The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-18

couAo DC directly applied to the cement resources of this State, which cement can be water-borne to Mobile and there distributed to the world. The fact that one or two cement plants have failed
 Tn this State has no bearing upon the subject They starved in the midst of plenty because we have not yet sum ciont railroad mileage or equipment in
 the State. The failure in Demopolis was due entirely to the inability of a rail.
 road to deliver coal when wanted and to take away the cement barrels when filled with the manufactured product. Increased trackage and the improve ment of our waterways will prevent such e disaster in future.
 ship-Building Future.
 The assertion in the relation to ship building is based upon great facts. The time is coming when the chained Coosa from the Gadsden and Anniston dis tricts to that portion of the Mobile River lying north of Mobile, which Is destined to be a building centre. since. at that point. the material will be ultimately gathered more cheaply
 than at any other point along the whole coast of the United States. Looking Far Ahead.
 The comment upon south America and the Orient is based upon certain irrefutable conditions. Alabama. pos sessed of a great destiny in iron and
 
 the railroads of the Isthmus and to the Panama Canal that shall unite the wa ters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. The opportunity of Alabama In relation to South America and the Orient Is so positive that the hand of enterprse needs merely to be stretched out in or der to grasp it. When, furthermore, we look at the railroad map of the world, we find that the small continent of Europe and the temperate zone of North America are alone even partial ly supplied with railroad facilities. Af- ter those now living have passed away. the growth and development of this world must so on. In the direction of railroads South America. Africa and Asia, except India, have scarcely start ed. As. far as the United States will be able to control such development in futre time, Alabama must occupy the position of advantage. since 1t alone will have the necessary material for railroad development.
 We can therefore safely say to the bankers of the State: You thus inhu- ence business in the greatest potential State of the greatest Republic the world has ever known"
 Call for Men.
 Now what do these facts mean to each reader of serious mind? They mean a new spirit in Alabama; they mean farewell to narrow ways of look ing at State and city problems; they mean a new sense of dignity. They arc a. direct summons to every man of Ala bama to think more broadly and to take on a new impulse of devotion to a State into whose lap Nature has poured every possible advantage. They mean a new sense of vision. We have been blinded, too many of us, as to what our State means. Now We see that there Is positively coming to 1t . period of prosperity and of happy en- vironment for human beings, based on resources underground that will be inexhaustible in a century and upon resources above ground that can never be exhausted as long as human beings use the soil with care and with knowl- edge.
 Tn 1919 comes the centennial of Ala bama It will be 1Go years old and only 100 years old. It is youthful in con- parison with New England and the development of that region. There should at this moment thrill through the heart of every man worthy Of citt- zenship, a determination that the centennial year of Alabama shall posi- lively see the States development we'll established; that from this moment his power and his thought. as far as can be spared from his own affairs, shall be given towards accelerating the great destiny that must come to this State. In fact. he can put new broad spirit into his own affairs and thus make his business enterprise work towards the development of the State.
 Push for Development.
 No great thing can ever be accom- plished in this State without organiza- tion, nor without the sense of working in harmony towards common end. Each little community and each great community becomes in such sense bound up in the bundle of activity rep resented by the States whole develop ment. Now, how best can we organ ize7 Largely by working through ex- isting forces. In all large cities there l already exist organizations of various | kinds fraternal, literary, commercial. | religious, etc.. each looking towards | some definite advantage to | its own community. In every large | city there might with advantage be an | endeavor made to form a Centennial | League or similar body. this league to | be made up of delegates from every | existing organization, church. social, | literary, fraternal, etc, so that every | would be in touch with | broader ideas of development and use its powers towards helping local pub licity and advantage; the league thus the summing up of every | endeavor towards betterment.
 Organize Centennial Clubs.
 Every community, no matter how small, that has no organizations. should irnme ediately get it's people together to organize a Centennial Club; for we have only eleven years before us In that way can be brought together every | element of helpfulness to make the better known, better ap- precia ted, more beautiful. better gov erned etc. Even the matter of beau- tifying front yards, of turning the | way of travel of making the railroad | as attractive IS possible, every | such thing can aid in the work of the | Centennial Club as it strives to pro- duce a development of its own commu- | nity. The slogan of each Centennial 1 League and each Centennial Club should | be "1919-Four Million No one club | can bring the 100000. but each club | doing it's duty to bring a doubling of | its own population can bring to this l State a richness and development by | 1919 that shall make 100000 seem an | easy proposition. Furth ermore if | these leagues and clubs are made up | of the most influential, thoughtful, | progressive men and women of each | not merely the gathering of a great mass of human beings in | this State will be the ideal, but the | gathering of these human beings into ne best managed towns and cities of any State will be the ideal. In this | way each little town can work to- ward a great end can contribute to- wards a great end and can make for Alabama a greatness not based alone |