davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

The stranger felt humbed in the pres ence of Standard Oil. When he returns home he will have wonderful stories to tell There is no particular harm in gufing about great masters of money. MT. Rockefeller docs not look either rich or happy, but large part of the congre- gation at the Fifth Avenue Baptist church is made up of people who are drawn thither out of curiosity to see him. He seldom goes down as far as 26 Broadway. People used to stand in front of the building to catch a glimpse of him. but they do it no longer. His brother William Rockefeller is at his office about once a week. Of the original Standard Oil crowd. all are taking life easy with the exception of H. H. Rogers and John D. Archibald, who work day in and day out, like a solar system. ,AIr. Rogers is the spectacular part of the business. MT. Archibald is behind the scenes. Between the two all the vast ramifications of Standard oil and allied interests are kept we'll greased
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
Close of Theatrical Season.

The doors of the Jefferson have been closed until next October, and the na, ture of the season can now be sum- med up. As a whole it was not a bowling success. The theatregoers of this town enjoyed three great and showy productions-the Tempest, that fairy tale of the masters ripest years, Ben-ETur with its array of Oriental imagery, and lastly Julius Caesar pre- pared under the watchful eye and deep insight of Richard Mansfield. Few sea sons indeed bring us three plays pre- sented with such wealth of details, eX, cellent acting and fine effects. Perhaps we should say, no season in the past has done so, and perhaps no one will in the immediate future.
 But there the good fortune of the season stops. There is not much more to add of a praiseworthy nature. The stars of merit stayed away as rule, and well-balanced plays were the ex- ception, not the rule. Instead there came a succession of worn-out plays and worn-out actors. The play without merit was ever at hand, while the play of real worth and meaning was eX- ceptional All plays at one-night stands cannot reasonably be expected to be ideal, but when high prices are charged something better than came to us in the season just ended, three times our of four, should be forthcoming. If good houses are desired next winter there must be a change in this respect.
 The season was marred with flood of musical comedies, socalled, although in most of them there was little real comedy and less music. The Foxy Quillers, big and little, were al most innumerable, and they kept on coming until the public appetite was sated. They paled on the taste of the patrons of the theatre, and it is req. sonably certain that such companies will be in less demand next season. They may be amusing, but an even ing's amusement of that sort at two dollars a seat is too high-priced The public will demand next season more for their money. The Florodora busi- ness has run it's course in this town.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
Tariff Revision Postponed.

In his Minneapolis speech President Roosevelt took up the subject of the tariff, and haziness and indefiniteness were as characteristic of the speech as were his efforts to pose at once as a tariff reformer and a Dingleyte pure and simple. He was unusually plati- tudinous at Minneapolis, and not until he was about to end his speech did he get down to anything definite.
 He does admit that the tariff is net wholly sacred at all times, but at pres, ent he is inclined to think 1t is sacred because whenever even single schedule is considered some interests will appear to demand a change in al most every other schedule in the law, and general upsetting would be ruin ous, he says. He therefore commits himself to the doctrine that the Ding ley tariff is at present sacred He does not want any change in it. il is plain, this side of November, 1904. This speech is significant, because it shows that the tariff is not to be revised "by it's friends" at the long session ol congress.
 He again endeayors to show that the trust question and the tariff ques- tion are horses of two differing colors, and yet neither he nor any other man can deny the fact that the trusts would lose control over prices if the markets of the world were opened to our con. sumers. The worlds prices would then be our prices, and our noble trusts would lose their chief object and power fc- harm.
 All prospect of tariff revision by tht Fifty-eighth congress is smashed in the head by the Minneapolis speech, an, the tariff-trust issue goes over to No vember, 1904, for final settlement There is not the least promise of re vision before that time in the Presi dents Minneapolis speech.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

Capt. F. w. Webster, president of the Huntsville Lumber company, is stock holder and officer in the new company.
 Geneva Reaper: Geneva county has about six lawyers, some or whom are forced to run farms in connection with their law practice in orcer to live; and yet some people think it requires two courthouses in which to do the enormous court business.
 Florence Times There is a good deal of activity in real estate in Sheffield and Tuscumba. It will not be long before all North Alabama will be ablaze with factories and furnace stacks. and things of that sort.
 Huntsville Herald: It is reported that the Madison Spinning company, one or the new cotton mills, will be put in op- eration in few weeks It is stated that Lawrence Sheffey will be superintendent.
 Huntsville Herald: William B. Bank head who Is getting up baseball team for this city states that one-haf Of the necessary stock has been subscribed. and in short while everything will be in readiness to enter the proposed new league. MT. Bankhead says ne is meet ing with great encouragement, and sees no reason why the project should not go through with success.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
On the Up. Grade Aqain.

Last fall it was quite the fashion among business men to predict the coming of a period of depression, and the prices of some staples and some stocks took some mild headers which were really beneficial and fully justi- fled. But all such clouds have passed by and it is difficult to say just what has cleared the commercial and fin aneial sky I
 Some say the change in the outlook is chiefly due to the favorable pros poets of all fall-sown crops, notably winter wheat and oats. The winter was mild, and the crops in question were well protected by snow, and the indications now are that the vast fields in the Mississippi valley will produce abundantly. If to these crops be added large corn and cotton crops nothing can prevent postponement of the long-lookedfor period of de- pression beyond even another year.
 But many other things have con. tributed to the improved feeling among business men. Exports of manufac- l tured goods are increasing, and the balance of trade will be heavily in our favor at the end of the fiscal year. It may outrun that of any previous year. the prices of iron and steel. too, in Europe are advancing, and at home all iron and steel prices are firm and the demand for such products heavy. 1 These goods are trades great baro- meter and there is no downward tend ency observable in any of them. Even nails bring a better price.
 It is plain therefore that buyers will soon tumble over each other in their haste to secure the remainder of the products of the furnaces this year. The waiting period is ended, and the buoy ant period is established in its stead or very soon will be. The period of de pression goes over to next year at any rate, and, if crops be good, to 1905, or rather in that case 1t will be indefn itely postponed,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
TIT TIT NOT WORK BUT LAZlNESS THAT
 MAKES MANY PEOPLE PREnATURELY OLD
AeJ53,raea

 and mental faculties, full of activity, working, travelling enjoying life like young women of 30i
 Some overdo it. you will say. I know a great many even do. But there is no country in the world where I saw so few people struck with all the affictions of old age as America. They all work and think.
 In fact, if you would see people really old. that is, feeling old and looking old, you must go to the fashionable resorts of old Europe. There you will see men and women who have never worked either with their bodies or their minds, or who have ceased to work early men and women scarcely more than fifty driven in bath chairs or crawling along suffering from gout, sciatica, lumbagoi rheumatism, asthma, coughing, pu1ling perfect invalids or cripples, at an ag' when workers of much more advanced age would be walking five miles a day riding ten or twenty, all up and doing alive and kicking.
 So long as the clock is wound up reg. ularly it will go.
 Work, work always! Never cease til the very last moment, and you will di' young.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

other, the true and orthodox time for buying a straw hat and putting 1t on is Easter day, in the happy climate of Alabama. Nature Is then budding and blossoming to beat the band; the other sex is not whit be- hind. and there is no reason why. the male population should not buy their straw hats and wear them on Easter day.
 At any rate there is no need to await the word from the frozen regions or from classic Atlanta or we. and seeppy Memphis Whenever a citizen of Jones valley feels that his fevered brow should be sheltered by cooler and more comfortable covering, he should proceed to adopt it, and if that feel ing overtakes a great many citizens on Easter day, as it properly may, all the better will it be, and all the hap. pier will the wearers of the straw hats be. There will be no one then to say them nay-to urge that they are rushing the season-that they should consult the almanac, and all that, for the climate Is not that kind of a climate It is a climate of an- other color, or at least of another tenn perature, and whoever desires to sport next Sunday a straw hat may do 50 without the fear of Judge Feagin and his exclusive hotel before their eyes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
1t out-herods Herod; pray you avoid it.
 Hamlet.
lJntair Returns of Property Values.

In referring to the high valuations of ''poor clay lands" in Jefferson and the low valuations of rich lands in Dallas, by tax officials, the Huntsville Mer- cury says. "The difference in assess ments is due to greed and graft. The politicians of that section are willing for the residents of other counties 10 pay the taxes of Dallas county, and that is exactly what is being done"
 The Age-Herald is inclined to think that the blame for unequal assess ments should be distributed much wider than Dallas county. Dallas may be an offending county in that respect, but it is not by any means the only offender. The entire state Is in fact full of inconsistent and unequal yalu- ations for taxation purposes, and in- stead of piling up censure against one county it would be better to assall the entire system in the hope that bet ter plan can be devised Other states have such plans. They have equaliza- tion boards that absolutely prevent one county from cheating another county, and unless something of that nature is applied in this state we see no remedy for the evil
 The state needs in other words some plan of equalization, and until such plan is provided no one need attack any county for doing what all are do- ing to a greater or less extent. At present each county is endeavoring to keep it's valuation as low as possible, believing no doubt that the other coun- ties are doing likewise. The entire plan of gathering valuations for taxa ton purposes is faulty, and until it is remedied no one should feel az grieved, for the laws and practice of the state invite underyaluations, and the race to that goal is simply swifter in some counties than in others.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
IN HOTEL LOBBIES.
A Wen neserved Appolntment.

William Hicks. son of Commercial Agent R. c. Hicks of the seaboard Air Line has been appointed to q eadetship in the United States Naval academy at Annapolis by Congressman Oscar W. un- derwood, said a business man.
 He Is a fine young man and is fully worthy of the honor. He is a member of the Brandon Light Artillery and is espe- cially well known among military men
 The examinations will take place in Memphis June 16. Crawford Long a son of Mayor Long. has been appointed with him as alternate.
 Ills father, R. C. Hicks, served an apprenticeship at the Annapolis Naval academy of several months, having been appointed from a Kentucky district back in 1SS0
 The appointment of young Mir. Hicks comes as a well deserved honor and he will no doubt maintain at the academy the excellent record that has attended his work in the past"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

\ OBSERVE that all the suburban towns
 about Birmingham are making pro visions for bond issues for public inn provements The residents of these towns are exhibiting their wisdom. They want that which really belongs to them before they become a part of the proposed Greater Birmingham. When the time comes for Birmingham to envelope them. so to speak, Birmingham must take along with these towns their bond issues for public improvements.
 The South Highlands was once a sepa- rate corporation. The residents of this section were smart enough to build sewers and put in all manner of improvements for which they issued bonds which Bir- mingham afterwards assumed. Thus East Lake, Woodlawn, Ayondale. North Bir- mingham and all the other towns here abouts are actively at work improving themselves and Issuing bonds for the same. in order that they may be attrac- tive resident and manufacturing locali- ties whether they are to become part of Birmingham or not.
 am a great believer in public improve ments Birmingham proper needs many that it has not at the present time; and from the mayors message. showing a large deficit for last year, 1t don't look like we are to have them soon There seems to be something materially wrong In the arrangements of the public affairs of Birmingham. I hope Mayor Drennen and his board of aldermen will be able to find a remedy during the new term to which he has just been elected.
 -%A
 Speaking of Birmingham, the impression seems. to prevail that we arc to have a demand for real estate for actual business purposes is greater thansit has ever been. The Birmingham Realty company sold something like $1000OO of vacant property last month and the sale of the Moore & Handey property to the Southern rail- way and the purchase of another site for the proposed new Moore &, Handley building on the southside, both at good prices. has encouraged real estate dealers very much. I am. told that there were more inquiries for prices on property in Birmingham yesterday than in any one day for five years past, and that several big deals in real estate are now being negotiated
 Real estate is yet very low in Birming- ham compared to prices in Nashville, Memphis and Atlanta.
 N
 President Rooseyelts western trip is said to he rnore fo beIn hi,oself tba,, to strengthen the republican party. Roose- welt wants to be nominated next year and he realizes that he has hard fight before him. The Hanna element of the party seems to be in control of the re- publican organizations in nearly all of the southern states and Hanna can certainly control the republican machine in Ohio. Senator Fairbanks of Indiana, who is a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

in spite of badly ventilated stages and dressing rooms, simply because they work and have their minds ever on the alert.
 And the men: The most hard working man in the world is perhaps, MT. Joseph Chamberlain. He is 66. l defy you, when you speak to him and see him at the closest quarters, to take him for a man of more than 20. And Gladstone, who felled trees in his park at SC. And Oliver Wendell Holmes, who made nothing of coming to New York from Boston to dine with his friends, at 7S! And Delaunay, who played the lover at the Comedie Franchise when he was 67! And Charles Wyndham, who still plays that part and still looks it, in England, and who is 64i And Ferdinand de Lesseps who, at 80 was cantering in the Bois de Boulogne al in the morningl And-how many more!
 The Americans are the hardest-work ing men in the world, and America has always struck me as a nation of young people. How many of them have l seen, men of 70 and over, plunged in work at their desk in newspaper offices at mid nightl How many old ladies have l seen in the full possession of their physical
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05

he will cut q very conspieuous as,,re in the next democratic national convention. observe that ex-Presdent Grover Cleveland is apparently very much unset over the stories that have been printed apopt his western tour-so much. indeed that he has given out a statement for publication in which he says he has no intention of going anywhere but to St Louis and that he will return to Prince ton by the most direct route. He says he has no idea of going 10 California or Colorado or anywhere else and that he is getting very tired of having to answer letters from all over the west. In conclud- ing his statement he says. "1t may be
 1sine to those who start such rumors but 1t produces a reverse result to those who are made the victims or such absurd canards"
 The eastern newspapers are devoting much space to J. Pierpont Morgans re- cent interview, in which he speaks of ''undigested securities" One newspaper wants to know whether they arc seeuri- ties which Mr Morgan has sold to other people but which the purchasers have not yet heen able to sell to anybody else, or are they securities which even Mr. Mor- gan has not succeeded in selling at all?
 During last year the New York Stock exchange listed stocks and bonds aggre- gating s3,sS2 000,000. or four times the en- tire bonded debt of the United States government. It is an open question in whose unfortunate financial digestive ap- 
 < %
 It is much talked in New York as to whether or not MT. Sehwab will eontinue as president of the steel trust. The story has been repeatedly printed that Henry Clay Prick former partner of MT Car negie, would become president of the steel corporation. Prick and Carnegie are known to be bitter enemies and I am told that when Andrew Carnegie sold his plants to the steel trust, it was with the proviso that he should name the presl- dent of the corporation for five years. Those who know Mr. Carnegie are certain that he will not name MT. Prick, snd it is believed that MT Sehwab will continue as president if he desires.
 -& <
 According to recent Wall street state ments, the stock exchange value of the stock and bonds of the Louisville and Nashville railroad has suffered a shrink age of about s15. 100000 since the purchase of this property by the Atlantic Coast Line. It is said that MT. Morgan ex- peeted to make a profit of $s, OOo GOO on his purchase when he originally secured con trol from John W. Gates, but that he turned it over to the Atlantic Coast Line people at practically cost and that these people are the ones who have suffered the loss as measured by stock exchange quotations.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
WISHING.

By Julia Neely Finch.
 When to its silence death shall seal And shut my lips, let no white stone Above me press it's pallid weight. Let scarce a ripple mark the place And Nature guard it's growth and grace. I would that giant trees would grow And bend above me lying low: That grass would run with lissome feet, And little wild things, wilful, sweet Would mark the coming there of spring. would that birds would build and brood Within the darkness of the wood Would fit about and fitting. sing And teach their nestlings all a-wing think the silence there would heal The hurts that life hath to me brought: That in that sylvan solitude
 There might some miracle be wrought Of fruitage fair and bloom renewed My life hath lacked in it's estate: My soul hath not the solace known. I would not mind were I forgot,
 There sleeping in that lonely spot.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
May cotton is again ten-cent cotto
clEsuRNE AND LAWRENCE.

From the Moulton Advertiser.
 Losses and gains in population by eoun- ties according to the last census. IS apain being discussed by The Birming- ham Age-Herald and other state papers. cleburne and Lawrence are the only. counties in Alabama where losses are reported, which no one but those familiar with the situation seem to understand Just before the last cen sus Colbert gobbled up big slice Of our county containing over 600 inhabitants, and this accounts for our decrease. Other sections of Lawrence county in- creased rapidly notwithstanding the heavy exodus to Texas. The trouble in cleburne was an imperfect enumeration, as was clearly shown at the time. The county only dropped off thirteen. but in one beat alone enough gold miners were found to more than double the reported loss. Cleburne is naturally one of the most prolific counties in Alabama. It is high dry and healthy, with no reason in the world for people moving away or even dying. A great injustice was done Cleburne by the last census, and we wanted recount, but a few native moss backs down there prevailed with the gov ernment to let it stand, and the dear old county has the stigma to wear for ten years The only trouble with Cleburne now is her illicit whisky industry. which seems to thrive in spite of Uncle Sam and his army of revenue officers. But for these wild-catters, who sometimes get drunk and kill each other, you would scarcely ever hear of funeral within it's limits Now, in justice to Cleburne and Lawrence, we politely ask The Age-Her- aid to clear up any unfair reports it's former publications may have set | aflOat about us,