The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-11-28
BESSEMER CANAL HIGHLY |NDORSED AT REALTY MEETING Valley Creek Canal Greatest Project of District, De-
 clares HuddlestOn FATHER" OF CANAL
 REVIEWS SITUATION Morris Bush Suggests That Greatest Development of the District
 Will Be by Distribution
 of Products

committee representing every civic organization in Birmingham and Bessemer will be appointed within the next few days to prepare all available data on the Valley creek canal and make arrangements to have the matter presented to the next Congress, with view to getting the canal built at the earliest possible date. President A. NJ. Throckmorton, assisted by officers of the Real Estate exchange, will ap- point the committee.
 Congressman George Huddleston as- sured several hundred Birmingham and Bessemer men at the Real Estate ex- change smoker at the Tutwiler Hast night that should the engineers now making a survey of Valley crack make favorable report to the gov ernment and Birmingham and Besse- mer cooperate with him in present ing the matter to Congress, he believed 1t could be put through.
 The speech of Congressman Huddles- ton, which was very optimistic in tone. was the closing feature of the smoker MT. Huddleston, while advis- ing the people to get behind the movement to build the canal, urged them also to utilize the Warrior rievr now as much as possible, that the gov ernment might be made to feel that the Birmingham district needed tho canal when it is built.
 HUDDLESTON THANKED
 At the close of the meeting resolu- tions offered by T. Ii. Motion, ask ing that committee of Birmingham and Besgemer citizens, representing the various civic organizations, be ap- pointed to work for the canal prof. adopted resolutions thanking Con- gressman Huddleston for his efforts in behalf of the canal.
 In addition to the speech of Con- gressman Huddleston, addresses were made by J. A. VanHoose. the father of the canal;' Maj. Thomas J. Huey of Bessemer, Norris W. Bush, presi- dent of the Chamber of Commerce; James H. Finder of the Board Of Trade, J. H. Donnelly of the Rotary club, L. Sevier, Lee Moody, Rev. M. K. Thornton and others.
 All the speakers urged the canal as the enc means of equalizing freight rates in this district by establishing water competition.
 MOTHS w. BUSH Sa1u that the great est development of Birmingham was to be accomplished through the big gest distribution of Birmingham pred ucts in an economic way. "rhe great problem of the Birmingham district is not manufacturing what she has, but finding a market" he said. "The peo- pie from the east feel that they can- not come to Birmingham to manufac- ture goods because We have no outlet to the outside world.
 Birmingham should be the export center for iron and coal in the United States. If we get water rate es- tabl;shed Pittsburg and other cities will have to fill the domestic trade while Birmingham has an open mar ket to the world"
 pr. 1T. M Edmonds, pastor of the Inde- pendent Presbyterian church, presided over the meeting. l.. Sevier was the first speaker introduced.
 Mr Sevier declared that the railroads want water rates established to Birming- ham because the upbuilding of the south depends on competitions.
 "I believe Bessemer and Birmingham can and will take care of everything they go after" he said.
 Thomas ]. Huey of Bessemer gave a re- sume of what has been done to date to- ward getting the canal built dealing with the question generally. He said that the people of Birmingham ana BeSSemer should show the government not only that the construction of th1s canal Is feas- ble, but that they will use it after it is built.
 FATHER OF CANAL
 J. A. VanHoose reviewed the work that has been done on the canal project since it was first instituted 20 years ago. He said that Engineer Ripley, one of the first surveyors, had pronounced the canal as practical, feasible and desirable, and that President Mckinley had heartily in- dorsed it.
 T regard this canal as the upper arm of the Isthmian canal,' he said And I do not think that the Isthmian canal will be completed until Birmingham is connected by water with it'' we have got to have lower rate on freight" he said, "and we will not get that lower rate on freight until we have a water rate. We are not going to get 1t out of the interstate commerce commits sion until we have actual water competi- ton.'
 w. H. 1T. Judson, editor of the Besse- mer Weekly, heartily fndorsed the prof ect.
 1 Lee Moody of Bessemer, assigned to speak on the subject of How Fast Lots Will Sell in Bessemer After the Canal Is Built" declared that they would sell l>1x fa ct ac would