davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Letters to the Editor.
Principal Not the Debt.
Editor The Advertiser:

Editor The Advertiser: ,.
 A noble gentleman, soldier of an nun dred fields. and statesman, mas grown anxious over the bonded debt of the State, and has prepared a bill TOT tMne me incoming Legislature to provide TOT lts extinguishment. In prlvate eNpiaha- tory letter he says: We nave neen pay Pai
 bonded debt has increased and not dl- unfinished in that time. When was young they used to say posterlty ought 10 pay it. Posterity has come ana mas gotten gray and no part of the debt Sas been paid" he bill proposes to pay S2b 000 a year, every year. on the pondeo debt, say, $9, 100000, as sinking fund:
 We are going to make more Ifnportaht start than this bill proposes Tn reilel liont .a the burden of the bonded debt we are going to refund it at very reduced rate of interest Can we go into the money market with a demand for low interest oh the refunded debt that Is haole to eA
 tinp,Iishment in less than a fixed long What is the bonded debt of Alabama? At per cent. interest it is $2i0oW SSo ood d wear. rent, you may say, que on S~s'VV,vVo ~ investment. The interest IS the aepe the principal may remain as long as tne am continues to rise. and me deWs con- tinue 10 fall. Can the State make money bv Investing $9,0O0,0O0 at the rate or s57n oOo a wear forever? Can the state invest Se. .O0O,UN in a penitentiary, ana coal mines, and farms, in 8 lunauc aSy- linn. in public school buildings, in Poly- teohnic Institute and the. appurtenances in machinery, land, etc, In system ot normal school buildings, In GnlVerslty hnilding, Law School and Medical Col iege Confederate Veterans Home. state House- etc. each and all essential to the health of organized society and govern ment at an annual outlay or puomc rev annes 10 the amount of S2l0,OoO? That IS inc question to be considered by the state as the State Is amidst it's actual environment. ~ .,,,+ +o W H. Vanderbilt: How much are you worth?' The answer was frank: can moi sav because l cannot tell the oaiahce between my debts and my property:
 Dent is an inevitable feature of the age and thus 1t has come to pass that Inter. est and not the principal is the dent
 in case of the sovereign, the state or any Whatever legislation may be necessary to an outside limit of the bonded dept to s9 OO0. GOO ought to be enacted; what aver legislation may be necessary to re, dnce the interest charges on the bonded Seht ought to be enacted. As time au- vances, our own people Will carry the bonds more and more and thus the state will he less and less burdened with 1n- terest charges. oS PHd@'
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Educating Filipinos.

We greatly uoubt the wisdom of any attempt to impose Massachusetts or ono morals upon the tlnplnos by ieglslauon' They are not nearly so much concerned about their independence as Frying WtnsloW would like to see them, but then game chickens are quite another affair. 1ney have been raising tnelr chickens and matching their chickens and betting nn their chickens from time immemorial for generations and centuries perhaps, The Virgiinans of George Washington tlme were fond of the same cruel sport. our English ancestors delighted in It. Certainly 1t Is no more cruel than trap shooting with live pigeons for the shoot ers to exercise their skill on.
 Better educate the t1llplnos up to the enjoyment of our more civilized amuse- msnts-baseban and footoall-than at tempt to suppress their chicken disputes by an arbitrary eexrcise of power. They cannot be made to understand why it Is done. In their eyes 1t will be sheer, ca prtcious oppression, They are not wear ing crape for the departed Malolos gov ernment;" is it prudent to create new grievance that will go straight home to eIliplno hearths and bosoms?
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
SCARCITY OF HOGS.

The Memphis Cotton and Farm Journal eferring to the conditions existing among he Southern farmers. declares that few ave hogs to sell and 80 per cent of Iouthern farmers must buy meat and ard and in most instances mortgage heir crops to do so." and then asks the ,ertinent question: Gan we expect to wer be prosperous with this condition of lffairs?''
 Speaking generally. we should emphati- ally reply that we cannot. We do not hink conditions in Alabama are so dis ouraging as the above quotation indi- ates, taking the State as a whole, but hat something of the kind prevails in many sections is beyond doubt. and The Advertiser endorses this paragraph from The Journal:
 It is a disgrace to the Southern farmer hat millions of dollars worth of Western neat must be imported year in And year ut without ever a chance for a dollar Q spent to return. Practically we must lorrow dollar to buy dollars worth If Western meat pay interest on that lollar and hustle to pay it back. So it is 10 mean Calculduon 10 say mat every lollars worth of meat produced in the louth is three dollars saved. It will not inly pay the Southern farmer to raise logs. but it will always be economy to aise the best hogs.
 We have written on this subject until really seems like going around in a nrcle to say anything more about it. ut every time we have 10 pay for a hece of bacon or pork. we are brought eellngly to a sense of what is lacking, md every time we see a wagon loaded Fith meat going out of Montgomery to upply some farm, we wonder how it is possible to expect farming to be profitable Ehen all who live on farms must be fed m meat shipped hundreds of miles. There las never been a time since De Soto lrove his hogs through our woods that ,ork could not be successfully raised in Alabama, and there is no hope for an In. dependent and thriving husbandry unless he farmers raise their own supplies That is a dead sure fact.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
DAMAGES FOR A DREAM.

In some paper few days ago we saw & reference to a prospective law suit which may involve consequences and sit nations sufficiently complicated to em- barrass King Solomon himself. As we recollect it, the trouble grows out of a dream. A man who had narrowly es- capped serious injury from fall. or a falling wall, or something of the kind. a few nights afterwards dreamed of the accident. and in his fright. and in trying to escape, he jumped from the bed and fractured his knee on the floor.
 That is the groundwork of the plot. and now the man is suing the company or corporation which was presumably blamabls for the original or first acci- dent. He reasons that the fright he re- ceived caused him to have the bad dream, or nightmare. which, in turn. caused him to jump out of bed and collide with the floor. Of course, he can make case in court and can find lawyers to prosecute it for him if he has the means to pay them. The company he is suing will dis claim all liability because he was not in jured in the original accident His law yers will argue that the said accident caused the dream, and the drsam caused a serious injury. That will bring on more talk and we imagine that the judges and juries will scratch their heads sev- eral times before the matter is settled.
 It may be, too. that the result of this trial will set pace for the future, and that dreams will become regular breeders of litigation. Lowell speaks of "the adanantine logic of dreamland," and Matthew Prior speaks of those who worry
 Till their own dreams at length deceive
 'em,
 And oft-repeating. they believe 'sm.
 And SO. if this man should recover dam- ages because an accident brought on q bad dream. we may have others. who see visions and dream dreams and who will believe that there is enough substance in them to base lawsuit on. There are so many cases where an ingenious attor- ney could find ground for a lawsuit. if the one in question is successful, that we may expect an entirely new feature to be added to court trials, and several chap ters to be sdded to the law books. Dreaming may become profitable in the days to come
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
A QUEER DECISION.

Sometimes newspaper comments on se- rious subjects are really amusing, as is the case with The Indianapolis Sentinel in speaking of recent Supreme Court decision in that State. It seems that a brakeman while riding on top of a car was struck by a low bridge and killed. Suit for damages was brought and whom it got to the Supreme Court that tribunal by it's decision exempted the railroad company from liability on the ground that the employe assumed all risk when he took the position. Thereupon The Sen tlnel says the decision is a travesty on justice, and adds:
 In this casa it is said that nineteen brakemen have been killed at the same point, and the court considers that by this time an employe should have learned to lie down or get out of the way in some other fashion. And yet it might fairly assume that nobody has tried to get kill ed, or has tried to butt the bridge down. Such decisions bring law and courts into contempt with the masses.
 It really looks to an outsider that the killing of nineteen men at one place makes the game rather monotonous, and it also strikes us that some method might bt found or invented which would make that particular bridge something else than a veritable death-trap. If 1t is i'm possible to raise the bridge tmbers SC that accidents of this kind could be avoid ed there ought to be some way of warn- ing the brakeman or of preventing col lisions
 But how about the responsibility? As The Sentinel says, it is not likely that any employe has tried to butt the bridge down, or that any of them have purposely tested the hardness of the timbers, but the decision of the court virtually as. sumes that no one is to blame but the unfortunates who have lost their lives But does not every employe of a rail. road take or assume a risk when he ac' cepts a position on 1t. just as much a. this brakeman did? If the company is not responsible in such a case as this how can 1t be held to blame in any case. It is a queer decision to us.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
SOME SPECIAL EDITIONS.

The ladies of the Episcopal Church of Union Springs took charge of The Bullock County Breeze last week and on Tuesday got out a 22-page edition, of which they and the office have good reason to feel proud. When the good women of any community set seriously to work to &C., complsh anything they are apt to make success of it, and they certainly did so in this case. Without specifying. we can say that the special articles and it. illustrations were highly creditable to all who W ere concerned in it.
 Last Thursday evening The Mobile Item issued a 32-page paper of which the mar agement may well plume themselves, for 1t had lots of good things in it. Not only the reading matter, but the illus trations were fine, the subjects well chosen, and the entire issue 8 credit to those who IT ade 1t.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Divorces Here and Abroad.

New 1ork Ir1 pune.
 No eruption of Vesuvius since the de- struction of Pompeii and Herculaneum has been more volcanic than the tre- mendous agitation in Italy over the pro- posed divorce law. The descendants of the ancient Romans have been shaken to their centers by the debates concerning the possible severanceS of marriage re- lations under the findings of referees con frmed by the courts.
 Roman legions of this era protest earn estly against divorce express trains of the traditional Chicago and Sioux City kind. Five minutes for passengers who want to be divorced was reported at one time to be d regular announcement in palace cars which made brief stops in Cook County, on the shores of Lake Michigan, in the course of their journeys westward But the tendency at present is in the direction of more reasonable delibera- tion in the settin; apart of welded cou- ples.
 The old reckless methods of divorce have passed out of public favor. Dt- vorces are now looked upon askance, at least to some extent, even in the Da- kotas; and Italy win probably become placid fin a few months and no longer be In turmoil over possible legislation af- fecting the permanence of marriage ties.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
SUNDAY, DECEMBER e1 1909.
DOUBLE GOLDEN SYMBOL.

The American Newspaper Directory uses csr- ain signs to denote the relative standing and merit of the whole neld of newspaperdom which comes under its notice. and one of these iEns is the mystic symbol I@1 denotlns golden, P which stands for high quality. and thus explained:
 "Advsrtissrs value this paper mors for the iiass and quality of it's circulation than for the ners number 0f copies printed
 Such papers are credited with single sym loi: but there is a higher grade. according to his standard authority. which have BOTH DUALITY AND QUANTITY. and require the DOUBLE GOLDEN SYMBOL col to describe adequately their standing.
 The Advertiser has been accorded this loubIs golden symbol 00l and Is the only ,aper so distinguished in this section of the touth
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
NEARLY ALL FAVOR REVISION.
Vote of Presbyterians on Creed Prac-
 tically All One Way.

Philadelphia Special to Washington Post,
 Rev. Dr. William ii. Roberts. stated clerk of the Presbyterian General Assem- ply, said today that thus far, out or the .,t presbyterles in the United States, 1O- have been heard from officially on the subject of creed revision, and practically ali of these are in favor of the overtures. Two voted against the preamble to the declaTatory statement and two agalnst overture No. $, which proposes to strike out from the Confession of Faith the statement that it is a sin to refuse an oath touching anything that is right and just being imposed by lawful authority.
 pr. Roberts expressed the opinion that there is a high probability revision will also be approved by the presoyteries that remain to be heard from.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Roseate Optimism
,attanooga Times.

Chattanooga Times, ., -
 farrine to The Norfolk Virginian-P1lot' recent wall that the Democratic Party has Tho man to lead 1t out of the Wild erness," takes the altogether hopeful vlew of inc situation and says the Democratic Party has numbers of men among whom can be found "one who is both fitted and available and who is not han dicapped by having been a leader on eithar side of the Democratic army. ad- uniting that there has been two sides.
 If there is ono thing that characterizes The Advertiser it is its beautiful and roseate optimism. Admitting only for the sake of argument, that there mas heen ,wo sides anything more whole some and healing to party nerves than that? If anybody should say that all fac tional differences are not healed. he don know what he Is talking about. MT
 Bryan and Mir Watterson are dwelling together in brothsTly unity, not to speak of thA Hon. Grover Cleveland. We aEFst
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Humanity Transcends Business.

Boston Globe.
 Before the people. or we may say the Congress, ever permits a strike to occur again 1t will doubtless think twice. Op- orators may discourse wisely upon the principles that regulate business. It all goes in easy times. But when an insist ence upon the last business penny finally leads up to crisis like that of this week, when hundreds are carried to the hospitals with frozen feet: when wide spread pneumonia threatens to follow overexposure. and when even it is pro posed to close the public schools, there Is something more serious than mere bus mess at stake. The old school of business economists will yet find that business principles cannot stand against the hu- manities.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

money is lavished on those who do not need 1t, and, therefore. have no more right to bounty than has any other citi- zen. We will be asked whether we would "Iauperize the veteran" No. Nor would we tempt veterans to make both paupers ard perJurers of themselves.
 Even under our laws there are pension CTS who ought not to be on the roll. but there is no doubt that some such system as prevails in Alabama would save mil lions of dollars and much of the scandal now attaching to the pension business oi the National Government.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

The Kansas City Journal wants the South's representation in Congress cut down in proportion to the voting popula- tion, but The Syracuse (N. ID Standard opposes it, declaring that ''the outburst of sectional feeling which would result from an attempt to reduce Southern rep resentation to the limits suggested by The Kansas City Journal is thing which the people of the North are particularly anxious to avoid"
 Of course. there are many wlde-awake men in the North who have no desire to monkey with such proposition as this because 1t is gun which might kick. There are communities up there which might feel the effects of this method of apportionment
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Castro's Way.

Chicago ChronIcIe.
 An individual down Indianapolis way who spent some time in Venezuela year or two aKo asserts that President Castro ia "a weak, cratic, dishonest and cow ardly man. The statement is interest ing, but its importance is somewhat min Med by the fact that the Indianapolis person was in Venezuela as the repre- sentative of the asphalt trust-a concern which Castro prevented from stealing some millions of dollars worth of Gov ernment domain even at the risk of a row with the susceptible Jehn Hay.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
GOVERNOR FoRBIDs A BALL.
Chief Executive of Nebraska Takes
 Methodist Discipline as Guide.

Omaha, tNeb.) Telegram.
 Governor elect Mickey has just made an announcement at Lincoln that will probably become as famous in State an- nals as David Bennett Hills celebrated dictum, "I am a Democrat" has become in the nations records.
 It is, "I am Methodist"
 The utterance has caused gloom to Lin coin business mon and society women, for it means there will be no inaugural ball this year.
 Arrangements for the social function were near completion when a committee of the Lincoln Commercial Club went to Mir. Mickey to tender an invitation. To It's surprise, he turned the members of the committee away with a direct rebuff. 'I am a Methodist. gentlemen, he said. with deprecatory gesture, and Meth odists are opposed to dancing. l am a trustee of the Wesleyan University and it would be as much as my good name is worth to even give my consent to such a function, much less attend it."
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Free Trade in Coal.

Johnstown. (Pa.) Democrat.
 When President Roosevelt was on his stumping tour he declared in his speech at Cincinnati that anthracite coal was on the free list. All of the Republican spell binders echoed the same declaration. The Democrats showed that anthracite and bituminous coal were both subject to duty under the tariff law; they were de- nounced as prevaricators. Election is now over and President Roosevelt aoknowl- edges that he was mistaken and recom- mends in his message that the duty be re- moved from anthracite coal.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Won Bet on Money.

The man who is ever ready to bet on anything, a sort of John Watch-Me Gates on a small scale, said suddenly to group of members of Mug House Club: "Ill bet a case of ketchup to a bottle of curry powder that there isn't a nan in the party that can name the denominations of United States paper money All lost. and all were abashed when he mentioned sl, s2. S.. $lO 20. $50. N0O, $500, $1,OOO; $ OD0 and SlO,OOO, Most men are unaccus- toned to handling notes above $lO0, and few eyer saw one of $10,O00.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

Washington. Dec. 20.-(Special. )-The thinness of the ice upon which we tread in the matter of the Monroe doctrine. and having regard to our national natural in- firmity of temper. in that we are a hot-headed people, must have been some what alarmingly evident to the more conservative of us all these past few days, having regard to the Venezuelan embroglio.
 There has not been an hour within these ten days past when this country has not been in measurable distance of a danger ous complication with Great Britain and Germany in respect to that wretched little South American standardization of revolution and corruption-Venezuela The danger is not yet passed, but happily 1t seems to be passing.
 There has not been a moment fin many days when sober minded statesmen have not feared the worst. What some of us term "our national honor" as regards the Monroe doctrine might have involved, and may yet involve this country in war with the Germans and the British, for which we are no more prepared in fact than France was prepared for the disas- trous strife with Prussia and it's German allies in 1870 and relatively our condi- tion in such a war would be as bitterly mains the lamentable error of our national life that we mistake mere big ness for real greatness and mere bluster for military prowess.
 Many of our people often lose sight of the fact that we are neither a warlike race. we Americans, nor a warlike power in the world. We are peaceable people, conscious of natural strength, but not always conscious of our Limitations.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
DEMAND CLEVELAND.

MT. Sheppard, who travels all over the South, representing the mercantile house which he has successfully represented for over twenty years, is powerfully i'm pressed with the condition. forced upon his attention wherever he goes. that the people are coming more and more to de- mand that MT. Cleveland resume his place as the Democratic leader. The Southern people. as this widely travelled and most intelligent of commercial travel lers find them. cherish the hope that MT. Cleveland will see his way clear to lead the party of which he is the greatest and most illustrious member again to victory; if not for himself as the Presi- dential nominee, then for some other man upon whom he and the party can bestow entire confidence. with the assurance that the nation will likewise give its con- fidence.
 This intelligent and wisely observant Baltimorean, who is so well known and esteemed in Alabama and throughout the South, is one of the great multitude of business men not in politics, except as a patriotic duty, who are looking to MT. Cleveland to again lead the Democratic party to success and thereby rescue the country from the grave perils which threaten 1t internally and externally.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
Can Do as They Please.
Selma Times.

Selma Times.
 The fact of the business Is, the cailihe of an editor is not a whit beneath that of a Governor, so the editor of The Times will write articles over his own name whenever he sees proper, if by so doing he can make them carry more weight than the usual I've" kind. Editors can do as they please, while Governors are snnetimes tied up by environment.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
An Usual Sight.
Abbeville

There was a load of hogs. about doz- en, on the street Wednesday. an unusual sight hut they found ready sale. No doubt there was more clear profit In this load of hogs than there is in one horse cotton crop.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21
THE ADVERTISER GREAT.

Shep Sheppard. who is a native of West Point, Ga, and who has a large number of kinsfolk in Alabama, In which State he is known and held in high esteem by all merchants as the representative of a famous Baltimore house. and as one of the best of all good fellows between the seas, was a visitor to The Advertisers s Washington bureau today.
 In this MT. Sheppard gave pleasing echo to the very warm and cordial ex- pressions of admiration and good will of the Alabama delegation In Congress and the large Alabama colony in Washington. all of whom rejoiced at the plain evidence of The Advertisers abundant prosperity. They all of them are proud of The Adver- tiser as the great and deservedly pros- porous State newspaper of the great State of Alabama
The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-21

To be Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives must be a good graft. judging from the fact that there are sev- en candidates-and each one is sure of his election.