The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-13

then suddenly in one month his bill at the
clipping bureau has leaped from nothing
to $1,000. This sudden bull movement may
be a source of pleasure or quite the OPP
posite to the subject-one never can tell
Sometimes authors subscribe for clip
pings on subjects which they intend TO
write upon. One author has for two or
three years been collecting all clippings
which describe the heroism of girls. as
shown in reports of fires, accidents and
the like. Then there are the obviously
crank collectors.
One man has for years collected every
thing printed on vegetarianism His bill
this summer has been pretty heavy. An
other man pays for all items relating to
any rascality discovered among spiritual
lists, or among priests and ministers of
the gospel. Periodically he publishes a
deadly parallel In spiritualist paper, OBJ
viously to the discredit of the church peo-
pie, as there are many more of them than
Of his own cult
Another man has collected for years
everything published on Lincoln, and an
other everything published against vac
cination.
Information Sought.
The Ameracin Medical association col
lects statistics relating to injury and loss
of life at Fourth of July celebrations The
principal of a school in New England buys
all items concerning persons who have
made donations to schools or academies
in New England, with the obvious pur-
pose Of affording them an opportunity to
extend.
Interesting comparisons are supplied by
the clipping bureau regarding the articles
printed in the newspapers about the
deaths of prominent men. No other man
in America ever had so much printed
about his death in the newspapers as Nc
Kinley. Carl Schurz has received thus
far 1000 obituary notices. more than any
other man since Mckinley. John Hay
and Joseph Jefferson had 10000 each,
and Mark Hanna, 5000
The most expensive thing TO buy In
clipping bureau is a back search" a
search for the notices of past event For
that charge of 10 cents for each paper
read is made. whether anything is found
or not The bill may easily run into
thousands Of dollars, and it is never en-
trely satisfactory, as many papers are
inevtbly lost
A month after the San Francisco catas-
trophe the Southern Pacific road decided
that it wanted everything that had been
published on the subject and turned in
an order to that effect to a New York
bureau The bureau has just forwarded
a dry goods box containing 5000 clip
pings
One of the most curious back searches
ever ordered was started by Harsworth,
the London newspaper owner. He began
his career with a little periodical called
Answers He placed an order with a
clipping bureau for all original jokes and
funny stories published in American pa
pers He was getting a pretty heavy
service naturally, when one day letter
arrived from him to the following effect:
Last December you furnished us with
the following joke:
" 'Einsteins place has burned down..
Too much iniammable materialT
=" No; too much insurance
at is necessary to locate the origin Of
This joke and mail us a copy of the paper
Immediately"
The manager of the bureau cabled to his
London agent asking the cause of Mr..
Harmsworths sudden demand, and re-
ceived in response the cablegram:
Local F'lnstein suing"
The manager wrote to every jokesmith
he could hear of in the United States and
posted the Joke in every press club, with
an inquiry as to it's origin. After while
he got a letter which read:
"I know-,eause why? 1 wrote 1t myself.
| How much is it worth to show you its
originl publications.
| For IS a copy of the periodical originally
containing the must sought Joke was OBJ
tanned and despatched to the London pub
| Usher.
The first clipping bureau IN the world
was started in Paris In 1879 by French
man named Cheri. There are now forty
| clipping bureaus in the United States, OF
which ten are in this city. There are
| clipping bureaus in every country and
every language on earth sufficiently ad-
vanced to have newspapers.
| Gen. Joe Wheeler ordered a complete
| faa aar history NJ nanfch IN,
twelve great volumes. A New York firm
| presented to every regiment that went
out of New York to that war a scrapboolS
history of the action of the regiment. and
the books are now preserved In the va
| rious armories. Forty-two books of clip
pings were made of McKinley's obituaries.
One man ordered twelve sets to present
to twelve different persons.
Relatives and friends of Henry b. Hyde
ordered ten sets of his obituary notices,
in twenty great volumes, including Items
from insurance papers in China. Japan,
India and other countries, some of which
cost $50 apiece to obtain. Mrs Coils p.
Huntington had under consideration the
making of $4,000 scrspbook of Mr..
Huntington's obituary notices when the
| clippings were destroyed by fire.
The first scrapbook to attract public
attention was the enormous volume or
dered for presentation to Admiral Dewey
on his return from the Philippines. In
Guiding its table 1t cost $500 and is the
most valuable serapbook ever made. 1t is
now in the Smithsonian institution.
Under the auspices of the German
American committee on memorial to
Carl Schurz a scrapbook is being pre-
pared of that statesman This will contain
letters on the life and character of Mr..
Schurz from almost every prominent man
of the day and will be a mine of auto
graphs and personal sentiments for flu