The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-07-25

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G)1 been evoked concerning the ETH
cheney or inefficiency of the pub
licity bureau at the st. Louis fair While
the management of the big show is pro-
testing that their enterprise is not given
the attention by newspapers of the coun-
try that It deserves the reply is made
that the press articles sent out from St
Louis are not worth publishing in many
cases and hence find their way to the
waste basket as quickly as any other
poor copy. It can not be denied that the
Louisiana Purchase exposition Is the
greatest and grandest show OF the kind
that has ever been given and 1t Is not sur
prisng that there is disappointment over
the small attendance. Newspapers are only
too willing to boom the fair as much as
possible but they demand that the adj
verifying literature that Is sent out be
up to the usual publication standard and
they are certainly not going to the ex-
pense of sending their own correspondents
to st. Louis to do work that should be
done by the exposition publicity bureau.
While some clever articles have been
written by the fair press agents most of
advertising in character to interest the
general public. What they should write
is sprightly, sparkling correspondence that
people VIII read for entertainment and
amusement as well as instruction. Humor
seems to be sadly lacking in the publicity
bureau of the Louisiana Purchase exposi-
ton.
During the summer vacation season
college students are much In evidence as
walters, clerks. collectors, motormen and
conductors. To their credit it NAV be
said that most of them are dischargIng
their duties to the satisfaction of their
employers although 1t is quite likely that
there would be decline in their general
excellence If they had several years to
serve instead of several months. Novelty
helps young man to overlook many OBJ
1ections and the fact that he is merely
working during vacation encourages him
to smilingly endure many little tribula-
lions that would sour his temper in a.
longer time. 1t is interesting to note that
the educated man makes a better con-
ductor or motorman than his uneducated
brother In nine cases out of ten, even
when he never does anything else and
this state of affairs Is very encouraging,
no doubt, to the great institutions of
learning that are turning out graduates
every years In large numbers.
Instances have been known of men eiv-
ing up their lives for the sake of science.
Doctors have deliberately committed sui
eide to study the effects of certain pois-
ons on the human system, others have in
oculated themselves with deadly diseases
and still a host of others have persisted
not premediatedly but through their over
Jealous desire to fathom secrets denied to
mankind In general The case of a New
Jersey doctor who became a cocaine flend
ana later died an imbecile in order to
record the ravages of the drug is a case
in point. No doubt this man thought he
was performing a service for humanity
and science, and the world will agree that
ne was martyr to his profession. but
whether he has the right to destroy him
self when the life of another is not di
rectly at stake is another question. Such
men are cast in heroic mould, when thew
are not fanatics, but the chances -re that
they could accomplish more good in the