The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-23
WILL BE HERE SOMETIME

President Mitchell stated that the com. pany had no new plans for development at this time, further than those which had been announced previously and which were now under way. It is probable that he will be in the state for sometime inspecting the work under construction and looking after the affairs of the com pany.
 No statement was made by the chief ex- ecutive of the company in regard to the invitation extended by Anniston and Gadsden asking that the offices be re- moved to those cities following the at. tack made on the company by City Com missioner Barber and the effort inaugu- rated to levy a tax on the gross in- come of the corporation. MT Mitchell did let it be known, though, when asked for statement of the position of the company regarding the agitation directed at it almost constantly, that the atti- tude of certain members of the city com mission of Birmingham toward corpor- ations and investors was most hurtful one for the city and one which greatly retarded the growth and development of the district.
 CITY TOO SOCIALISTIC
 Birmingham is the most socialistc city in America today,'' said President Mitchell, when asked for his views on the local situation and for his diagnosis
 of the ever recurring question, What s the Matter With Birmingham?" 'The constant efforts on the part of some of the members of your city government is retarding the growth of your city and is greatly hampering some of the invest ors in this district who are trying to get more money for further develop ments, he said.
 Birmingham is entirely different from other cities in it's attitude toward invest ors Tn the country. Other places are ready and anxious to grant free sites for new industries, to grant exemptions from taxation, to assist in financing and to give every other kind of encourag- ment to get investors. Not only that but they assure investors of their co-opera- tion and that their city governments will not resort to various methods of try ing to exploit them Birmingham, un- fortunately, for a city with the un- equalled resources of this one, has a reputation with men who have money for investments of being likely to treat them unfairly, or at least to haggle them more or less from time to time.
 POLICY NOT FAVORED
 Tt is really surprising to me that this should be the case, since practically every man I have met here in a social or bus mess way has impressed me as being a high class, conservative and intelli- gent man of affairs-one who knew that his prosperity and the prosperity of oth- CTS depended upon the general devel- opment of the district. Yet for some req son, it seems that men get elected to office who want to bait corporations. It is hard for me to believe that some of the things that go on are indorsed by the people of this community, yet the fact that they do exist is the condi. tion which confronts possible investors You may rest assured that money is more or less timid and it is not likely, to rush headlong into a place where it is made to feel that it is not wanted
 'The Alabama Power company has brought number of industries to this state in the past few years and some of them have very large pay rolls. Un- fortunately, we have not brought them to Birmingham because of the conditions which exist here. They have gone to other places where the investors were made to feel that they were wanted and would not be constantly nagged at In some of these propositions, we have as sisted in financing them in order to get them for this state and we expect to