The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-17
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

i with interest by the newspaper fraterni- ty It Is said that H. E. Brown, a country editor in Illinois, has perfected a machine called the "barotype," which will soon be manufactured in Chicago. The Mergenthaler in itself is wonderful enough, but the new invention promises to be a great improvement over the ma chimes now in use. The operator will have far less work to perform and the simplicity of the "barotype" will elimi- nate the necessity for having 9n ex- pert to see that 1t is kept in repair. Lines of varying length will be set and various styles of type will be possible. Anyone who has ever stood by and watched Mergenthaler type setting machine in operation will wonder how it is possible in these days of great achievements. A modern type setting machine is about as pear homan mechanism as can be found and the new invention must in- deed be a remarkable product of skill.
 Newspapers are giving much space just now to the tangle into which President Roosevelt has gotten himself by his guarded acceptance of the Seawanhaka dinner invitation. After it all it seems very trivial matter to cause such a disturbance. The affair is already in such a hopeless muddle. that state ments'' of the President, Secretary Loeb. Sir Thomas, Sir Thomas secretary. the secretary of the yacht club, the butler. the head waiter, or anybody else, seem to do very little toward clearing up the atmosphere. No one understands just what is the trouble and those most di- rectly interested seem to know less than outside persons. After all it is of small moment when compared to the Indian lands scandals, the Missouri boodling cases, the next presidential candidates, and other topics of interest. Even if President Roosevelt dislikes the yachts man, a state of feeling that is hardly probable the genial Irishman could per- haps be consoled, for the likes and dis likes of the nations chief executive are not always those of the people.
 Before the last presidential election "the full dinner pail'' was campaign slogan that was much in evidence. Now
 
 hear nothing of this argument that was used to tempt the votes of the Ameri- can working man. Perhaps he has had the full dinner pail so long that he has become accustomed to the situation and will have to be offered something like table d'hote dinner to impress upon him the advantages conferred on the nation by the republican party. The pail seems to be well filled at any rate and maybe the silence is a mark of contentment. The full dinner pail cartoons in the comic papers of four years ago were very interesting. In Judge, especially, the pictures were excellent. and even those who did not believe there was any bot tom to the pail enjoyed the hits at the democratic party made In such an ef- fective manner.
 At intervals the voice of the reformer the useless slaughter of birds. It is said that ravages wrought by grasshoppers and other insects in parts of the west are due to the great number of feathered protectors that are shot by pot-hunters. The work of these gentry is always high 1y destructive and the fact that they are influenced solely by love for sordid gain should elicit scant sympathy from humane people. For a long time war against the slaughter of birds for mili- nery purposes has been waged with varying success, but the pot-hunter has been allowed to slay on undsturbed. In Louisiana and other southern states, es- pecially, great numbers of birds are killed every year in this way, while the work of the true sportsman is equally destructive P. c.