The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08
FLOW OF ORATOR1 SHOWS
 WARMTH OF CITY'S WELCOME
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1.)


 l through for the past few years. I want to see a closer friendship between the railroads and their patrons, and all the ;, people are the patrons of the railroads. l The railroads are a part of you and you are part of them, and our disputes can
 not be fairly settled except In a spirit of mutual cooperation. Railroad rates must be high enough to earn sufficient money to keep up the properties and maintain their credit so that they can get fresh capital for extensions and improve ments If railroad rates in this coun- i try are today below that figure, they l must be increased. Such an increase l would be in the interest of each one of l you and is an economical necessity l 1 earnestly hope that a new era is starting, an era based upon the mutual partnership of the railroads and the people. Under such conditions . an intelligent public opinion will as surely protect the rall- roads from unjust attacks as it will the patrons of the railroads. 1 believe such time is coming"
 In closing he said that he began to come to Birmingham 20 years ago; that he felt 1t a home of his own, and Tn planning this railroad he aimed 1t to- ward this city because of his confidence in the greatness of the Birmingham dls- trict. He also paid high tribute to the
  ton of the road. and said that the work of the enterprises with which he IS connected is all accomplished by south ern men, the equal of any on the face or the globe. .'A1l of our efforts are to stand together and fight together to build up this section, the most glorious sec ton on this continent" Loud applause followed his address.
 In introducing President John b. Par [ Mr daSprihed him silver tongued orator of the City Coun- ell; as a progressive merchant and man who numbers all he knows as his friends. MT. Parker said:
 Chairman Parker's Welcome.
 ..In extending to you, as the representa- tive of our magnificent city, cordial welcome I do so with a feeling of great pride We have taken a stand among the cities of our great country and have successfully asserted our claim to com merelal greatness. By referring to the map of the industrial and reJuvenated south, you will find that Birmingham Is not only its center, but represented in the center of a series of concentric cir cles many hundreds of miles apart, ex- tending almost to the great lakes. As to the commercial resources of Birming- ham they are illimitable. There is a vast territory, rich in every element of ma terial wealth and commercial prosperity. We possess inexhaustable mines of iron and limestone and vast coal measures and agricultural interests of great ex tent.
 "Birminghams climate Is unquestion- , ably salubrious and delightful. It is never cold enough to freeze a locomotive, nor too hot to abandon the use of coal in the boilers.
 I've possess an enviable elevation as concerns the structure of our business | and financial institutions. We have lofty pretentions, which we are ready to sus- 1 tain with proof, and ask admission into the temple of fame as joint heirs of | the inheritance, capable in the strength of our manhood of maintaining our title.
 "We are contending for prizes, and to- night we feel that we have been award l ed a prize of inestimable value in hav- l ing won the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic railroad, which will forever re- 1 main as one of the monuments of tho ! genius and skill of H. M. Atkinson and his associates, and we at once lay claim 1 to you personally and assign the At i lanta, Birmingham and Atlantic railroad 1 to an honored position, as one of our institutions with a most hearty well come"
 P. S. Arkwright, vice president of the road, was introduced as a man of charac- 1 y. DuncIudIeQ his address with many outbursts of ap- 1 plause. He said:
 MT. Arkwright's Speech.
 "Mr. Postmaster and Gentlemen of Alabama-We come from Georgia. We i had to come from Georgia to bring the Atlantic ocean to Birmingham Ala 1 bama herself came from Georgia years l ago. So we come with a good recom- | m with the same sentiments with the l same interests that Alabama has. We 1 knew we were coming to the house of our friends. Our cordial welcome re- minds us that in fact we have come to the home of our kin. We came unin- vited. We expect to remain always and in order that we may not stay out our welcome we have come with the desire and with the means to be of service.
 We do not claim that we selected Birmingham as the place to come from any wholly unselfsh motive. We would not have started at all If there had not been a Birmingham to come to. l with it's great tonnage, with it's un~ ! limited coal and iron supply, with it's 1 marvellous development, with it's won ! derful growth in the past and it's llm- i itless possibilities of the future. We
 
 That answers why 1t comes to Br- mingham.
 We bring a new railroad from the ocean--a brand new system of railroad transportation. It is not a combination or consolidation of previously existing means of transportation, but newly created additional highway extending from the place where God appointed 1 iron to be made cheapest to the wa ters that He provided for it's most economical distribution.
 AS Miles to the Sea.
 "The line is AS miles from Birming- l ham to the sea and with the line to Atlanta and branches from Sessions, Ga., to Waycross, Ga, from Fitzger- aid, Ga to Thomasville, Ga., and from Pyriton, Ala. to Ashland, Ala, make the mileage now in operation $40 miles, and when the work now under way from Pelham around through Bessemer | to Birmingham and to the coal mines of the district has been completed i. will make the total system consist of l some $50 miles of main line.
 "It Is constructed with S0-pound rail, low grades, easy curvature, with steel and concrete bridges, practically without trestles, and in all respects the