The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-01-09
By W. \. LOyETr

Atmore, January S.-(Special)-To the casual observer who may hear the squall of the trainmen as he hears the cars,' the town is looked upon as merely one of those dreary junction points where one must console ones self as best one can until the arrival of the right train.
 All Junction points are more or less typical, but there are some exceptions in the case of Flomaton. There prob- ably is never time that one who is at all acquainted with people in Ala bama and Florida, passes through Flomaton without meeting a num- | Der of friends, and thus the passing hours are made pleasant by renewals of friendships nd$acquaintances, and through them, the forming of new | friendships.
 POPULATION JUMPS But to the one who may desire to ! learn som methng of the town itself, 70 know something of it's real life, and to ascertain just what it is that keeps up the town. and what it is that causes a steady growth from year to year, one must come in contact with the busi- ness interests of the town, and with the men of affairs who have made money-and lots of it-during their
 business and professional careers in ! Flomaton.
 To the traveller who is more inter- ested in catching his next train than in learning what 1t is that makes the | wheels go round in this town of car , tracks and switches, he may not know
 that the town is entitled to a popula- ton Of 1,200 or more. The latest cen sus report gives Flomaton only 73l,
 but the fact that the town is split al
 most in half by the Alabama Florida | boundry line, and that no fewer than 800 of it's inhabitants live on the Flori-
 da side 1t may readily be seen how this
 census report makes a bad showing for
 the town
 1 MONTHLY PAY ROLLS
 There Is monthly pay roll here of
 S25,O0o, which, when business condi :
 tons are normal, is considerably in-
 creased by the pay rolls of sawmills
 and other industries that are tenn
 porarily shut down. One of the largest
 sawmills in the south, operated by the | Alger- Sullivan Lumber company, is To :
 cated at Century. Fla. only two niles
 from Flomaton. The monthly pay roll
 at Flomaton proper is no inconsider-
 able amount when the size of the town | Is taken into consideration. The Louisville and Nashville railroad ! employees living at this point are paia from S11.o00 to $12,500 monthly; an- , other $10,0O0 is being paid out by the |, crosstie and timber industry and still
 another $S,000 or $4,000 b, the gravel
 boat. The resumption of one saw : mill at this place will add another $6.0o0 in monthly pay envelopes. There
 are other industries, such as turpen- timing, machine shops and garages. People come here and get rich" one
 leading citizen declared land then
 move to Atmore. However" he dryly
 concluded, some of them come back ?
 We remarked that there had been
 some talk of moving the whole of
 Flomaton to Atmore when he replied al Nothing doing; we are figuring or . moving Xou folks up here" LEAD IN SHRINERS l A commodiouS and modern brick school building, costing s16.O00. has
 only recently been completed here. tho |, school itself employing sixteen teach V CTS. This in itself is one of the bes' : indications of the progress of tn, t town. A substantial bank has been il I operation here for long time, whicl