The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-01
BIG F|NANCIERS
 THINK WAR SURE
 SAYS MRS. MATHIS
Leaders Confident U. s. Will Soon Enter the European COnfIict-Muscle Shoals
 Generally Indorsed

Mrs G. H. Mathis, field agent for
 the Alabama Bankers association and
 the south's noted woman farm expert
 was in Birmingham yesterday on her
 way to her home in Gadsden. Mrs.
 Mathis has been away about three
 weeks. during which time she visited
 the Carolinas, Kentucky, Indiana, New
 York and Washington. During tnls period she has been Associated with
 the foremost finaneiers of America and has lost no time or opportunity
 to boost Alabama and the south. The nitrate plant has had great deal of her attention, and many national gathering and convention has indorsed
 Muscle Shoals after hearing her tell of it's many advantages as the proper location for this great government un- dertaking.
 My trip has been marred by only one thing-the talk of war in New York city. The very air was sur charged with the war spirit. In sew eral conferences l had with the lead ing financiers of the metropolis they were almost unanimous in declaring that the United States would be sooner or later pulled into the European con fiict. The opinion was expressed that lit was the aim of a certain forelgn power to entangle our country in the hope of hastening the end of the great strife for the master hand of Europe. All the financial plans of these great multimillionaires and bankers were based on the probability of our coun- try entering the struggle at some fu- lure period.
 GETTING IN SHAPE
 And the impression seemed to be tthat we are unprepared, and that great undertakings were being pushed to have the fighting strength of this na- ton in the best possible shape should the worst come to the worst. at tended the National Civic Federation meeting at it's seventeenth annual gath ering in New York city. This federa- tion stands for America efficient,
 America satisfied and America pre- pared At the recent meeting great stress was put upon the idea of our unpreparedness in case of war, and all present were urged to do their ut
 most to inform their respective sec
 tions of the grave danger we were now facing. The organization Is non- partisan and nonsectarian, and is di-
 vided into eight departments, as follows: Welfare department, work mems compensation department, indus trial economics department, woman's department, department on regulation of industrial corporations, industrial accident prevention, minimum wage commission and National Security league. The latter recently held two- day conference on constructive pa triotism in Washington, which I at tended. The great preparedness spirit was in evidence at all it's sessions, and literature is now being sent all over the country.
 Mrs. Thomas M. Owen of Mont gomery is chairman of the country life committee of the National Civic Fed eration, and through her hard work the Rockefeller Foundation was in duced to give $2o0,o00 toward the es- | Establishment of a school for the teach ing of rural sanitation and nursing. Several western and northern cities 1 immediately put in a bid for this in- stitutions but through the efforts Of Mrs. Owen and myself we succeeded l in bringing it as far south as the Pea body institute in Nashville. Mrs. Owen is a great worker. and seems | to have the gift of driving home any proposition she may have to put be- l fore the powers that be in any given undertaking. She is doing wonders for | the southland, and is becoming a na- tional figure.
 SOUTH TO THE FRONT
 eff ever this great war question is settled the south will forge to the | front as never before, as the great l financial heads of the many banking houses in the great metropolis have given me their word that they will turn ] to the south alone with their millions
 after hearing of the great opportuni- ties here in our own and bordering states I told them we have millions upon millions of acres of undeveloped lands that afforded green pastures the | year round. and that the soli had mere fly been scratched as far as possibili- I ties were concerned. They took data on all I said and promised to look our I way at the first available opportunity. l Another thing I would like to touch on is the appeal just sent out Iby the National Council of French
 Women, representing more than 1,000,- 1 900 French women. They appeal to womanhood of all nations to unite with
 them to create public sentiment look
 ing to the ending of the great atrocities
 being perpetrated in the war-ridden
 countries of Europe. Public sentiment
 will have as much to do with the end- ling of this struggle as anything else,
 and this great move which has been launched is bound to spread like wild fire for no one feels the terrible bangs I of war as do the mothers, wifes and
 daughters of all the fighting millions
 in the trenches. The deportation of the
 Belgians is one of the most strenuous
 protests put forth by the French wom-
 en- Virtual enslavement of both Bel gian and French women is charged,
 and it Is hoped through this great
 move of the women of the world to
 so arouse public sentiment as to show | the folly of further bloodshed and mas
 sacre in the different countries now at war.
 q certainly hope to see the women
 of the south do their share of pro-
 testing as this great wave spreads over
 the world. For the sooner peace terms
 are signed up the sooner this great
 country of ours will prosper as never