davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Assessinu Federal Officials.

It is stated on the authority of men who claim to know that an agent of the republican national committee is touring the south for the purpose of collecting from postmasters and all other government employees a share of their annual salary. A clerk who receives one thousand dollars a year is expected to cough up" one hundred dollars or accumulate the displeasure of Chairman Cortelyou, who stands for the powers that be. Northern Alabama officials were as- sessed on Wednesday, and today and tomorrow those of central Alabama and Mobile will be expected to hand over 10 per cent.
 The spirit of the civil service and of Mir Roosevelt's order is directly antagonistic to this milking process, True, the postmasters and custom house officials were not appointed under the civil service rules, but can the administration afford to ignore civil service principles in their cases Can it afford to be inconsistent, illog- ical and rotten? An assessment of 10 per cent upon the postmasters alone would produce huge corruption fund, and the attention of the country should be called to it.
 MT. Roosevelt can no longer pose as a civil service reformer if he permit and recognize the 10 per cent assess ment that an agent of the republican national committee is making in the south. That agent comes armed with evidences of authority that comna',i a: once the support of the referees of this state. He is not an impostor; he
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Largest in the World.

The Bon Marche of Paris is the lar gest retail store in -.ie world" remarked Birmingham man who has just returned from abroad.
 ''The establishment gives employment to 4000 people, mostly women. It was found ed by M. Bouciealt man of philanthropie views as well as great business face. He also founded hospital for his employees: also mason de retreate, a place of re- tirement when they are too old for ser vice. When this man died he left large sums of money for the endowment of these institutions. The rest of his for tune he bequeathed to all who were then in the employ of his house, to be divided in proportion to the positions held and in his service.
 At the present time this establish ment is carried on by the employees them selves; there Is committee of manage ment, and each department is presided over by what is termed a ef-de-vayan, a responsible and highly paid position. All the clerks are entitled to what the French call 'tinge,' or participation in the profits of their sales. By this sys- tenn the brightest and most tactful sales woman or saleman makes the largest wages and Is most rapidly advanced
 There are 200 interpreters in this huge place. and some of them speak as many as fifteen different languages. An iron clad rule of the house is that when any employees reach the age of 56 his retire ment is compulsory to make place for younger material"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Control of the House.

A change of fifteen seats would change the control of the house. MT. Babcock of the republican congress ionai committee warns his friends that there is danger the democrats will control the next house of represents tives.. This would block any new schemes of the republicans in the di- rection of extravagance and corrup- tion.
 Every contested state presents dis tricts that the republicans car ried in 1902 by small pluralities. Even MT. Babcock may be defeated. Gov ernor Lafollette has brought out a Lafollette candidate for congress in the Babcock district, and also the Minor district. Messrs Babcock and Minor will probably be defeated, and the legislature will doubtless be made up in a thu ice-cornered manner, so that Senator Quarles will not be his own successor. He may not have sue cessor at all very soon, as a deadlock seems more probable than any other outcome.
 So it is in the other contested states. Three districts in Nebraska are in doubt, and at least six districts in New York. If the democrats had as much money in hand as the repub- licans have the next house would as- suredly be democratic. It may pre- sent slim democratic majority as things stand.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Old yesuylus.

The long list of casualties, so fatal in their quences-steamboat dis asters. railroad wrecks, fires, murders, suicides, floods, cyclones, epidemics, social wrecks, wars, famine and politl- cal upheavals-seems to have awalS- ened Vesuvius from season of leth- argy, and he joins in concert with the voice of destruction, and is belching forth fire and birthstone. The arsenal and magazine which have stood for ages beneath the ancient mountain seem to have been resupplied with ammunition, and the molten lava comes down the mountain side into the bay of Naples with a force equal to that presented in the early cen turies.
 The half-million people of Naples, eight miles away, are viewing the pyro- technics with awe. Solicitude is not, however, in evidence there, for Naples has ever been spared the destroying force of Vesuvius' fury by nature, which leads the lava through the bay and into the deep seas beyond.
 It would be singular indeed if Ve- suvius should keep silent in this age of fury. The old mountain speaks as voice from the plutonic regions; and | that voice has no uncertain sound. It is uttering warning, and that warn ing is that the waters of the sea and the surface of the earth are not the only theatres of punitive wrath-not the only scenes of death and destruc- tion.
 vesuvius is too far away from this land of ours to tou T us with his fiery hand or jar the American soul with the rumbling sounds he utters; but over the electric wires he flashes the SlOTy Ol HIS hee5dS6, WHICH pIiuSS with 1t a lesson of warning against corruption in high places. Joining the forces of dangerous natural phenom- ena and of disjointed conditions brought about by administration in this country of ours, Vesuvius would seem to be performing function at this particular time, which may prove most beneficial to the body polite in this. republic.
 The future of the American people is to be weighed in the balance scales on the 9th of November.
 Listen to the rumble of old Vesuvius
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
IN HOTEL LoBBIEs
The Blind MendIeant.

One of the most worthy objects ol snarity have seen in some time was q palho woman who sat at the corner oI 1hird avenue and Twentieth streets 'iis aaa'e.ernoon," al'. said gentleman last hsi.l,
 one was old and quite feeble put is,'1 continuously from astrological pipie' 1he woman attracted considerable holee' ana many passersby paused tew H's hents to watch her trembling hand as passed over the raised characters ail1 10 listen to the words she spoke i'e. voice was so weak that at times 1t seel'iu U painful to artieulate. She held sihaa' cup in one hand for offerings the cnalis. ably inclined might wish to besto"' O1' never heard her solicit aims.
 It is sad to think that in fhls pios'1 land that woman, In age and poverty Hs'S no one to love and to care for ner sii eleemosynary existence under any eoi'e, ton is pitiable one but when the lneii'i- cant Is woman, old, blind and appafeiil- ly of refined lineage, It is douply uepioi able 's
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Lafcadio Hearn

That child of genius, the son of an Irish army officer and Greek mother, Lafcadio Hearn, is dead in Tokio at the age of 54. Wherever he lived in this country he never took root. He really lived in dreamland among the creations and fancies of his teeming brain.
 He was ever Bohemian who loved to wander from land to land, living at all times to himself, going and coming among the people, and yet not one of them. He readily found a market among publishers and the magazines
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30

for every production of his pen. His descriptive passages were brilliant and twenty years ago the world thought they saw in his poetic tacul- ties and his vivid imagination the ris- ing of new genius.
 At length he went to Japan, and from that delightful land he sent back more books, all full of the finest i'm agery. He became lost, however, to America, except through his books. He became Japanese. He became a pro lessor of the University of Tokio, teaching there the children of Old Nip pon. He married a Japanese girl, and in the ancient island he reared a fam fly of children.
 He wrote many books, every one containing some of his unique pass ages of descriptive writing. He never returned to hls native land Japan suited him better, and this child of na- ture will be buried in the soil he had come to love so well. His descend ants will recount his career and his successes in the field of literature in the ages of the future. for the Japan ese never lose sight of worthy ances- tors. He was born in the Ionian is- lands; he was educated in the new world; he died and is buried in the Occident. He was rare genius, never fully appreciated, but always ready to bring into service words so full of i'm agination and lightness that none could shun their charm and beauty.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Iudqe speake and Solicitor Petlus

We cannot believe the intelligent
 voters of the sixteenth or Huntsville
 circuit will condemn at the polls
 Judge Paul Speake and Solicitor Erie
 Pettus simply because they have re-
 spected their oaths of office, and did
 what they could towards maintaining the supremacy of the law. If the is-
 sue become distinct and well defined, the good cIrzens of the circuit should line up solidly against it's riff-raff.
 Judge speake and Solicitor Pettus are the democratic nominees and the anarchists are dickering with the re- publicans of the circuit in the hope o1 defeating the democratic nominees. Such an .nholy alliance would eTni- nently befit such cause- But no self respecting democrat would touch such a ticket with forty-foot pole.
 The democrats of the sixteenth cir cult have sl opportunity to render all the other parts of the state high service The action already taken at Huntsville, and the action to be taken, Will oe a lesson to the entire state that will never be forgotten. It is sinking deep in the hearts and minds Of the people, but all the good effects of Governor Cunningham's work and of the work of the good people of Huntsville will be lost if the proposed programme of the lynching element be carried out. The Age-Herald declines to think mat either Judge Speake or Solicitor Erie Pettus will be con- demned. Doth stood by the governor of the state, and if either be con- hemned Governor Cunningham stands condemned, and anarchy in it's worst or mob form stands approved. The Age-Herald declines to think so poor ly of the intelligent counties in the Tennessee valley. It does not believe that anarchy commands, or ever did command, the approval of majority of Alabama voters. The people of the sixteenth circuit will do their duty. They will not condemn men who are simply doing their own duty in office.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Watson,s Maiden speach.

The presence here of Thomas E. Wat son recalls an incident of his earlier days remarked an ex-Georgian last night. q knew Tom when he was quite young, and heard what was probably his maiden political speech. He was a dele gate to the notable Georgia state demo- cratic convention when Gen. Alfred II. Colquitt was candidate for reelection to the governorshlp. The two-thirds rule was in vogue, and of the. three hundred or more delegates Colquitt lacked seven of the necessary number. For about ten days the convention was at deadlock, num- Der of delegates being entered against Colquitt Tom Watson was a Coquitt del- egate.
 Finally a resolution was introduced ad- Journing the convention and endorsing the candidacy of Colqultt. Seconding that res- oiution Watson made frey speech, which aroused much attention and marked enthusiasm. Referring to the state democracy he quoted in conclusion the words which were about as follows: Nail to the mast her tattered flag.
 Set all her threadbare sails.
 And give her to the god of storms,
 '' The lightning and the gales.'
 Tremendous applause followed, and the majority of the convention, tired and worn. walked out of the hall of the capitol; and Colquitt was reelected by 6o,O0o majority. That was in 1ssO"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
Word With a Friend.

From the Brooklyn Eagle
 A democratic lawyer who intends to vote for Parker, but will also vote for Higgins because of unjust assaults on Odell," writes that "Odell made Davis, the republican attorney general. his legal adviser in his last term, as well as Cum neen, the democratic attorney general, adviser in his second term.' The cor- respondent says: '"The Eagle omitted to credit Odell with Davis" That is correct. but our correspondent reed not think that vote for Higgins is necessary. Judge Hefrick has yet made no unjust attack on Odell. The judge and the governor are good friends. Democrats are not yindicat- ing Odell by voting for Higgins or re- decting on Odell by voting for Herrick. The latter is an able man, m honest dem ocrat, and quite as well acquainted with state affairs in the large as MT. Higgins is in the little. He is entitled to every democratic vote and to that of every independent who would strengthen de- mocracy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 It is easier to get engaged than di- vorced, and the4expense is about a stand off.
 A man stands very good chance with a girl if he can get all her family to op- pose the match.
 A girl is so deceitful she can act as if openwork stockings kept her feet warmer than any other kind.
 When a machine drags man out to register and vote his wife brags about him as "a political leader.
 Some men are so unlucky in money mat ters that when they get a s5 gold piece in their change for copper they go and put it out again for the same thing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
ALABAMA PRESS.

Huntsville News: The news from New York Is still encouraging to the demo- crats. After the publication of Judge Parker's letter of acceptance there was considerable slump in the odds given by the Roosevelt betters. While the repub- licans have the advantage Of being in power in the state and national govern ment old Tammany is right side up in New York city.
 Ozark Southern Star: The democracy of New York has torn the Hiil badge from everything in state politics, and the democratic ship drifts out to windward with the bald headed bachelor politician as passenger, only. and not a captain.
 Livingston Southern Home: The states man who proposed to set apart a terri tory to be occupied solely by negroes will please take notice that watermelons grow wild in California. May we not de- tect benevolent purpose in this fecun- dity of nature?
 Guntersville Democrat: There are only two dimes in Mississippfs treasury and 1t is said they have worked into a crack in the cash drawer. So that the balance will not likely get any lower
 Bullock County Breeze: There are some people in Montgomery who would not ex- change fountain for a twelve-story office building and thousand dollars a year to boot. Queer folks. those.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
T Worlds Fair, St. Louis, Septem-
 Der 2s.-My plan for keeping John off the Pike worked beautifully.

V1 ber 2s-My plan for keeping John
 4 off the Pike worked beautifully. He said we ought to go down the Pike ''as a part of Jane's education.' And Jane showed an alarming disposition to agree with him. It Is hard to impress men and children with tie fact that the "ed- ucationaT' features of this great expo sition are not all on the Pike.
 don't expect to keep either of them off the Pike very long, but think of three intelligent Americans making "pi- kers" of themselves on their first days visit to the fair. We must set the foreigners here a better example. So we went to the Philippine villages and the Boer war first and it sufficed to tempora- rily allay Johns thirst for the Pike, and being strictly educational as well as ex- citing, it fully satisfied my notions as to how some people should tackle the fair.
 The visit to the Philippine encampment serves to impress one with the big job Uncle Sam has on his hands in undertak- ing to "assimilate" tho dusky children of the orient. If I had to do any of the 'as- similating' I would choose the Bagobos. They are my favorites They are the neatest dressers and apparently the most eager to become Americanized. They wear clothing made out of hemp cloth, which they weave themselves. and which they cover with beads of elaborate and taste ful design I talked with Bagobo boy 13 years old who received but six months schooling in an American school and he talked very good English. He said his name was Urbano. I drew from sheath at his side a bolo about a foot and half long. an ugly looAing weapon. very skillfully and artisticaliy made He look ed peaceful and docile enough. but he had evidently heard President Roose- yelts injunction to speak softly and carry big stick"
 We saw the far-famed dog-eat1ng lgo- rots and their dog dance and to tell the naked truth (for we have to get down to hare facts when speaking of the Igo- rots) they are really handsome fellows of superb physique. They are innocent of any raiment save a small clout, and their bodies had acquired what Jane call ed "a lovely golf tan. I wouldn't be surprised to learn next summer that the "Igorot tan is quite the rage. l don't know what the dog dance was for unless it was to whet their capacities for the two mangy looking canines that were chained to one or the huts. If eat ing. broiled bull terriers produces such lithe-limbed, shapely fellows perhaps a dog diet would be better for some of us than so many new-fangled breakfast foods.
 We got the real thing over at the Boer war-at least as near the real thing as I ever want to see It was what John calls a thriller and when anything thrills him you nay know it is not a game of ping pong. There was red hot fighting all along the line after the war opened, but it took a long time for it to open. There was the grand entry of English and Boer infa try. dashing caval- ", a company of Gordon Highlanders wild zulus. Boer treking wagons, oxen and mules. The massed British and Boer contingents drawn up in line on the pa rade ground were an imursssive sight
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

red fire. Gum-shoes are serviceable, no doubt. for our astute politicians. but they are also very effective in keeping down public interest
 After all it seerls that there is not so much of joke about David B. Hill mar rying May Irwin as some supposed The Washington Post and other papers take the matter in earnest. It seems that tha Queen of Ragtime has succeeded in "spotting" certain admirable qualities in the Sage of wolfert's Roost that have hitherto been overlooked by the public. If so, and they are really to be made one the Hon. David B. Hill can congratulate himself on having the buxom May to warble coon songs to him all day long while other people have been made to pay fabulous sums for the same privi- lege.
 The big show at St. Louis Is now en- gagged in making Garrison finish that will go down in the history of such enter prises. As was expected, the attendance has been much larger this month than 1t was in August, while the indications point to still further increase in Octo- Der. When one comes to think about 1t, the Ss Louis fair has been conducted in a most orderly fashion. No disturb ance of serious proportions has marred its career and if 1t avoids a large de- ficit President Francis should be congrat- ulated.
 Edward R. Thomas, the millionaire turfman, will occupy apartments at the Hotel St. Regis, for which he will have to pay $200 day. That is enough money to maintain hundred families for twenty four hours, and yet 1t Is paid out by a man who already has a sumptuous resi- dence in New York. where It is to be sup posed that he has every comfort known to wealth. Surely the people who occupy expensive suites at the St. Regis are not in search of comfort alone. Is 1t not possible that they too thirst for the mo- toriety they will achieve in the papers and the impression of gi1ded opulenee which they will create?
 Southern papers are taking a rest on the race question, but the New York Post and other publications of similar call bre continue to ''slop over'' in an amaz- ing fashion. As a matter of fact some eastern papers never get tired of talking about the negro. It is a hobby that they ride to extremes on all occasions. The public is weary of all this discussion. What has it amounted to? Nothing. Everybody talks and nobody does any thing. Since 1t appears that there are no solutions except words the country could consider profltably other subjects that have not been threshed bare.
 As was the case last year, the circuses are refusing to give parades in towns where the license Is considered prohibi- tive and there is woe among the people. Birmingham will have a circus before long; in fact, we will probably be visited by several of the enterprises and tho heart of the small boy is already filled with anxiety. It would be too much for us to be denied parade again this year. F. c.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
THE DAY RETURNS.
By Robert Burns

By Robert Burns The day returns, my bosom burns. The blissful day we two did meet, Tho winter wild in tempest toiled, Ne'er summer sun was half so sweet Than all the pride that loads the tide, And crosses OCT the sultry line; Than kingly robes, than crowns and
 globes,
 Heaven gave me more-it made thee
 mine!
 While day and night can bring delight, Or nature aught of pleasure give. While joys above my mind can move, For thee, and thee alone I live. When that grim foe of life below Comes in between to make us part, The iron hand that breaks our band, It breaks my bliss-it breaks my haarA-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-09-30
NATIONAL POLITICS
Our Foreign Trade

From the Baltimore Herald.
 Judge Parker made a good point in quoting against the republicans a speech of President Mckinley advocating reel procty treaties. MT. Mckinley was con vinced that American trade could he greatly increased by providing for ex- changing commodities with other coun- tries on fair terms. and 1t was one of the keenest disappointemnts of his life that his party refused to carry out the prom ises made to the people. There was a strong reason why the republican senate refused to ratify. these treaties. The trusts were in the way.
 American foreign trade has grown to such volume that our manufacturers do not fear competition. All they want is a fair field. American enterprise and en- ergy will determine the result. Markets can be secured for our surplus goods in foreign fields as business is increased at home-that is, by competition. The best will win. It is not necessary that the foreigner should be given the advantage of being able to buy American goods thousands of miles from the places where they are made cheaper than Americans themselves can buy them at home. The cry that Infant industries must be pro- tected cannot at this day be used to de- ceive the people. The American manufac- turer is now big, strong man and can take care of himself. He Is no longer an infant, not even for political purposes.