davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
AtIanta's Ambition

Atlanta is not today dreaming of trade extensions or territorial gains or skyscrapers or new railroads, for all those things are lost sight of when the base ball flag of next year is at stake
 Atlanta hopes to become Birmins- hams successor. and at this writing it has bright prospects, although the con test between it's team and the Mem- phis team is close, and baseball is proverbially uncertain,
 Atlanta is playing where every spec tator is helping with all the voice and magnetism he or she possesses the home team. Memphis, on the other hand, played last week among the h. different to say the least, and thls week that team is booked to play five games in the enemy's stronghold. Un- der such circumstances Memphis will surprise all if it becomes the winner The magnetism of thousands of eyes and hands and throats forbid. The flag will doubtless fly in Atlanta next year, and then the list of winners in the league will consist of Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Birmingham and Atlanta, leaving Little Rock, Shreveport and Montgomery a lone trio that have never grasped the prize. Little Rock did however once get a finger on 1t, but its hold was not main tained. The other two teams have not been pennant winners In their most hopeful moments.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
Saul Affinity a Disease

The case of Artist Earle brings be- fore the public the affinity nonsense. This peculiar form of social disease is not q woman's disease. The men of today are afflicted with the disease whenever they tire of the wife and mother as Earle did. Earle induced Mrs Earle to sail away to France talk ing with her the two-year-old child of the pair, in order that the coast might be clear for the appearance on the social stage of an affinity. Affinities never come to unmarried persons. Those who are married acquire them if they be so minded
 Much pity is expended upon Mrs. Earle, and the villagers where the pair lived threatened to expend some tar and feathers on Earle. But Mrs. Earle is not wholly blameless for she
 
 sailed away to France for the purpose of procuring a divorce. which would leave Earle free to marry his elective affinity" This she should not have done. Unpleasant as the task might have been, it was her duty to stand firmly against the entire affinity non sense, for 1t Is an attack upon the laws that society is based upon. It was her duty to face Earle and defend her rights as wife and mother. She did not do this, and she is not therefore wholly deserving of the kind words that have been spoken in her defense.
 As for Earle it is to be hoped the villagers will yet get their hands on him If they do he will pretty certain him. He is an enemy of society and decency and all that Is fair and lovely in the family The soul affinity should be called by it's right name, and Earle and his affinity should both be put where the dogs cannot bite them. Fortunately the cool vilainy of the case has aroused New York and steps may be taken to punish Earle and to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
FAME IN CERTAIN QUARTERS.

From Success Magazine.
 Edwin Markham was one of the guests of honor at Q reception given by a wealthy New York woman During a conversation she said:
 My dear Mir. Markham. I've wanted for years to meet you and tell you now I Just love that adorable picture of yours the one with the man hoeing, you know and he taking off his cap. and that poor wife of his-at least I suppose it's his wife-bowing her head, and they both look so tired, poor things. I have a copy of it In my own den. and the chill dren have another in their playroom, and its-lts-simply exquisite"
 The Angelus,' I jresume you mean ?' replied the poet, gravely.
 Yes" doubtfully, "but we always call it The Hoe Manr
 q am glad you like It. madam" said MT. Markham, and he took an early op- portunity of escaping from his sincere but mistaken admrer.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
That Immunity Issue

Judge Landis and the administra- ton are not altogether in accord over the immunity both extended to the err ing Alton railroad-the railroad that paid rebates to the Standard Oil al most without number. When the Standard Oil had been brought into Judge Lands court the Alton unblush- ingly peached on its pal. It told the rebate secrets held between them, and the result was that the Standard Oil was convicted and fined $29 ,240,0OO This fine has not been paid, but in the course of time it will doubtless be lodged in the federal treasury.
 So much for the Standard Oil Judge Landis does not see why the other party to the rebate payments should not be brought into court and duly and properly fined $29,240,000 also. But 1t now appears that Attorney General Moody and the administration had promised immunity to the Alton road as a reward for it's appearance in the role of states evidence. The admins tration desires its district attorney to ask Judge Landis to quash the indict- ments against the Alton road. Judge Landis is not obedient. He does not seem to believe in immunity baths, and he has postponed the entire mat ter to September "A.
 When the rebates in question were paid E. II. Hartman controlled the AL ton road, but after he had watered it's issues of bonds and stocks he lost in- terest in it, and he is not a party to the present proceedings before Judge Landis. The warmth of the case now consists in a conflict between the court and the administration over a plea of immunity, and we will have to wait until September to see which side will yield, or to see perhaps what sort of A compromise can be devised that will save alike the dignity of the court and of Attorney General Bonaparte and President Roosevelt. However the case is settled the chances are there will bo fon, immunity haths hereafter. They are not creditable, and each one is troublesome precedent.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
How 1t Is Done.

q was down at Jackson the other night" said a man who travels Missis- sippi, land I asked a policeman how blind tigers were conducted in that city. Said he, They constitute terrible prop osition and we raid them about once a week. Last Sunday night for instance we raided a den of washwomen and there obtained about thirty-six bottles some of 1t was hid in washtubs, under laundry, other bottles were found in ket- ties of water and in the stove, and a whole raft of the stuff in a cellar under the house.
 Asked what they do with the blind tiger violators of the prohibition law, when convicted the police officer an swered. The court fines them from s25 to $50 for each offense, they move and re-enter the business. As yet we have not been able to break up the blind tiger proposition. '
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
TWo-Cent Rates

Ohio was the first state that adopted a 2-cent rate, and she has been fol- lowed by Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, West Vir- gin and Wisconsin-twelye states. Be- sides the 2-cent states, these have adopted rates running up to maxi mum of cents: Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, North Dakota and South Dakota. Kan sas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey and Texas have established a Scent maximum. Twenty-four states have therefore passed new rate bills, or more than one-half of the total num- ber
 As a rule the rate bills are not dis puted. There are, however, some rail roads that are kicking against legis- latye reductions, about half a dozen all told The ready acceptance by the railroads of rate bills is in fact one of the remarkable features of the rate movement. The right in the people to name rates Is thus explained by the United States supreme court in a case aroea I,
 "The public cannot properly be sub iected to unreasonable rates in order sim ply that stockholders may earn dvi- dends. The legislature has the authority in every case where it's power has not been restrained by contract to proceed upon the ground that the public may not be rightfully required to submit to un- reasonable exactions for the use of public highway established and main talned under legislative authority. If corporation cannot maintain such high way and earn dividends for stockholders, 1t is a misfortune for 1t and them, which the constitution does not require to be remeded by imposing unjust burdens on the public.
 "So where a railroad has so largely bonded its road bed and franchises as 10 exceed its fair value and where its cap italization Is largely fictitious 1t may not impose upon the public the burden of such increased rates as may be required for the purpose of realizing profits upon such excessive valuation or fictitious cap italization. For no road is entitled to realize a given per cent upon Its capital stock or property. without reference to the interest of the public
 In this decision can be found all the principles that underlie the rate ques- ton. A rate bill is presumed to be lawful until a railroad shows that it is unreasonable and confiscatory, when the legislature presumably will repeal 1t. If not, the courts will prevent It's execution.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
THE SINNER'S SONG.

By Richard Mansfield. If once at bay I touched a crime In boyhood, hot-head, needless time. And all my neighbors rang the chimel
 Wherever l might wander, Do you believe I could outlive Or that my neig'hbors would forgive
 That stretching stain of slander? Do you believe that I could rise And, by doughty deeds and wise,
 Wash out that blot. I wonder? Or, if I strived in doing good, And saving all the souls I could
 Wherever 1 might wander, Would that one stain upon my name Outweigh my labor and my fame?
 Alas, you know it would, Would all my struggles, all my tears, For days. for nights, for months, foI
 years,
 Be ever understood? My sorrow and my piteous prayer Might reach Almighty's ear.
 But would my neighbor hear? O gentle kind, O, kind mankind. o thieves and liars, deaf and blind,
 But never, never dumb O beasts that drabble in your pen, And beasts that wear the garb of men,
 What honor to be one! Could have hid that early crime And turned with sycophantlne chime
 To key with pleasing lies, And stuff beasts loathsome belly full And pat his elephantine hull
 Or please his amorous eyes. How good were I. How wise were II How well I'd live. How damned I die!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
AIR HOGS.

From the Boston Evening Transcript
 Air hog is the epithet applied by the author of one of the typical growls the English send to the editor of the Lon don Times. The correspondent was sit ting reading in his garden, he says. when he noticed balloon pass overhead, and pretty soon after received a shower of the ballast, that was nothing more nor less than dirt" He goes on to work up indignation against the time when air travel becomes a fad of the vulgar rich: Suppose I am peacefully tracking snail to it's lair and I am suddenly as- sailed with the tea slops and heel taps of mllionaires tea party. Null tiply the instances and you have a coun- try oppressed as if under the domina ton Of the Puritans
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
oadsden to- Be Great.

T am out of active participation in the affairs of the cotton mill at Alabama City, to which have devoted many years of attention and which has proven so successful,' said Mir. Mitchell. who was in the city last night. However, I am still a resident of that town and am now working to bring together Gadsden, Ala bama City and Attalla In closer bonds and to make there real Greater Gads- den. We have a splendid opportunity for the upbuilding of magnificent city, We have a navigable river town, sur rounded by farming lands, mineral re- sources. timber and climate unsurpassed and already established vast industrial enterprises. Just watch the tri-cities grow and melt themselves into one great big proposition"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
Expenses of livinu

The bureau of labor at Washington has investigated 25,446 households having about five to the family. The investigation was conducted for the purpose of ascertaining as nearly as possible the real cost of living in this country. Here are the results arrived at by the bureau of labor: The aver age annual income per family is s751.34; average expenditure, s6S9.61;
 difference, $61.73. Of the expenditures sl14.S3 are for rent, s3753 for fuel. s97.3s for clothing, $305.32 for food,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
Leeds Wants Hjoh school.

Leeds wants the high school, proposed by the state for Jefferson county, re- marked J. B. Elliott, who is called in common parlance the Duke of Leeds. v Said he:
 Birmingham is too big to ask for it, Ensley and Bessemer are likewise so' and the people of three big towns ought to let us have that much. Wea are fully prepared to meet every requirement of the law and are sure that no community in Jefferson county will oppose us.
 Let us have that school, and with our other industries we will build up a town of which all the people of the county will be proud. We have an ex- cellent rural community, good water, good health and a lot of bright boys and girls who only need the encouragement Of the state to make them great wish the 6eople would help us in this matter.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
What a Library Means.

",rhe nubIic library association Is work ting for the establishment of an institution that will benefit the gen eraI public whether prohibition, anti nrohihition. religious or irrelgious,' said an amateur sociologist. "Ihe institution will be truly catholic in It's benefactions' in that it will minister to all classes and creeds.
 "The need of public library may well be borne in mind by all the workers Tn the prohibition campaign, since 1T suc- oossf,,l In the removal of both the legal and illegal sale of liquor. the immaculate or precipitatng cause of homicide only is removed. The real, the basic cause still remains with us. That cause IS tba low estimate in which we hold the sacredness of human life. Only this basic cause can account for the immunity of those officers of the law-who illegal ,v and without warrant, have killed dozens of citizens in the last few years These officers recognize that human life is held a cheap commodity among us and nave acted accordingly. No one has been pun ished no mateer how outrageous the at tending circumstances. This special class of homicides cannot be latd at the door of liouor. It can only be laid where 1t belongs-to our community indifference to the sacredness of human life.
 "Our judges, in their charges to the grand 1uries. frequently call attention to the fact that human life Is our cheap est commodity.
 "The moral agencies already existing among us have not been equal to the task. Every additional agency that Will make us esteem human life, irrespective of-the strain of blood or color of skin, may well be encouraged and worked for by every man and woman interested in seeing established among us sure foundation for a permanent moral super structure.
 Tn the cultivation of the humanities too, and in the recognition of the real public utility of such cultivation, the li- brary will be helpful. It is a tolerably safe prediction that as the library shall distribute books on the humanities or even Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, more and more of our people will experience a dsagreeable inward quivering on hear ing the clanking chains of the petty of- lending, who for some really trivial of fense are sentenced for long terms to do all our street work and remove all our garbage.
 "The library association may well ap peal to every one irrespective of a post ton on the liquor question: who would add another agency for innocent amusement, for self improvement or for social better ment"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
A Real Alabamian.

James L. McConaughy, former secretary and treasurer of the Montevallo Coal and Transportation company, is in the city, and in the lobby of the Florence last night he said:
 My home is still in Montevallo, where I have lived for many years. We have a goodly little town down there, and are growing. as arc all other Alabama towns. The State Girls school is an immense proposition, and besides this we are Tn the center of the state and in an im- mense natural industrial proposition l am now out of the company with which I have been connected for many years but am still an Alabaman and expect to continue my efforts in behalf of the development of the state.
 T go east in few days, but expect to return again in a short time and con tinue my efforts for the advancement of the interests of Alabama, which l know to possess the strongest proposition of all states in the union."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 It's easier for most people to be an idiot than to look like one
 Hammocks are very interesting when girls are falling out of them.
 A pretty sure way to get married is to have a girl make up her mind to catch you.
 There's certain kind of man that can think he looks handsome when he cocks his hat.
 When woman can't find any other excuse. for making her husband do a thing, she can always fall back on the clincher that It's good for the children.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
Saenqerfest Programme.

The programme for the grand concert of the German Saengerfest which will be held at the Hippodrome Monday, Sep tember g. at S:15 p. m, has been ls- sued, It is an extremely handsome pup lication, printed on fine white paper Tn German and English, and profusely H. lustrated. The elaborate programme Is not only given in full, but all other information that delegates to the saenger- fest need to have. The fine illustrations of inc hook make 1t valuable as an art souvenir.
 It Is estimated that fully Sooo Germans will attend the Saengerfest, which opens Sunday night.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Senator Borah's alleged eomplicity in land frauds has attracted the atten- tion of a federal grand jury, and the senator is now an esteemed prisoner on trial.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

drive his affinity-one Sophie Kuttner outside the pale of decent society, despite her subconscious ego and all the rest of the Gorky-Sinclair clap trap.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

The dogdays booms are disappear ing and the real stayers will be left in the presidential race.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
PRESS POINTS

Louisville Herald If there was fish ing tackle trust there would be a lot moro re-baiting.
 New York Mall: Every now and then the police snap bracelet about the Black Hand, and honest folk rejoice.
 Shreveport Times: The peekaboo Is doomed for season, gentle Annie, but there's the rainy day skirt if it is any consolation.
 Charleston News and Courier: Secretary Roots visit to Muldoon's place raises the question why he never though of train ing for his cabinet duties before.
 Washington Herald: A Nevada man claims to have perfected an onion that will intoxicate. The thing for that man to do is to move to Georgia and become a millionaire.
 Pittsburg: Sun: When the general man. agers of railroads have to stand trial for mansaughter in speed accidents an im- mediate reform in railway operation may be looked for.
 Memphis Commercial Appeal: The Charleston News and Courier wants to know just how much wealth a man must have in order to become ''malefactor." Just enough to escape jail.
 Providence Journal: If Tom L. John son should win the mayoralty a fourth time in the republican city of Cleveland he might loom little himself on the dem ocratic presidential horizon.
 Washington Post: After reading that three-column article inthe Chicago Trib- une on How to Have Beautiful Hands" some of us are likely to remember the beautiful hands we have had when mo- body stayed"
 New York Post: It was all very well for King Edward to stop a little girl on the street at Marienbad, where they have no wave of crime, to give her gold piece, but it would never do for him to try it in New York.
 New Orleans Item: Nan Patterson complains that lying stories of men com hitting suicide for love of her are making her a nervous wreck. It must be that Nanette's nervous system has consider ably deteriorated of late. Houston Post: A police justice in Rich mond ruled that a husbandNh a perfect right to spank his wife. Such a decision is not surprising in a town where it Is the custom to put jimson and sun flower leaves in potlicker St.Louis Globe Democrat: Alabama will send its entire congressional delegation of nine to the Mississippi waterways event in October. A general attendance of congressman would show that the na- tional significance of the occasion is ap- preciated
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

So many prominent citizens get into trouble these days that it is dangerous to be prominent.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08
FOR A GREETING.

No matter what sorrows may darken the
 way,
 No matter what troubles befall, Just lift up your eyes to the morning and
 say, Its a good old world after all"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

A slump In the big stick has become apparent. and Governor Hughes Is gaining friends.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Prince Dabro of Egypt is in this country. One prince follows another here. It is not easy to get up pro- gresslye euchre parties in their honor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

The Alton railroad has no ambition to shine as 8 defendant in the court that Rockefeller once honored with his presence and testimony.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Ferdinand P Earle could not have acted more scandalously if he had been a titular earl of a realm.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Directions in a helpful hints" cof- umn on how to skin beets, reminds us that nearly everybody nowadays Is learning how to skin his fellow man.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Lawrence D'Orsay says 1t took him twelve years to win his bride. That Is probably the longest continuous en- gagement he ever played.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

The Emperor of Austria goes to bed at o'clock, which is more than the Emperor of Belgium does.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

There are those who say the straw hat Is good for one more cleaning while you wait.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Can woman take care of herself?" asks a writer She can, in most cases. but prefers to have a man do it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-08

Affinities are at discount in Amer ican villages. Only the cities welcome them, notably Pittsburg.