The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-25
For the Good of
the Community

IN order to induce substantial manufac-
Il turing concerns to locate their plants
in Louisville the business men of that city
have organized a corporation with suffl-
cient capital to finance all necessary ne
gotiations and to meet expenses incident
to committee work in advertising Louis
vile and bringing capitalists there to In
veStigate
Louisville has been manufacturing
city of considerable Importance for long
time, but most of the establishments there
sought that city rather than the city seek
ing them Louisville has had slow but
substantial growth, and continues to grow
slowly.
The business men of the Blue Grass me-
tropolis, however, are not satisfied to
move along in the old groove. They real
ize that in the after-the-war period when
business everywhere is expected to boom
as it never did before, they must exert
some effort to induce capital to come to
the city
Factories and shops make big payrolls
and big payrolls make good business. The
merchants know this better than any other
class of people,. Big payrolls send never
ending streams of money across their
counters and help them to carry good
sized payrolls themselves.
Louisville is not located near any min
eral fields Kentucky has coal in the east
ern and the western part of the state and
some iron ore in the eastern mountains.
Oil and gas wells have made the eastern
end of that state rich, but Louisville is
quite distance from any of these Her
only real advantage is a rlver-the Ohio
which has SlX-fOot stage part Of the
way and an eight-foot stage another part
of the way It is often frozen over in the
winter.
Birminghams natural resources, the
equal and probably superior to Ken
tucky's, lie right at her door Not only
has she coal and iron ore all around her,
within sight of the city hall, but she has
the Warrior river with an eight-foot stage
of water the year round within easy
reach
Birmingham people have talked about
new industries and about diversified in
dustries. They have done more talking
however, than acting. The time for talk
is about over, except the kind of talk that
brings results.
If Louisville, with only a river as nat
ural advantage, can organize and utilize
an industrial development corporation
Birmingham, with all her natural re-
sources, certainly would be justified in
doing something of the kind
Back in other. days, some twenty years
ago, the old Commercial Club, the pred
ecessor Of the Chamber of Commerce,
raised a special fund and employed the
late Capt. John W. Johnston, successful
railroad builder and first president Of the
old Georgia Pacific Railroad, as indus
trial agent He was kept on the road con-
tinuously, going wherever he believed
capital could be interested in Birming-
ham.
He succeeded. During the year that he was in
dustrial agent of the Commercial club four or five
manufacturing concerns located in Birmingham
Some Of them are among the best in Birmingham
today. One of the plants that came here as re-
suit of his and the Commercial clubs efforts was
gasoline engine factory. 1t prospered, and in
time expanded. 1t was the initial plant of one of
the large and successful industries of Birmingham
of today
The Commercial club had only small operat-
ing fund, about $4,000, contributed by manufac-
t,1rinu h1lSir1pSS concerns tho ci+y