The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-17
UNDERWOOD SPEAKS
 AT THE CN|TAN CLUB
Urges Effort to Get Mineral Experiment Station for
 the University

Declaring that next to agriculture the country, Senator oscar Underwood, senior senator from Alabama, asked the support of the Civitan Club at it's weekly luncheon yesterday to secure the experi- ment station for the bureau of mines for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. The club passed a resolution pledging its entire support in securing the station for Alabama, and will inaugurate a let ter-writing campaign to that end.
 Next to agriculture mining is the principal industry of the country" said the senator. Alabama is a great agri- cultural state. Birmingham is great manufacturing and mining center. The United States has a great depart ment of agriculture and a bureau of mines at Washington. The department |of agriculture has experiment stations in every state. The bureau of mines has only few stations throughout the coun- try. The first station was placed in the heart of the Pennsylvania coal and iron district where it has since been doing a great work.
 After that. interest was centered in the gold, silves and copper bearing ores of the west and a station was put there. But at the last session of Congress we succeeded in getting passed bill au- thorizing the establishment of an ex- pertinent station south of the Ohio and Potomac rivers and east of the Missis- sippi river for non-metallic ores We want that station in the Birmingham dis trict.
 ALABAMA WANTS IT This station will do good anywhere in the south but we want it in Alabama close to the Birmingham district "The hills of Birmingham are full of low grade ore that is not being used dur
 ing the existence of richer veins to be found in other parts of the country. These richer deposits, however will one day be exhausted. and we will have to turn to these low-grade deposits. This tation will experiment. in the best meth ods to get this ore with the least cost.
 ''But Birmingham is interested in eyervthing in Alabama. There are other fields of work where the station will
 prove valuable. More than 6o per cent of all the graphite in the United States comes from Clay county And the indus try is only in it's infancy This station will plan to enlarge if.
 Alabama as agricultural state is interested in fertilizer There are three elements of fertlzer. To the north of us we have large deposits of phosphate rock At Muscle Shoals we are complet- ing plant for the manufacture of nitro gen from the air. In the northern part Of tbe state there are large deposits of green shell containing large portion of potash, for which we have been dependent on Germany. The experiment station will find means 10 get this supply of potash. s,,pplying the country with a product which has been imported to this date. giving the farmers of Alabama material for rounded fertilizer.
 MONEY APPROPRIATED
 /.(.oneress has appropriated the money and the station will be established. Ten resseans are after it for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Gorgians are after it for the Georgia School of Tech ncloev at Atlanta. But we want it in A,abama at the University at Tusca- Ioosa in the reach of the Birmingham district"
 Al the close of the talk the following resolution was offered by Jelks Cabness. vice president:
 "Resolved, that the Civitan Club com rnends the efforts of Senator Underwood to secure the mine experiment station for the Birmingham district, and that we pledge our support to secure the station
 In answer to the question of how they could help. the senator told the mem be most effective. Melvin Blach offered the following resolution:
 Resolved. that we adopt the proposed campaign suggested by the senator. and that we ask the co-opera-