davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
OIL KINGS WEALTH..
Rockefeller Says Fortune Barely Elk.
ceeds $500, oo0, 900.

New York Special to the New Orleans
Times Democrat.
New York, July 20.-A special cable to
the Press from Cherbourg France, says:
Before sailing for home in the Ham
ourg-American liner Amerika today John
ID. Rockefeller, nettled by stories of his
wealth in Paris newspapers, said his for
tune barely exceeded $500, coo 600, which is
a total smaller than that generally credit
ed to Andrew Carnegie.
For the last few days several of the
Paris newspapers have been figuring what
wonders might be accomplished by the
mere power of the oil kings gold. all the
estimates of his fortune being 81 coo 900 900
or 5000 900, 600 francs. 1t has been set forth
that this estimate Is drawn from the
amount of Rockefeller's wealth current in
the United States. When he was boarding
the Amerika French reporter approach
ed Rockefeller and ventured a question
on the opinion of one newspaper that
the oil king with his pyramid of golden
eagles might almost preserve the peace
of the world Rockefeller turned on his
questioner and snapped out:
Ihat ridiculous In the first place,
when nations become crazed with passion
all the money in the universe won't keep
them from fighting. and in the second
place | am not q Millionaire. 1 have not
got one third of billion 1t is wrong
for newspapers to publish such a state
ment, and I regret it.
Suddenly Rockefeller's frown vanished,
and, rubbing his hands, he said
IF you want to print something in your
paper tell Paris that l have found great
enjoyment in my six weeks stay in
France. But also say that with all your
hospitality, I am glad to start homeward.
The French are home-loving people, and
agree with them that there is no place
like home. My last word to you is that
have had bully time
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
peeulIarltles of the Clock.

''Have You ever noticed that all of the
wooden clocks seen on the streets as signs
to jewelry and watch stores are set at
about seventeen and half minutes after
eight o'clock?" asked an interesting talker
recently.
This would not attract attention ex-
cept for the fact that the thing is so uni
form. l asked prominent jeweler and
matchmaker lately whether or not it was
a requirement of the profession. and he
stated that 1t was not. His explanation
was however, that it was a memorial Of
the death of President Lincoln, which oc-
Cured at the stated time.
Another popularity is the four Is on
the face of the clock of the numeral
four, instead as in other cases of the
accustomed " An interesting little story
is told that Frederick J. of Russia had
ordered a very fine watch to be made.
One of the finest watchmalSers in Europe
was employed to construct the timepiece.
When finished It was truly a work of art,
but on being presented to Frederick he
looked it over and for some reason was
dlspleased with the w on the face. He
dashed the watch to the floor and of
course ruined it. The matchmaker. how
ever. reconstructed the piece, placed the
four Is on the face In the place of the ~
and again presented 1t to the Emperor.
The watch pleased him very much and
II is said that since that time the Gus
tom has been generally followed"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
NEW YoRk's MUSIC.
Two Later Strains In II That Are Pc
cuIiarly Modern and Stirring.

From the New York Sun
Peculiarly modern among the city's
sounds are the resonant rattle of the
pneumatic riveters, and the incessant pur-
ring of the pneumatic stone carving tool.
the first coming down to us from the
lofty skeleton of some steel fran building
under construction and the latter from
the stone front of a building upon which
men are doing the finishing carving.
Both sounds make music so full of ener-
gy and hustle that it may cause men
to move faster when they hear it. Let
these tools be In use where they can
be seen nearby and men will halt at the
sound of them to look on. Familiar as
they have now become they still seem
marvellous, so everlastingiy does the
pneumatic riveter beat the old time rivet-
ing hammer and the pneumatic stone
carving tool the old time hnallet and
chisel
Here were carvers. a canvas curtain
hung behind them, standing on the side
walk in front of a new building on lower
Broadway. carving a pattern marked on
course of stone set in the building
down there close to the ground; pretty
much all stone carving on buildings Is
done nowadays after the stone has been
put in place.
Once the carving was done before the
stone was brought to the ground; now
they carve capitals, anything, after the
stone has been set in the building, and
do in days or in hours, with modern tools,
work that used to take weeks.
1t was a granite course that these men
were at work upon in that building in
lower Broadway, while groups of men
stood at the open ends of the curtains
hung behind the carvers and watched.
Hard stone. granite: but the pneumatic
TOOLS making hundred strokes where
a man with mallet and chisel could
have made one; bit into it all the same.
AS the lockers on stood and watched
with interest the manner of handling the
tools and listened to their incessant pur-
ring they could see the carving grow.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
Rustic and John RarIeycorn.

Fresh from the fields of new-mown hay
and grassy pastures green, a tall gray
bearded fellow of the most pronounced
rustic type reached the city this after
noon, with the avowed intention of 'hav-
ing a time . said a citizen last night
1.-THE first step toward this end was a
series of successive visits to those re-
sorts where liquid refreshments are
served to those who may be thirsty;
after which the enthusiastic visitor be-
gan to see the town.
by the time the countryman had ar
rived at Twentieth street and First ave-
nue. he was In the blissful thrall of old
John Barleycorn, and was feeling so
good that he just couldn't contain him
self. Standing in the shadow of the new
skyscraper, he gazed at its wonderful
heights and burst into song. The by
ISLANDERS then received a treat in the
shape of classical rendition of a bal
lad entitled 'Grandfather's Mule is the
Best Mule of ALL and at their earnest
request he also sang, I've Worked on the
Farm for Nineteen Years At this juno
ture. however, he was gently reminded
by blue coated officer that he was no
longer on the farm, and that he must
move on. A kind hearted on locker led him
away to a lodginghouse, and he was left
there to repent in the cold gray dawn ="
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
TALES OF A "HERETIc."

From Lesl1es Weekly.
If half the stories concerning the kind
ness and generosity of DR.. Algernon S.
Crapsey, of Rochester, are true. one must
wish that such "heretics'' as he were to
be found in every community. That he is
a man of genuine piety and a large
heart there can be no doubt Not long
ago. it is said, DR.. Crapsey heard Of
a family in the community which has
dphtheria. Every member of the family
was sick with the dread disease, and no
one would go near them for fear OF
contracting 1t. They were poor and des-
titute Although they were not connect
ed with his church, DIR. Crapsey went to
them as soon as ne heard of their sore
straits. At the risk of his own health
he entered the house and proceeded to
set things straight. Finding an apron of
the housewives behind a door. he, put 1t
on, took of his coat. rolled up his sleeves
and washed all of the dirty dishes which
had accumulated. He then provided for
the needs of the family, and did all he
could 70 help them through their trouble.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
unsupported CHARGES.

If Nathan L. Miller, candidate for
representatives of the railroads. street
car lines and the furnace companies,
in the offensive sense of being sub
servient to them, that fact should be
clearly established. mere charge In
warm campaign counts not, for no
fair-minded, Just man would heed 1t
until some proof at least Is brought
out to support It, Thus far not a par
this case. The charge stands naked
and alone. It is singularly lonely in
it's nakedness.
The bringing of such charge with
no supporting proof by one democrat
against a brother democrat is certainly
unwise. Mr.. Miller is almost sure to
become the nominee of the democratic
party for state senator Where then
would the men be who had flung at
him grave unsupported charges?
Let us at least have some proof in
support of the charge, no matter how
frail it be. The men who assert that
Mr. Miller is in any formal sense the
candidate of the corporations, intimat-
n, That lt,a1, he Il Furnished D,onav FOR
a great corruption fund, either know
what they are asserting, or else they
do not. IF they do, let the proof. or at
least some fraction of it. be produced.
IF no proof has come to their hands,
how can they In any decency continue
to repeat the charge?
That charge should either be sub
stantiated or else it should be with
drawn The interests of the demo-
cratic party and sense of justice and
fair play in politics demand that the
one course or the other should be
adopted
No doubt Mr. Miller will poll the
votes of representatives of corpora
lions. He will get the votes of men
in all walks of life who know him WELL
and who therefore have confidence In
his integrity and capacity. But who
ever asserts that corruption fund
provided by the corporations is being
used to advance his campaign, or that
anyone is supporting him with an ex-
pectation of controlling his action In
the senate. certainly has undertaken a
task that Is not only proofless, but that
is also absolutely baseless. Mr.. Mil
lers entire active life has been spent
in Jones valley. He is a lawyer in
active practice. He is not corpora
ton lawyer, and never has been. He
is an honest, straightforward, patriotic
crtizen. and as such he should receive
and doubtless will receive the support
of honest men without regard to avo-
cation or business relations.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
Janan's Peace Plans.

Japan may be tying her helmet
strings tighter in her army and navy,
but she is thinking a great deal more
about trade than she is about war. Her
chief ambition is now economic The
great banks. and shippers and the gov
eminent have gone into partnership
SO to speak for the purpose of drawing
all rivals out of Corea and Manchuria.
and probably out of the rest of China.
The rate of interest to Japanese Dor
rower is to be lowered; freight rates
on Japanese products are to be put at
a minimum, and a system of subsidies
to all whose exports exceed two and
a half million dollars is to be granted.
All aye pulling together to control
trade and industries in the Far East,
and the man must be blind who does
not see that they intend to Guido or
rather to undersell all western COM
petitors They are on the spot and
they can produce cheaply because all
wages are low. They are not there
fore afraid of the open door They
will open the door in a physical sense
to close 1t in an economic sense.
The government that organized and
conducted war better than any nation
had in the history of the world, will
almost certainly organize and con-
duct commercial campaign equally
well. The entire Japanese commercial
plan is eminently socialistic. The gov
eminent owns the railroads. and posi-,
bly, the steamers that ply between Ja-
pan and the mainland 1t has a great
national bank 1t will use the trans
portation facilities and the bank to
promote japanese manufactures and
trade. Full details are not at hand, but
the general scope of the Japanese
plans leave little room for doubt as to
Japanese intentions. The alert vic
tors in war propose to dominate In
times of peace all they conquered, and
the western competing nation will
wake up to find that Japan is as keen
eyed in trade as Germany and Eng
land or America itself.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
NEW YORK JuRIEs.
ON the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun
In sentencing a murderer who had been
convicted of manslaughterl in the first
degree, Recorder Con-. deploring the mis-
carriage of justice, made these remarks:
mo wonder there is an epidemic of
papers speak of it, when juries fail to do
their duty as the jury failed in this case.
This Sinking of their full duty on the
part of Jurors in murder cases seriously
threatens the prevalence Of law and or
der in this city,
This view seems to place the chief, If
not the whole, responsibility upon the
twelve men In the box whom the prose-
cutor and counsel plead with, and whom
the Judge instructs In the law and hypo-
thetically advises. The New York jury
men are representative Of the New York
people from whom they are drawn. They
are citizens before they are jurymen. They
enter the jury box with some precon-
eeived notions about the society of which
they are observing members and about
Justice as it can be perverted. They have
seen condemned and sentenced murderers
avert the death penalty by resorting to
the subtleties OF stays and appeals which
they cannot understand. They have seen
so many convictions set aside because of
mistakes of the prosecution or the falli-
bllity of the sitting judge that they may
be excused II they come to think that the
law was made for the accused and not to
discourage crime. They have observed a
tendency to discover romance in the most
deliberate and wanton murders and to
palliate them for sex and family reasons.
They are more familiar with the portraits
of distinguished and unfortunate criminals
than with the counterfeit presentments of
statesmen and philanthropists. They are
familiar with trial by experts who dis
agree. and particularly with trial by
chorus girls and other popular and at
tractive characters. They see murder done
with the generalization of acquittal, and
acquittal generally follows. 1t is no great
wonder IL they come to think lightly of
homicide, IL they lose confidence in the
ability of the public prosecutor to prove
1t. and II they conclude that they are ex-
pected TO deal tolerantly with 1t. the
thing having been done and often long
over when they find themselves in the
box.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25

lionaire. would the court officers at
Findlay. O.. have permitted a lawyer
to have entered his appearance at
court in any such manner? Could n
mere millionaire have met criminal
charge in that way? Could any one
but Rockefeller have shaken off a war
rant in such a neat and convenient
style?
Probably not, and this is one reason
why the land is full of unrest and dis
content. There is one law and one
method for the Millionaire, and one for
the common herd, and the difference
between the two is too great TO be
pleasant or even endurable.
The sheriff who held the warrant has
INDUCED in great deal of talk as to
Mr.. Rockefeller's arrest. and now he
sees that billionaires are not subject
to arrest in the ordinary American
way. The public prosecutor and the
probate judge put their heads together.
and when those heads separated Rock
efeller's appearance at court had been
entered in the probate court. and the
curtain fell shutting the strutting sher-
if entirely out of view. Hereafter the
sheriff should decline to receive war
rants against billionaires, for they are
not subject to arrest and incarceration
as other men are. The Millionaire
stands in Ohio in a. class by himself.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
ALABAMA PRESS

Admission Star. Chief Justice s. D.
Weakley. who holds the position by ap-
pointment. deserves it by election. for he
is doing good work.
Kellyton Advertiser: The people should
continue to discuss and plan for the edu-
cation of their children. Elect men to
both houses of the legislature who will
work for the interest of the barefoot boy
and girl
Luverne Headlight: The farmers are
finishing their crops, and are now ready
to talk politics. 1t will not be a cam
paign with opposing parties but family
race. It promises to grow very warm.
Several questions are at issue in which
farmers are very much interested.
Montgomery Advertiser: The Advertiser
publishes on this page very apprecla-
tive article from the Birmingham Age
Herald. The article is headed Governor
Jelks' Record" and every word of it is
well deserved Alabama has never had a
chief executive who has devoted more of
his time and attention to the duties of the
office than the present governor He has
not been setting up a machine in his
own behalf Under Governor Jelks
the states affairs have been looked after
in the way that all public officials should
act
He has made the states business his
personal affair, and the result of this
policy, rather than the opposite of
working it for his personal advancement,
is seen in the prosperous condition of the
state today. When he retires from office
he will leave a way clear and undisturbed
for his successor to walk in.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
Is THERE SUCH A THING
AS UNIVERSAL SOLVENT3


From the Technical World Magazine.
~ HEMIsTRY has proved that the
w eighty elements are not indie
pendent. ultimate things Astron-
omy and chemistry together have rem
dered it probable that all the elements
matter from simple into complex forms,
the organic life which exists on the earth
being simply the later end of this pro-
cess of evolution from the simple toward
the complex. Physics has found a way
of producing out of ordinary atoms mi
much smaller than atoms. and has also
found that certain of our heaviest ele-
ments are in the very act Of spontaneous
ly transmitting themselves into simpler
forms. To our first question, then, as to
whether the elements are transmutable
in the laboratories of nature, we may
return the answer that certain of them,
at least. are transmutable; and it is prob
able that in natures laboratories all of
them are produced from some simple,
primordia1 stuff
Can man effect the transmutation? Thus
far he has indeed learned how to obtain
cathode ray particles from any of the
different forms of matter; but he has not
learned how to produce by any of the
agencies at his command any of the
eighty recognized elements from any
other. He has caught nature in the very
act of doing 1t herself; but none of the
agencies now known to the chemist or
to the physicist appears to be able either
to accelerate or to retard the process
that is, to change in any way the rate
at which radioactive substances are spon-
taneously transmitting themselves into
other substances.
1t seems probable that the universal
solvent which will produce this trans
mutation, and which is perhaps produc-
ing it now in the stars, is temperature;
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
A FREAK OF FORTUNE.

In the newspapers of Russia and
other countries there recently ran,
personal advertisement beseeching
a Count Montecucoli to declare him.
self. At last an incident brought him
to light in Siberia, where the count
was acting as railway guard. Broken
by wildness and extravaganza, he had
had to quit the Austrian army and flee.
Going from bad to worse, he had taken
the lowest rank on the Siberian rail.
way. 1t was now his lot to learn that
his uncle, mead of his house, had died
and left him an enormous estate and
$1,00OO00 year.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
THE TRIUMPH OF A "STAY AT
HOME"

Maize Virginia Caruthers, in the New
York Times.
When all my neighbors went away
This summer to the sea
And left Our Street alone and dull.
/ rallied at poverty.
didn't ask to go abroad
I simply longed to roam
On shore or mountan-anywhere--
'Twould be change from home,
My days went by, unhappy quite.
Alas. that Fate preverse
Should grant me such a lack of fun
And fill my neighbours pursei
All, If but once l might enjoy
A few weeks by the sea,
Or breathe my fill of highland air,
How happy l should be!
My friends all kindly wrote to me.
The poor thing left in town."
And then l realized by luck
Did not deserve a frown;
For Mrs. Smith was starved to DEATH
Miss Gadder's lot was worse
THE sea breeze quite refused to blow"
Zen for her well stuffed purse!
mo fshing-not a single bite
Except mosquitoes bold,
And they from early morn till night
Did not relax their hold%
The beds were hard, the weather hot,
The golfers criticised
The links. It seemed that things were not
Just what were advertised.
Twas then | found that happier far
Than those who yearly roam
Are they who change of air have not
But board and bed AT HoME!.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
RiIIinnairas In cnurt.

That Ohio warrant charging John ID.
Rockefeller with violation of the anti
trust law of that state has become
formless and wholly technical. In
as any other warrant against any other
American citizen should be, it is not
to be served at all. Being somewhat
of a Millionaire, Mr. Rockefeller has
already surrendered himself to the
court, given bond and is as free now
to land when he pleases and how he
pleases as is a man who has violated
no law whatsoever.
II the prisoner had not been a bill
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25
wATTERsoN AS A PROPHET.

From the New York Herald.
Colonel Watterson is rare combi-
nation of the highest qualities of
statesman, politician and journalist.
In each individual branch he may have
been equaled. but few, IL any, figures
in American history have possessed to
the same extent such journalistic in
tuillon, such command of electioneer-
ing strategy and such statesmanlike
grasp of public problems, as does the
gallant southernor. When, therefore.
he asserts that the nomination by the
democratic party of William Jennings
Bryan Is a certainty. and a renomina-
ton by the republican party of Theo-
dore Roosevelt is a growing proba-
bility he is certainly talking whereof
he knows.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-25

that the old Greek philosophers were
right in assuming that a proper admixture
Of their old element, fire. would produce
any desired transformation But unfor-
tunately the temperatures required to
produce these changes are probably for
ever beyond mans reach. The relatively
little changes which we are able to pro-
duee on earth have no measurable effect
at all upon the transmutations which
uranium, radum or thorium are UNDER
going. Although, then. our modern science
mas opened out before us a view which
the ancient alchemists never had of the
wonderful operations going on in natures
laboratories. we are at the present day
Just as impotent as they in the face of
the problem of the transmutation of any
element into any other element If the Sc
cret OF this transformation should ever
be found we should be able to unlock
almost infinite stores of energy which
we now know to be wrapped up in the
atoms of the elements Curie proved in
1903 that the dlslntegration of a gramme
OF radium liberates at least 300. 600 times
as much heat energy as is evolved in
the combustion of one gramme of coal.
Furthermore, IT Is extremely probable
that similar enormous quantities OF ener-
gy are locked up In the atoms of all SUBJ
stances, j, ]. Thomson estimates that
enough energy is stored up in one granrne
of hydrogen to raise a million tons
through a hundred yards. It is not i'm
probable that IL is the transformation
of this sub-atomic energy into heat which
maintains the temperature of the sun.
Should man ever be able to unlock this
energy he would doubtless look back upon
the day in which his progenitors burned
coal to warm their houses and to drive
their engines with the same curiosity
and pity with which we look back upon
the day when our naked ancestors
ploughed their fields with a crooked stick
and lit their fires with the spark from
a flint.