The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-06
BIRMINGHAM HELD BACK BECAUSE SHE !. CANNOT USE RIVERS Ex-Gov. Conner Says Citi- zens Should Secure Pro
 Rata Mileage Rates MILLIONS SPENT. ON RIVERS NOW USELESS Railroad Charges to Alabama River Points Double Those to Ohio
 and Mississippi, Says
 Mir. Conner

l Former Governor B. B. lComer yesterday said if citl- zens will secure a pro rata mile
 age rate from Sheffield, River 1 ton and Decatur to Birming- ham, he will be one of 20 cltl- Izens to subscribe 5000 each for
 a barge line on the Tennessee
 river in the interest of Bir- 1 mingham.
 His assertion was in connection with
 formal statement issued by the gov
 ernor on the importance of utilizing l Alabama's water routes. His state
 ment reads:
 q have noted with much pleasure the attempt of some of the papers to secure for Birmingham the use of the developed Warrior river The people of Birmingham and vicinity do not realize the importance of the appli
 cation to our public utilities commits
 sion being made by the Civic associa- 1 ton of Birmingham, MT. James Wealth 1 erly, president, through their attor I ney, MT. Jackson. for rates to the 1 Warrior. and which comes ssup next | Monday before the public utilities con- ] mission at Montgomery.
 RATE IS DOUBLE
 1 sometime ago the question was asked, What is the matter with 1 Birmin 2 ham. in a short article
 stated that the trouble was 1 carrier rates and cited the rates 1 from the Tennessee and Warrior l rivers, calling attention thnt the rate per mile to Birmingham is l twice as much from the Tennessee and Warrior river crossings from the Cumberland, Ohio anl Mississippi crossings; and this cOIlusive, double charge on their I part to all intents destroys the uses of the very large outlay of | of money. many millions of dollars, made by the government to de- velop navigation in these great
 waterways. The Civic association, MT. Weather- l ly, president demands a rate to the 1 Great Bankhead lake made by a dam l 63 feet high at Lock IT. and the only use to which it has so far been put l is as a fishing resort for the people i of Birmingham and contiguous terri 1 tory. Did the government make that | tremendous outlay for a fish hatch cry or was 1t intended to develop 1 business? If business was the intent of the government in building and maintaining the Warrior locks, wbnt flinders Birmingham from materializ- ing on it? Certainly no section ever needed it more in it's business. All previous agitations on this ques- tion have been placated by fears aud | hidden by illusive representations and
 every attempt to bring 1t to the i'm mediate attention of the people has been submarined by hyphenated citi- zens.
 TRIED TO GET RATE Birmingham. through the Western Grain company, tried to get rate from the Tennessee river crossing at Shelf 1 field on grain and the proposition was made by our public utilities commits sion to make a rate of 10 cents on 1 Alabama raised grain from Sheffield. ] By this limitation they killed the ac- l tual usufruct of the rate--astoundirg nonsense we were entitled even to g 1 lesser rate and without limitations "Alabama stands to the tremendous l expense made by the government in l developing the Tennessee and War
 rior exactly like the dry states of the west would stand if the impoundiig water, secured at great expense in the 1 erection of dams by the government, and which was intended to dispense | by ditches through the land irrigation. making that dry country bloom as an I American beauty rose, just as if, aft CT constructing the dams and securing ! the ditches, some selfish power could secure that the water should not bs l turned on or the usufruct made. In Alabama the tremendous outlay of the government in locks and for naviga- l tion, so far as the usufruct is con I cerned, is practically the same as If | the expense was never made. | Just as long as the Birmingham | territory is taxed twice as much pei | mile from our river crossing as the 1 territory on the Cumberland. Ohio and Mississippi rivers, just that long will l our energy be wasted in fire. cracker. shows and beautiful musical fests. It
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