The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-07
BIRMINGHAM POINT OF CONCENTRATION Effect of the New Rule in
 Handling Cotton ROADS ALL IN LINE Some Roads Have Been Granting Birmingham the Privilege for
 Fifteen or Twenty
 Years

The announcement that the Illinois Central and Central of Georgia rail- ways intend to extend their limits of cotton concentration to apply to addi- tional territory, to the benefit of Bir mingham as a concentration point has attracted unusual attention in cotton circles
 However as Birmingham has been a point of cotton concentration for more than 20 years as applying to the South ern railway, the Alabama Great south ern and the Louisville and Nashville, additional territory is not expected to swell the sum total of cotton concen. trated here to any great extent. It was announced yesterday by offi- cials of the Illinois Central railroad that all the information upon the prop osition had come from Savannah as to extending the concentration points on the Central of Georgia and that the Illinois Central railroad would do all that was possible to further the in- terests of Birmingham.
 w. D. Nesbitt of the Warrant Ware house company said yesterday that he NdS NtIy idu lO AiIOo lIldl lIt CDn- centration area of the Central and Illinois Central would be extended as that would be the end of a long fight to secure for Birmingham concentra- tion privileges from the Atlanta, Bir- mingham and Atlantic, the Central of Georgia and other lines.
 "The concentration of cotton here has been in vogue for 20 years or more to my personal knowledge" said MT. Nesbitt, when. asked for a statemnet.
 "The Alabama Great Southern and the Southern Railway company have very favorable concentration rules applying to Birmingham which are of great value to this city The proposition of getting concentration rights on the Louisville and Nashville south line has been taken up and I think was grant, ed. On the north end of that line the concentration rule has been on for many years. If l recollect correctly the Alabama Great Southern was the first line to grant concentration rights ap- plying to Birmingham. The Southern railway and other lines followed suit. When the Atlanta. Birmingham and Atlantic and the Seaboard Air Line came here, as they were new roads. they were asked to grant concentra- tion privileges to Birmingham. The roads did so last year. The Central of Georgia has concentration rules apply ing here and extending over a con- siderable area and this, I am told, Is to be extended. The Illinois Central was asked to give concentration rights here on account of it's being a new line. and am pleased to know that such will be done
 "The concentration of cotton in Bir- mingham means that a rate is applic- able from the point of beginning to the point of consumption with storage rights in Birmingham not changing the through rates If the concentration was disallowed Birmingham the farmer would be forced to pay a rate here. and when his cotton was reshipped another charge would be made. In that way great cost would result to the farmer
 The officials of the Southern Railway yesterday gave out this statement:
 "The concentration privileges report ed to have been given cotton buyers at Birmingham by the Illinois Central railroad and the Central of Georgia have been enjoyed here for 15 or 20 years by the cotton buyers from points along the line of the Alabama Grea : Southern and Southern railway com panies. In fact, these lines and the Louisville and Nashville have recog- niZed Birmingham as a concentration point ever since congresses were es- tablished here"