The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-01

erai local persons whose ignorance of local condi ions and their proneness to talk recklessly have driven at least two large concerns away from Birmingham after they had been practically secured. On this point he says:
 Erroneous information furnished to two prospective manufacturers during the year resulted In our failure to locate them here. One of these industries is among the largest in the United States. Every business man should be perfectly famil- far with the advantages and the disad- vantages of Birmingham from a manu- featuring or any other viewpoint. They should give the advantages publicity and work quietly to remove the disadvan- tages."
 SENT OUT LITERATURE
 Mir. Bum states that the committee has sent out large quantities of literature ad- vertisiRg Birmingham, and through llt- erature. letters and personal contact tried to overcome he impression that seems to prevail in some quarters that BIT rningham is suited only for the manutac- ture of pig iron, adding that there IS NO good reason why Birmingham should not be city of diversified industries.
 He states that the freight rates to ana rom blfIniDE0dHls Oii NiN AASNSf SNt-- favorably with other competitive points, and Since the development of transporta- ton on the Warrior river Birmingham has the distinction of being the only in- land city in the United states for whlch joint rail and water rasNs have been published which, he says. will prove to be one of the city's best assets.
 When the fourth section, known as the long-and -short-haul clause of the act to regulate commerce. is made mandatory then the Port of Birmingham will be one O. the busiest places in the city, and the facilities now being built will be taxed to their utmost to handle the traffic shipped through the port he adds.
 RAIL AND WATER RATES LESS
 Rail and water rates on 20 per cent less than the all-rail rate.
 Continuing his report states:
 What has been done in an industrial way at Birmingham during the year will no doubt be surprising to even the best informed. Actual statistics show that during the year 5s new industries located here with an invested capital or ;17,sS0,000 Twenty-six of the present industries made improvements or ex- pensions at a cost of $2,9Sl,000 Twen- ty of our present industries increased their capital stock to the aggregate amount of st,476.oo0, and ten foreign corporations established branch houses here. It has been impossible to ascer- tain the amount of capital invested in the latter.
 "The total of the investments through new industries. expansions and increase of capital stock during the year amounts to the enormous sum of s22,- 132.000, which amount is more than double that invested in any other south ern city, as shown by available statis- ties Tn addition there are prospective improvements contemplated here during the ensuing year aggregating an esti- mated expenditure of more than $6,3So,- 900.
 BANK CLEARINGS
 '"The general conditions are reflected to a certain extent in the bank clear ings, which, for the year was STE, ,2sO,- s27.5l. as compared with $347,306,27 .5s for the year 1918. The aforesaid clear ings are not representative of the dis trict and some explanation is necessary for the reason at Birmingham a check drawn on and paid by the same bank does not go through the clearing house records This system in and of itself greatly reduces to a most remarka pie extent the amount of the clearings. II the same system in effect at other points was used by our local banks. it
  of the ciearings during the past year would exceed by 50 per cent or more the amount as shown by the records "It is also gratifying to know that during the recent steel strike two fur- naces that had been idle began opera tion, while in the iron production sec tion of the north 103 furnaces ceased operation. In fact. during the strike the output in the Birmingham district
 l. artt ly we'll for the labor conditions. During the strike of the coal miners the output of the coal mines was only reduced ap- proximately 15 per cent, while at the same time similar operations in the north practically ceased and for while it looked as if Alabama mines would be called upon to supply, as far as possi- ble. the needs of the people in all parts of the country
 "Another industry of great importance to the district established at Birming- ham is the Federal Reserve Bank which serves that part of the state of Alabama north of the Atlanta West Point and Western railroad between Atlanta and Montgomery and west of the Louisville and Nashville railroad between Mont gomery and Mobile, excepting only the counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The number of banks within that zone report ing to the Federal Reserve Bank at Bir- mingham number fifty-nine, consisting of fifty-three national and six state banks. This bank handles at Birming- ham on an average of approximately $500 items daily, aggregating $35oo.0oo. To handle it's affairs at present requires a force of officerss and employees number ing eighteen.
 BUILDING PERMITS "The growth of Birmingham during the year probably cannot be demonstrated