The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-20
M ORLEANS IS | A TRADE HUB
Called Neck Of Bottle For Great Waterways
 System
By 8. C. FoRBEs

os Js
 Copyright. 1924, by B. c. Forbes.
 THE SOUTH, Feb. 19-The cur
 of commerce keep constantly ging. They change at home; they ge internationally.
 Pw Orleans is destined to play a important part in both national international commerce during the Id quarter of the twentieth cen 10 commercial currents, each com ble with the gulf stream have set The development of river and canal 'portation to serve the incalculable rces of the vast Mississippi val the development oA commerce be- n the United States and the awak-
 continent of South America, Af- and the Orient.
 w Orleans is the neck of the bot through which theN greatest, volume lch trade will flow.
 ade, it has been said, follows the
 Trade. follows capital, it also been said. iI ade, it can truly be said, follows ties. W Orleans is providing ideal fa- es, and providing them on a scale bounding magnitude. Indeed noth- has made greater impression on las Illustrating the rebirth of the ?, than the renaissance now active id energetically under way at New hns, the metropolis and leading port he south.
 hat is embraced by the Mississippi y, the mammoth funnel which B its riches into and through the of New Orleans? e Mississippi valley is that region
 between the Appalachians, the ies, Canada and the gulf. Within be records show, are produced 30 ent of the continents wealth yield er cent of all the corn 87 per cent e iron ore; 82 per cent of the az tural implements; 95 per cent of coal; 61 per cent of the cotton pr cent of, the lumber; 70 percent be live stock; 97 per cent of the ur; 66 per cent. of the salt; 70 bent of the oil. e fan-like system of transportation ties spreading out inland, from Orleans, is described thus: Evigable waters radiate from New ms to Pittsburg, to St. Paul and leapolis, to Kansas City, and will reach Chicago.
 intra-coastal canal for barges will iy extend complete from Pensacola townsville, Texas, crossing the Mis- Ppi at New Orleans.
 od railroads stretch out, like the ds of a spiders web,. to Atlanta beyond; to Chicago and St. Paul; |. Louis; to Kansas City, Omaha farther afield.
 corporation no manufacturing hipper, no importer or exporter be afraid that goods or materials gned vias New Orleans will not xpeditiously, efficiently and eco cally handled, or that storage fa- es may be inadequate. The worlds est cotton warehouses are here on iver front. So is the most modern
 elevator. A coal tipple, many
 of wharves, steel sheds unsur- Id for efficiency of equipment hort, everything modern Liver demands is here.
 d there is, no more earnest, able, Fetic body in, the country than the board, headed by R. S. S. Hecht, hom I recently spoke, and having other members, all successful busi- men who serve without pay and Fing the most untrammeled au- ty to go ahead and do things. e city has many miles of unused harbor frontage, Il miles of inner pr ship frontage and nearly 1O0,- acres of unused low priced lands, ble to be provided with private brs, at the mere expense of dredg- ehip channels through it, to con- with the recently completed ship on the rivers edge, an ambitious lighted project which cost $20,- loo.
 e port board has provided for de- ment along which ever basis ap- to customers, so to speak, Its phase policy is described thus: c, ownership of river harbor front, hercial sites and facilities, available
 users on equal terms-the sys- Bong in operation.
 blic ownership of inner. harbor and commercial facilities, there ubject to short term leases by bus enterprises.
 lblic ownership of inner harbor subject to long term leases and ess ownership and operation of |hercial facilities thereon.
 iyate ownership of sites on ship his of the main canal, and private rship and unhampered use of in- ial facilities thereon.
 i1914 imports and exports did not
 value of $200, 100000.
 ring the last five years they have kged $480,0O0, ,O00. Ten years the total will be-who can guess? ? 1913 New Orleans had not $1OO,- boo of bank resources. It now has oximately $500, 0,000,000.
 w Orleans lies below water level gh tide, and has therefore to pro- its existence by embankments of 8. Every drop of rainfall, every of sewerage has to be pumped over
 embankments into the river. In light against yellow fever, caused
 by stegomyia fasciata mosquito, tity destroyed 250,000 surface cis- which formerly furnished the only F supply, and installed a modern m nf filtered wafar NiIlinrsr had