The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-19

As fine feathers do not necessarily make fine beds, just so does a fine harbor with excellent port facilities not make an important seaport. The main ingredient to the importance of a sea- port is of course, its commerce.
 In the past, Mobiles place in our sys- tenn of national transportation has been that of transfer point for limited number of bulk commodities in her i'm port and export trade. The period 1916-20 molasses and bananas together made up 5S.5 per cent of the imports through the port and sisal grass 3.I per cent. This, primarily because of special facilities in operations, to handle quick ly and economically these products. However, the total tonnage for all im- ports for this period ranged from a minimum of 193,64T tons in 1913 to the maximum of 361 ,455 tons in 1920.
 Alabama being lumber, coal, iron and steel producing state, it is not at all surprising to find these commodities forming the bulk of the export traffic passing through Mobil. For the pe- ried 1916-20 lumber and number prod ucts comprised together over 50 per cent of the total traffic through Mobile, and lumber, coal, iron and steel brought Che percentage up to 70.8 per cent. Cot ton through Mobile reached it's highest point in recent years in 1919, while the lumber tonnage for the same year amounted to lumber and logs, 512, ,266 tons cross ties, 40,075 tons, and slaves, 76,573 tons, making a total of 629y y613 tons. For the some period the export figures on iron and steel products were 75,S70 tons, and the total tonnage in export through the port of Mobile for the year 1919 was 1,016.548 tons.
 < Lumber Trade Predomimates
 From the Warrior river section of the inland and coastwise waterways service, Mobile received almost entirely bulk commodities with lumber again being the dominant article. In 1916- 1920 lumber was 44.8 per cent petrol cum and its by-products, 1892 per cent; coal, 15.9 per cent, and sand and gravel, 15 per cent of the total tonnage from the Warrior river service. It is partic- ularly interesting to note that during the period of business depression just past, there were shipments of consid- erable amounts of iron pipe from the Birmingham district and that 05 per cent of this traffic was routed all-wa- ter by way of Mobile.
 One barometer of port shipping is the haFbormasteris record. Inr 1918 40 steamships with drafts ranging from 20 to 30 feet entered Mobile and 6S cleared from the port. In 1919 the number en- tered was 62 and cleared IA. Of schooners f!13 to 19 feet draft there entered 1S2 and cleared e1S2, while in 1919 the number of schoohers entered and cleared from Mobile was 229. In addition there were seven square rigged ships reported into port in 1918 and six cleared as against 13 en- tered and cleared in 1919. The compos- ite figures on these vessels for the per iOd 1918-1919 are: 1918, 480 vessels entered and 4T8 cleared, and 1919,- 704 vessels entered and cleared. But in 1928 the ilumber of vessels using Mo bile over the period of 1922 was 97, with an increase in net tonnage over 1922 of 3l1, ,143 tons: Further, the harbOrmasteris records show that more vessels of larger size are each year en- tering the port, and in 1923 three new steamship lines began operations from the, port of Mobile.
 Graphically the commerce of the port for the period of say, 1916-1920, can be represented:
 FOREIGN
 Imports
 Molasses-9S,S9S tons, 36.S per cent.
 Bananas-5S,416 tons, 21.7 per cent.
 Sisal-S,334, 3.1 per cent.
 Nitrate of soda--7,97S tons, 2.50 per cent.
 Logwood-6,S52 tons, 2.5 per cent.