The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-20
REALTORS |NDORSE AMENDMENT FOR
 PORT TERMINALS
Hill Ferguson Talks on De- velopment of State Wa terways and HarbOr
 Facilities

Hearty indorsement of the pro- posed use of state credit to improve the terminal facilities at Mobile and a vote of thanks to Murray Brown, T. P. Hay, Jr, and Hill Ferguson for ex- blaming the matter to them was made by the Real Estate Excnange at their weekly meeting at the Southern Club yesterday.
 Murray Brown. president of the state harbor commission, told of the com ing election which will be held on No- vember 2. when the people of Alabama will vote on a constitutional amend ment to provide state aid in improving Mobiles port facilities to care for the enormous trade which will come if Mobile can care for it.
 The state harbor commission will have charge of the fight for the pass ing of the amendment he said. They will wage an active campaign, exhibit ing pictures at every theatre in Ala bama and maintaining a corps of speakers that will lecture in every town in the state.
 Hill Ferguson of the Jemison Real Estate and Insurance Company, ex- plained how the cities and country dis tricts of Alabama will benefit by the development of it's waterways and more adequate wharves, warehouses, and terminals at Alabama's only port
 SALIENT POINTS
 Some of the salient points which MT. Ferguson brought out in his talk were;
 Alabama has a great incentive to build adequate terminal facilities, hav- ing system of 1,570 miles of navigable streams which is more than any other state in the United States
 Waterway development in Alabama dates back to 1875, when the first gov ernment work was done.
 The last legislature authorized the people of Alabama to vote for con stitutional amendment to provide state aid to develop Mobiles facilities a port. This election will take place November ?.
 If this amendment is passed, the money will be handled by the state harbor commission, made up of pub lie spirited men serving without com pensation.
 The government saw the opportunity of Alabama's great river system and spent $12,000,000 in constructing sew enteen locks on the Warrior river. In the old days, people merely had to live in a river town to get reduced freight rates, now they have to actually | use the rivers to get those rates. What is needed in Mobile is more
 public warehouses. derricks for unload ing ships, and later, when the trade is | increased, a grain elevator. The government will not build the terminal, having already improved the waterways for us. We should not ex- pect this. but do it by the aid of the | state.
 GREAT ADVANTAGE
 The facilities at Mobile would giv, 1 the merchants of Alabama a grea l buying advantage opening up tn, | wealth of Cuba, South America ant Central America, to which places Mo | bile is the nearest port
 Alabamas port is only twenty eight 1 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and a | channel thirty feet deep is kept by | the government. New Orleans. the second port in the world, is four times | the distance to the gulf.
 Facilities at Mobile will avail Ala | bama of the steel ships of the Tennes- see Coal, Iron and Railroad Company | which carry steel to foreign markets ] If Mobile had unloading facilities I these ships could return with load o1 products fer Alabama's merchants. As | 1t is, they are forced to some other | port.
 | This will not cost the people of Ala | bama one cent. The port will be rev enue producing, paying interest anc | gradually retiring the bonds. The success of the Warrior river means the success of inland water ways. If Alabama does not provide the facilities at Mobile, the government will take it's barges off that river | Other states have aided in developing | their ports. Can Alabama lag behind