The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-06
ELECTRIC COMPRESS MAY PROVE REMEDY OF FREIGHT RELIEF Taken in Connection With Warrior It Offers Bound
 less Possibilities NOW IN OPERATION
 IN THIS DISTRICT w. D. Nesbitt Outlines What Saving in Freight Bulk Would Be
 if It Were Properly
 Compressed
By HARRY s. FORD.

With the opening of the warrior rivar for commercial freight and for the transportation of coal to the snlps which are to fill their bunkers in MO bile. may also be opened the wide- snread~use of a evolutionized compress ing machine which will be. of inesti- mable value to the nation' ana Will open to Birmingham and the south yistas of commercialism which will re- dound with aid in many forms to the country and her allies during the war.
 This machine is now in actual opera ton in Birmingham. waiting, ready and anxious to be set to work for the gov ernment. It is called the Standard compress, and will compress any sub- stance not injured by pressure and not liquid. into uniform parcels much less than their original size.
 The great problem of the govern ment at the present time is to get sup plies to the armies in France--to get the ships to carry the supplies. The inability of the ships to remove the goods caused in no slight degree the great congestion of freight cars that has recently been tying up the railway commerce of the United States. Many of these ships went away with their storage space full of bulky articles that needed ballast to make the ship ride right-others went with space going to waste because the cargo was made up of articles of weight rather than size.
 This could not be helped at the time. It was just one of those unlooked-for instances that come the life or na- tions as we'll as men. Through Messrs. Bontecou and Mason the government is inst beginning to realize the resources that Birmingham and Alabama have to offer.
 UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES
 "This proposition is really so simple that it weaves itself into net of perplexities before one has exhaust ed the almost unlimited possibilities which it opens up,' said w. D. Nes- bitr of the Warrant Warehouse com pany yesterday.
 '"The government has many factors to deal with at the present time,' he continued, "and chief among them might be named transportation and conservation of all material and en- ergy. This is being done to a great extent by the government management of the roads, but still many cars are being used unnecessarily every day, which if released for other haulaSe would entirely relieve the situation.
 "A recent government shipment left Birmingham in 1SS railroad cars. Had this shipment been compressed by the new method it could have been shipped in 55 cars and released the remainder of them to perform other work for the relief of the congestion"
 In speaking of the influence that the opening of the Warrior river would have on Birmingham and the relief that it promised the govern ment in this hour of need he said Ut is an established fact that the government is going to establish coal ing stations at Mobile, the coal to be carried down the Warrior by barge Is 1t not logical to suppose that if cargoes were in Mobile they would be taken on at one stop instead of two?
 '"The coast vessels make regular stops at this port; in fact, 1t is the best in the south, and there is no req son why this commerce cannot be de- vcloped into a tangible asset.
 Cotton and hay are two of the prin- cipal bulky articles that are being shipped to foreign soil from the Uni tec States Cotton has previously been sent from within 50 miles of Mobile to New York for foreign shipment and hay from Kansas to the same port. It has been figured that a ves- se1 can make three trips between New York and Liverpool while it would make two between Mobile and Liver pool Figure on that basis and even then one will be able to see that the latter course was the most practical when it is learned that it took 60 days for a shipment of cotton from this district to reach New York dur ing the congested period.
 POWER FROM COOSA
 "In compressing this cotton and hay it might be said that only products