The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-22
MEN, WOMEN.
 AND THINGS


 a heartening visit.
 l Eufaula still retains an ante-bellum
 flavor, for the fine old families which settled it came from Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, and the fra grance of their lives still hang above
 the lovely women and chivalrous men
 who have come down into the twentieth
 century with the culture of an aristo- l cratic class that gave to the south its 1 reputation for courtesy.
 For years the people or EufauIa | seemed to be more interested in the art
 of living than in worrying about busi-
 ness; and what delightful life it was! I grew up in it's atmosphere. Nearly l everyone lived well and there was little poverty. The idea seemed to prevail that it would be a pity to spoil it by
 bringing in manufactories.
 | It is true that two score years ago
 there was an iron foundry on the bluff, and then came big flour mill which l was followed by another machine
 
 | later another and on it's heels an oil mill-but in the main the monied men | instead of putting it in local enter prises invested it in Birmingham dirt, and in this way much capital left Bar | bour county.
 l Then came an agitation to build I railroad to St. Andrews bay. I was | in Europe at the time and I was in l Paris when Major Reeves, who was promoting it, came abroad to interest foreign investors in the scheme, but he failed It was a great idea and meant much for Eufaula, but somehow the citizens never backed it whole- heartedly and it fell through and for a while, owing to much of it's trade being cut off by the building of the Atlantic Coast Line, Eufaula's growth in a commercial way was retarded. Now, knowing these things is why I was so interested in going down to be lpresent at the dawn of a new era for the beautiful little city on the bluffs of the Chattahoochee. The ob ject of my trip was to see the new ele- vator plant in operation and learn what it was going to do to promote diversified farming throughout it's ter ritory. }~
 Some of my friends josh me about my interest late in life in agriculture, but I wish to state that it is both Ix1 a pose or fad but that deep down in my heart I am sincerely interested in the future of farming in my native state, for I believe that Alabama is going in the near future to set soma records both in cattle raisng and farm ing.
 | go up and down and across tho state and I know of no cheaper lands bama, and I am glad that at last the farmers are beginning to realize their worth and are adopting better meth ods' of culture. and planting and ha-. vesting. Barbour county, in which Eu- faula is situated, is no longer a one- crop county. which is evidenced by the elevator to take care of the diversified crops.
 
 Now, the pace set by Eufaula has at tracted business men from Birmins. ham. Montgomery, Atlanta, Columbus ] and other cities and towns, for it was | not so much the size of the investment in the new plant, but the thing behind | it which was so significant and pro phetic. It was beacon light to lead many town now sitting in the shad- ow of commercial darkness out into | the bright light of prosperity.
 It's easy for lot of capitalists in any town of 5000 people to raise s1Oo,- 1 0G0 for local enterprise, but the 1 thing which drew business men from the large cities of two states was q | thing which was born in small way and grew so spontaneously and natur. 1 ally as to nearly take the breath away from the few men who had father.d 1t.
 About IS months ago I had story 1 how the merchants and bankers and 1 farmers had concluded that as cotton 1 had gone to cents and farm produce | was unmark etable that it was up to l Eufaula to establish a market where 1 farmers could bring in what they rais. 1 ed and get cash for it. If I remember l correctly the amount subscribed to finance the venture was less than s5000, but it was a start in the right 1 direction. recall with pleasure spending some. 1 time with my friend, Warren Dent, who was put in charge of the buying, l and watching him as he bought wagon loads of peanuts. velvet beans, hay and | other farm products These were stored l in an unused store building. But, like | Topsy, the business just grew and grew until it was full grown before the 1 packers had time to realize it.
 The Age-Herald carried last Sunday | a photograph of the new elevator and 1 warehouse which represents a large | sum of money and much careful plan | ning-but the picture does not show | the more than 1000 investors. You see | the building and the machinery but the l men weigh heavier than they do in the | solidarity of the enterprise It means I no one owns much of the stock, but l