The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-23
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

desire to make their trips with as little expense as possible, and still others are simply stingy persons who have a strong dislike to paying a full price for any thing. Tn spite of the discoura ging class of people with whom they have to deal ticket scalpers usually make hand some profit. Little investment is required and the purchaser takes a large share of the risk, so that dealers in cut-rate trans portation are determined to hold on to a good thing for title while longer
 The New York Commercial is now run ming a series of articles entitled The Gold Bricks of Speculation" that should be of vital importance to people in all parts of the country. These articles are written by John Hill, Jr., member of the Chicago board of trade, and therefore supposed to be conversant with all the ins and outs the get-rich-qui schemes. In article No. 1, an introduction, MT. Hill states that one hundred million dollars annually Is about the sum the civilized and progressive people of America pay into the coffers of investment sharks It would seem a difficult thing to estimate just how much money is thrown away in this manner, for not every man who is caught gives the game away. It is safe to say, however, that the figure is not all too large. Being in a measure one of the .'get-rich-quick' gentry himself, MT. Hill should be able to give us some very instructive advice. If the columns of the Commercial are perused now they may to not yet been laughed out of their fond ness for gold bricks, under whatever guise. All our farmers who are pictured as being easy victims should subscribe at once and there are many wise" gen tlemen in town who might be able 10 learn a few things.
 As result of the vagrant law now in operation in Georgia great numbers of idlers are congregated in Atlanta. As soon as the law drives them out from smaller communities they go straight to the cities and 1t is now estimated that there are at least 2OOO persons in the Gate City who can be prosecuted So far very few arrests have been made. The police are going slow with the evident de- termination of disposing of the vagrants in a systematic maner. The terms of the law are rather stringent and as a re- suit there are many who fall under it's indictment. For instance, "all those per- sons who are professional gamblers and live only on what they win are vagrants; all persons who let their children work and live on their wages are vsgrants; all persons under sixteen and under twen- ty-one, who are able to work and do not do so, and have no parents to support them, are vagrants; all persons who do not work and have no property are grants; men who desert their families are vagrants." It can readily be seen that such law is sweeping in its nature and will gather up all the riff raff of human ity. If similar bill is passed in Alabama we may expect to see the same migration toward Birmingham that is now troub- ling Atlanta. This town would be a Mec- ca for idle and vicious persons who are driven out of smaller towns and that part of our population that is undesra- ble would be still further augmented.
 The announcement comes from Glasgow that we may expect to have the four day transatlantic liner in the near future If the Cunard Steamship company will ac- cept the proposition of a firm of engi- neers to fit out the new ships now build ing with turbine engines of 7500O horse power. The turbine engine has recently demonstrated it's effectiveness in a re- markable manner by cutting in two the trip across the English channel The en- gineers promise that coal consumption will be decreased by one half, although more than day will be clipped from the voyage across the Atlantic When 1t is remembered that the horsepower sug- gested for the new record breakers is just twice that of the Deutschland, some idea of the prodigious feat the engineers hope to accomplish may be conceived.
 PC.