The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-09-03

these plants, but they and their
families must be fed and clothed and
housed and their other wants supplied,
and other thousands OF people must
proposed consolidation Of Manchester
and the adjoining town OF Stafford is
carried out, the city so formed will
have a population Of 1,000, 900 souls.
Contrast Striking.
The contrast in conditions is Ger
tainly striking enough to command
attention, but the important thing il to
find the cause of the difference. What
Is the matter with Birmingham? The
trouble was not due to g. general de-
preston Of business for the foreign
commerce Of Great Britain in 1910 was
greater by more than 1915, 200, 900 than
In 1908, reaching the colossal total of
1887 100000. Exports of iron and steel
contributed fair share toward the
general increase.
To quote again from Consul Hal
stead: According to a British tech
meal paper the generally accepted ex-
PLANTATION of the unsatisfa Glory condi-
ton Of the sheet-iron trade is the I'M
fortunate geographical position of
| Staffordshire in relation to the execu-
| ton of orders for export. 1t is COM
| planned that the railways charge ex-
| cessively for carrying iron to the coast
after it is rolled and galvanized, espe-
Cl6lly 10 the MerSey.
1t seems strange to hear of the I'M
| fortunate geographical position of
| Staffordshfre" and it's chief city, Biz
| mingham, when the nearest seaport
| Gloucester. is less than so miles away
| While Gloucester does not rank as
| first class seaport, the distance to
! Bristol is only 70 miles. Bristol was
a port before Birmingham was born
It was from the foot of her main
! street that John and Sebastian Cabot
sailed in 1897 to discover North Amer
lea, and that, in 1888. the first steam
ship to cross the Atlantic started or
It's voyage. The new docks at Avon
mouth can take the largest ships that
float, and in design and equipment are
| equal to any in the United Kingdom.
And Liverpool, one of the greatest
ports in all tn eworld, is but S5 or 80
miles from Birmingham.
We have here another illustration
OF the truth Of the statement that mot
mileage but cost of transportation con-
stitutes the true commercial measure
of distance" 1t is costly transporta-
ton that, like q hidden cancer, is eat
ing out the industrial life of Birming-
ham; and it is cheap transportation
that, like a mighty magnet, Is draw
ing industries and population to Man
chester.
But Is the case OF Birmingham en-
tirely hopeless? Can nothing be done
Has any remedy been proposed? Nat
urally the first thing done was to ask
| a reduction Of railway rates, but that
has been repeatedly denied and all
hope of relief from that source has
been abandoned. The technical paper
already quoted says that Improved
canaliZation, either by combined
manufa cturers effort or with state as
sistance, is the only real remedy. which
now suggests itself to the Midland
traders" 1t has already been pro-
posed that the towns interested In a
new waterway to the ports shall ad
vance $5,0o0.000 free of all interest, to-
ward big canal project.
terest is a decidedly unusual PROPOSE
ton. Have they any valid reasons for
believing that a big canal to a seaport
would solve their problem? Undoubt-
eddy they have. Thirty years ago
Manchester was in a far worse plight
than Birmingham is In today. Many
mills and factories had moved away,
many others were closed, and the rest
were running on short time. Block
after block of stores and warerooms
were empty and more than 5000 houses
stod tenantless. The building OF the
Manchester ship canal was lot under
taken as a diversion; 1t was case OF
life or death, and Manchester chose to
live.
Up to the 31st Of December, 1910,
the total Investment in this great en-
terprise had been $S1, $50, 025.7S. This
includes not only the cost of the canal
proper, but the purchase of great
tracts of land, the building of docks
and warehouses, aSnd the provision of
equipment, including many miles OF
railway, for they had not only to con-
struct a canal, but to create a port.
How well they have succeeded Is In
dicated by the fact that Manchester,
which was an inland city until seven
teen years ago. against the competition
Of cities which have been ports for
more than a thousand years, now
ranks as the fourth port of the United
Kingdom and it's foreign commerce ex-
ceeds in value that Of any port In the
United States except New York City.
Invested $25, 100000
The city of Manchester, as munich
paltty. invested s25,000,o0O, and has
been richly repaid. not so much In
dividends as in development Within
a few years after the canal was opened