davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
A FOREIGNER COMMENTS
ON WASHINGTON SOCIETY

pected direction, what is the title of your
last bookY
T answered the question and turned to
my companion.
~ should say when one does not
really wish for a long tale, but wishes to
be entertained for the mo-
again some one sprang up.
How near completion is your bookf
I understand you are writing one on
American women. 1t makes us bit ner-
vous, Mr.. Blank; but 1 also hear you
are very kind
81 assured the third interrupter that
while 1 was not at present writing book
upon American women; that being their
devoted admirer, 1 should consider it
pleasure to do so in the near future.
WELL my dear Miss Blank I ven-
tured again, there are moments when We
want, really need, something to engage
our attention for the time, and it is this
publishers watch out for. Now, 1 would
suggest that you do not cover more
than
oh, do let me shake hands with you,
Mr.. Blank. I've always wanted to shake
the hand of a real, live author Mother
doesn't know I'm down. I'm supposed to
be studying. you know. Good night. And
I'm awfully sorry I'm not grown came
from the lips of the hostess youngest
daughter.
"Then 1 turned to my fair charmer.
There is certainly something fatal about
this corner said. Come with the crowd
and l shall tell you something about your
book But even there it was impossible.
and at this stage I was not sorry, for it
gave me the opportunity of asking If 1
might call, when we could discuss the
book, and as Bliss Blank had expressed
her inexperience upon such matters 1
ventured to ask permission to edit it, thus
making very delightful acquaintance.
while the custom is far from serious,
the idea of everybody with something to
say and nobody waiting until it is said Is
a little novel to me. However this does
not materially detract from the really
charming American people,"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
Local Cotton Warehouses.

The New York cotton exchange is
considering the establishment of
,ystem of licensed and authorized
warehouses in the south, In which cot
Ia will be inspected and certificated.
nd from which deliveries can be
ode.
nfhe plan is still in the hands of
ial committee, but its nature Is
Hlznown. It includes the certifica-
MA of cotton on national scale, one
\ The being to make the New York
Ter : exchange the head and front of
!. Am The center and focal point of
educational system. In short, the
New York cotton exchange pro-
poses to license warehouses and sam
piers throughout the south, especially
at the larger centers of cotton
accumulation. The cotton at these
points is to have samples drawn, and
such samples are to be forwarded to
New York for classification as to
grade. The cotton is. when sampled,
in the custody of warehouses licensed
by the New York cotton exchange, and
will be graded and certifcated as II
it were in New York warehouse, all
being guaranteed by the New York
cotton exchange.
How the southern cotton exchanges
will regard this scheme for the ag-
grandizement of the New York cotton
exchange remains to be seen. New
York is losing control of the export
totton trade, and 1t hopes, no doubt.
20 regain some lost ground through
the proposed system of warehouses
licensed by itself. However the sub
ject is rather complex, and there may
be compensating gains in it for the
entire cotton trade.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
BEEF PRICES RISING.

From the New York Commercial.
Despite the Knockout administered to
the so-ealled beef trust by the Federal
courts, the prices of beef and mutton
have been advancing steadily for six
weeks past. The wholesale quotations
are now from 20 to % per cent higher
than in middle February. So 1t seems
that there must be something in the world
besides trusts and combines" that puts
up prices The Hon. Philander Chase
Knox should set his seuths on to the law
of supply and demand and run it down.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
Stocks and Trade In NAV.

The month of May is at or near the
end of the crop year, and as a rule it
is month that develops weak spots
in the market. Speculation stands
still, awaiting the outcome of the
growing crops, and while it stands
still any weakness in business or spec
ulation is apt to be brought out and
emphasized and utilized by the men
who desire lower prices.
This is history. Last year in May
came the collapse of the Webb Mayer
syndicate and the anthracite strike.
and stocks were weak almost to the
end OF the month. In May, 1901, the
Northern Pacific panic occurred, AMI
stocks were for while weak, although
they rapidly recovered. In May, 1900.
stocks were exceptionally weak
throughout the entire month, iron
prices went down, and a speculation
in cotton collapsed In May, 1899, ex-
Governor Flower died. and liquidation
went on throughout the month.
Deweys victory took place on May /,
1898, and stocks became buoyant, ana
so remained. In all these years there
Shs only one May in which business
was buoyant. and that was the year of
isy's unexpected and far
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
Women's Clubs.

A cynical man remarked: THE Min
erva club of New York, which. as its name
implies, is exclusively feminine in its
makeup devoted its latest meeting to a
debate as to what is the greatest of hui
man inventions. One woman argued that
1t is the wheel; others contended for the
hammer, the gas stove, the printing press,
wireless telegraphy and a variety of other
inventions
but no one, singularly enough, sug-
gested the woman's club. Yet surely when
we reflect of how much pleasure and
utility this modern organization has been
to unmarried women who have passed be-
You'd the period of hope for the occupa-
ton of domestic cares, to married women
who are unhappy In their home life and
to both single and welded women who
have social instincts without the entree to
fashionable functions, the woman's club
must be ranked high up in the catalogue
of the greatest human Inventions
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
The Ways Of Dressmakers.

From the Baltimore Herald
The ways of dressmakers have alwaAs
been a mystery to their helpless victims,
but the latest episode from local fitting
rooms is positively amazing. A certain
young girl, who is rather extravagant in
her purchases, recently happened upon a
choice bit of mercerized stuff which she
knew would develop into the smartest
shirtwaist suit The dressmaker was
consulted by phone and the required
number of yards purchased.
Now, one great qualification of this par
ticular dressmaker is her ability 20 SUBJ
ject all wash material to shrinking
process prior to making 1t up. On this
occasion the girl was much surprised to
be told several days later that more
goods would be necessary.
''Why?" she asked in establishment Il
got as much as you told me-"
Yes, l know, sweetly, but it shrunlS
so dreadfully that 1t will need about three
yards extra"
The girl was in a dilemma. A trip to
the store revealed the woeful fact that
no more goods like hers was to be had
Back to the dressmaker with the infor-
nation that the suit would have to be
taken away, as there was not enough
the dressmaker, so she demurred and fin
the dresmaker, so she demured and fin
ally said: well, I tell you: I'll do the
best l can and see that 1t doesn't look too
skimp.'
Her best" proved to be just the de-
sign first decided upon and there was no
apparent economy of goods. So while
the girl is delighted with her frock she
is agitating two questions, viz: Did the
dressmaker contemplate a new shirtwaist
or is she a genius for making bricks
without straw"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
Flourishinq Industrial Plant.

I'VE have a plant in Fort Payne that
will be a credit to our city and to the
whole state as soon as we get it a little
more thoroughly equipped, said ex-Con-
gresham Howard of Fort Payne yester-
day
ut is a china factory and is the only
thing of the kind south of the Ohio river.
Great improvements were made in it by
Banker L. c. Harding during his stay in
Fort Payne for he was instrumental in
the expenditure of about $500 on the
plant. About $1,000 more will be put in it
in such shape that the best grades of
chlnaware can be produced. 1t is the
intention ultimately to get the factory
thoroughly fitted out so that hand painted
ware can be manufactured.
1T looks to me as though the plant Of
fers a fine opportunity to a set of good
business men who will take hold of 1t and
push the manufacture of the products for
which it is fitted to their greatest posi-
bilities"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
Good STAGE settIno.

IL. B. Carleton, stage manager for the
George Fawcett company, is certainly
original and enterprising in setting his
stages" said a theatrical man last
night. Yesterday he hired wagons, and
getting several stage hands and members
of the company he spent the afternoon in
the woods, chopping down small trees
and shrubbery to be used in The ANA
IONS next week. He intends having a
forest as nearly natural as possible, and
he brought a small-sized one back &c
town with him. Mr.. Carleton staged
many of Maude Adams original produc-
tions, and is considered quite an artist.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
THE GILES CASE.

From the New York Tribune.
There is not the slightest question that
the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments
confer civil rights. They are not merely
political declarations under which con-
gress acts at discretion as in the mat
Ter of executing treaty promise or an
nexing territory. The former has time
and again been successfully invoked to
secure citizens of the United States
against misuse by state governments of
their powers. Nobody attempts to deny
that constitutions like that of Alabama
are meant to deprive the negroes of their
rights as federal citizens without taking
the same rights away from white men.
Some southern politicians say that they
have been clever enough to do this indi-
rect1y, but 1t is a fundamental principle
of law that what is forbidden directly
cannot be done indirectly. There are 9TH
err cases coming up to the Supreme court
which it is believed will bring the validity
of the DISTINGUISHING and discriminating
constitutions more directly to the Issue
and make more difficult evasion of the
real question of negro rights under the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.
Somewhere, somehow, there must be a
way of passing on the constitutionality
of state laws which plainly nullify the
spirit Of the federal constitution, and it
is no more an assumption of the admin
istrative functions of a state government
for the court to declare that state au-
thorities cannot deprive negroes of a bal
lot on pretexts which do not exclude white
men than 1t is for the court to override
any other action of a state or its officers
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
About Persons.

J. F. Helms of Philadelphia is at the
Hillman.
John F. Boyer of culiman Is stopping at
the Morris.
Nelson c. White of New Decatur is reg
istered at the Metropolitan.
j. A. Swanson Of Lagrange. Ca. is
stopping at the st. Nicholas.
f. E. johnson of St. Louis is at the
Hillman.
Morris
william Kirkland of New York is stop
ping at the Metropolitan.
C. w. Tyler of the New York Sun staff
is at the Hotel Hillman.
H. B. Conover of Hartsell is registered
at the ST. Nicholas.
A. MacGregor of Chicago is at the Hill
man.
A. C. Carpenter of Boston is registered
at the Morris.
Allen P. Howison of Randolph is
stopping at the Metropolitan.
d. w. Day of Hartsell is at the Nor
ris.
F. zeisler of New York is stopping at
the Morris.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
From the Washington Post.

rum the washington Post.
~ FOREIGN author who speaks
PA with enthusiastic appreciation of
Americans in many ways makes
diffident comment on one thing that he
did not find so praisworthy.
with many gracious qualities of Amer
lean people in mind, said he, you can
picture my surprise when 1 found that in
high society politeness as our grand
mothers understood 1t is not so rigid GER
tainly in one respect, ana that is that the
people Of acknowledged culture will so
unceremessously interrupt ones CONVEX
sation. have ..eard many of the cul-
tured people apologize for the habit by
saying, We all do it, and this seems suf-
ficient excuse to continue the practice.
Far be 1t from me to criticise the
Washington people. They are delightful,
and nowhere have I received greater cor
diality than in their homes. But 1 shall
never forget the first dinner 1 attended
here In Washington. The hostess, well
known for her successful dinner parties,
was charmed, and said So The night of
the dinner knew 1 would meet number
- NiShth6 hiSiSu ptODit anu perhaps De
presented to them as an author that one
heard of now and then, so naturally, be-
ing stranger in a strange land. felt
bit nervous.
Everybody and everything was charm
ing, and after dinner drifted into a lit
tie corner with the young lady whom
had taken in to dinner. She proved to be
another interesting woman, and was kind
enough to praise some of my books she
had read. 1 certainly felt as if I were
amid old friends, and was prepared, in
fact. desired, to become better acouaint-
ed. We were very interested and inspired
by her earnestness, was deep in the plot
for a new story. Now, how many pages
do you think what is termed a short
story, like the one you are telling me,
should Govern she asked. am thinking
about writing one.'
Well, for story to catch the eye
i'm
oh, Mr.. Blank came from an unex-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
There are no drafts on the Bank of
Motherhood which are not honored with
out discount.
why is 1t that a girl with curly hair
always seems to be In the bad graces of
the girl whose hair Is straight?
The thing that puzzles a mother most
about her baby Is how 1t resembles its
father and yet looks so much like both
George Washington and Napoleon
The hardest thing in the world to con-
vince a woman of is that her husband
can't remember the name of an old photo
graph she finds among his bachelor relics
Anyhow. when a bachelor wants to read
his newspaper at breakfast he doesn t
have to lay 1t down 20 discuss whether
the baby had better be a Clergyman as
his goodness suggests, or President as his
genius demands.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
The Havana Post.

One of the best newspapers published in
Havana-the best printed in English--ls
the Post 1t has recently changed hands.
Under the new regime R. 7. Tanner and
Halsey b. Leavitt are the proprietors.
John w. Stone becomes the associate ed
itor and w. A. Varty the city editor.
Mr.. varty is well known and greatly
esteemed In the United States. He is
thoroughly equipped for his work and will
give the readers of the Post all the local
news that is going.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
FAvoRs SUNDAY BASEBALL.


Greenwich Comm Telegram to the New
York Times
Sunday baseball playing promises to be
feature this summer as well as golf
ing on the Fairfield County Golf club
links owing to the action of William
G. Rockefeller, who has provided the
ball field for the Volunteer Baseball club.
Last summer couple of church deacons
appealed to William Rockefeller to stop
Sunday ball-playing on his property. and
he was quoted as being opposed to IL.
This season the Volunteer fboys ar
pealed to the younger Rockefeller, who
summer residence is not far from the bi
grounds, and We're given to understa
that Mr.. Rockefeller did not want to 81
the fun of any boy and that they co
play ball there every Sunday. provi,
they raised no disturbance and submit
to the decisions of the umpIres witt
loud discussions and did not adve
their games so as TO draw out-of-'
people. They are not to advertise
clubs to meet them. In fact, Mr.. r
Teller did not object to the playiI
Sunday ball provided there was n
torety attached to it. The first
was played yesterday. and next s
the White Plains team will play
No posters or circulars will be
uted.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02

IN HOTEL LOBBIEs.
Clearing House Gains.

while bank clearances do not always
give a correct idea of eity's business,
the steady increase in the clearing house
totals of Birmingham are certainly Sig
nihcant and gratifying" remarked a
prominent business man.
The gain for twelve months ending
April 30, 1903, over the twelve months
ending April 30, 1902. amounted to nearly
$21. 100000.
For the twelve months Just ended the
clearing house total was a little more
than $50, 900. It will not be many years
before the Birmingham clearing house
reaches an annual exhibit of 100000, OOO.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
MANY USES FOUND FOR
OLD COTIILON FAVORS


instinct f6fS the bizarre and fantastic
"hlch SHOWS IN the primitive negro GUS
TOMS
Probably for lack ef more seemly head
stones the negroes in thu southern par
ishes have always decorated,their friends
graves with pieces of glassware and
china. Broken pitchers plates, ssaucers.
goblets, coored vases and the like show
out in ali the plantation burial grot4ads.
And rivalry exists as to which grave
boasts the most striking collection.
Thus it happens that at this minute
china conceits designed for New York
banquets and ball Shippers are set up to
mark the resting places of unsophisti-
Gated citizens. A china horse, a gilt
wand huntsman with a gun are some
of the show pieces.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
From the Springfield Republican.

From the Spr1nBnelu fepuDllcdn.
For what can congress do? 1t can, of
course, proceed under the fourteenth con-
stitutional amendment to cut down the
representation of Alabama In congress
proportional to the cutting down of Ala
bama's voting population by the operation
of the present constitution; but this would
leave the fifteenth amendment a dead and
abandoned provision of fundamental law.
and the question is whether that part or
any part of the federal constitution can
be nullified or set aside In this off-hand
manner.
Plainly the fifteenth amendment has
been violated in the practical effect of the
Alabama constitution. which denies the
right to vote on account of race and color.
But that question awaits official determi-
nation and the United States Supreme
court alone and not congress can decide
it. Congress is powerless In the matter.
and II all attemps of the question are to be
put down on various technical grounds.
as In the present case, then the fifteenth
amendment will have to be considered
as having been hung up in the national
musemum for people to look at as one
of the curiosities of the reconstruction
age.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT

From the New York Sun.
The party policy which invested the
emancipated males of African descent
with the full right of suffrage was partly
the result of supposed political expedi-
ency; partly of an ignorant over-estimate
of the possibilities of development inner
ent In the race. The costly experience OF
more than a third of a century, the span
of a whole generation, has demonstrate
ed the tremendous double mistake. The
south has long known 1t. The north is
fast learning it.
However, the direful consequences
of this error of national judgment in
1869 and 1870, may be successfully avoid
ed in the twentieth century by local ex-
pedients in evasion of the spirit. If not
of the letter of the fifteenth amendment,
the probability remaining that sooner or
later the country will nave to face
squarely the question OF its repeal Per-
haps the sooner the better for the dig
nifty of the instrument that now exhibits
as a fundamental principle of the Ameri-
can system a theory OF suffrage of prac-
teal application with safety to vital in
terests of the states chiefly concerned.
When even the Supreme court of the
United States this very week, in the case
of the clash of the Alabama constitution
with the fifteenth amendment declines to
interfere, and dismisses the appeal for the
enforcement of the negroes to the unre-
stricted franchise. the time cannot be
far off when American common sense will
be ready to go fearlessly to the root of
the matter
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-02
negro Suffrage Question.

A fuller report of the decision of the
Supreme court in the Giles case does
not render 1t less significant or con.
elusive. Justice Holmes, in delivering
the opinion of the court said:
1.-THE other difficulty is of different
sort and strilSingly reinforces the argu-
ment that equity can not undertake now
any more than II has In the past to en-
force political rights and also the sug-
gestion that state constitutions were not
left unmentioned in paragraph 1879 of the
revised statutes by accident"
This settles it. Paragraph 1879 of
the Revised Statutes defines the cases
in which a person deprived of his
rights may have redress. 1t relates
strictly to persons, and 1t does not
mention state constitutions.
The Giles case practically dumps
the entire issue upon congress, and
congress cannot be induced to take
up the exciting and troublesome sub
ject of representation before the No
vembe.' election of next year. The re-
publican leaders do not propose to
have the campaign complicated with
race question.
The New York Evening Post dis
cusses the Giles case at great length,
concluding its article with this bitter
and vindictive paragraph:
Judicial relief from this injustice is
denied by the Supreme court. It declares
that the remedy for such political wrongs
must be political. That points the way
to the next step. Congress must act.
Vt has full legal power to enforce polit-
Gal remedy. Under the Fourteenth
Amendment it can reduce the representa-
tSon of those states which disfranchise
large classes of their citizens. Still more
effectively, perhaps, can action be taken
under the clause of the constitution
which provides that leach house shall
be the judge of the elections. returns,
and qualifications Of its own members"
The house may go behind the face of the
credentials of southern representatives.
1t can inquire into the registration OF
voters, can expose unequal disfranchlse-
ment, and seat contestants who may al
lege and prove that lawful voters were
deprived of the right of suffrage In any
case, and in all ways the south must be
given to understand that there is a ma
| tional conscience which will not sleep
In the presence of injustice to the negro.
He is entitled to the full and equal pro-
lection of the laws. The suffrage can not
be taken away from him unfairly His
right to be educated, to improve his lot
to hold office when fit, can be questioned
no more than that of any other Ameri-
can citizen. And the sooner the republic
can party sets about the work of COM
plet:ng its mission in behalf of the negro
the sooner will 1t create a soul under the
ribs of death"
This, no doubt, indicates the next
and remaining phase of the problem,
but the radicals who are urging that
southern representation be cut down
will not be gratified-at least not very
soon. Neither the President nor the
responsible republican managers will
listen to any such proposition this side
of the presidential election, and it is
not necessary to borrow trouble over
what may happen in 1905, or later still.