The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-13
HURRY UP WARRIOR RIVER TERMINALS,
 SAYS TOML|NSON
Director of Waterways An nounces New TOwbOats and Steel Barges Ready
 January 1

Before leaving Birmingham yester- day G. A. Tomlinson stated that he was more enthusiastic over the Warrior river than ever before and he express ed the hope that the Birmingham ter minals would be in commission at an early date.
 MT. Tomlinson is director of inland water ways of the United States rail- road administration and in that capac- ity has general charge of the War rior river and it's operations. Ever since his first visit here last winter he has been enthusiastic in his com ments about the Warrior, declaring on talities were greater than any inland stream known to him in this country, and he knows all of them being himself the owner and operator of barge fleet of steamers on the great lakes.
 The slowness with which the Bir- mingham committee has gone about the work of building river terminals and transportation facilities connect ing Birmingham and the river was a matter of surprise to MT. Tomlinson. He did not hesitate to say so when he was here Thursday and yesterday. He has seen and measured the possibli- ties of transportation on the Warrior and the immense help it would be to Birming gham and the entire district in the development of the natural sources and in enlarging the industrial n nr11r,1 nrni ioI ntf fxriti of "a nj ty and the district.
 He advised Henry T. DeBardele-
 ben, manager of transportation on
 the Warrior river, yesterday be-
 fore departing for Chicago that the
 new tOw-boats and sclf-propelled
 steel barges ordered for the War
 riOr river service would be ready
 for delivery by January 1, four
 months in advance of the time call-
 ed for in the contract.
 NEED UP-RIVER CARGOES
 These added to the present equip ment in operation will bring the capa- city of that service up to approximately 100000 tons annually of one-way freight The Birmingham district can easily furnish the down-river cargoes to that amount, but to make the ser vice profitable and warrant its con- tinuance, up-river cargoes must be pro- vided. This can be accomplished only when the Birmingham terminals at Short Creek are built and in commits sion, transportation from the river to Birmingham provided, and patronage of Birmingham merchants assured.
 The Warrior river development com mittee, organized last spring, shortly after the service under government op- erations was begun, is composed of some of the leading and most pro- gressive men of Birmingham. They have given considerable time and thought to the work intrusted to them, but there is little visible evidence of anything of concrete nature result ing therefrom. For more than a year this committee and its predecessor, the Warrior river committee, and the citi- zens of Birmingham generally have talked about the Warrior river and the building of terminals.
 The necessity of these has been re- cognized and when the railroad admin Stration took over the Warrior river operations it was assured that ade- quate facilities would be installed at the Birmingham end in time for use when the boats began running. The boats have been running since January 1. The terminals have not been built. Ground for them has not been broken.
 It was this fact that led Mir Tomlin- lack of appreciation of the river by Birmingham when he was here this week