The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-06

Washington, D. c.
 TIT thrills me when l think of my job
 am to write series of letter, S about our new industrial empire from the standpoint of national prepared ness. I have agreed to travel over the United States and make on- -the-ground studies of the revolution that is going on in our farms, factories and mines. 1 want to show their importance in this critical stage of our history. l want to fnvestt- gate their wonderful resources, and how they may best be developed in view of the enormous demands that have arisen in connection with our great war with Ger many and with the trade war that will probably result when peace comes.
 wonder if you realize what great possession the United States is? It is the best business proposition in the as- sets of the nations. It is by far and large the richest country on the face of the globe and it's possibilities are beyond the dreams of national avarice
 Suppose we take a look at the globe and see what we have. Pick the conti- nents and islands out of the oceans and crowd the land together into one block, Measure it and you will find that, all told, it is just about 52,00O,0o0 square miles, and that the United States owns more than one-sixteenth of the whole. That means that if all the land upon earth could be joined in one farm and that farm divided into sixteen-acre fields, one acre in every field would belong to us. If 1t were punched into farms of s160 acres each, Uncle Sam would own 8 l0-acre field in every one of those farms.
 Now cast your eye once more at the globe and see where our land lies. It is at just the right angle in the face of the sun to give us a climate that will produce everything that man wants, and, At the same time, the zone to supply the ambition and energy to drag the prod ucts from the soil. We raise so much that we feed not only ourselves, but a large part of the rest of the world, and our country Is so situated that we have the best place from which to trade with the whole human race. Lying in the middle of the North American continent. we have water highways which connect us with the millions of Europe and the millions of Asia. It is the best trading stand in the market place of this big, round world.
 Our soil is so good. our mineral re- sources so great and our position 30 fit ted for the accumulation of wealth that we have already become the richest peo- pie of the whole human race. Our wealth Is of enormous account as 8 war asset. It is now estimated at 220 thousand mill SO enormous that the human mind cannot comprehend 1t. It is equal to one-fourth of all the wealth of all the world. This means that If all the assets of all the earth could be turned into cash, and from the mines could be dragged enough ore to make sufficient 20 gold pieces to represent that cash, one fourth of all those gold pieces would be- long to us. If the golden eagles could be loaded into bushel baskets we would own a peck of gold of every basket.
 If we could separate our share of the golden eagles and contrive way to count them, they would be n,O0o millions in number. If we could divide them evenly among our population there would be about s25o0 for every one of us. At five to the family, there would be more than s120o0 for every family-white, black and red-of the whole United States; enough, if invested at per cent, to bring in $500 year, enough to give every fam fly an income of $50 month for all time to come. We are so rich that our new war indebtedness is a bagatelle in com parson with our national income. Even at per cent the annual interest charge on s3,5OO, 100000 would be only H.40 for - ga ca AOl us, UT oAiS 9t pei dilie4iii poA family.
 We have accumulated this great wealth, although we have just begun to develop our resources and are still prospecting the country to find out what they are and how they may be brought forth for the use of mankind. Let us stop and look at few of our assets. We have now to make cost efficiency sheet as military necessity. and. like Germany, must make every atom of material, in dustry and energy tell. The purpose of my travels will be to learn something of where our wealth lies, to investigate our resources, and find how they may be developed, protected and made most ef- ficient for the present and future. It is my plan to visit our chief food producing centers, and show something of what