The age-herald., 1900-04-08
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE


 Success awaits thee in thy business and family affairs, and thou wilt have a for- tunate year generally The young will court marry.
 A child born on this day will be lucky in all that it undertakes, will rise quickly in life. and be much respected by all who know it.
 Today is Palm Sunday. the Sunday before Easter, and is celebrated in the Catholic church in commemoration of the triumphaI entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, on which occasion the multitude cast branches of trees before Him-"Took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet Him, and cried Hosanna" These branches are rep- resented by sprigs of palm, or, in coun- tries where the palm does not grow, by those of other trees, as the fir. willow, yew, and box. The branches are blessed by priest and are distributed to the cons gregation, who wear them the rest of the day. The custom prevails of gathering and preserving the palms, which are after wards burned, the ashes serving for use upon Ash Wednesday. It was an anicent custom for pilgrims returning from the Holy Land to bring with them palms for
 
 theran churches also observe the day.
  Whence the crowds in the streets las, night? It is doubtful if on any other ordinary night in the history of the town were the throngs of the people nearly so great At various points the broad side- walks were practically blocked, and as late as 9 o'clock good-natured policemen were In ;nlIx ,J., moving in order to prevent traffic from congesting too disagreeably. Retail busi- ness houses and the sidewalk fruit-selers did a great trade, the stores being thronged with customers till late in the night. The perfect good order maintained was most noticeable. There was apparently no drunkenness and no rowdyism. The great ness of population of Birmingham and the suburbs has not heretofore been so amply illustrated on ordinary night. Large numbers of the people were newcomers here, as was made evident by their talk and their lack of familiarity with the town and it's ways under electric light.
 Sensation-mongers are trying to make something monstrous out of the alleged maltreatment of an American consular agent by revolutionists somewhere in South America, and 1t appears that a sen- ator has brought the case before the sen. ate," said Q man who was formerly in service under the government ''There are no facts before the public, and therefore judgment as to the merits of the case must be reserved. The consular agent who claims to have been strung up by the thumbs and otherwise brutal1y dealt with, Is said to have written long statement of his side of the question to this country, and to have put forward a claim for $26,- 900 damages. But without corroboration this is not likely to be accepted as evi- dence. The aggrieved man is apparently not a citizen of the United States If he were an American and at the same time a consular agent of America he would be odd enough for the lecture platform or the freak room of dime show. Our consular agents foreigners almost without an exception. They receive no pay from our government; their only remuneration di- rect being fees, and many a one of them doesn't get from that source exceeding 8 dollar month. Appointments as consu- lar agents are supposed to be worth some- thing in business and social affairs There
 
 providing that all consular representatives of the United States shall be American ctiens. That is eminently proper, and no other plan can be proper. But it's adop- tion would mean the adding of some six hundred names to the payroll of the treas- ury, and that would be terribly outrage ous' in view of the fact that the consular service as it stands in it's inadequacy is 0 source of direct profit to the treasury. As for the consular agent who has been wronged in South America, it is extreme- ly doubtful if our government could make out case for redress. He is the subject of coutry, resides in another country, and represents yet third power. It would appear that commonly accepted principles of international law bar him from the blessings of a presidential mandate from Washington. Yet we are likely to hear a great deal more from congress and the press regarding this foreigner who is pri- ma facie twice removed from the jurisdic- ton of this country
 In respect to the reprinting of the Ala bama Reports by the, West Publishing com pany of St. Paul, reference to which was made in The Age-Herald yesterday, the publishers declares:
 I've propose to issue a verbatim reprint of volumes 1 to SO Alabama Reports, and the eighteen preliminary volumes, with an- notations and with the original paging pre- served''
 This is important to lawyers. more es- pecially since it has been enormously stated that the reprinting referred to "49 to S2, inclusive" MT. Edgar Burton, repre- senting the firm, reports satisfactory prog ress in his work.
 In Birmingham, Mobile and perhaps oth- CT towns in Alabama, there is personal re- gret because of the death of Rev. Alfred Young. He was, with Hecker of the founders of the Paulist community, and was one of the best-known Catholic priests in America. Father Young was the author of widely-read works on Roman Catholo- cism and on church music. One of his books, Catholic and Protestant Countries