davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Fifty-eight Districts Wanted.

The contest for the control of the house of the Sixtieth Congress is warming up. Speaker Cannon declares he will take the stump in doubtful and olsputed districts insisting that "a Congress of achievement" should be followed by another of the same sort. There was no achievement in the di- rection of tariff revision or in the direction of the prevention of slush funds, and the Speaker will find it by no means easy to defend his party on these points.
 In order to overcome the phenomenal majority that went with the Roosevelt landslide the democrats must carry fifty-eight additional districts. It is scarcely denied that they will largely reduce the present republican major. ity. but the republicans will fight long and hard to prevent complete re- versal this year of the result of 1904. The Dingley beneficiaries can be trust ed to furnish slush money in generous quantities. It is estimated too, that the President will speak in several doubtful districts. But the democrats propose to put MT. Bryan at work In those districts as soon as he arrives, and the last two months of the cam paign promise therefore to be lively and interesting Senator Bailey's sery- ices will also be sought. and so will Senator Culberson's and John Sharp Williams. Chairman Griggs is ac- cumulating a fine array of speakers, and in September and October he will no doubt shell the woods in manner that will give the republicans room for the use of all the money the tariff beneficiaries may in their fears of re- vision pour out.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11

man in the War Secretary worthy of his best refrigerated efforts. MT. Taft has, however, no easy task. He is popular He is even magnetic, but he went out of his way at Greensboro to defend government by injunction. and his record in that direction will de- prive him of the labor vote of the coun- try The Fairbanks men favor, 1t Is true, government by injunction, buJ they will insinuate that MT. Taft when on the bench went too far in that di- rectlon The battle between the two is "on" in North Carolina at least, and probably in all the other southern states.
 MT. Taft deprecated in the outset of his speech the want of two well-bal- anced parties in the south, quite for getting that the situation is due more to the nature of the republican ma chimes in the southern states than 10 anything else Later in the course of his speech he correctly described the republican machine in each of the southern states. The sentence quoted in this article tells the story. A re- publican state machine wants no re- cruits. It wants just enough men to fill the federal offices, and it wants no interference in the work MT. Taft understands the situation when he con templates the candidacy of the atten- uated Hoosier, but he loses sight of 1t when he assails the democrats and the spectre of things past. There will never be a strong republican party in the south while it clings to Dingley- ism and as long as it is organized for" to use MT. Tafts own words, "a factional chase for federal offices"
 Mir. Taft's speech was, in short, a denuneiation of republican machines in the south, concluding of course with praise of the party's national policies. He made it plain that he came south to fight the machines that are planning to elect Shaw or Fairbanks delegates, and the wires tell us that he laid his speech before President Roosevelt be- fore he started for Greensboro. The machines therefore stand disapproved by the man at Oyster Bay.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
WEATHER DOCTORS.
the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
 The North American Indian was not a miracle of wisdom in all ways, but he knew enough to go into his tepee when it rained, and when the rain doctor did not bring the showers he had contracted for the aforesaid aboriginal knew enough to take him out and kill him, proceed ing which could not have failed to im- part a generous flow of encouragement to the others. So far the paleface does not treat his own tinkers with the weather so vigorously, though the provocation in that way Is sometimes extreme.
 Out in the gold districts of Alaska one Hatfield professed to be able to make rain fall at will the weather had been particularly dry, the hydraulic mining works were in consequence just the point of shutting down, so ready hands were reached forth to grasp even phan- tom of relief, which was all that Hat fields promises turned out to be. His packers had made up syndicate and subscribed s9O,0O0, though how that was to affect the weather was not specified in his programme. They now turn around and denounce him as a humbug, but he hangs on to the money and explains that the non-arrival of rain. as appointed in his schedules, was merely detail which did not vitiate the principle on which his process was founded. The ran will be along later. lots of it. and satisfy everybody even the tired out subscribers, who have thrown him and his schemes overheard. As on this bend of the world we have had more than our share of rainfall during the present season, with the having farmers whistling for drouth all over the Atlantic slope of the coun- try perhaps the incantatlons of the Alas kan sorcerer have operated at a distance and sent down on us the floods which he intended for the hydraulic gold miners of Dawson During the present having season he might play a star engagement here as a rainmaker If his efforts in that way disturbed dry weather around him so literally as they seem to have done out in Alaska.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Humane Society Again.

Said citizen: Birmingham started to build county library and to erect a statue of Father OReilly; and to form juvenile protectorate society; and some other things that it Is best to forget since they have never materialized Whittier said, Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, it might have been.' According to certain laws of psychology and ethics the habit of starting things and never completing them has a tendency to weaken character. In common parlance, it tends to 'wishy- -washlness.'
 "So much then, for what might have been. But Birmingham also started to have a humane society and went so far as to elect officers and begin making ar rests for cruelty to animals. But the of- ficers and members apparently lost inter est In the worS-all save one. and all honor to Arrestng Officer L. A. Bennie, who went on doing his duty on an in- sufficient salary. In a somewhat small way, of necessity. 1t is reasonable to be- lieve that he has accomplished great deal of good in pricking the public con- Sclence Dy HIS eHOIlS anu tdSluB lO SoilN extent the prosecutions of poor dumb brutes with nhuman masters.
 "Our civic character is at stake. An institution that should have been prosper ing ten years ago is now struggling for very existence. If the city cannot or will not act. let the citizens take up the mat ter, and without that delay that has proved fatal to some of the worthy things that might have been. but are not.
 "The crying need, says MT. Bonnie, is to provide drinking troughs for the work animals of the city. Is it not deplora- ble to think of thirsty horses and mules being compelled to traverse weary miles of parchlng city streets without the oppor- tunity to take a drink in the summer time?
 "The society may enlarge it's scope in time to take in the prevention of cruelty to children. It Is to be hoped that it will eventually become as broad in scope as the organization in New Orleans and in clude Gerry society as one of it's braches But if we do nothing more this summer. let us at least put in as many as six watering troughs in the downtowri section"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
When Is a Man Dead.

"Floresco claims to have brought back life to dogs whose hearts have stopped from 25 to 40 minutes" says a writer in the North American Journal of Homaop athy. He applies electrodes directly to the heart, either on the outside or by needles to the inside of the ventricles. Danilewsky has started heart beats in rabbit twenty-four hours after death and in the auricles three days after death. This he accomplished by perfuson of the heart by Locke's solution. Inhibition of this heart action can be brought about by applying electrodes at the root of the aorta Locke and Rosenheim perfused heart that had been hanging in the labor atory for five days since it's removal from the rabbits body, and caused it to give beats of considerable magnitude. Howell of Johns Hopkins concludes from his ex- periments that inhibition of the heart de- bends on the presence of diffuslble potas- sium compounds in the heart tissue, and that vagus impulses act indirectly by in ereasing the amount of potassium com pounds of this character.
 Prom the physiological standpoint, therefore it looks as if the day may come when death will be cheated of it's prey, and the heart forced to take up again the work that 1t had laid down."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Lumber Railroads Excepted.

The words of exception "other than timber and the manufactured products thereof" in the rate bill will be appre- ciated in Alabama almost as much as in any other state. Without this ex- ception every mile of track at the mills, or owned by a saw mill corporation or by saw mill operators would have been prohibited from transporting homemade products. They would have been compelled to sell either their mills, or their railroads.
 The exemption of timber was an after thought. It was probably an out come of the long struggles in confer ence. and the saw mill men of Alabama are certainly glad it was incorporated in the new bill As the bill stands any fartherest limits of railroads regard less of state lines or interstate regula. tions. The interstate commerce com mission may supervise their rails as they do all other rails, but the article which aims to separate manufacturing and transportation does not apply to timber and the manufactured products thereof. Congress did right when it left timber out of the self-manufac- tured clause of the rate bill.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Washington is jealous of Oyster Ba
SIMPLE TRICK WORKS WELL.

New York Correspondent Pittsburg Dis
 patch.
 Last night two men dressed in the uni- form of Jack Tars, one wearing a cap with Gloucester inscribed thereon, while that of his mate indicated that he was a middy on the Manhattan, rolled up Broadway and stopped in front of a fash lonable cafe. They both had considerable grog aboard and began to spin navy yarns fore and aft to a crowd of men. Before they left the uniformed men collected all most s5 from the crowd. Their hard luck stories reached the purses of their listen- CTS One man who loosened up laughed and said he would not feel uncomfortable were the big Gloucester to have a i3-inch gun sighted upon him. The crowd bit hard. The uniforms of the sailors" came from Baxter street and they covered two professional vegas. Those fellows were crooks said the cafe detective as they were disappearing. "One of the men, the big fellow. was injured in the subway two weeks ago and was sent to a doctor S office. After he was patched up the po- lice wanted to send him to his vessel. At that time he said he belonged to a gov ernment revenue cutter. He remonstrated and after some little Investigation it was learned that the pseudo sailor never did a stunt on a salt water boat in his life.' The officer explained that any kind of a uniform can be purchased in Baxter street, the pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers charging high prices for stage" ono1s
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
MASS OF MELTED COIN.
Truckload of Silver and Nickel From
 San Francisco Fire.

From the San Francisco Chronicle.
 One of the most interesting relics of the confiagratlon to be found anywhere in San Francisco, and one that represents a loss of many thousands of dollars to tho united railroads, consist of various masses of melted coin that the street railway company recovered from it's safes in the Rialto building.
 The blackened masses of precious metal are now stored In the office of Thornwell Mullally assistant to the president, at Oak and Frederick streets, and afford an object of much curiosity to visitors. Just what will be done with the melted coin IS a problem that Is worrying the officers and directors of the company. Mullally is hopeful that the treasury department can be induced to make some ruling that will enable the company to recover some- thing like the coin value of the money. Otherwise, should the company succeed in recovering only the bullion value, 1t will suffer a loss of many thousands of dollars.
 The company's loss through the melting of silver coin greatly exceeds any single loss by any other institution in the city. Much of the silver and small change in circulation finds It's way into the coffers of the street railway company during the month. and at the time of the fire the united railroads had many thousands of dollars in silver dollars, halves quarters. dimes and nickes in the safes of Treasur- CT Starr, on the eighth floor of the Rialto building. All the gold coin in the treasur- CTS office, contained in a separate safe escaped unharmed, but the silver is un- recognizable.
 It consists of small truck load of blacxened masses of metal of irregular shape. Various metals are fused in the melted masses of coin, so that the com pany will probably be put to the expense of having them melted and refined. Treas urer Starr says that silver, nickels, copper and iron in unknown quantities are pres ent in the big hunks of metal, the cop per coming from the melted one cent pieces and the iron from the boxes in which the rolls of coin were packed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
WANTS A JOS HoELERiN'.
Indoor Worker Thinks He'd Like to
 Be Curb Broker.

From the New York Sun.
 CT think" said a man whose work Is irksome, that I'd like for a time to be a curb broker, one of those fellows that stand in crowd down there in Broad street and snap their fingers and holler all day long.
 'I thought, one spell that 1t would be a relief to me to get out for awhile and be watermelon vender; just going along the streets with a horse and wagon and a load of watermeons, leading the horse with one hand and putting the other hand up to my mouth and shouting, 'Watermellah. wah-h-h-termellah!
 But when I came to think that I'd have to take care of the horse and have to lug those heavy watermelons upstairs when I sold one, I thought that maybe selling watermelons wasn't just what would do me the most good after all; and then, when I saw the curb boys. theirs seemed to be about the sort of job wanted. Sometimes now my work wears on me so that feel as though I must get up and holler. right where I am If I could get out and stand in the middle of the street. with thin. cool coat on, and maybe no hat, and do nothing but holler for about three months out in the open air, I believe it would be a blessed relief
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
About PIayhouses.


 What makes or kills a playhouse, was the theme of an interesting discussion I overheard yesterday" said theatrical man last night.
 Were I to be asked that question I would unhesitatingly answer, the attitude of the critic. The great trouble Is. and il is noticeable throughout the United States. that the critics, or rather those assigned to such duty, are either preJu- diced, through friendship pity or some thing else toward either the management of the show or the house. They will in many cases speak well of a performance, when 1t is positively execrable. What Is the result? The theatre going public flock to the playhouse on the strength Of the criticism and come away sadly disap- pointed, vowing they will never attend the place again. On the other hand, were the writers to speak honestly of the per formance, many would stay away and the natural result would be e better class of productions because the majority of thea tre managers are intelligent fellows, who aim to please the people They know it pays.
 Tn many cases, criticisms are written by men whom are not competent to judge. They rely wholly on the sayso of the advance agent and either don't know the difference or do not take the trouble to verify the statements advanced by those interested in the success of the pro- duction.
 During my six years of theatrical ex- perience I have at times been literally 'hayed alive while at other times I have been lauded very high. Taking 1t all In all, I consider that l have been fairly treated, and while perhaps I did not relish the roasts. they were a great help to me in as much as they pointed out my mis- takes and gave me chance to correct them.
 No professional actoc objects to just criticism, coming from one who knows his business"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
THE TRUTH ABOUT CALIFORNIA.

From Leslie's Weekly.
 The prediction is heard in responsible quarters that California has received "a black eye" because of this calamity; that the commercial progress of the state and it's attractions for tourists and prospective home-makers have been seriously i'm paired for the same reason. All this is un- just even so far as San Francisco and its immediate vicinage are concerned, and much more as 1t affects points as far distant as Los Angeles and other sections of southern California. A few fact and figures here of area and distance may help to show the true situation and dispel some erroneous notions now prevalent. The whole section affected in any percep- tible degree by the earthquake was not over 2000 square miles, whereas the state of California has an area of 15S.23S such miles Even at points as near the center of the disaster as Sacramento only % miles from San Francisco, the temoior was scarcely felt. California has a coast line nearly 1000 miles long, of which the area embraced by the earthquake dld not affect over 100 miles. The fact is to De borne in mInd also that at San francisco itself, it was to the fire and not to the earth convulsion that the enormous loss of life and property was chiehy que distinction with a large significance Ill it's possible events of the kind In the future. Severe as was the eartnquake shock itself and disastrous as were It's direct results, they were not comparable in magnitude with the visitations or the kind in other parts of the earth in other days. There were no tidal waves, no readings of the earth and other horrors such as have attended earth convulsons elsewhere Had 1t not been for the devas- tation of fire, which may be regarded among the preventable things. the whole damage wrought would have been com paratively slight. Thus even San Fran cisco Ind it's neighboring towns may be
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Mir. Taft at Greensboro.

The speech of the Secretary of War at Greensboro on Monday night is widely and no doubt rightly regarded as the launching of his boom. In doing this with the Presidents consent he becomes to some extent at least the Roosevetian candidate for the success sion. But whether he went from Oys- ter Bay as the true and only Roosevelt candidate, or went from there as one of many, he knew that in North Caro- lima he would necessarily encounter the Fairbanks machine. He did not hesitate to assail the machine of the Indiana icicle, for he said at Greens boro:
 "As long the republican party in the southern states shall represent little save a factional chase for federal offices, in which the business men and men of sub stance in the community have no desire to enter and in the results of which they have no interest. we may expect the present political conditions of the south to continue"
 MT. Fairbanks knows what these words mean He knows he has foe
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
ENGLAND. (From "The Timepiece." The Task" Book ti.1

By William Cowper. England. with all thy faults, l love thee
 still Nv country! and, while yet a nook Is
 left Where English minds and manners may Shall he constrained to love thee. Though
 thy cline Be Tickle, and thy year most part oe-
 formed With dripping rains. or withered by
 frost, And fields without a flower, for warmer With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's
 groves Of golden fruitage and her myrtle bowers. To shake thy senate, and from height
 sublime Of patriot eloquence to flash down fire Upon thy foes, was nevr meant my task; But can feel thy fortunes, and partake Thy joys and sorrows with as true heart As any thunderer there. And I can feel Thy folles, too; and with just disdain Frown at effeminates whose very looks Reflect dishonor on the land love. How. in the name of soldiership and
 sense, Should England prosper. when such
 things, as smooth And tender as a girl all essenced OCT With odors, and as profiigate as, sweet, Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath. And love when they should fight-when
 such as these Presume to lay their hand upon the ark Of her magnificent and awful cause! Time was when it was praise and boast
 enough In every cline. and travel where we
 might,
  That we were born her children. Praise
 enough To fill the ambition of a private man, That Chatham's language was his mother
 tongue, And wolfe's great name compatriot with
 his own.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
Race Suicide Question.

"Now comes an English professor who advocates as an antidote to race suicide the heather poligamy.' said married man. Prom personal observations it would seem that the young fellow of ths day are too slow about marrying one wife, to say nothing of plurality of them. If this same professor-professor sometimes get up the most beautifully i'm . practical theories-would only include in his dream of fair women some way by which a man could support them l don't doubt but that there would be many con- verts to his scheme of race solution.
 'As far as sentiment about wives goes believe it is as good as ever. Plenty of us would do like Solomon If we could. .
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 A man can have a very peaceful home by not trying to run it.
 A hammock is a very nice thing not to have room enuoght for two unless It's a girl.
 A boy can inherit all his fathers bad habits even when the old man hasn't got them.
 The politician who Is always praislng the plain people is mighty mad if you class him with them.
 There are two kinds of women that don't seem to think it necessary to wear any clothes at all--those lowest down in civilization and those highest up.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-11
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
 N REPRESENTATIVE ADAMSON of " Georgia taunted some of his re-
 publican colleagues of the House with the ignorance of northern people of the art of making cornbread. We did not sympathize with the spirit of MT. Adam son in thus flinging a peoples misfortune into their faces. It is a fact that the people of the north know absolutely noth- ing of the delicious possibilities of corn. They do make some sort of stuff out of new fangled meal and call 1t cornbread, but 1t no more resembles the real thing than a boiled hawk resembles a broiled pheasant Not content with using patent meal of doubtful quality, they even put sugar and baking powder in the stuff they mix up bake and call cornbread.
 As our northern friends look at it, corn is principally valuable for feeding stock and making whisky. We do not challenge it's utility for such purposes, but do know that hard upland corn, ground at the old fashioned mill and converted into corn dodger hoecake, egg bread or cracking bread, has done a great deal to make peo- pie unwilling to leave rocky old world even for the inexpressibie splendors of the New Jerusalem
 It is true that shortly after the war when things were unsettled in the south' even cornbread became a little monoton- ous to southern youth. People who recall the time when it was cornbread three times a day and biscuit every Sunday will remember how far apart the Sun days at that time seemed to be, but when wheat became more abundant cornbread quickly regained It's popularity. Occasion ally in the south one finds the old style cornbread, but it must be admitted that the bolted meal of today does not permit