davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Cotton Acreaue Increase.

The mule and the labor supply and the distribution of moisture, each and all are factors in determining the size of the cotton crop. Because this or that man is putting in few acres more, no one is justified in saying the crop will be this or that percentage larger. The season is the arbiter of tribute to the result. Acreage does not determine the outcome.
 This is particularly the case in Texas, where there must be careful cul- tivation if crop is to be gathered in advance of the gathering done by the boil weevil The destructive insect is partial to men who do slovenly farm ing. It vastly prefers a half-worked field, field carelessly cultivated, in which the growth is slow and late. A rapid, healthy growth, eliminating in early maturity, defeats the boil weeYil at least in good part. Acreage in Texas is a minor factor, whereas thor ough cultivation is all-important. The use of fertilizers and the activity of the blows will determine the size Of the crop.
 It is almost idle to base estimates at this time in the season upon acre. age. Cotton has many difficulties to encounter between the seed and the gin, and no man can say in April what November will bring forth The Shreve- port Journal explains the situation when it says: Cotton growers know all about it. Cotton writers don't The cotton crops size depends-well, as the niggers say, it 'des depends.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
PLUGGING SWEETHEART
 WHEN HIS EAR FELL OFF
From the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald
 "\OR a cause undoubtedly unique In N the history of the art of love
 making an international court ship which promised to add link to the chain binding the east with the west has been rudely broken off. The abashed suitor had sought seciusion to hide his shame and his inamorata has been taken to the country to recover from the shock to her pride as well as her heart.
 But great would have to be the love which could resist the sort of shock a young American girl, whose name has been carefully suppressed by all who are concerned in this story, received at the hands of wealthy Japanese who has been living in New York.
 One of the things about the Japanese which the young woman admired was his glossy long hair. which he wore well down over the sides of his head, so as almost completely to conceal his ears. Her surprise was considerable one even ing recently when he came to cal, on her and the heavy masses of hair had been cropped, but greater surprise was in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Monorail Trains Great Speed.

From the New York Commercial
 working model has lately been shown in London of the proposed monorail be- tween Liverpool and Manchester. The model, which is going to the St. Louis exhibition, Is one-sixteenth of the actual size, and demonstrated the fact that a monorail train will not jump the track.
 The running wheels are in the center of the train. straddling a Roman "A'' shaped structure, at the apex of which Is the rail. The under work of the carriage hang down on either side, and there is an ingenious arrangement of horizontal wheels which runs along the guide rails half way down the sides of the Roman "A" with fanges beneath.
 When the train takes a curve the pres sure falls upon these horizontal wheels and there Is thus practically no more risk in turning curves than running straight
 MT. Behr. the inventor said the speed of the railway to be built from the model will be one hundred and ten miles an hous.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Great Style by Ohio.
From the New York Commercial.

From the New York Commercial.
 It long ago came to the notice of the senate officials that every state in the Union has Its own individual style for credentials to United States senators. In beautiful execution and display of ex- auisite crimson ribbon Ohio surpasses them all.
 A few weeks ago the credentials of the late Senator Hanna arrived and were presented in due form by Senator Foraker They were bound within the most costly morocco. and the boards that enclosed the parchment. white and pure as the driven snow. were tied with ribbons, Not long afterwards an exact duplicate of those cre- dentials was presented again by Senator Foraker. but this time in behalf of Sem ator Dick. who is Hannas successor. But Senator Dicks credentials were more in- teresting than those of Senator Hanna because they were for exactly seven years service. Senator Dick has one year to serve before the regular six-year term begins.
 Senator Foraker occupied himself sev- cral minutes untying the beautiful rib bons, inspecting the parchment and tyA ing the ribbons again. The credentials were eventually read by the clerk and placed on file,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12

, their wings were not and lively times en- sued. The young ladies lost their souv- enirs on the way home while the young men were converted into amateur Nim- rods in their efforts to capture the fowls, Such souvenirs would prove immensely popular down south for Darktown host esses who wish to make a hit with their friends and would be not at all de trop as the aftermath for a watermelon feast.
 The life of a baseball player after his days of usefulness are over is often sad story. Not many years ago the coun- try rang with the name of Amos Rusie. one of the greatest baseball pitchers America has ever produced. Rusie pitch- ed for the New York Giants and was the idol of baseball fans from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While in the zenith of his glory he was well paid that he could live in style. but now he is earning his daily bread as a common laborer in sawmill Rusie was paid the highest sal ary of any pitcher of his day but now he tolls all day for s1.50 The former cham pion is fallen and his mighty arm is no longer able to hurl ball with that mar vicious speed and accuracy which distinguished his work in the old days. Rusie has had hard time. For a while he tried to make living buying rags and old iron, but that proved a failure and he got job in a sawmill at Vincennes, Ind. For a time last season, Rusle pitched for small league team in the west but he did not come up to expectations and was dropped. It must be hard for a man who has had meteoric career on the baseball dia- mond to come down to the status of day laborer, but the life of a professional baseball player is hazardous at best.
 r For the man who desires to live with out working nothing Is more desirable as a means of earning living than keeping a lighthouse for Uncle Sam. The privacy is glorious, the independence equally so. and the small amount of labor entailed makes such a position most facinating to the man who has no ambition to shine in the world and merely wants to lead an easy life. When a person is working for Uncle Sam he is always sure of getting his pay promptly in lighthouse there is none of the rivalry, bitterness and strire thdt hdhC nlt DOlH interesting ana QlS- agreeable. and moreover the lonely light house keeper Is shut off from the world, with. it's undesirable acquaintances and it's petty annoyances. Besides he has ample leisure to read and study at pleas ure. Taken altogether the job of Keeping a lighthouse burning is one to be sought.
 A certain Gothamite magistrate has deeply offended the Brooklyn navy yard officers by suspending the sentence of young thief on condition that he enlist in the United States navy. While there is no doubt that such an enlistment would be a fine thing for the thief, 1t places the navy in bad light. The fighting ser vice of this country should not be used for penal purposes and is not appropriate to reform criminals. The judge in ques- ton should have sent his prisoner for two years cruise before the mast of some tramp steamer or else put him on a mule boat, where he would have plenty of hard work and might have the wicked ness battered out of him by a hard life.
 P. c.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
THE OWL.

By Bryan w. Proctor. In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower, The spectral owl doth dwell; Dull, hated, despised, in the sunshine
 hour But at dusk he's abroad and we'll! Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with
 him; All mock him outright by day; But at night, when the woods grow still
 and dim, The boldest will shrink away! o, when the night falls and roosts
 the fowl. Then. then is the reign of the horned
 owl. And the owl hath a bride, who is fond
 and bold, And loveth the woods deep gloom; And, with eyes like the shine of the
 moonstone cold, She awaiteth her ghastly groom; Not a feather she moves, not a carol she
 sings, As she waits in her tree so still; But when her heart heareth his Tapping
 wings, She hoots out her welcome shrill! o, when the moon shines. and dogs do
 howl
 Then. then. is the joy of the horned
 owl! Mourn not for the owl. nor his gloomy
 plight! The owl hath his share of good; If prisoner he be in the broad daylight. He is lord of the dark greenwood! Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate They are each unto each pride; Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange.
 dark fate Hath rent from all beside! So. when the night falls, and dogs do
 howl
 Sing, ho! for the reign of the horned
 owl!
 We know not alway
 Who are kings by day But the king of the night Is the bold brown owl!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
DRINK BILL
Of Nation During Past Year Amounted
 to $1,451 ,633,379.
From the American Grocer.

From the American Grocer.
 The American Grocer's annual estimate of the nations drink bill shows a formi- dable total retail cost of alcoholic and other stimulating beverages for the year ending June 30, 1903. to have been S, ,4s1,- 63S,s79; the annual average for the past five years, $1,2sS s03, ,S5S.
 The record shows an expenditure for stimulents of s1s.15 for each of the so,- 672,O0o inhabitants. or s90 75 per family of i've. The average annual cost for five years was s1s 17 or $S0 s5 for each family
 It is estimated that one-fourth of all the people using alcoholic beverages, on which basis each consumer of strong drink ex- pends s62 16 every year to gratify appetite.
 The per capita cost of coffee, tea and CO., coa Is $2 61 every year, against $15 54 for alcoholic drinks
 Prosperity seems to lead to an increased use of stimulents, notably. however, of the milder sort. such as coffee and beer, with coffee in the lead. beer second. tea third. and frey liquids or spirits last. the latter more potent for evil than all the rest combined, the parent of every species of crime and the promoter of de- gradaton.
 The use spirits has steadily increased since le9b, and last year was above the high average of the period 1881 to 1893, when it averaged 137 gallons yearly, against 1,12 gallons from 1894 to 1900, in- elusive; 13S gallons 1901 to 19O3 and l. 4s gallons in 1903. Nothing but tax of $l.lO per gallon and the efforts of the ad- vocates of temperance prevents the de- bauchery of the nation by cheap whiskey
 The total revenue of the United States government in 1903 from spirltuous and malt liquors license etc, was s179, ,501, ,32S- a per capita tax of g a. or s11 20 for every family.
 Vast, indeed. are the interests which are involved in the manufacturers distribution and consumption of beverages, ramifying into every household, contributing a large share to the revenue of the nation state and local governments It is grati- flying to note that the mider stimulents are most in favor but unfortunately re- present total business and exert an in- duence incomparably less than that in- volved in the manufacturers and sale of alcoholic beverages.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Mir. Bankhead's Victory.

This district in particular should re- joice that Mir Bankhead has been nom- mated He is trusted and influential member of the rivers and harbors com. mittee, and if the democrats gain con trol of the next congress, he will be- come chairman of that committee. This is important to this district, and really to the rest of the state.
 MT. Bankhead will be in the Fifty ninth congress the dean of the demo- cratic side. He will round out twenty years of faithful and efficient service. Alabama cannot afford to dispense with his services until the Warrior is opened to the railroad bridges at least.
 Captain Hobson conducted gallant campaign. All appreciate his brilliant forensic qualities, and no doubt he will yet find proper and appropriate field of public work He Is certainly brilliant, capable and ef1clent. He is magnetic. Every one appreciates his heroism at Santiago. and the people of the Sixth district see that he has pow CTS they had not fully understood. His naval scheme may not be practicable, but his heart is in the right place, and  his speech is silvern and persuasive.
 But it is better that Mir Bankhead should be sent back to the next con gress. We need tried and experienced representative there until the Warrior is opened The result is satisfactory. The state retains the services of MT. Bankhead, and the people of the Sixth district at least have learned to ad- mire Captain Hobson.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
IF cslY DaIly NEWSPAPER IN ALABAMA
A man whom Fortune hath cruelty scratch'd.
 --AlPs We'll That Ends Well.
Gold from Japan.

Since the first day of December last Japan has sent us just about fifteen million dollars in gold in payment for supplies of various sorts. This gold comes into this country at San Fran cisco, and is transferred to New York by telegraph.
 We have sent out already to Argen- tina and to Europe about six millions, so that we still have a handsome bal ance of Japanese gold on hand The Japanese will send us more gold and perhaps they will make good our losses of the precious metal to Europe. This is time of the year for gold exports the time when bills for imports are maturing, and we have little cotton, wheat or provisions to send out.
 The current exports of gold have no relation to the Panama payments, and perhaps when these have to be made the exports of gold will outrun the imports from Japan. Bankers in New York anticipate several weeks of con siderable gold shipments, but the mar ket will not be unduly disturbed by shipments that do not outrun expecta- tions Much depends upon the course or rather effects of the Panama pay ments, which may become due and payable about Mayday.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Father kerriqan.

It is rumored that the Rev. Father Kerrigan senior assistant priest at St. Paul's church of Birmingham, will soon be transferred to Mobile, the Cathedral city of this diocese. Father Kerrigan is an ecclesiastic of exceptional ability. He has a trained, orderly mind and is an assiduous student. His sermons are al- ways fresh and informing and are re- garsed by scholarly members of St. Paurs congregation as models of homi- letic style. While his preaching has a literary flavor, 1t is never over the heads of the average audience.
 Father Kerrigan has in addition to his pulpit equipment, the musical gift and few priests equal him in singing the mass. He is an educated musician and it may be that Bishop Allen will appoint him to train the choirs of Mobile in the Gregorian chant. in accordance with the recent papal decree.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
SOLDIERS HAVING FUN
 ON MARCH TO THE FRONT

Moscow Correspondence London News. @ SMALL shopkeeper named ve- P0 ruinin, who carries on business . near the Arbat, has received a
 curious letter from his son, giving par
 ticulars of how the czar's soldiers amuse
 themselves during their long journey.
 The letter Is dated from Muisovaya. the
 western terminus of the Trans -Baikal railway. It begins with innumerable .loves" and greetings to relatives, and proceeds
 We were kept four days at Tchelia-
 binsk and only started on February 8. We got here very tired, as we took two days to get across Lake Baikal, and 1t showed all the time. Two of our men
 were frostbitten. We spent a night in the 'telushka' (station in the middle of the lake where soldiers resD. We had to get up in the night and pile logs on the fires outside. I wonder they did not burn through the ice.
 We are hungry to get at the Japanese. Kiss Lukeria, and tell her I will bring home their pigtails to tie up the old COW with. Now for our amusements: We have a Jew called Yanko, frst-rate lit- tie chap. His father is a rich man, and he taught us to play cards. He played quite fair, but won all our money. He says he can count to million. Markon sold him the buttons off his coat. but the sergeant hit Yanko and made him stand in the snow and sew them on again. We call Yanko lobster as he got very red' being a proud man.
 Our men who were frostbitten got an extra tcharka of vodka It Is astonishing how easy 1t is to get bitten. What we want first is matches, as our train has hot air pipes. I wish we had a stove. Yanko had a whole box of matches which he sold singly. I owe him one ruble and three kopecks.
 "we get lots of 'maghorka' Coarse ts-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
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store for her. As he was embracing her in bidding her adieu for the evening he clapped hand to the side of his head and made grab at peculiar looking object lying on the floor at his feet.
 His ear had fallen off. She fell back in faint, while the Japanese rushed dis tractedly from the house, to which he has since not dared return He had in some way lost the greater part of his left ear several years ago, but until he came to this country he had not minded it's loss or knew of no way by which 1t could be replaced. In New York, how ever, he had the lost ear replaced by an artificial one.
 The dealer from whom he obtained it said if it was not satisfactory he needn't pay for it. He was to wear it few days on trial. After losing his fiancee the Japanese refused payment. The deal- er in turn. declined to pay the bill rendered by Alfred Beck. a specialist, who had made the artificial ear In the Seventh District Municipal court Judge Herman Joseph became convinced that MT. Beck was entitled to be paid. and he awarded a verdict to him. with costs.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Railroad Not State. Bonds,

The decision of the United States supreme court is by no means so broad as reported. A close examination of it restricts it's scope to certain bonds is. sued in North Carolina. Those bonds are liens of two railroads held by the state. They are in fact railroad bonds. The state did not issue nor endorse them, but 1t holds the railroads upon which they are liens. It will thus be seen that the decision of the court does not reopen the question of re- pudiated bonds except in limited way "a way that does not extend to Ala bama, which has no outstanding re- pudiated bonds.
 The truth is, no way is open to any holder to sue any state on a repudiated bond. A citizen of one state cannot sue another state, and a gift of bond to state must be real, with no string tied to it. A special act of the South Dakota legislature empowered that state to receive certain repudiated bonds, and to sue upon them. Six months later ten bonds issued to build two railroads in North Carolina were presented to South Dakota, accom- panied by the request that the proceeds be turned over to the State university. Suit was brought, and the judgment was af firmed by the United States supreme court. The gift was bona fide. It was genuine, and so it must be in every case in order to bring and maintain
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
SMOKE WASHING DEVICE.

From the New York Tribune.
 A smoke washing device is said to be in successful use In London, which does away with the necessity of chimneys. as it produces the amount of draft required for complete combustion, and expels from the smoke its noxious proper ties. It consists of an electrically driven fan, which draws the smoke from the fire and passes it into strem of water, which extracts the sulphurous and unconsumed particles. It works automatically, and only requires that the water in it's lower part should be changed at regular in- tervals.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Advisers of Czars.

From the London Mail.
 The great czars of Russia, somebody said, when they want a man, go out Into the street and find one. It is another way of saying that the czar's ministers spring from nowhere.
 It Is almost true. Russia has had an empress who began life as a peasant and married a Swedish dragoon, and it was an Armenian who all but destroyed the autocracy of the czars and set Russia among the progressive nations. Sergius de Witte, decendant of a dutchman, start ed at a wayside railway station on the career which has brought him almost at the head of the state.
 So. too. with the man who today holds the keys of all the mysteries of the great Russian war machine. Alexei Nichol- aievitch Kuropatkin began life as a Sublieutenant.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
IN HOTEL LoBBIEs
Bessemer's Needs.

H. M. McNutt of Bessemer was at the Hillman yesterday Asked as to general convictions in his city he said "Besse- mer is not as lively just now as it should be. Our great need is greater diversity of industries. Furnaces, machine shops and mines do not fill the bill at all sea- sons of the year. The agricultural lands and opportunities around the town are much neglected.
 If a number of small farmers and fruit growers could be induced to settle in the valleys and on the hillsides near Bessemer they would give to the town wagon trade which would brighten up matters in a wonderful way. l wish we had some of these sand mountain farm CTS about whom The Age-Herald has been telling us of late. But Bessemer is all right and is improving.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
Failures in the First Quarter.

There were per cent. more failures in the first quarter of the present year than there were in the first quarter of 1903, but per cent less than in the corresponding quarters of 1901 and 1902. Previous to 1901 the quarters failures were larger by from 3 to per cent. but they were smaller than in the first quarters of the years between 1883 and 1898. The liabilities of the quarter just ended were heavy, but the assets were correspondingly heavy.
 The south showed fewer failures in the past quarter than in the one of 1903-551 to 521. New England did nearly as well, but all other sections of the country had more failures. The middle states had 10 per cent more, the middle west IS per cent more. and the far west about 25 per cent more.
 In Alabama in the three months just ended there were 51 failures, as against 63 in the first quarter of 1903. The liabilities of the 51 were $206,725, as against S2S5, ,042, the liabilities of the 63 of the previous year. Alabama Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas each and all did well in the first quarter. but the Carolinas on the one side and Tennessee on another side were not so fortunate.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12
The Schools of Joliet.

Joliet, H., with a population of 42OOo, Is said by the Journal of Education to have eighty acres given up to public school grounds. Six schools stand in grounds of native woodone with four acres of timber around 1t, another with five. One school has Its peach orchard, where the fruit ripens unmoested. Last year the school sent a basket of its peaches to the state fair and took a premium with it. A school lot of seven teen acres Is enough to make the teacher of nature study in a New York public school turn green with envy, but Joliet not only has one, but another of its schools has yard of twenty acres in- cluding a fine grove and delightful stream On the public school grounds are 30,000 trees, and every school has it's flower garden in the season.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-04-12

suit. The donor and donee must act in good faith throughout.
 Alabama, however, compromised her debt, and she has no interest in the matter beyond a sisterly interest in the affairs of other southern states. None of the sister states will be a bit disturbed by the decision of the United States supreme court touching ten railroad bonds.