consuming points. | can.
however. tell You that az between
Charleston and adjacent ports and the
port of Norfolk we. even so far az Mont
gcmery, can save on the railroad rate
cents per hundred, and save on the
through rate, including ocean. ] cent per
hundred pounds. The ocean rate from