The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-26
For the Good of
 the Community

D EFERENCE was made in these sol IN umns short time ago to the largely increasing investment of New England money in southern cotton mill properties. That these investments have proved prof itable in the past is evident, otherWlse the present marked tendency in that dlrec- tion would not exist.
 In a recent article bearing on the sub feet. Wade H. Harris, editor of the Char lotte (N. O Observer, gives a long list of mills in the southern states in which New Englanders have recently become l1l- terested, including two or three III Ala bama and several in Georgia, the Caro- linas, Mississippi and the other states ln this immediate section.
 Tt is significant, says MT. Harris, that the majority of new investors are representatives of New England mill in- terests New England textile capital has been coming south at great rate, and it has been seeking the larger plants. North ern and New England capital is sending in offers of purchase of cotton mill stocks in the South pretty much as commission merchant would send orders for bill of goods.
 Mr. Harris cites an instance where tie owner of southern mill asked to make price on his stock, replied that 1t was not for sale Pressed to fix figure at which he would part with 1t he said that he mig It sell at $450 share, and the author of tlle articles states that the price quoted by this owner seems to be about the prevail ing price of cotton mill capital slaIes throughout the south.
 Present profits appear to be more al turing than those made in the New Eng land mills, quoting Mr. Harris further, conditions appearing to- have emph2- sized the superior advantages that have long obtained in the South, and having brought these advantages to the fore in this practical manner, the boom has done benefit to the southern textile industry which will live long after the present furry in stocks shall have been forgotten. The South has been given bit of adver- tislng that will prove of tremendous value in the future development of the cotton industry and, whether the existing boom in stocks shall be long-lived or not, there will be given an impetus to the building and equipment of mills in the cotton belt of the Southern States that will bring this section permanently to the front as the greatest cotton milling territory in the world. The supremacy long boasted by New England will have become thing of the past. The cotton manufacturing world is being concentrated in the South, and North Carolina, with it's abundance of water powers and excellent railroad facilities, is apparently developing into the hub of these activities, for, in selling stock, in enlarging plants and in building new factories this state seems to be the busiest of all
 Cheaper power obtainable in Alabama through close proximity to the coal mines and the developed and developing hydro electric energy makes this state one of the most inviting fields for cotton mill invest ments
 Cotton mills now in Alabama consume something like 100000 bales a year, or about one-fourth of the states annual yield during the last four or five years. Assuming that the statements relative to profits now being made by southern tex tile mills and the supply of cotton close by, and ample power, as cheap or cheaper