The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-08

 influenced by day-to-day happenings i; one day or one week may excite optim- ism and the next day or the next week bring pessimism It will be appro- priate. following the anniversary of the nations birth, to examine, not the ups and downs. of one day or one week, but the progress made over a longer period. An inspiring picture of our national advancement and expansion Is presented in the following sentences selected from an address made by Peter O. Knight, before an important con- vention of business men held in New Orleans.
 "On the Fourth of July, 1716, the United States of America was born and in less than century and a half Ii has grown to be the giant of the earth, the banker of the world, with one hun dred and twelve million of people, a national wealth of three hundred bill lion dollars and no class or group con trolls the financial well-being of our citizens.
 We haee grown so great that we have city that has more population and wealth than Norway or Sweden or Scotland, or Ireland, or Holland, or Belgium, or Denmark, or Switzerland, or Cuba, before the war.
 We now have in our vaults more than d. half of the gold supply of the world.
 ;. ':In 1891, when 1 organized the Ex- change National Bank of Tampa, the largest bank in the United States had what seemed to me the stupendous sum of thirty millions of deposits. Now, in New York, sVe have the National City bank with over seven hundred and forty million dollars of deposits. The banks of New York have deposits of more than five billion dollars, more. than twice the deposits of all the banks in the United States in 1890. And today the total deposits of all banks amount to $37,O0O,OOO,O00 with A billion of banking resources.
 "The steam railway mileage has in- creased from 53,000 miles in 1870 to 26O,0O0 miles in 1924. The gross reve- nues of the railroads in 1915 were two billion, eight hundred and seventy-one million dollars. The gross revenues were in excess of six and a half bil- lion dollars.
 ."The wages paid to employees of the railroads today amount to approximate ly two billion, eight million dollars, equal to the gross receipts of the rail roads in 1895.
 Since 1870 the value of farm ami malls has increased from one billion, five hundred millions. ito nearly ten bil- lions; cotton from four million bales to over ten million bales; coal from twen- ty-nine million tons to six hundred million tons; petroleum from two hun dred and twenty-one million gallons to twenty billion gallons and steel from sixty eight thousand tons to thirty seven million tons.
 Tn 1860 the assessed value of prop erty in the entire United States was only twelve billion and eighty-four million dollars; and in 1923 property subject to general taxation in the south alone was assessed at thirty billion dol lars, which is thirteen billion dollars more than for the whole United States in 1880.
 Tn 1880 the total value of the farm products of the United States was two billion, two hundred and twelve million dollars and in 1921 the value of the south's farm products alone was ap- proximately eight billion, five hundred million dollars.
 We are producing at the present time about 76 per cent of all the corn in the world about 30 per cent of the hogs we produce 65 per cent of all the cotton grown in the world.
 "The turnover in dollars and cents in the federal reserve bank operations alone amounted last year to the stag gering sum of five hundred and fifty billion dollars.
 While it was common talk after the war that our steel mills had tremend- ously oEerexpanded the United States Steel corporation is planning to ex pend fifteen million dollars this year for continued expansions.
 Twenty -one years ago the total life insurance in force was ten billion, two hundred million dollars and the years total of life policies taken out during the year 1923 was twelve billion dol lars-nearly two billion dollars more than the entire amount of life insurance outstanding in this country 21 years ago.
 Wages are higher than ever be- fore in the history of this country and the standard of living in the United States today is unquestionably the highest in the world.
 At the close of last year, there were nearly 15,300,000 automobiles in the United States and 15000 moving pictures.
 "Yet there are today 31,OOO,000 savings accounts among the twenty onemillion families, or one and half savings accounts to every single family in the United States. the highest on record.
 "Since 1914, we have purchased from Europe some four billion dollars of se- curities formerly held there.
 Tt is conservatively estimated that last year three billion, six hundred million dollars of new securities were issued
 We have no pestilence. no famine, no disease. nor earthquake, no vol canic eruption, no destruction or prop erty. and 1 confidently assert that our country, as whole, is in sounder position and fundamentally stronger than ever in its history. And we have made progress not only financially as no other nation, but we have made more improvement in the arts, sciences, and inventions than the rest of the world combined.
 "Also, we are spending more money for education and for religious pur- poses than all the rest of the world combined"
 Have we reason to face the future falteringly3
 WINE CROP BURNED
 ALGIERS, July 7,-Heat so intense that it has been described as "a wave of fire has been sweeping the wide