The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-29
For the Good of
 the Community

CrlcL nave closed QOWn olCn0r because Ol inability to get deliveries of raw mater ials or to ship their products
 In the Youngstown, Gary Chicago and Buffalo districts furnace and mill opera tions have been interrupted to consider able extent The closing down of the furnaces and the steel mills and the in- ability of the railroads to haul freight have forced idleness at many other indus trial plants in the east, the north and the west, thereby temporarily throwing tens of thousands of men out of employment.
 In the Birmingham district not a fur mace, a steel mill, foundry or factory of anykind has been compelled to shut down because of suspension or interruption of railroad traffic. To the contrary, at least two blast furnaces have gone into action and all other industries, except coal min ing, have continued as under normal con- ditions.
 The car shortage has curtailed coal production to considerable extent, but this condition existed for several weeks before the strike began, and only to a limited extent, if any at all, can the re- duced production be attributed to the strike.
 The same conditions prevailed last fall during the strike of the steel workers and the bituminous coal miners. While prac- tically every other industrial district in the country was paralyzed by these strikes not wheel in the Birmingham district failed to turn because of either strike, and with the exception of two weeks coal production was not affected.
 These are considerations that weigh heavily with investors seeking locations for industrial activities It has been stated in financial and industrial journals that executive heads of several large corpora tions took notice of this condition and considered the advisability of transferr- ing at least part of their investments to Birmingham.
 Freedom from labor troubles, plentiful supply of labor, skilled and unslzilled, rail and water transportation facilities not surpassed by any other southern city, prosperous people and productive fields nearby and the immense mineral de- posits, developed and undeveloped, are advantages that ought to be advertised to the world.
 Now is the opportunity for Birmingham to cap italize these. The world knows of the coal and iron here, but it does not know that this district has gone through three big strikes in less than year without interruption to business industry. It does not know that her labor, contented, has kept on working while labor in the north, the east and the west had gone on strikes.
 This is an advantage that should not be over- looked The Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Association and the civic bodies that are working for the greater development of Birmingham and the district have the opportunity now to turn the eyes of the whole country this way.
 More houses are needed. Regular employment at good wages enables the working man to pay for homes The whole world is crying for greater production of almost everything necessary to life and the comfort of the human family. Where laboris abundant of other districts are idle because of discontent, there the investor will want to place his money.
 A little judicious dissemination of information along these lines just now, it seems, would count for great deal in the growthxin population and the industrial development of Birmingham.