The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-31
The Truth About Selma
By MORGAN RICHARDS, Secretary Selma Chamber of Comm

l
 The history of Selma covering cen
 tury or more of it's existence would make an interesting story; but this ar | ticle will pay no attention to the past, but will tell of it's present and make
 forecasts for it's future greatness. l Selma, city of business activity, oc- cupies a splendid position at the head 1 of year-round navigation on the Alabama
 river. It is the hub from which rad fate spokes of steel in every direction providing transportation facilities for its people; the products of it's mills and shops and wares of it's business enter prices. Selma is both a jobbing and
 manufacturing city, and is the natural | trading center for the most prosperous section of Alabama. Its retail shops carry stocks which will please the most fastidious and its jobbers market their wares not only throughout Alabama, but | in parts of several adjoining states. Jcbbing business is carried on very | largely in what is known as the whole sale section on Water avenue, where inn
 mense stocks of groceries, hardware. dry goods drugs and other commodities are carried. Selmas wholesale trade will
 amount to more than ao,oOo,ooo per an 1 mum.
 l It's principal manufactures are cotton factory products, lumber, oooperage 1 stock, dairy products, candy, cotton seed and peanut oil, feed. machinery, brick, | tile and many other articles. Its fac
 tories continuously employ several thou 1 sand operatives
 l siye banks to be found anywhere, whose combined resources amount to more than
 $6, GOO, 900.
 Selma's most serious problem at pres
 ent is that of housing. The growth or
 the city has been so rapid that ouiio- ing activities have not been able to Keep
 mace with the demand, and although avery contractor in the city is busy at the present time houses for rent are all most unknown. 1 The 1910 census gave Selma popula- 1 tion of 13,649 while the most conserVa- | tive estimate at present is well aooVe
 10000 souls
 | While Selma is healthy clty, IL IS
 better supplied with hospitals and sana- terms than any city in the state These | Institutions and the physicians who op- 1 crate them are so well and faVoraDiy
 known that people of one-half or the state bring their ills to Selma for treat ment
 company which has recently purcnaseu | the Selma lighting plant, with an apuro- ance of hydro-electric energy. with us splendid transportation facilities by rali | and water with it's excellent location ana with it's public-spirited citizens, Selma IS destined to be a great manuiact9rihs center within the very near future. l While Selma boasts some magnincent ,ndratr;al enterprises it's chief claim 10 fame lies in the splendid agricultural section of which it is the center, anu this article will endeavor to show soms of the wonderful developments or this resource during the past decade.
 Dallas county farmers were slow 10 en q ..x ~1r m n
 swent the country dozen years ago, TOT |! the reason that this was the greatest cot. l Iton-producing county in one of the grea. cotton producing states, and no marRe' Ibads heen provided for the many crops which enthusiasts were urging them oo grow. but when the safe farming pian
 was urged by the Selma Chamber oi Cosnr,eree and the county agent. and lmar,xet provided for the staple crops pro 6mced in this section. they immediateiy feu into line and despite the ravages oi tbe boll weevil caused this county lo continue to lead all other counties oi the state in Tthe value or crop prouuc- tion. ro5,cad
 Ten years ago Dallas county produced | ,,na,iv 5o o0O bales of cotton worth ap- ' rrnx;mately two and one-half mniohs I nf dollars. while more than this amount I was sent to western states TOT s.ann' | grain productsf and meat. This conoition ihas now been transposed, Iarmers s
 rsisine practically all of their feedstu11s.
 saeding double the number of animals
 sd have supplemented their old money
 eron-cotton-by enu an annual shipment or or
 n.ore than 200 cars of hogs. zo cars ol
 .tt,e and slO00,00O worth of dairy pro
 Sucts Cotton acreage haS been reduceu'
 S',t hv Intensive cultivation the average
 uuI S;eld - ner acre undes boil weevil condi- tt;ons is approximately the same as pc
 sNra the nest infested the cotton district
 Tn 1909 there were approximately a4 900 head of cattle in Dallas county \ the average value being less ohan @t
 w fs,st field agent of the bureau oi
 cron esti,e .tes stated that there were approximately 5O,o00 head of cattle IT |l Dallas county. and he gave an average value three times creator than ID lsos