davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
THE INITIAL OF THE LOUISVILLE 6 NASHVILLE SYSTEM

should take stock in the furnace company in full payment for the amount of freight charges on the iron hauled by it.
 When we consider the decisive power of the railroads of Alabama for good. we cannot overlook their history in all directions. It Is mistake to suppose the principal roads that now penetrate the mineral division of the state are the result of changes in our industrial life wrought by war and the abolition of slavery. Each of those roads was chartered by the legislature before the war. Each road was justified by state geological surveys to locate the coal and iron. All of the roads were con- ceived by the legislature as a feature of the commerce of Mobile. Statesmen of those times understood well the power of interest, commissions and profits of trade kept at home. At that time the exports of Mobile amounted annually to S45,000,- O00 This trade was ample to provide means to handle at the port all the coal and iron 1t might arrive from the mineral region. The railroads chartered were intended to give the state the ad- vantage of interest. commissions and profits on the mineral commerce, as 1t then enjoyed on the cotton commerce.
 After the war the railroads under the operation of oppressive laws of Congress turned the trade of Alabama from Mo- bile Mobile made an heroic struggle and is now in high hopes, but her export trade Is hardly more than one-third of what it was in 1860. It is not more than one-tenth of what it probably would have been had the logical effect of rail- road building into the mineral region, as originally designed, been permitted.
 Recently the "Memiors of John H.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

which they have heard or read. These phrases sound well and serve to give the speaker the credit for a knowledge he does not possess, while ignorance of their signification is something to be endured rather than to seek an explanation. Thus the march of life goes along, keeping step to the hollow but high-sounding phrases of drum-beaters, social and po- 1tical
 Of all the phrases in common use there is none more popular than "A fair day s wages for a fair days work" In re- sponse to the demand or doctrine enunci- ated in that phrase, everyone says. Ger tainly;" but the remarkable thing about that phrase is that. notwithstanding 1t Is as old as the hills and has met with universal assent it is used today to ex- press the self-same demand that it did centuries ago, and the assent is as uni- versal now as then. Is it merely hol- low, high-sounding phrase that has been relayed to us through all those ages. and which serves today to fill with hopes the hungry hearts of toiling millions, or is it possibility awaiting realization?
 The foundation, the very bedrock on which the economic problem of capital and labor rests is the alleged unequal dis tribution of wealth. The antagonism be- tween these two bodies Is not due to the fact that one body is made up of labor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

, Gen. George b. Spencer, carpet-bagger. from the state of New York, held a seat in the United States Senate at that time as if from Alabama. At the November state elections, of the preceding Novem- ber Spencer had thrown his influence in North Alabama. which unfortunately it was considerable, for the democratic nominee for governor, Robert B. Lindsay, against w. II. Smith, then governor and the candidate of the republicans to suc- ceed himself. Spencer's motive was, to defeat Gen. Willard Warner, also from New York, his carpet-bag colleague, for reelection. He preferred a democratic colleague in the Senate at that time, be- cause his intimate personal friend, Pres ident Grant, would not be embarrassed in dividing the very fat patronage of Ala bama between two republicans; Spencer being sure to command the whole. This patronage proved to be worth to Sena tor Spencer more than S100,000 personal
 perqusits. Not only did Lindsay defeat
 Smith, but democratic house of repre- sentatives was elected. Spencer attained to his ends when Judge George Gold
 waite, democrat, was chosen to succeed Warner, the short term incumbent
 Under Governor Smith and the pie-bald legislature of 1S6S-70. composed for the
 most part of illiterate negroes, carpetbag- gers and scalawags of the John Hardy type, the credit of the state was lost. The South and North road had out bonds, indorsed to the extent of s2,2OO,0O0 by the state. Sage & Stevenson owned or controlled these securities, upon which the state was in default of interest.
 Sage & Stevenson came to Montgomery to forecose their first mortgage on the South and North, and under an agree
 ment with J. c. Stanton of Boston, build CT and owner of the Alabama and Chat tanooga, to abandon the line from Bir-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
BY J. c. HIDDEN, D. D.

But let us notice the character of tho preaching in this apostolic revival. Tho Galilean fisherman, who was the leading preacher. was not a scholar. He was not what the world called a philosopher, and he was none the worse for that. He does not fool away his time in speeulat- ing upon the nature and the causes Of things in general. His sermon is very specific. and deals with facts. Nor does the preacher seem to be an orator" Of what is commonly called "eloquenee' his sermon is singularly destitute. Peter took a text from the Old Testament-the only Scriptures then In existence-he ex- pounded his text, that is, he set forth its meaning: and then he applied the ex- position to the condition and needs of tho people before him. This Is preaching, and l am not sure that anything else is,
 It has been my privilege to preach in various parts of this country-north. south, east and west. There are scattered over these various regions people whom the blessed Lord has given me as seals to my ministry; and when I think of the great rising day, when Christ shall como to make up his jewels; when I think of those who are scattered now. but who will stand together then at the Kings right hand, what 8 comfort to think that
 I can look upon them and say: Lord. here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

mingham to Decatur. The scheme lying between the bankers and Stanton was to make Chattanooga the commercial dis tributing point of Alabama coal and iron In anticipation Stanton diverted a large part of the Alabama indorsed bonds of his railroad to the purchase of real estate in the then small town of Chattanooga, and the erection there of gorgeous hotel, the "Stanton house..
 The directors of the South and North were men of extraordinary business ca pacity. They were men in the maturity of life, who had made each his own for tune in Alabama, had married and reared families. They were distressed but not subjugated by the revolution. Their names present were: F. M. Gilmer, Jr., of Montgomery, president of the board i; Boiling Hall of Autauga county Josiah Morris of Montgomery. Judge Bennjah Bibb, E. c. Hannon and Albert Straus- burger, all of Montgomery. Chief Engi- neer Milner was present with the meet ing.
 GiImer had gone to New York to seek to forestall the visit of the bankers, but failed. He travelled with them to Mont gomery and found them incorrigible. He advised the best settlement they could make. All the others refused. They would hold out and await the developments
 The morning after the Exchange hotel meeting, Albert Fink. big-boned Ger man, who spoke broken English, called on Chief Engineer Milner at the latter s boarding house at an early hour. He was vice president and general manager of the Louisville and Nashville railroad His road was then single short line. connecting Louisville and Nashville. It had no branches. Newcomb was presi- dent. The offices were at Louisville. The road had grown rich by the enormous
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

when Sloss joined them, having arrived late the night before.
 At the second meeting President New comb cast his vote for the Alabama project, thus carrying it. The Louisville and Nashville system had this beginning. It was born of Alabama conditions. Ala bama has always been the friend or this road While the carpet-bag legisla- tors would only allow state indorse- ment to S16,OO0 per mile for Stantons road, it allowed the South and North an indorsement of $220O0 per mile
 There are many distinct instances of friendly relations in effect between this road and the managers of industries in the state. When MT. DeBardeleben had entered well upon the work of opening Pratt mines Colonel MilEer, earnest Tn his consistent efforts to provide business for the newly opened road, began to lay the beginnings of the Coalburg mines. Now the Louisville and Nashville owned the alternate sections of land In that region and it was necessary that the owner of the mines should own every section. DcBardeleben went to Louisville to protest against Miners interference in the coal mining enterprise at that critical stage of development. but Gen. E. P. Alexander, then president of the road, sided with Mllner and the result is the principal coal supply for the Sloss iron industry. Colonel Troy became man ager of the Oxmoor charcoal furnace Charcoal iron could not be profitably made there and the enterprise seemed to be prepared for natural death. Experts in Ohio had declared vehemently that Alabama had no coal that would coke Troy made an agreement with the Louis vile and Nashville to carry the iron to Ohio if it could be made from Alabama coke. The agreement was that the road
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

London, November 16.-(Special Cable.)- The great war of the twentieth century has begun in real earnest It is not a campaign with military troops for the ad- justment of some foreign policy or the acquisition of new territory It is a grimmer war, and likely to last longer than the fiercest military struggle.
 Labor vs. capital. conservatisf and liberalism vs- socialism, are the antag- onists. For a long while in this coun- try socialism has been looked upon as safety valve which has allowed noisy fanatics to air their views. and has en- abled the working classes to let off steam; but the organization has been too strong, the feelings too deep rooted and the evils too real for socialism to remain an in ocuous and harmless froth on the tide of life.
 No one who looks upon great social questions with thoughtful and far-seeing eyes can for moment imagine that as things exist now either of the contendins parties, as constituted. is likely to pro- duce real benefit to the world. The ex- travagance of the socialist propaganda IS. of course. largely due to its conception of the gigantic evils which 1t is opposing. There is only one thing that can save the situation at present, and that Is that the great mass of Christian people should throw themselves into the breach and form in unbroken ranks a. solid phalanx to stand for all that is right, true. high, noble and absolutely Christian in social ism, versus all that is pagan, cratic and disastrous in the present concept, and demonstrate the fact that Christians, at any rate, at last realize that 1t is as much their duty to face and to fight the social evils which have produced the struggle as 1t is their duty to withstand the principles on which socialists are working.
 The harm of their propaganda, ts largely due to the fact that they hAve lost all heart in the possibility of ally ing themselves to those who shqnld
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
BY LADY HENRY SOMERSET.

lover your face web of lies is woven, Laws that are falseh pin you to
 the ground.
 Labor is mocked. it's just reward is
 stolen.
 On it's bent back sits idlenss en-
 crowned.
 From every wretched slum
 Let the loud cry come,
 Arise, o England, for the day Is
 here."
 After the singing of the Red Flag the little scholars are dismissed. One can well understand that such movement disturbs, distresses and alarms the Chris tian church. and yet, what is the alterna- tive? Why has it come about? Is 1t true to say that the larger proportion or fathers and mothers have been so edu- cated and are in such conditions that they are the best arbiters of their chill dren's fate? Is 1t true that the larger proportion of people live on the narrow line which divides starvation from bare necessity? Is it true that in this greatesr capital of the world millions Of people are herded together in dwellings unit for human habitation? Is it true that among our agricultural laborers the wages are so low that men toll honestly TOT tHSh daily bread all their lives, and yet have to end their days in the poor house? Is it true that many of those who occupy prominent positions on religious bodies are among those who grind their work peo- pie, or expose them to unnecessary dangers in poisonous trades, without care for their welfare. and without thought of their peril? Is it true today that large masses of people live in the most niser- able conditions, uttely ignorant of the first principles of religion, utterly careless of the great truths of life. and yet that there are on the other hand hundreds of people who are taking their leisure and their ease, and who are so-called re- lIgous folk? If all these things are true, is 1t any wonder that a great re- action should set in against what has been so caricatured and 70 misrepresented as the Christian religion?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

"HE Louisville and Nashville system
 of railroads had it's genesis in a ! little room at the Exchange Hotel, Montgomery, Ala, one night In Apri' 1871. The first link was forged there ana then in the chain of events which con- sists the system.
 This magnificent realization of the sagacity and energies of Alabamians, and their Kentucky associates, strange to say, comes back in the next generation to the starting point, a factor in one or the most complex and superior questions in the science of American politics. We shall have nothing here of argument but somewhat of narrative of the foundations of so potential an influence in our social, industrial and governmental life.
 Alabama was suffering the extremities of oppression in April, 1871, when the di- rectors of the South and North railroad, and John T. Milner, chief engineer. met two bankers from New York, Russell Sage and V. K. Stevenson in the obscure little room. The South and North, origin ally intended to connect Montgomery with Red mountain, had already been merged with the Tennessee and Alabama Cen tral, originally intended to connect De- catur with Montevallo. Frank M. Gil mer Jr., of Montgomery, was president of the merged lines, known now as the South and North.
 The road was in operation. after a fashion, from Montgomery to Birmng ham, not more than hamlet as yet Samuel Tate of Memphis had a con- tract to fill the gap, 67 miles. between Birmingham and Decatur, but failed while prosecuting the work and nothing was being done by him or anybody.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

N the first verse of the second chap
 ter of the Acts of the Apostles we have these words: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." They here, means the body of the dis ciples of Christ.
 Nearly every one who reads the New Testament with reverence and faith will agree that this second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles gives an account of a real revival. And surely revival was sadly needed.
 The religion of the period was in state of fearful declension. Iron-clad forms and dead ceremonies had almost destroyed real spirituality among the Jews, and the vast crowds of people who had assembled at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost were all Jews, except a. few proselytes from Rome.
 Nor were the Apostles themselves in promising state of mind. They had been for some three years under the instruc- ton of the Great Teacher, but they were by no means "an advanced class" It Is true that Peter, the leading Apostle, had been forward in confessing the Messiah ship of his Master; but when a few mo ments afterwards the Lord had told the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

V" HE dictionary says that language Is
 the means by which people express \ their thoughts; Tallyrand, the dip lomat, said that language is the means by which men conceal their thoughts; and if the demagogue were to give a definition of language he would say it is the means by which man expresses himself when he has no thoughts. The difference be- tween speakers is this: Some men speak because they have something to say, and others speak because they have to say something. As a rule, the man who has something to say finds words to express his ideas, but the man who has to say something is generally lacking in ideas but replete of words and phrases "signi- flying nothing"
 In the ordinary course of conversation people will speak of an s0-horse power automobile or 500-volt current of cleo tricity, or they will say that mature abhors vacuum,'' that a fair days work is worthy of fair days wage Ask 99 out of every 100 persons who use any of these phrases what idea they mean to convey and they will generally answer by saying they are merely using phrases
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
BY SAVOYARD.

of penance, she was so homely of feature, so lean of person, and so old of years; but she was sprghtly of wit as she was ugly of presence, and the lady, dis cussing the violence of the passion of her royal lover, said she could not under stand 1t; that his majesty could not love her for her beauty. ''for I have none, and it cannot be for my wit, for he has not enough to discover have any"
 And a like wonder must come to him who contemplates the close and intimate personal friendship that exists between Bill Chandler and Ben Tillman. When the latter first fetched his pitchfork into the Senate. Chandler was the only mem Der of that august body that appreciated the audacity of 1t. and enjoyed the matter of it. Heretofore Chandler and Lodge had been Damon and Pythas; now Chandler and Tillman were Caesar and Pollux.
 The Boston and Maine railroad put Chandler out of the Senate, and he got to be chairman of the Spanish claims commission, an office he was made for. When the great octopus chase was put on foot Chandler became the intermedi- ary between Chief Huntsman Roosevelt and Chief Beagle Tillman. Later he was made a royal arch member of the chap ter of the Knights of Ananias.
 One night while the rate bill was pend- ing Chandler and Tillman had a confer ence. and after thorough discussion of the woods that were to be drawn and the course the chase was to cover the next day, a general conversation sprang up among the half dozen gentlemen present. | Tillman was leader of 1t, and at a loss to establish date. Turning to Chandler he appealed: Chandler. it was just p years ago when you were down in Flor ida stealing the election" To which Chandler retorted: Forty yearsi That's the way you fellows count down there"
 And that suggests. One night in this town Ben Butler and John s. Wise were in consultation as to a lawsuit they were to argue in the supreme court the fol- lowing day. After settling all the points, long after midnight, Butler remarked:
 Wise. l have at home valuable vase. a remarkable work of art. that some so- ciety or other presented to your father when he was governor of Virginia How it came into my possession is great mystery
 ''No mystery at all, replied Wise. My fathers mansion was in Accomac county. near Fortress Monroe. You stole 1t while you were in command there"
 Old Ben laid back and laughed heartily. and answered: "Perhaps you are right. but I shall make restitution which he promptly did.
 Copyright, 1907, by E. w. Newman.).
 Wasilin gton. November D. 1907.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17

| they ransomed the highest office in the world from the banditti who had offered to sell 1t to it's real owner, the demo- cratic party.
 The first act of Mir Hayes was to rec ognize the democratic governors of all three states, which history accepts as a plea of guilty to the charge of stealing the presidency.
 Tn the Senate Chandler was a public benefactor, and killed many jobs as Sam Randall In the House. His Is a keen acute, incisive mind. He cannot see very far, but he sees all within his men tai horizon, sees 1t sooner than anyone else, perhaps; clearer than any one else Aggressive and provocative. he was ad- mired as well as hated. Daniel Ocon- nelrs felIow-'you persistent irrepressi- able, contentious. splendid. fiery ram cat, was the BileChandler of the Irish bar. The debateSfn the Senate of the Wilson tariff discovered the G. o. P In its great dramatic creation of Pecksnifr on the po- ltical stage. Chandler had the center of the boards though some of his fellows could beat him playing the leading role of Pecksniff For some forty years the democratic party has rarely neglected the opportunity to play the ass, and on this occasion 1t not only accepted it, but embraced it. The republican party is in
 
 not for its own merit. but for the fatu- ous folly of the democratic party in re- jecting the counsels of Grover Cleveland and refusing to follow his banner. But 1t was Chandler. even more than Aldrich, who put the cotton schedule in the Will son bill. and he, more than Quay. made the metal schedule of that measure. both of which MT. Dingley. with little change. put in the present law. These compose three-fourths of the tarf, and yet the knaves tell us the Wilson bill was free trade. and the fools believe it.
 Chandler was not a great senator. but he was valuable senator. Yet his proper place was the unrestricted editorial head of great independent political newspa- per He would keep the pot boiling. and 1t was a man like Bill Chandler whom Balzac had fin view when he writ this:
 Whose has been a newspaper man will ever be one: that horoscope is as sure and certain as that of drunkards. Whoever has tasted that feverlshly busy and rela- lively lazy and independent life: whoever exercises that sovereignty which criti- cises intellect art. talent, fame, virtue. absurdity, and even truth; whoever has occupied that tribune, erected by his own hands fulfilled the functions of that mag istracy to which he Is self-appointed-in short, whoever has been, for however brief a space, that proxy of public opin- ion, looks upon himself. when remanded to private life, as an exile, and the mo- ment a chance Is offered to him puts out an eager hand to snatch back his crown.
 Charles IT declared that the priests rave to his brother. afterward James II. Catherine SedIey- for a mistYess by way