The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-30


 prone to believe the Exchange the mirror on which is reflected the output of the mine; the product of the loom and forge of mill and factory; the state of the labor market and the conditions which regu- late the volume of transportation. Re- cent financial disturbances have abund- antly demonstrated that low prices for bonds and stocks may prevail when the business done by the corporations issuing such securities is profitable; indeed mar ket values have been lower than when the same corporations have made a less profitable showing. Causes, simple as the laws of nature, have produced these con ditions, yet there are many who refuse to recognize them. They prefer to as- cribe complex and unnatural reasons for the depression or profess to see in 1t the scheming hand of shrewd fnanciers. When entirely at loss for solution they say: Rockefeller.
 There is a good deal of nonsense talked about John D. Rockefeller, senior and junior. One would suppose they were the arch-enemies of mankind In general and the financial world In particular. Meas ured by the same standard that Is appli- ed to other men engaged in the building up. or maintaining of fortunes, 1t is hard to discover anything to the detriment of the Rockefellers. True, they enter the arena of finance well equipped to meet all corners. They possess the tremendous advantage of unlimited power. They have money, brains. connections, skill. This is their equipment as financial gladiators. In every contest they relatively hold the same position as in the pugilistic an or dinary pedestrian would against an ac- credited champion. But the world is large enough for the pedestrian and large enough for the champion not to clash; and everybody knows that when the champion becomes a menace to society he Is cut down by many pedestrians unit Ing against him. Strength, brains, and \ skill find preservation in sound enter prises conducted on sane principles.
 Many year ago there sat behind an. old fashioned loom in an Alsatian village weaver's apprentice, learning the trade that was to win him bread for little while, and dreaming dreams that have at last been realized. That is the first glimpse which is given of Heinrich Conried, the autocrat of operatc music in this city at the present time, the suc- cessor of the great Grau and a long line of predecessors equally fllustrious. Far easier of achievement the highest mill tary command from the ranks than the baton of the director and manager in the Metropolitan Opera House from such beginning. Great things are expected of Herr. Conreid this season, and from the announcements thus far made there is likely to be no disappointment. Nearly all the great European singers will ap- pear in the best productions of the Ital- ian, French and German schools. Par sifal' will be the next great event, but 1t Is a long way off-next December. The enormous sum of sSo,0O0 is to be expended in it's production.
 I went to one of the European steamer wharves a few days ago to meet re- turning friend, and so saw walking down the gang-plank Mrs. Langtry, the Ser sey Lily" of years ago, who chanced to be on the same boat. She has lost the lily outlines that dstin nguisher her in the days when the friend of prince who is now king and an emperor, we first made her acquaintance; but In all other respects time seems to have made little or no impression , although she is a grandmother, or ought to be. How does she preserve that marvellously fresh com plexion and youthful appearance-her beauty. in fact for the beauty is still there in full evidence? Walking is her own answer for the purposes of pulp lication so that I will let it go at that. If I really knew, I should be inclined to go ahead and make million out of the prescription.
 At a restaurant the other evening three big silver dollars were dumped among the change of the one of the party who had been stuck for the supper. He weighed them in his hand for some sec- onds and started for the cashier. Why" said he "did you send me this load? Do you think I am truck driver and have my team outside? Beg your pardon" replied the cashier, "but I really can not help it. I have to take in hundreds of them every day and must get rid of some of them in some way" Further investigation developed the fact that the city is filled with Western people, and that instead of bills they hand out the \ shining cart-wheels on which Bryan ran in his two campaigns of disaster. The silver dollar was very nearly curiosity among us until this summer. New York CTS won't have 1t, and toss it back to the man who offers it. The dry goods houses I am told send them by the ten thou sand every day to the sub-treasury for redemption in paper.
 Among the announcements or the DOCK publishers for the fall trade there does not appear thus far first-class work by a well-known American author, or for that matter by a foreign one Nothing from Mark Twain, Howells CT a score of others that might be named. As for his- torians, the race seems to have died out. Is it the fault of the publishers? That is what a literary friend of mine claims. But few of them will undertake anything except fiction, unless the expenses are guaranteed. Here is a chance for some Carnegie to immortalze himself.
 Sir Thomas Lipton abhors the type writer-the instrument, I mean-for so- cial correspondence. All his letters are hand written by a secretary and look like copper plate. The body of the let ter is in green ink, a compliment to the Shamrocks l. II. III, l presume, but his autograph Is in black ink. The whole thingsis color combination of the green and black Lipton teas.
 company is being organized here with the object of inducing rich Irish Americans to purchase cottage sites on the Irish coast and so start fashionable summer resorts. Several of the wealthy ones have already promised cooperation and the idea may eventuate in success. Land is cheap. building inexpensive and the air and scenery delightful. The scheme Is one of the outgrowths of the