The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-05

| chants the products of other localities.
They buy within the state vast guam
| titles of materials and supplies and
their wage payments disseminate each
month large aggregate sum, which
finds its way into the local channels
of trade in practically every community
in the state.
Railways are at times spoken of
| IL they were something separate and
apart from the general business of the
country l believe that, IL we con-
slider the matter broadly in all of Its
aspects, we Will be convinced that the
| railways are not apart from business,
but mat they are part of business
that they are a part of the warp and
| woof of our social. agricultural, indus
trial and commercial life and that their
function of distribution is as essential
to the broad development of the state
as is the business of production. Ii
producers are to prosper and are to ex-
pand their business it is essential that
| the railways upon which they must
| depend for the carriage of their pro-
ducts to market must be prosperous
and able to provide the facilities that
will be needed for carrying an in
creased volume of traffic.
Railways Depend on People
aside from their essential service as
common carriers the railways may aid
in development by making their policies
| helpful to the communities along their
| lines so far as this may be done con-
sistently with sound business principles
| | have given much consideration to this
| subject because l am convinced that
the prosperity of the railways that
have the honor to represent depends, In
/ very large measure, upon the prosperity
! of the people along their lines. There
| are two general ways in which the de-
| velopment of a community may be ad-
| yanced. The first of these Is by bringing
| about a higher average level of pros
perity. among the people already living in
] the community. The second is by attract
! ing investments and additional population
from other regions to the locality. In
| both of these fields a railway may be
! helpful.
"As most of those in this audience
! doubtless know, the Southern Railway
company and the companies associated
| with it are carrying on a very broad CO.
| operative work in aid of the development
| of agriculture along their lines. We are
| also cooperating with communities to Sc
cure the location of indurtries and to at
| tract to each locality the character of
additional population desired by the peo-
pie already living there.
Conditions Different
I'm comparing the work which these
companies are doing in the way of So
Letting farm settlers with similar work
that has been done and is now being
done by some of the rans-continental
| railways in the United States and Can
ada we should not lose sight of the diff
ference in conditions under which this
| work has had to be carried on. Some OF
the trans continental lines have had vast
| areas of lands granted to them. They
have been able to put these lands on the
| market at attractive prices and to use
the very considerable revenues obtained
from their sale in expensive advertising
campaigns. The Southern Railway COM
pany and the companies associated with
it have no such large areas of lands to
offer for sale and their money for ad-
Vertising and soliciting immigration must
be drawn from their operating revenues
They are, however, carrying on
comprehensive campaign of education
to make the resources and opportunities
of the southeast better known through
out the world and more especially in
other parts of the United States. They.
are constantly seeking to attract new
industries and are soliciting desirable
| farm settlers from other parts of the
United States and from Europe. The
effects of this work are becoming more
apparent as time goes on. The results
are cumulative in way, for every
is successful tends to draw others. Thus
we find in some localities in the south
east considerable settlements of people
who have all been drawn from the same
general neighborhood. This emphasizes
the Importance of our doing all that We
can to help and encourage those who
may come to us from other localities.
They should be given hearty welcome
and made to feel at home among their
new neighbors. The Southern Railway
company and its associated companies
are not unmindful of the Importance
of this aspect of development work.
We have a regular organized system
by which the field agents of our depart
ment of farm improvement work, our
agents get into touch with all new
agents get into touch with al lnew
farm settlers along our lines, whose
names and addresses we can obtain, and
tender them advice as to the best
methods of farming in their new local
tiles.
! Ample Room for Settlers
while there are no great tracts of
government lands or railway lands in
the southeast available for settlement,
we have in this section ample room for
a vast number of farm settlers. The
tendency of the progressive agricul
ture of the day is all in the direction
of more intensive farming, reducing the
died by a given number of men and
teams. 1t is matter of common
knowledge that there are in the south
east many large farms that are not
now being most advantageously culti-
waited and on which the maximum
production cannot be secured without
additional men and teams and more
farm implements 1t would certainly be
advantageous to the community as a
whole If these farms could be divided
and sold to a desirable class of farm
settlers from other localities. 1 believe
1t would, in many cases, be to the ad-
vantage of teh individual owner of
such a farm to divide 1t by retaining
as much as he could handle most eff
fectively and selling the remainder to
farm settlers of the class that he would
like to have as neighbors.
Keep People Already Here
I'm the desire to attract immigration
from other localities think there is dam
ger that a phase of development work
that is equally important, and prob
ably more important, may be overlooked; /;
that is, the keeping in the southeast Of
the people already living here. This is
hat hos n