The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-24
Miles of Coal Along Banks of Great Stream Simply Await Means of
 Transportation
TIME IS NOW HERE TO MAKE GREATEST
 USE OF THIS RIVER
Favorable Report, Now Elk. pected, Will Mean Use of River by Government
 on Big Scale
By ARTHUR c. CRowDER President Birmingham Chamber of
 Commerce

By ARTHUR c. CRowDER President Birmingham Chamber of z No one conversant with the needs of our government and its almost frantic efforts to ob- tain fuel for it's ships, can but sbe profoundly impressed with the Warrior as a paramount means to the attainment of the governments necessities.
 In this sordid realistic age wherein Eevery energy must be devoted to win- thing this war, the beautiful scenery falong the Warrior, in itself superior Ito any river scenic route on this con- Etinent, can be of no consideration at bthis time, thus denying me the much scoveted privilege of an infringement upon Frank Willis Barnett's preroga- Etive of perhaps comparing the scen- kery on Lake Bankhead with that of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland, or Iake Louise, among the Canadian ERockies.
 It Is to the inexhaustfbIe world sup ply of coal lining its banks for miles that we must attend; coal that is be- ling used in all too limited quantity in the bunkers of our governments fighting hBhips, and which coal has been pro- Fnounced the very best for this purpose. Transportation by rail, now being at- stempted, but adds to the congestion of tmiles of coal trains in their efforts to reach the ships bunkers lining the ice blockaded ports on the northeastern At lantic coast.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT HERE
 Does not this seem to be the psycho- logical moment to barge this coal down the river to the governments ships in the ports of Mobile and New Orleans? We have succeeded in impressing this fact upon the minds of the individual mem- bers of the shipping board, of the fuel board. and of the rail transportation com mittee, as well as the rivers and har- bors committee of the Senate, resulting in the recent inspection of the river route by three government engineers.
 i If the report of these engineers is Favorable, and do not doubt but that 1t will be, we may expect the United States government to immediately engage in transportation on very extensive
 
 operating between Cordova, on the War rior and Mobile and New Orleans. on the gulf.
 Of course, the paramount purpose of these barges will be to carry govern ment coal and government lumber to the ships and shipyards. respectively. These several hundred barges will come back empty, unless filled with tonnage for the Ps~-,'ngham district. and it Is this thought that interests Birmingham, and on which the Chamber of Commerce committee is centering It's activities to the end that Mr. McAdoo may connect his railroads with MT. Hurley's barges. by means of hoists or lifts at the sev- era1 points where his railroads cross MT. Hurley's boats. This is an easy and simple undertaking. and we anticipate this physical connection, which will de- 1iver freight shipments coastwise from Boston and New York to Mobile har- Dor. and thence by barge to the points of railway connection on the Warrior river with Birmingham. These points of connection include Tuscaloosa Maxine and Cordova, affecting the following rail- Toad connections: Southern railway Frisco Louisville and Nashville, Ala eouthern-
 A SAVING IN FREIGHT RATES | am informed by MT. l. Bum, man. Ager of the Birmingham traffic bureau, that if we realize our anticipations as result of our efforts 1t will mean a saving of several hundred thousand dol lars annually in freight rates to our merchants and manufacturers, and conse- uuent reduction in the cost of living in Birmingham
 1sn't this worth going afterf
 Isn't this worthy cause-one in which xhe government may well take part, util- king it's $17.000000 investment in locks md dams on the Warrior river, releasing several thousand coal cars, and relieving pongested traffic conditions generally? l -'s-