The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-05-27
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

"Birmingporti" Is this to be but mere
 name, or a busy hive of industry? Your
 attitude towards it may have much to
 do with it.
 am afraid that the great majority of saying unto themselves. oh, it's some
 thing for the big interests to put oveE
 Let 'em do it."
 Now, it's just this frame of mind which must be disturbed or the whole project will fail. True the great industries are
 interested but so is every man who does
 bIsiness in this valley vitally concerned,
 for the proper development of Birming-
 port is a necessity.
 Harpers cartoon in Tuesdays Age
 Herald brought back to me a flood of
 of the Chattahoochie. and in my eafTy
 days the river trade had not been throt-
 tied by the railroads, and many boats
 made regular trips from Columbus, Ga,
 to Appalachicola, Fla. It was a thriving l industry.
 l A locomotive-I use the word in spite of ] the fact that it gave pain to Ruskin who thought it outlandish, and proposed, if
 I remember correctly, to speak of 1t as 1 "pieces of steel set in frame to be
 run along rails" which to my mind is absolutely ridiculous. We'll, any way, a l locomotive was always a source of won- der to me, but even an engine, as we | called it, leaving behind a trail of smoke
 excited me like a steamboat did as it
 came puffing and blowing on the bosom
 of the river and tied up at the landing. l I am glad that Harper gave us a pie ture of the old-style steamboat with it's side wheels and two smokestacks and many decks, instead of the modern, low type gasoline-propelled freight carrier.
 Between the two, one can read how the
 romance of the, river has been changed
 into sure enough arm of commerce. for
 in the business world the acid test of | service is applied without being toned | down by sentiment. It's an utilitarian | age, and the "whaleback" and the glo-
 rifed or transformed flat boat is here to stay.
 | I was greatly interested in the moving pictures which Commodore Henry De- | Bardeleben flashed on the screen for us ! at a Rotary luncheon a short while ago.
 The City of Birmingham showed up well
 as she lay in the arm of the Father of Waters, It was concrete evidence that at last the dream of those who had pre-
 dicted that the Magic City, would be on
 the Warrior was coming true, and that
 freight would flow towards the gulf and l back again.
 | l looked in amazement on the powerful
 cranes with capacity to lift engines and cars, and thought of them as great lapor- saving devices. It is truly wonderful
 to know the great revolution which has
 taken place in the unloading and loading | of steamboats and ocean-going craft
 find myself somehow lamenting the fact
 that gone are the days when one of the | joys of seeing a boat land was the swarmng, scrambling .stevedores as they
 made her fast and threw out the gang
 plant and ant like began to move tAe
 freight on their backs as they sang their | river ditties
 l Gone are the days of the picturesque l and profane mate. I have heard it ar | hot &.
 is because they are lacking in vocabu- l lary. I believe it is matter of record that when Sam Jones was taking the hide off the backs of swearing men one met him after the service and said | Preacher, if I just had your line of
 when it comes to lining out fellow, 1 you've got me back a block" From the l expressions which used to fall from the | lips of steamboat mates I am inclined to
 believe that they at least overworked cer- tain profane terms.
 | But in regretting the romance of the old
 steamboat days, I am falling into the )same frame of mind which grpped Ruskin |
 it meant the destroying of the beauties
 of England. and the deathN of quiet with 1 "locomotives rushing through the land | blackening the sun with smoke, spelling the houses with soot and deafening the ears with it's screeches. Knowing how l little his protests availed to hinder raff-
 road building I'll chime in with the new order of the day and welcome the twen-
 tieth century freight carriers with open
 arms, for here in Birmingham we live | by smoke and noise.
 | I am sorry for the boy who has never seen the sea or been able to wander among the ships in the great docks. My heart goes out to the lad who never
 raced to the wharf at the shrill cry of
 a river steamer; but recently we had as
 a visitor man with the smell of the
 sea in his beard who had never in all his life before been in an inland city. Our task is to bring the Warrior to our doors
 and put this town of ours in direct con-
 tact with the gulf, and through the rivers and lakes have access to the heart of America
 ] I confess that it thrills me to think that
 we are on the eve of being in touch with the Mississippi I spent the first year after I was out of college at Vicksburg.
 and to this day can close my eyes and