The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-31
Despite Handicaps Birming- ham Has Set Record in War Work Which Has Been Inspiration to the Whole Country
Bv ". I. noLrs

ically and enthusiastically to
 every call of their country in the hour of it's greatest need, they have nevertheless found time to push forward their own industrial development.
 The year has not been marked by
 the location of many new industrial
 plants. yet it has seen developments
 undertaken on an enormous scale that will go far towards rounding out the diversified industries of the souths greatest industrial district. The pro- duction of coal by-products, begun several years ago and ever since car- ried on in a small way. received a new impetus when the government called for chemical products obtained exclus- ively from coal The year witnessed the beginning of construction work on over 300 new by-product coke ovens that will be completed sometime dur ing the year 1919 and which will add
 materially to the growth and impor-
 tance of Birmingham.
 WORKING TO WIN WAR
 Comparatively few strictly war articles were made in Birmingham but
 nearly every industrial plant in the city and the district engaged indirecs-
 ly ir making things held to be es.
 sential in the winning of the war. The
 iron furnaces and the steel mills, the
 foundries and the machine shops, she chemical and explosive plants, engine
 and boiler makers, coal, lumber, ce-
 ment, brick and-in fact everything
 made or mined in the district found
 it's way eventually into guns, muni-
 tions, ships and other instrumentalities
 of materials and supplies required by
 the government in its mammoth war
 programme.
 The beginning of the year found Bir-
 mingham. like the balance of the coun-
 try in the grip of the worst weather
 ever known here, which retarded in-
 dustrial activities for several weeks.
 Nor did Birmingham escape the acute
 coal shortage which compelled the closing down of all noneSsentlals works for a week or more and subse-
 ouently for one or two days week through the winter and part of the spring.
 The thousands of young men called
 
 in it's military forces or at munitions and shipbuilding plants made a heavy drain on the districts labor. Coal and iron which reached high production re- cords in 1917 felt the effects of the severe weather and the departure or
 a considerable portion of its man pow CT and long before the summer days came manufacturers and operators realized that no new records would be hung up in 1918.
 AMONG NEW INDUSTRIES While the number of new industries located here during the year does not compare with the list of other years just preceding, till the capital invested and magnitude and importance of the industries themseives make splendid showing. First and foremost of the new industries Is that of the Tennessee
 Coal. Iron and Railroad company, which pushed to completion the great
 steel and fabricating plants at Ensley and Fairfield. representing an invest- ment of nearly $30,000,000. The con struction of these was begun in l9lT, but work had not progressed very far at the beginning of the present year. It is officially announced that both of these plants, with their thou
 sands of employees. will be ready to be- gin operations early in January. In.
 addition to these big plants the Ten nessee company has erected about lOOO houses at Fairfield and Westfeld for it's employees.
 Next in importance. from the view point of money invested. is the bat. tery of 120 met-Solvay by-product coke ovens now being built by tho Semet- -Solvay company for the Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron company near North Birmingham. When completed, sometime next summer, they will rep resent an investment of s5,ooo.ooo l. Following closely upon the an- ! nouncement of the Sloss-sheffield in- vestment came that of the Birming- ham Coke and By-Product company, organized by Norris W. Bush, Horace Hammond and their associates, to build a battery of Koppers by-product ovens near Tarrant City, at a cost Of approximately $s,0oo.ooo. These ovens are expected to be in operation by May or June.
 Henry Leon Britain. a former Bir- mingham man who has made a notable success of shipbuilding in recent l years, on June 2s, after a conference with local business men, announced that he would build plant in Bir- mingham to fabricate steel shapes and sizes for his Mobile shipbuilding plant, ! The work of building this plant at Fifth avenue and. Thirty-f1fth street, !, on a 50-acre tract of land, began short lly thereafter and it is announced that 1 it will be te- operation by February l. ] The investment is upwards of $1,00O.- 900 and sthis will be increased several | fold within the next year or two. Be- | tween 1500 and 2000 men will be em- ployed here.
 The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail-
 road company, in addition to its steel mill and fabricating plant, is putting up two batteries of Koppers by-pro- 1 duct ovens, each with n ovens, which are nearing completion. They will cost about $4.0O0,00o.
 | The plant of the Steel Cities Chem ical company at Ensley. destroyed by fire during the summer. is being re- 1 built at a cost of approximately $200,-
 GOO and will be in operation within month or two.
 NEW POWER PLANT l The Alabama Power company built \ a second steam power unit at Gorgas on the Warrior river to supply power | to the government nitrate plants at l Sheffield, and also g e0-mile trans- ] mission wire to convey the current 1 from Gorgas to Sheffield.
 l The Woodward Iron company during l the fall began repairs, improvements ] and new developments that. when com- l pleted, will have cost about $2,000,000. l These include opening of new coal and I iron ore mines, repairing by-product coke ovens, new machine shop and 1 other improvements making for great . ~to~ x~-