The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-27

an fnexhauStfble resource for no coal Is needed, there is also close by not only needed limestone, but also deposits of
 phosphate rock, which cannot be ex-
 hausted until many years have passed
 no matter how great this product be uti-
 lized Therefore. at this government
 plant in addition to the nitrates which
 are needed for war purposes there is
 to be produced abundant fertilizers rich
 In nitrogen and phosphorus
 In all parts of the country which Mir.
 Myrick visited he found the farmers
 were greatly relieved by the prospect of obtaining at reasonable price abun-
 dant supplies of fertilizers. Fertilizers
 and labor are now and have been for sometime the vital need of the farmers.
 They have land in plenty.
 700 MILES OF NAVIGATION In addition to this large industrial plant which the government is establish ing at Muscle Shoals the improvements In the Tennessee river at that place will. when completed furnish uninterrupted navigation for 700 miles.
 This will make the navigation of the
 Tennessee river one of the longest
 stretches of that kind in the United States surpassed only by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. It will be of very great importance to the industries of the south.
 IS MISSISSIPPI CONQUERED? The day is not far distant when the Mississippi will gain it's former prestige | as very great commerce bearer. AL ready 1t is practicable to navigate that !, river from Minneapolis to New Orleans
 And the indications are plentiful that
 commerce bearers on this river, some of them plying the whole distance, will be
 in use within the course of two or three years. The Riker spillway, which is supplementing the levee system, is now regarded in cooperation with the levees the best way to insure the lowlands of 1 the Mississippi against floods and to harness the rivers power. This will | mean much to St. Louis and also to Minneapolis, as well as to New Orleans. For our industries of all kinds are un- doubtedly to be speeded up to their full capacity after the war is ended and the Panama canal. which from one point of view is tributary to the Mississippi, will contribute greatly to our wonder fully increasing commerce with South | America. much of which will be floated down the Mississippi river.
 THE LOUISIANA WAY Four or five years ago it was ob- served by men of finance and business men in this city that Louisiana was cre-
 
 ton, supplementing that by establishing a state dock board. With her very rich deposits of sulphur, at one time deemed 1 inaccessible, but now mastered by Amer ican inventive skill, and with the re- clamaton of millions of acres of land more fertile even than that in the valley l of the Nile, and furthermore with the work done by the dock board, Louisiana bids fair to take very prominent place 1 in the list of states that are maintain I ing important industries. agricultural and commercial. The Louisiana dock board is believed now to have perfected | the best system in America of publicly
 owned docks for shipping. cotton ware houses, and terminals of concrete con- meeting with both rail and water trans | portation and in addition to that gi- | gantic grain elevator.
 | This is an achievement which the late l c. P. Huntington had always in mind when he identified New Orleans as des- | tined to become metropolis, in fact one of the worlds greatest. James J. l Hill also took that view. although bas- | ing 1t upon different point of view | from that which Mr. Huntington took 1 Everywhere in the south and west the 1 farmers, many thousands of whom sub scribed to the two liberty loans speak with enthusiasm of the establishment of the national rural credit system If they can now persuade the government so to mobilize labor that it will become abundantly available for the farmers, then there is no doubt that the Ameri- can farmers as a whole will be able to cultivate and market crops sufficient for our own needs and also to provide a 1 large surplus for the needs of the allies In this city there seems to be little heed paid to the establishment of the rural credit system, but when the re- suits of this aid furnished by the gov- ernment to the farmers are seen and fully measured, then there is no doubt that men of finance of New York and other eastern cities will take as keen an interest in this system as do the farmers throughout the United States.