The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-15

more than it's deserved share of the over seas trade by sheer intimidation.
 Keeping these observations in mind, llet us consider the commercial geog- lraphy of the world and the situation ,of Birmingham on the Black Warrior river, in the midst of rich mineral de- posits. and in the heart of the south.
 At our very feet are the West Indies. Before the present war Cuba bought cement in Germany at lower prices than could be obtained in this country; from the interior of Germany across the Atlantic ocean to within 100 miles of our shores at lower total cost than could be made by cement manufac- lturers in this country. Our railroads must make a reasonable profit on their investment for there is a line which they may not pass and continue at a profit. The present trade between this section of our country and Haiti and Santo Domingo hardly justifies the maintenance of regular steamers from Ithe gulf ports. Our railroads cannot make low enough export rates to the ports for our merchants and manu- Ifacturers to dominate those markets, even though the cost of production or manufacturing were the same or slightly lower than in Europe. New Orleans is the only gulf port to my knowledge that has regular sailin g to the Porto Rican ports and that sail ling is only once a month and by a lslow vessel. Porto Rico is supplied from the northern producing centers having low inland rates to the ports iof exportation. and from abroad The Black Warrior river offers to Birming- ham merchants and manufacturers the opportunity to participate and prob ably control a trade which they do not inow even solicit. It's really new world of trade. The coffee trade Of Bahia and Rio Janeiro now monop- lolized by New Orleans and St. Louis in the south would have to be shared with Birmingham. particularly at the expense of St. Louis.
 FOLLOWS CHEAPEST ROUTES Trade follows the cheapest routes without regard to its being circuitous. On the Black Warrior river Birmingham would have the cheapest route, and would be the distributing point; fur ther, Birmingham would be situated nearer to the ultimate markets in the south. The hides of Brazil and Argen- | tina are commdity used in this dis
 trict and should cheap means of
 transportation be operated would in
 crease. The imports of Brazil and Ar
 gentina have been mainly from the Flu
 ropean countries. England, Germany,
 France, Spain and Italy. The opportuni-
 ty will be open to our district to par
 ticipate in this trade when the city of Birmingham or Jefferson county builds
 a railroad to the river with ample ship ping and receiving facilities for the
 handling of miscellaneous cargoes.
 With Birmingham, the industrial
 queen of the south. favored with an all-waterway to the ports of the
 world, 1t is but natural that staple and
 sound prosperity must come.
 Tt will be an advantage to the farm
 CT and possibly to the government to
 have an allwaterway available be-
 tween the port of exportation of the
 Chilean nitrates and Birmingham. sit
 uated in the heart of the agricultural
 south. The possibility of the establish
 ment of plant to extract nitrogen
 from the air, in the south is to be de-
 sil ed. There is no doubt that the fact
 that the nitrate fields of Chile are ac- cessible to the agricultural fields of the
 south by cheap means of transporta-
 ton, will have a steadying effect on the
 price of fertilizer.
 "The republics of Bolivia Peru, Ecua- dor and Colombia are more foreign, if
 there is a comparative degree, to us
 than China and Japan. This may be be- cause the racial difference between
 those nations and our own IS so marked. It is more probable that these coun- tries are almost unknown to us be- cause of the very near absence of trade relations. which always depend on fa- cility and cheapness of transportation. This closer relation that may be de- veloped between the countries on the
 west coast of South America is pri- marily caused by the opening Of the Panama canal and secondarily depend
 ent on getting to the gulf. In the past the charge for the haul to the
 sea has presented the main ob bstacle. The Black Warrior river solves the question of getting to the sea; and the
 Panama canal has brought hitherto modern Cathays within our reach'