The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-17
Citizens Unanimous In De- termination to Get Full
 Benefits of Rates
LARGE SUM TO BE
 SPENT FOR WHARVES
Fight Is Also Being Made Before Interstate Commerce Commission to Get New Railroad
 Rates

Those who are pessimistic about the benefits which will come to Birmingham from the adequate connection with the Warrior river are not familiar with the facts in the case" said E. B. Nuzum of Tuscaloosa, president of the Tuscaloosa Cotton Seed Oil company, and vice presi- dent of the Board of Trade of that city.
 There were some people in Tuscaloosa who were skeptical about the river ad- vantages, but there are none now. We have tried the river and have found il to be all that we had anticipated in the way of a business advantage.
 T do not mean to say that the mere fact that city is near or even on the river will be great help unless proper facilities are provided, but the potential advantages are there and with the right effort the river becomes a great thing. We are now making fight to have Tus- caloosa declared a river point in the mat ter of freight rates and we are going 10 win the battle Every business man in Tuscaloosa is behind the proposition and the interstate commerce commission is to hear our case. About the result, we are confident
 IN SPITE OF HANDICAP
 Tn spite of the fact that we have, since the river was opened, had rather uncertain facilities for transporting freight. we are getting large volumes of goods every time a boat comes up the river. We have been forced up to the present to unload from the boats sev- eral miles above the city, without any wharf or other facilities, but the results have been so satisfactory and so much money has been saved that we had no difficulty ,n putting through our plans for proper road to the rieyr in the city and for adequate wharves and docks.
 "One boat from Mobile the other day brought nearly 1000 tons of freight and every time a boat comes, it is loaded with products for Tuscaloosa. The saw ing in freight, even with these poor facilities, is so much that most of our large shippers use the river Tuscaloosa is now receiving grain from St. Louis which comes all the way by water. This
 has to be reloaded at the gulf ports, but it is only a matter of time until 8 through service from the Warrior to St Louis end ether Mississippi river points is inaugurated. The value of such service to the Alabama cities on th' | Warrior can only be estimated by thos' who know of the millions of dollars Wi row spend annually for grain, flour ana
 neat products with plants located along the upper Mississippi river.
 BERNHARD'S NEW LINE T am informed that John H. Bernhard the man who built the first steel self xTT, the head of a company, which operates harges on the Mississippi from it's head to New Orleans. It is the purpose oi this company to eventually run it's barges direct from the upper Mississippi to the head of navigation on the Warrior. This will make Birmingham and Tuscaloosa great grain, flour and meat distributing points. Those who know the small mar. gin of profit in these commodities vii
 understand how the matter of freight rates has initiated against Birmingham and Tuscaloosa in the past
 '.The county commissioners of Tusca loosa have appropriated $1100 to be usec in making a good road to the river al Tuscaloosa. You know the river is il the city limits of our city for more thar a mile, but not having an adequate ap proach in the past, we have been forced to conduct our river business severa
 mi es up stream. The city has already spent a considerable sum in this road and with the aid which has been pro vided by the county, the road will now be rushed to an early completion.
 PLANS FOR DOCKS
 "Plans are now being drawn for .th' wrarves and docks at Tuscaloosa, whici will be built by the city a cost O abe ut s25,O00. Dr. George Jacob Davis head of the engineering department O the university. is making the plans, aftel
 having visited most of the large rive cities of the country.
 "As an example of how interested thu business men of Tuscaloosa are in thu matter of securing river rates, com mittee of our Board of Trade raised $50 the other day with nc difficulty to carry our fight before the interstate commerc' commission. In Washington we have th' aid of Senators Bankhead and Under W ood and Congressman Oliver and Aber crombie We are going at this thing iron both ends. We are using the river, ant are preparing to make the use of thu stream from a shipping standpoint acces sIbIe and cheap to every one. At th' same time, we are out after water freigh rates and we have reason to believe ws will succeed Incidentally Tuscaloosa il greatly interested in Birminghams s flgh to get advantage of the river, and WI believe that it will help us for Birming ham to use the river to a great extent. BETTER CARE OF
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