The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-19

transportatiG.. n hlS eyes, tne lhinS that has made the country great IS transportat tion.
 We're an egotistic lot. we humans. Each of us glorifies his own lm- portance the importance of the part ne or she plays in the world. We all like to make ourselves believe that the world revolves around us and the par ticular activity we are identified with.
 Good Housekeeping and other wom- en's publications declare, and declare with all sincerity The home is the fountain head of all that is worthy in the nation. Unless the home is right, the nation cannot be right
 What preserves this country from speeding to wreck and ruin?" fervent- ly exclaimed a minister the other Sun day. I tell you, it is the church. Re. move the influence of the church, of all the churches, and you could not enroll enough policemen to maintain law and order. It is religion that be- gets righteousness and without right eousness, nation perishes. Look what has happened in Russia
 fertilization is transportation" is the declaration proudly made by rail road leaders. Without our railroads, where would America be-? they de- mand. sWe would not be far behind the state of civilizatio our foregathers found among the Indians when they came here. Strangle the railroads and you strangle prosperity. No country can travel faster than it's railroads can carry it. They are the arteries of our commerce, the ifeblood of all in- dustry.'
 Did you ever hear a leader of the steel industry let himself go?
 Did you ever hear him tell the world the part steel has played in our scheme of things? Why, it was the building up of our steel industry that built up the United States. Without steel, no worth while progress could have been made.
 The steel industry has long been re- garded as the greatest industry in the land" your steel man ringingly de- clares. Without iron and steel you could have no railroads, no modernly
  systems, no implements or machinery for the adequate tilling of the soil to give us the food on which we all de- pend for our very existence"
 To the steel man, steel is king.
 When I was a printers devil, it was impressed upon me that education and ciyihzation had their birth when Gut enBerg invented movable type and that, therefore, we printers were en- gagged in the most important work in the whole world Without us, all would be ignorance and darkness.
 And of course, every cub reporter and editor proclaims in laundering tones that the very existence of our glorious commonwealth depends upon one thing, the maintaining of a free, untrammeled press. Muzzle our now free press and the Dark Ages would again overtake us.
 l know very enthusiastic young soap manufacturer. His whole life is bound up in soap. Did you ever stop to think what the world would be without soap?" he asked me with tremendous earnestness, one evening. To him, soap is the most important thing in the world. Without it, we would be a little better than barbara ans.
 Among my friends are a number of Chicago packers. It probably never occurred to you that our great cities of today would starve but for the ex istence of those great packing plants at Chicago and elsewhere. The pack CT who has his heart in his work, and there are no greater enthusiasts in the whole continent than our leading packers-can give you such a picture of the vital part his activities play in making modern existence possible that for days after such a session you feel,