The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-15
EFFECT OF FREIGHT RATES

Fifth, Railroad Freights on Ma terials-The sole advantage which the south has had in the past, laid in the close propinquity of its raw materials The ore was lower in yield, the coal seams were thinner than those of Pittsburg, or of the northwest, but the assembling costs were low under the policy pursued by the railroads of handling raw materials practically at cost, for the sake of the long haul to market on the finished product Just before the outbreak of the war the rilroads, under pressure of advancing wages, withdrew from the policy of a quarter century. and practically dou- bled the freight rates on blast fur mace materials. Since the assumption of control of the railroads by the United States government, these rates have been singled out most unfortu- nately, and apparently unjustly, by the railroad administration as a source of increased revenue to the government, and Hat arbitrary advances have been made so much per ton utterly regard less of the lower quality of materials handled in the Alabama district, involv- ing the movement of greater tonnage or material per ton of pig iron pro- duced This in itself, was and is a marked discrimination against the Ala bama mineral district, and one that has gone far to kill the advantages once enjoyed in the manufacture of cheap iron.
 sixth. Freights on Finished Prod. uct-The Alabama mineral, district stands alone in the United States as being great industry supported by distant competitive markets In this respect, it is again rmost seriously af- fected by the railroad administration general order No. 2s. advancing all rail- road freights horizontally 25 per cent This matters little to producers in such centers as Pittsburg. Chicago. Cleve- land etc, but is paralyzing In its effect on the Alabama district in reaching distant markets. as 1t must do. The northern producing centers enumerated may distribute their product within radius of 50 to 100 miles; the Bir- mingham district must market it's product substantially from 500 to 1000 miles away. The pre-war freight to Chicago being $4-now advanced to s former rate to Philadelphia $520, ad- vanced to $6.50. Even if pre-war costs of assembling remained the same. the increase in the freight rate to mar ket alone automatically limited tho markets available for the sale of the pig iron was delivered into every con- suming city in the United States with out exception. Today, iron producers III NHiSdSo, IOIeuO ana CleVeldnQ can successfully meet Alabama pig iron in Cincinnati. Columbus, Dayton Springfield and other Ohio consum- ing centers, and the Buffalo district with the help of the New York state canal, controls the New York and New England market and Nova Scotian epig comes duty free in large sea-going barges to cut out Alabama iron in the Philadelphia district.
 
 IRON TRADE NEEDS AID
 Under these conditions the iron trade of Alabama is today in a serious plight and needs any and all other assistance that can be given to it in- stead of being regarded erroneously as source of wealth to be tapped by all in need.
 within 20 years there has not been a single new blast furnace built in the Birmingham district. but within that time two have been pulled down and the sites turned to other purposes During that time more than $10O 0OO 900 has been expended in competitive plants |in such districts as Chicago and oth- CTS, where Alabama pig iron formerly