The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-08
RAILROAD NEEDS
 IN THE SOUTH
Rx HOLLAND

.hs aprreEate approprlations If sess. 900. 900 which Director Ii ,T. Adoo allows to the railroaos ,TSttaa states will be received py 'ns { so,+b of the Potomac anu o,.. .i,,ors This money is to De spene for improvements, for equiprhen'
 for extensions. If !
 T. ,s none too soon. if the oplnlon railroad authorities be accepted
 curate. for railroads in the sou.n !. erahled to make Improvements 'o equipment and to oe..e terminal facilities. More and more 'no haliaf is growing that from the sou'n ,,,,,cb the greater part of the increaseo eood nroduction needed by the Unlteu States must be obtained. but It IS saiu that it is useless greatly to increase southern agricultural prooucts WHICH, when cooked serve for food unless railroad facilities in the soulh aio greatly improved. In the current mum her of the Manufacturers kecoro' which is high authority upon econoniie and agricultural conditions Tn the south inc statement is made that sec ratarv McAdoo and other officers or inc government have constantly urged l.h sor+b to increase it's food produc- tion and vet hundreds of acres or tnndstuffs routed in Florida last win ttar hecause there were not railroad facilities for transporting this Ioou' II undoubtedly was a disappolntmeht | to those who are managing souln.' railroads that Director General Me Adoo deemed it expedient seriousiy to cut down the estimates made oy these "a iIroad managers of the amount oi rnonav which they would need if they were to put their roads into excellent lcondition for transporting food
 | Some of the cuts which were made hy order of the United States railroad Icommission upon the estimates pie nared by railroad managers Tn Wnich were set forth the needs or these rali- roads were heavy Had the estimates nrenared by the railroad managers TOT line entire country been accepted by the rai1rosd administration then as much as s1. 2s7. 900 900 would have been al flowed. Probably the railroads reahy need as much as this sum. Undoupteu- llv the reasons were deemed excellent x ir,neratiye possibly, for making the lhaavv cut in the estimates of the rail- road managers of the entire country. | The Southern railroad, for instance, uhose ramifications reach like the hn- gers of d hand to almost all parts oi the south east of the Mlsslssippi' would have been glad had MT McAdoo l given to that road the nearly so0,ooo,- ooo if asked for. Instead of that he lcut the figures down to $29,000,000. The lNorfolk and Western, which is also Ia vary important road so far as trans lnortation of food products IS con lcerned. received only about one -naII of the sum 1t asked. The Seaboard Ar cf tYa of which penetrate very productive horticultural regions, were obliged to accent A cut in each case of nearly s5 ooo 900. The Clinchfield railroad was Icut down to $4,300.o0o
 SOUTH AS FOOD PRODUCER
 cavera1 years before the outbreak sof inc European war il was observed that in many parts of the south the farmers were beginning to diversity their crops They were not relying en- tirely upon cotton. Louisiana, With It's reclaimed lands, raised enormous ouantities of corn, and the belief pre- ,,sils in that state that when land re- c1amation is completed there Louisi- ana will rank not very far. behind Hi nois in the production of corn 50 also ;n other parts of the south the farm CTS began to cultivate wheat with ex- cellent results. and ii Oklahoma De re- garded as a southern state then the south will stand in equal rank almost T;th other parts of the union so far as nroduction of wheat is concerned There has been, however, a serious
 ohstacle which has stood In the way of inc highest cultivation of food prod Iucts in the south and that has beer linadeouate railroad facilities Ine
 chief southern railroad system, nota lblv the Southern railroad. under the llea . rship of Fairfax Harrison, hays
 axnended large amounts of money out Inf earnings for improving faciilties ,,and there has been instant response lin the agricultural regions to thes' limnroyements Now the railroads hop'
 to reach the various southern porcs s'
 esnecially of agricultural products
 from the interior to vessels at thes
 norts The allowance granted D.
 Director General McAdoo to the vari ous railroads of the south TOT I'm movements and equipments ana terml
 nal facilities, although not as iarg
 las was hoped. should, nevertneless
 crops but the bringing of food prod
 ucts to the markets
 THE STORY OF GOLD
 The experts believe that not TOT
 lgood many years should there be
 falling of in the output of new gol
 from the American mines and fror
 Alaska provided the cost of minin
 is not so greatly increased as to mak
 it necessary for some os the operator
 to curtail production or for tim
 ciose down the mines. It was the opir
 ion of the late Maurice l. Mueinma
 and also the opinion of the late Ser
 ator John F. Jones. both of them e'
 cellent authorities upon gold produ'
 tion in the United States and Aiask
 that the American mines should prs
 duce and yield yearly approximate
 $1OO, 900. .0o0 of new gold. The appr'
 Ihension now prevails that py reaso
 Iof the high cost of mining. the hie
 wages that are exacted and for oth'
 reasona American gold production wi