The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-04
I'm LONESOME TREDEGAR
ALABAMA PROPHETS MEET
BY WALTER HARPER.

Tredegar, October S.-(Special)-Did yol
ever spend a night in dark prison cen
Did you ever feel the desolation of com
plete isolation? Did you ever sit dow
with four bleak walls around you, WITH
the darkness of an uncertain night ooz
ing into the cracks and through the very
ceiling making ugly faces at you anc
mocking your loneliness?
That is my present situation. ar
rived at Tredegar at night. 1t w4s darf
and no lights showed anywhere amer TINS
train pulled away. Two or three stras
glers at the small depot directed me tt
the "hoter' on the side of the hill.
was brought to this desolate room or
the second floor front.
A young girl with beautiful black eyes
and waving black hair the daughter Of
mine host followed us up to tidy tbs
room. Now they are gone and 1 an
alone.
On Seaboard.
According to the railroad fare, I am Z:
miles from Birmingham on the Seaboar5
Air Line railroad. It is three miles
across to Jacksonville. I am told that
Tredegar is made up of a lime-kf1n, =
small commissary, the depot and the
hotel.
Other than this I have no idea. Whe-
Their the countenance of the landscape il
comedy or desolate I cannot say. The
character of the people that dwell here
/, about is a problem for the imagination
Like a shipwrecked sailor on a desolate
island 1 sit by the window and peer into
the darkness trying to define the land
scape-straining my ears for one well
come sound of human activity. Some
where over the hills dog bays the rising
moon and in the hen house at the real
of the hotel a cock moves uneasily on his
pillow and protests the invasion of &
beam of light into his bedchamber. A
door slams downstairs, a bed creaks anc
1 am alone. Mine host has retired.
But one realization and its comfort:
remain. I am still in Alabama and g
company of its prophets file into the
room to console me. They come in spirit
but wildly real.
Governor GiIchrist.
One of the first to arrive is Governor
Gilchrist of Florida. In a recent inter
view he deplored the lack of apprecia.
ton in these southeastern states of the
vast opportunities that lie at our feet
He had just been on a tour of the Pa
cific slope, where through the expendi-
ture of vast fortunes the lands had beer
made productive and attractive. The
Creator had evidently intended tina:
country for desert, he says, but mar
has made of 1t garden spot There
lands sell for many times more than
they do in Alabama, Georgia or Florida
and their greatest value lies in the ad-
vantages that have been procured by
artificial means. Here in Alabama we
have the water, climate and soil just as
the Creator made them, in abundance
Yet we place small value on our lands
In many instances they sell for less thar
may be produced on them in a twelve.
month.
Value of Lands.
Then comes L. w. Grant, president Of
the Alabama Investment company Of
Jacksonville, who does some figuring Oh
farm investments. Take an acre OF
average cotton land in this section OF
Calhoun county. 1t is no trouble to pro-
duce a bale to the acre. A bale of cot
ton at the present price, including the
seed, is worth more than $40. The land
on which this $40 is produced in a single
year sells for less than s25, sometimes as
low as SO Any school boy can figure
the rate of income on the investment"
w. T. Brown of Ragland makes sons
interesting figures along the same line
showing that the farmers of Alabama
have no appreciation of the real value OF
tsa;r lands and opportunities for large
incomes from the amount of money In
vested. Mr.. Brown calls attention to the
fact that few years ago lands In this
section were much cheaper than at pres.
ent, and that the tendency is still up
ward. He believes that the people Of
Alabama are beginning TO realize some.
thing of the real value of Alabama's re.
sources in every line and that we are
just now in the beginning of the greatest
era of development in the history of the
state.
He declares that we have only Just
begun to realize something of the extent
OF the mineral wealth of the state. We
have so far only scratched the surface
and that below anything we have un.
covered lies vast Wealth yet undreamed
of.
Brown Is Developer.
Mr.. Brown has been a developer OF
coal properties in this northeast section
for many years, but admits that he does
not yet have the remotest idea of the
undiscovered wealth over which he has
been scratching. He is an optimist and 6
builder. He has unbounded faith in the
future of the state, and advises the
young men of Alabama to stay at home
and begin to develop He declares thai
no man can make a mistake in buying
farm lands or other property in Alabama
that values can never be permanently