davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Possible Presidents.

Champ Clark's bill to add the sec.
rotary of agriculture and the secretary
of commerce and labor to the possible
successors to the presidency has been
favorably reported, and will doubt
less become law. There is no reas-
on why Mr.. Wilson or Mr.. Metcalf
should not be potential successor 10
the office of high sheriff, as we'll as
Mr.. Shaw, who wants high priced
things, or the ponderous Mr.. Taft, who
has bee buzzing in his bonnet.
The line of succession is headed. or
soon will be, by the placid Fairbanks,
and behind him will be lined up nine
cabinet possibilities, with Mr.. Hay
standing as No. 2. IL Mr.. Fairbanks
and Mr.. Hay should be knocked out,
Mr.. Shaw would become president,
and the cost of living would no doubt
be carried to record figures. After
Mr.. Shaw come in order Mr.. Taft, Mr..
Moody, Mr.. Wynne, Mr.. Morton and
Mr.. Hitchcock, and now 1t is proposed
to make Mr.. Wilson No. 8, and Mr..
Metcalf the tailender of the presiden-
tial succession team.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Reserve Cities in the South.

An explanation by Congressman
Bowie of the law passed at the last
session Of congress, permitting towns
Of $4,000 population to become reserve
cities, deserves the attention of all
readers. The lesser banks of Alabama
and Mississippi cannot keep any part
Of their reserves in this city because
this is not a reserve city. Whatever
they keep here at present is not count
ed as a part of their reserve because
of that fact 1t should therefore be
transformed into one. Mr.. Bowie ex-
plains the subject elsewhere in today's
paper.
By turning Birmingham into a re-
serve city a step would be taken that
would powerfully promote the creation
of a financial center in the heart of
the south. In that way the dependence
of the south upon New York would be
lessened, and the road to independ.
ence would be opened up Whatever
objections may appear to the oppor-
tunity now presented should be
waived for the good of the south.
Money kept here is money kept at
home, and money kept at home Is bet
ter than money kept in great city
one thousand miles away. It would be
as safe here; and our national banks
would have 1t IN their power to be-
come great factors in southern ad-
vancement and progress.
Mr.. Bowie's talk over the subject,
is convincing, and the opportunity is
one that should not be neglected.
From Louisville to, New Orleans there
is no reserve city. Let Birmingham
become the midway point, serving as
depository for the national banks of
Alabama and Mississippi, and possibly
Of Georgia.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
TIDES IN GEORGIA.
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
There used to be a queer character
over in West Georgia, old man Jimmie
Simpkins'' said Representative Heflin of
Alabama, in the democratic cloakroom.
'TIe was school teacher. Occasionally
on Friday afternoon, for the instruction
and entertainment of the patrons, he
would have the girls and boys recite and
declaim, but he was never happier than
when he had them arrayed on opposing
sides in a spelling match. and he always
explained the meaning of the words as
they were spelled.
zone Friday afternoon when Marys
Little Lamb had been executed several
times, and The Boy Stood on the Burn
ing Deck until he could no longer stand,
there came from every quarter of the
schoolroom little boys and girls armed
and equipped for a charge upon that
old familiar column of words in Web
ster's blue-back speller beginning with
the word baker This word being spelled
the teacher said:
That's right; one who bakes.' Shady
was spelled, the teacher saying: That's
right the shady side of a tree When
lady was spelled. the teacher comment
ed That's right grown-up gall Holy
was spelled, the teacher saying: That's
right full of holes Tidy was spelled,
the teacher adding once more: That's
right; when you drop a pebble in the
bosom of a placid lake. little ripple
steals gently across the surface, whisper
ing its message among the willows and
the lilies. That's tidy. But when you
stand on a seashore. and see wave half
mountain high coming with tremendous
force and breaking with great ambition
against the shore, sweeping everything
before 1t, that's a tide
This recent election" continued Mr.
He1in. was to us democrats tide
But" said he. fortunately for the peo-
pie, the tide GIBBS and flows
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
CENTENARIANS ARE NOW
NOT AT ALL UNUSUAL

Moreover, the Mexicans and Indians.
who abound there, have a way of num-
mifying as they grow old, and acquiring
a sort of dull, dried-up immunity to the
ravages Of time.
But It is hard to understand why the
proportion of persons over 100 years old
should be thirty-six times as great
among our colored as among our native
white population. The negroes In this
country are in a cline strange to their
race. They are careless, and live unsan-
itary lives. Their death rate is consid-
erably higher than that of any other
class. And yet they live so much longer
than whites that there are twenty re-
puted centenarians in Mississippi. eigh-
teen in Georgia and sixteen in Alabama
to every one in New York.
The director of the census explains
this anomaly by the simple conclusion
that the aged colored people get to be
eentenarians when they are really only
about eighty years old. He arrives at
his serious estimate of the number of
real centenarians in the country by figur-
ing on the basis Of the typical states OF
Iowa. In that state. out of 2,226.6S2 per-
sons of known age, twenty-six were re-
ported to be more than 100 years old
The corresponding proportion of the pop
ulation of continental United States
would give SS4 centenarians in the coun-
trv. Even this estimate Is regarded as
TOO large. Yet centenarians there are;
we may be sure of that.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
BEAN ON THE BENCH.
Justice as Dispensed BY Picturesque
Texas Judge.

From Golfers Weekly
private" John Allen has fund OF
stories illustrating the peculiar brand OF
Justice that used to be melted out at
Langtry, Texas, by the celebrated Squire
Roy Bean.
According to Mr.. Allen, Squire Bean
once sat in Judgment in the matter of the
killing at Langtry of a Chinaman by
local character named Jim Anderson.
with great solemnity Bean listened to
the evidence offered, to which no small
part was contributed by Anderson him.
self Bean had at various times during
the proceedings consulted book before
him. When he spoke 1t was somewhat as
follows:
This here book, which is a Texas law
book, says that homicide is the killing of
a human-male or female. Furthermore,
1t appears from the book that there's va
rious sorts of homicide-murder. man.
slaughter, plain homicide, negl'g gent hon.
icide. justifiable homicide and praise
worthy homicide. Then again, there's
three kinds of humans-white men, Mig
gers and Mexicans. 1t stands to reason
that a Chinaman amt human. If a
Chinaman was a human, killing Of him
would, the court THINKS, come under the
head of praiseworthy homicide. The pris-
'ner is discharged on the condition that
he pays for the cost and has the Chink
!, buried"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Interstate Commerce Control.

On all sides, from all parties and
among all sorts of people has arisen
clamor for control and regulation of
interstate commerce-of the railroads,
to use plain speech. The commits
sion has no power to fix rates. 1t can
not even prevent rebates In the sly
form of private cars, or the like Be-
fore the supreme court decision of
1897 the commission exercised the
power to put a just rate in the place
of an unjust one to be maintained UNI
til court should upset 1t.
In the present excitement all are
trying to jump into the control wagon,
but there are several wagons, each
having it's own little rut The rail-
roads are no doubt willing to see di-
version creep into the ranks of nu-
merous enemy.
But let no one expect because OF
the prevailing sentiment, or rather ex-
element, that the interstate commits
sion will be empowered to cut off all
rebates or to fix rates. The senate
will object. 1t will at first. ask for
more time in which to consider so big
a subject. 1t will want all summer
for that purpose, and when the subject
comes up again in the winter of 1865
it will lack the edge and acute phase
of today. 1t may then be squelched
with impunity, or softened into ineffec-
tiveness.
The president still Iavors. 1t is said,
the Quarles-Cooper bill, but the prob
ability is that he is not strong enough
to fight the question out at the present
session of congress. 1t will go over
to the next congress.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23

member of the state convict board, is at
the Morris
A. G. Barrett of Knoxville is at the
Hillman.
A J. Preston of Jasper is at the Hill
man.
e. H. Barnes of Atlanta is at the
HilIman.
]. T. Russell of Knoxville is at the Co
1onial
w. ]. SILVER of Pine Bluff is registered
at the Colonia
E. NJ. seay of Littleton is at the Met
ropolitan.
Walter S. Mcneil of Fayette is at the
Metropolitan.
w. ]. Cunningham OF cullman is at
the Metropolitan.
w. M. Huey of Batelle is at the St.
Nicholas.
A. M. willette of Carrolton is at the
st. Nicholas.
H. L. Grant of Riverside, is registered
at the St. Nicholas.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Where Should Cars Stop?

II believe that all the street railway
companies In the country should agree
upon which side the cars should stop
and make the rule a universal one," re-
merked travelling man, yesterday.
ITO show how important this is, I will
tell you how the lack of such regu-
lation inconvenieneed me today. I was
in a great hurry to go out to Ensley
this morning and as I have Just been
in several cities where the cars stop on
the far side of the street. took up what
I thought was the proper position. The
rule of the Birmingham Railway. Light
and Power company requires the cars to
stop on the near side of the street, a
rule which I didn't know l missed three
cars before I found out what the rule was
governing the stopping of cars in this
city.
Now 1t seems to me there Is a remedy
for this. 1 understand that the street
railway officials have convention every
year and I don't see why. among other
matters. they don't adopt universal
stopping law"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.
Il King Richard II.
Mack and Lawson in Court.

Henry Wellington Wack and other
New York lawyers have been retained
by II. II. Rogers and perhaps by other
Wall street operators to stop, if posi-
BILE, Thomas w. Lawson's pen, as well
as his tongue. Wack is especially
afraid that European investors will be-
come frightened, and will not buy
American water. To this Mr.. Lawson
replies as follows:
II fully agree with you 1t is time the
American people and the investors of Eu-
rope knew the facts about Amalgama ,pd
and other equally fragrant swindles-
know the process by which the people
are ruthlessy plundered of their savings
by a few INSCRIPTIONS men. l also
agree with you, If | am telling untruths
for the purpose of making money or for
any purpose, or am in a conspiracy of
any kind with stockholders or others,
I should be sent to jail, and the quicker
the better. You may rely upon me to
assist you in getting at the facts at the
earliest moment possible Talk about
Straton's Independence and United
States shipbuilding As swindles they are
as Goldfish to cannon balls compared
with Amalgamated, Steel, and others.
What will the world say when in court
II it is shown that millions of corpora
tion money have been paid out in stock
jobbing commissions to make fictitious
and fraudulent quotations for the purpose
of npsfepresenting the market price to
swiYdle the people out Of their savings?
BY all means get the honest and fear
less district attorney of New York and
have him rip the whole affair up the
spine, down through Adams apple, the
wishbone, and both rows of ribs"
The Rogers crusade is more par
ticularly directed against the circula-
tion of Eyerybodys Magazine, in
which Thomas w. Lawson is telling
all he knows about the operations of
the Standard Oil crowd, especially in
the manipulation of Ama1gamated
Copper. Behind Rogers is the Stand
ard Oil wealth gathered from every
household in the conduct of a monop-
oily; and now the question comes up,
can this wealth become in Rogers
hands a powerful censor of the press?
He attempted at the outset to stop the
mail circulation of the offending mag
azfne, but he encountered opposition
In the postoifiee department. Failing
in that respect he now proposes to as
sail the American News company with
the damages and penalties of criminal
libel. He may not have to prove in
New York the falsity of the Lawson
statements. II Lawson has told but
the truth, should the American News
company be punished? Is the truth to
be suppressed whenever and wherever
1t does not please the Standard Oil
crowd. headed by H. II. Rogers?
The point involved is just this Can
wealth of the Standard Oil size create
a censorship of the press? That is the
question at issue, or rather that is the
question the plain people of the coun-
try are interested In.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
GO SOUTH, YOUNG MAN.

From the Washington Post.
Mr.. William Frye Tebbetts. collector of
the port OF Mobile, a guest of tho New
willard. Is a northerner by birth and a
kinsman of Senator Frye of Maine.
mo young man could have been better
treated than 1 have been in my adopted
home" said Mr.. Tebbetts. Instead of
going west I would advise the youth of
the country to seek their fortunes in the
south. for. undoubtedly this is the flu
ture garden spot of the nation. The
southern people are growing stronger
financially with each recurring season.
as can be readily seen, when 1t is remem-
bered that every new crop of COTTON
adds 5000 700 to the cash resources of
the cotton states. There is one bank in
the town of Birmingham that has $1,000
900 in deposits, a total few Of the big
cities OF the north can duplicate
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
From the New York Mail.

From the New York Mail.
~ MONG the legends which statis-
(P71 tics have proved true Is the le-
= gend of the centenarian. There
was a time when incredulous people
shook their heads and scorned to believe
that any one ever lived to be a hundred
years old. Now we know that many
people do reach that age. In the United
States in 1900 1904 persons were returned
as being above that age. The census
bureau says that there is no doubt that
this figure is an exaggeration.
The distribution of these ancients
through the country is very unequal and
In some respects extraordinary. The
number of centenarians reported to every
100000 of population varies from twenty
one in Arizona to less than one-half a
centenarian In South Dakota and Wyo-
ming. The states which report only one
centenarian to every 100000 people are
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa,
Massachusetts,, Minnesota. Nebraska
New Jersey, New York, North Dakota.
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. These
are among the heafthiest states in the
Union.
Arizona's immense centenarian popula-
ton Is easily accounted for. Not only Is
the climate very dry and healthy, but it
is singularly uniform, the winter being
much like the summer. The best is like
the worst People forget that the sea-
sons are rolling past. They forget to die.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23

preston, and we want more. But the
chief lack of Alabama is soil tillers.
Two-tnirds of this state is unculti-
waited, and italian immigrants could
soon fill the state with small farms,
creating here and there Cullmans and
VInemonts. If we could bring all home
energies in cooperation with the ltal-
ian immigration socleties-if the land.
holders of each county would give the
subject careful attention, we could
turn a stream of italians this way, and
every one of them would, If pleased
with Alabama, become an immigration
agent for Alabama himself.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
The only thing nobody envies anybody
else Is goodness.
Some people are so jealous they can
even envy another for being divorced.
When you have a whole lot of money
you can ride in a street car and be re-
spected for 1t.
A man who can be serene when the
water pipes In the bathroom freeze and
burst is an ideal Christian.
When a girl is afraid to show her an
kles it isn't so much proc of the way
she was brought up as Of the way she
was built.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
IN HOTEL LoBBIES
Hunting Preserve.


we are all glad to hear that ION
ashford. of Birmingham, is to open por-
tioh OF his large plantation IN North
Alabama on the Tennessee river as a
hunting preserve" said his friend Capt.
r. Sid Jones yesterday.
Mr.. Ashford has long been reeog-
nized as an expert dog man. For years
he has conducted a large kennel, devoted
exclusively to the breeding of pointers.
lie Is an ell around sportsman and a
noted shot, but of late, he has been de-
voting his time to coon and postum
hunting. In fact he has now decided to
open up coon and 'possum preserve in
the lowlands of his plantation.
This is to be fenced in and held for
his friends who are not expert bird shots
He has started a kennel of coon dogs
and Is now looking for the best In the
country. lie has purchased Haul a
noted coon dog and has engaged the SER
vices OF negro, who has an enUaDle
reputation as a coon dog trainer. This
man will have charge of his park Of
coon dogs and is in the market to pur-
chase any dog. male or female, that
has a record.
This preserve will be a closed propo-
sition and only open to those who re-
ceive invitations from Mr.. Ashford. His
friends will keep IN close touch with
him from now on and predict great
success in this coon preserve"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
RHINocERos BuTrED TRAIN,

From the st. James Gazette.
A collision recently occurred on the
Uganda railway, British East Africa,
that would be possible nowhere else on
earth. A huge bull rhinoceros rusheo out
of the bush and charged at full speed
the so-called "up-mixed" train, which
was slowing down as it approached the
station Sultan Hamoud. 2lS miles from
Mombasa. The train was stopped, and
the 'rhino' was discovered about 100
yards down the track. Slowly he re-
turned to the jungle. and was lost to
sight. He did not escape unframed, for
pieces of his thick skin were found adj
herring to the train, but the ferceness of
his assault smashed the engine step and
splintered the inch and a half footboard
of the drst carriage.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
Italian lmmiuration.

Commissioner of immigration Sar-
gent says the influx of foreigners dur
Ing the coming year will be much
larger than in former years. In that
lease full million will arrive at our
ports, and about one-quarter of that
number will consist of Italians.
If out of the 100000 Italians that
will come to this country next wear
Alabama could secure ten thousand.
what blessing it would be to a state
over two-thirds of which is unculti.
waited?
DR.. John A. Wyeth, himself an Ala
Fbamian by birth, has studied the Ital-
bans in their Italian homes, and he
urges the south to make good its de-
diciencies in labor by attracting Ital-
nan immigrants. He saw no drunken
tpersons in the farming sections of
Italy, and the Italian immigrants to
this country come from the farm la
lborers Very few indeed come to us
from the cities of Italy. The climate
is almost like our own. The country
Is overcrowded, and the Italians come
ito us in a proper state of mind to be-
come Industrious tillers of the soil.
abundantly confirmed in this district,
where there are several thousand of
italians at work among our industries.
Thcv have created an excellent in,-
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
SUCCESS.

Victor Smith In New York Press.
Charles Midas Schwab was poor bare
footed boy in the mountains of Pennsyl-
vania. Today he is able to drop $4,000, 900
Ia deal and look pleasant; wears shoes
costing $50 pair, lives In an apartment
for which he pays $4,000 a pear; build a
$1,000. $50 palace, and pay S. for a one-cent
newspaper. That is the very essence OF
material success
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-23
In City of Mexico.

This dream about the Mexican money
being better than American money is
pipe sure enough said Charlton Morgan,
travelling passenger agent Of the Texas
and Pacific railway. who has just re-
turned from a trip to Mexico. When the
passenger agents got their money chang
ed up and got two dollars for one of
American money they thought they were
getting something for nothing, but they
soon woke up.
"A hat that costs s. In America, costs
twice that amount in Mexico, and every
thing was In proportion In other words
we did not get off cent to the good.
Il will tell you a funny thing about
the policemen In the City of Mexico There
the policemen stand on tho corner in the
middle OF the street, and he always has
a lantern. He places that on the ground
and the rules governing tho department
require that he shall not so more than
forty feet away from 1t. You can always
locate policeman by his lantern, and
no is never hunting around In tho dark
for burglars as American policemen are.
In that way they are a burglars par
adse.
birmingham is well known In Mexico.
Everywhere l went I was beseiged with
questions about the town, and I found
that Vulcan was as well known In Mex
leo as in Alabama. also found num-
Der Of the Vulcan statuettes In Mexico,
and also that Birmingham coal Is shipped
to Mexico and that some of the railroads
use 1t in their engines.
Il also met numbers of people who have
lived in Birmingham and who asked about
friends here. There were not few rail-
read men In Mexico who had been con-
nected with roads running out of Birm-
ingham.
eve witnessed a bull fight on Sunday
while in the City of Mexico, over 200 of
our party attending. There were over
1900 people present.