New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-12-31
The Government Canalizine
Ports Vast River and Trib.
utaries and Deepening
Its Channels
and Bar.

and also the material and supplies th.,,
| plants must needs use.
What more logical than that Rlakely lei.
and, with only a short stretch OF water
between IT and the city's msrts OF trad.
and its residential quarters. should appeal
| To them? The more especially as site,
there would cost but a modicum OF via,
| they would In the city itself And-veu
I here comes In the float system"-thev
would have the readiest and least expen.
sive conveyance Of materials and goods 10
and from the land and river land In.
ocean, highways and their terminals AMI
the big trlckage bill conspicuous by II,
absence
! And. too. Mr.. Cochrane must have noted
another. and that present. need OF Mobll.
storage room, particularly for the bulky.
space occupying raw material: storage *.
empt alike from fire risk and from VI.
ravages of the Rrowling thief; and storas.
at rates very much less than could DOS.
sibly be had In the city, with It's com.
parativcly high realty values.
| Wher the extent to which iron. steel and
the hard woods enter into the manufsct.
ure Of so many Of the industrial products
1 and the fact that these are mere In abun.
dance. right at the door. as 1t were. ar.
| considered, and when II is remembered thar
| the newest least supplied and most easer
| demand IL equally near at hand, in the
prospecting South It would seem no ar.
| duous task 10 convince the on ners a,
enough big plants TO All all OF Blakely Isl
i M hat he
would pay them to either pack up and
move, Orwell, establish a trial plant u
| twere only for parts" or for partly IN.
shed goods there.
For example: The American AUTOMOBILE.
manufacturer uses steel and iron-they can
be brought here and cheaply, from the
| nearby Birmingham district: he uses and
pays big prices for poplar. it Is near at
| hand, in the Tornbigbee Valley. and CHEAP.
and can be brought down by rail or river
| he is seeking the Southern custom for his
machines. because the South Is III supplied
with them, has caught the fever for them
| and--has the wherenithsl, nowadays. 10
pay for them. Why. then, should lie con.
| tinue to pay freight on the long haul Of his
raw material up to his present works ami
on the same long haul back into this terri.
| tory on his finished product, when hs
could save both hauls by putting branch
plant here. right at the door Of the Gus.
| toner he seeks-the more especially as
| from such plant, he could reach the ter.
ritory in which he las been selling quite a.
| cheaply as from his present works. And
did space permit It is probable tho same
| hin: might be conveyed To numerous other
| industries. such as street and railway cal
and furniture factories wood working
PLANTS, fertilizer. agricultural implement
architectural iron. structural steel AMI
bridge works and the like.
| If the performance Of moiety Of the
| Cochrane System IN the past is any
promise for the future Of its whole
three hundred miles. its earning pOeer.
| as we'll as its service 10 Mobile and the
country through which it passes and is
! to pass, will be something to be remarked
For the fiscal year ended June 50th, 1911
| the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern,
showed on mileage operated an actual gross
earning Of 1927 % per mile.
Taking the above az basis. the 500
miles Of the completed road--that Is, the
system with it's added lines into tie coal
| fields and with the northerly extension be.
| yond-should easily show. at a gross earn
, Ing az approximately 1927 81 per mile.
gross earning OF $9S3,3Sj; and the reason
| able assumption would follow that II the
| pre- sent road. a local one. with no through
| business. can make sIch a showing any
! extension bringing 10 II through tonnage
would at least maintain, IL IL did not in
| crease. this ratio. As the opera ling ex'
perses have thus far been under IS per
| cent l. is safe to assume they cannot
ach more than 81 per cent on the COM
pleted system. Taking the actual figures
given above. or even allowing the very
! conservative later estimate OF greater Oper-
ating expenses, the net earnings would be
some s3J0.000 OF an interest on S1,,1O0o9
at per cent on the three hundred miles
Ard, il will be observed, this does not al.
low for any increase 10 be brought By
through connections.
And when the system Is connected up
il will be brought in touch with trunk lines
the Frisco and the Illinois Central that
| may use it as a through line" 10 Mobile
for at least portion OF their great trsf'
| fc
Then. too. with new towns springng up
and with lumber, cotton and oil mills, COM
presses. big warehouses, small factories
and all sorts of industries rapidly multi
plying along its right of way the Local
business Itself must grow IN a rapidly in
creasing ratio.
And the genius who evoked all this from
nothing; what OF him?
| John T. Cochrane has already Impressed
the greater transportation forces a. he has
this city and state. that he and his system
are to be taken into account in all plan'
for the Gulf Coast. And he Is still young
man. although he has achieved such prom
nence through what The Memphis Ap
peal" terms. his marvellous exploits lie
has been. by newspaper publications van.
ousy described as clear Of insight,
broad Of mind and clear OF judgment
| but the characterization that seems wv
best portraiture-it will strike those wno
come in contact with him-Is the one ths'
pictures Mr. Cochrane as big In body os
| in brain and big IN determination
In addition TO perfecting his railroad Ss,
TEN he IL constantly occupied N builoms
up the territory II trsverses: he owns to""
| sites or is interested in them: oTsan1s
banks. and serves them as president Nn"
| in their swaddIing clothes: he estson',
| congresses, oil mills and many other hee'N1
enterprises. TO say nothing Of Eo'es ~
| himself ard for others-'skeS stocA'
| short. In everything I'm his territory 'ha'
does not himself own and that viii pron'oS'
its material interests. And II Is. there'",'
| easy to believe that. as another p''"
nent journal has said. The confidence -
people In the single personality proosoy
accounts largely for the success Vi
| system"
| The Southern probably has an eNus
terest In the fortunes OF Mobile ana % '"
other ports IL reaches. although u
| operating with the Mobile & OHIO 10 hs