The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-12
FOR ALABAMA

From the Manufacturers Record.
 When the history of Alabama comes to be written, its author must follow for long distances the pioneer trails blazed by Miss Ethel Armes in her work ''The Story of Coal and Iron In Alabama" published under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce of Birmingham. The volume is the result of two ten strikes for Alabama, the aggressive en- terprise of the Chamber of Commerce in undertaking the publication and it's good fortune In having Miss Armes to furnish the text
 With the boldest sort of sweep the author carries one through the history of iron-working in Alabama from the day in 179S when, for the first time, In the region now embraced in the state, blacksmith shop was opened at Took au- Batchee, in what was then Missis- sippi territory. until 1909. with the an nouncement of the plans for wide ex- pansion~ of the operations of the Tennes- see Coal, Iron and Railroad company, consequent upon it's becoming subsid- iary or the United States Steel corpo- ration Miss Armes rightly takes the po- sition that the iron and coal business IS Fundamental in the history and develop ment of Alabama, and that the commer- cial fact of the steady investment year by year of stupendous amount Of cap ital in the mineral section of the state turns upon the rather extraordinary com bination, in close proximity, of iron ore, coal and limestone, all the minerals es- sential to the manufacture of iron and steel. With noteworthy patience and un- bounded enthusiasm she has carefully and fully traced the several stages Of the growth of the industry and it's close association with other phases of the his- tory of the state.
 It has not been an easy task to work over what is in large part virgin soil ana bring to light the interesting and often thrilling facts. But the task has been accomplished in splendid form Its re- suits are no mere chronology of hard facts dealing with the exploitation of materials and statistics of output. but they embody the records, deeply human in their interest, of the lives and strug- gles of such men as John T. Miner Henry F. DeBardeleben, James w. sloss, Truman H. Aldrich, Thomas Peter, Moses Stroup, Jonathan N. Smith, Horace Ware, Michael Tourney Daniel Hillman, Jr., Baylis E. Grace, Samuel Noble, Josiah Gorgas, Maj. Tom Peters and others of the advance guard, to- gether with such other ironmasters' or scientists as LleweIlyn Johns. F. B. Keiser John C. Maben, John H. Adams. Enoch Ensley, Nat Baxter, Jr.. Alfred M. Shook, T. T. Hillman, James Bowron, Jr, Edward M Tutwiler, John A. Top ping, T. G. Bush, Erskine Ramsey, George G. Crawford, Eugene A. Smith, James M Mcqueen, William T. Under wood, Frank H. Crockard, Don H. Ba- con, Edward Ball. Guy R. Johnson, Frank Nelson, Jr, William P. Pinckard and Fred M. Jackson, many of whom are still active in the Birmingham dis trict. As Miss Armes says:
 Although giving the main facts of the coal and iron business of the Birmingham, Sheffield and Anniston districts. an out line of the entire mineral region, and history of every company of importance, this book is, after all, mainly a book about men-such men as have transplant ed their ideas into mines, furnaces, steel plants, great companies and corporations, railroad systems and the workshop towns and cities of the south. They are not thought of here as coal barons, steel kings, railway magnates.' and the like, but simply as plain, everyday, normal business men,"
 In developing the theme turning upon the deeds of men, Miss Armes has decked hard facts with romance and has pro- duced a work which must advance the material interests of Alabama and should be an indictment to other busi- ness organizations of the south to fol- low the lead of the Birmingham Cham Der of Commerce in taking like effective means to promote the general welfare. Miss Armes is their man, should they contemplate such an undertaking, and, if they pay 5 for her book and read it, they cannot escape the beneficial in- lection of it's enthusiasm.