The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-13
FAVORABLE REPORT
 |. ON CANNING PLANT MADE ID CHAMBER
Committee of Wholesalers and Brokers Show Advan- tages to Be Derived
 From the Industry

That Birmingham Is to have one of the largest and most up-to-date canneries In
 the south is evident from the prospectus handed to the Chamber of Commerce yes ! terday by the men who. in connection with
 the chamber, are behind the project. It is the aim of the promoters to get the | concrete facts before the farmers at the earliest possible date thus giving the till- CTS of the soil ample time to arrange their acreage
 The cannery is greatly needed here to handle the great amount of vegetables, berries, potatoes and all other commodi- ties which have in the past gone to waste for the lack of market. The enterprise
 will be of such size that it can handle everything shipped in from all parts of the state, either in small quantities or by the carload.
 The proposed department for grinding all kinds of mixed feedstuff, velvet beans.
 and grain will give the dairymen and
 others who use great amount of this
 feed to save the high rate of freight now
 tackled on to the cost price of what they
 buy.
 1H0 pTOpOS6u plcinL IS LO nave d NdPcS-
 ity of 15,O0O cans daily, and the capital
 will be $25,000 The undertaking has
 reached the stage where the prospectus
 was yesterday handed to the Chamber
 of Commerce for it's indorsement, and is
 as follows, with tabulated matter omitted:
 From information gathered from whole
 sale grocers and brokers who represent
 large canning interests there are approxi-
 mately 1000 cars of canned vegetables shipped into the Birmingham district an-
 nualIy, which at an average f. o. b. fac-
 tory cost of 5000 per car, would amount
 in round numbers to s1,000,O0O, making, equal to s1,15O,0OO, going mostly to north ern states annually for food. large amount of which could be produced in this district as well, or better, than any, where in the country. With the large territory from which Birmingham can draw supplies there should be canned here annually 200 cars Of vegetables, the value of which would be around $250,eO0. From a plant with a
 daily output of 15.oOO cans, at usual prices paid by canneries for raw vegetables, the following results on different vege- tables could be expected:
 For straight days run on tomatoes the profit would be $271 50. Or at the pres
 ent unusually high prices a profit of over 5000. For straight days run on beans the profit would be ,$3o7.5o. Or at the present price, $741.
 For straight days run on sweet po- tatoes the profit would be the same as on beans.
 Okra, pumpkins, hominy, spinach, peas, peaches and berries can be raised and canned to the same advantage. The sav- ing in freight alone should pay 50 per cent of the investment
 | There is also great need for mill here l for grinding velvet beans and other feeds l for mixing, where there are thousands of l cars used annually for feeding dairy cows and other stock. Such a mill could be run in connection with canning factory
 as the feed grinding season begins about
 the time the canning season ends.
 mill with a capacity of 40 tons daily could ] be installed at a cost of $10,000 At pres l ent prices of raw materials and prepared feeds there is net profit to the grinder of s4 to s75O per ton. or $50 to $500 per ! day for 10-hour run.