davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
Usefulness of Drink
as aE7 EIfE77ff7afOF

who are murdered, under modern con-
ditions, or even the victims of war are
too few to affect progress. Such as the}
are they would affect it the wrong way
for generally the unfittest survive. There
are few, also, who starve. in the midst
of modern plenty. But there are many
who are underfed, and seek surcease III
drink. They are the failures who' unoer
harder conditions would starve. There
are those who seek in periodic sprees
their only escape from their own stupid
ity. These are the Berserkers and muck
runners who, in a rougher age, Would
throw themselves on the spears OF the
enemy. Higher up are those who, ner-
vously shattered by the strain OF modern
life, wreck what looked like success In
the storms of drink. But they were al
ready failing and drink only revealed the
weakness. And there are the gormands
of LUXURY men who are failures because
they do not know how to transmule
material success into any other. Drink
hastens their fate. For failures OF every
sort, high, low and Indifferent, the drink
route is the easy way by which clVlilza-
ton clears their places for better men.
With the unfit go some fit With the
ut remain surviving some unit 80 II
has been from the beginning. The strong
fighter overpowered by numbers OF MS
interiors, was killed; the fat starver'
over-tempted to experiment with new
foods, was poisoned; the resistant FRAME
immune to disease, fell victim to the con-
coctions of a physician. But more unflt
were Destroyer than fit; more fit sur
vived than unfit, and the net result was
human progress. And so with drink.
Sometimes drink is the cause instead OF
the result of failure. Sometimes the
career it destroyed might otherwise have
continued. And sometimes the shrewd
villain who ought to pe eXtermlnaleu
survives because he is calculating enough
to keep sober. so nature, careful or the
kind, but careless of the single me-
makes individual mistakes. and there are
tragedies of needless failure and pre-
wrecks. But the net result is
the destruction of the failures, whom
modern charity would otherwise have
We had fondly dreamed that clviliza-
ton had passed beyond the struggle for
existence and the survival of the fttest
to that of social organzation-from evo-
luton to ethics. So it has, in theory
Drink is the chief reason why it has not
in fact. Is that a good or bad thing,
society at large rather than
the individual?
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

street men whose names do not figure in
the lists of officers and directors
The truth is that the people OF this
country are so used to being bossed and
plundered that In large measure they
have become as callous or recoDciled to
political usurpation and industrial rob
berry as an OK to his yoke. Even Roose-
welt, who valiantly fights other abuses,
fails to see that among the worst evils
which demand speedy redress is the
robbery of the people by the trusts
under cover of high duties which are
wholly needless for protection, as shown
by the fact that these trusts undersell
European competitors In Europe and
other foreign countries.
This is a point in which William ].
Bryan is far in the lead of Roosevelt.
But as Theodore has steadily advanced
along the pathway of reform blazed by
Bryan, there is reason to hope that
before many months the strong man In
the White House will see the, tariff as
the Nebraskan has long seen it, cry aloud
for the relief of the people and lash the
robbers until they consent to tariff re-
vision For be it known that the hum
dreds of great manufacturing and pro-
ducing trusts rule both branches of con-
gress as absolutely as Speaker Cannon,
|Pne of their creatures, controls the pro-
feedinss of the house Of representatives
sacramento Bee.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

with the wives and daughters Of tho
agricultural element of the country.
The extent to which this folly has
developed is shown by paragraph
from the annual report of the secretary
Of agriculture:
1.-THE work of securing, paeketing, as
sembling and mailing the seed for con-
gressional purposes was carried on the
same as in past years, This work is
now so systematized that it goes along
smoothly, despite the large quantities
of seed that must be secured and sent
out. The total number of packages put
up and distributed has remained the
same for the last six years. In the
annual distribution 100000 packages OF
miscellaneous vegetable seed are put
up and sent out, each package con-
tanning five packets, and 100000 pack
ages of flower seed are put up and dis
trlbuted IN the same way, each pack
age containing five packets"
The congressional appropriations for
the distribution of free seeds were
made originally to the end that rare and
valuable seeds and plants might find
their way to the various sections OF
the country where they might be used
as the bases of experiments to deter
mine their availability in different To-
calities. Today the appropriations are
employed to distribute vast quantities
of beans, peas, corn. etc, all common
and frequently worthless seeds, which
no intelligent farmer desires because
he has learned by experience that he
can purchas better at his local grocery
store. Few farmers will be found nova
days who will take any chances of time
and labor wasted by planting seeds
sent to them by their representatives
in congress-; and it is safe to assume
that every farmer who keeps posted on
the topics Of the day understands the
contemplate motive underlying the ac-
ton of his congressman in shipping him
these seeds
The free seed farce is on par with
that sacred function of kissing the
baby" which used to be a favorite
vote winning device among candidates
for political honors, from constable
down to member of congress.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

an this day when many who cele-
brated not wisely. but too well, are
" meditating in the gloom of the
morning after, 1t may serve to raise their
spirits a 1.-THE If we offer a brief dis
QUESTION on the service of drink to
modern civilization, says the Fresno Re-
publican the morning after Christmas.
For drink Is our reaper, our fool-killer,
our destroyer of the unfit. Every age
has needed such a cleaner; ours rs al
cohol So the man who rises this morn
ing with a dark brown taste and throb-
bling head may console himself with the
reflection that he has been rendering
valuable public service. He has been
contributing to his own elimination from
a situation in which he had become SUI
perfiuous or worse.
Time was when violence, starvation
and pestilence were the eliminators,
Primitive man had to avoid or vanquish
the wild beasts and be victor in fights
with his fellow men, or he died. He
had to seek diligently his own food, and
in times of dearth he had to starVe pa
tiently on his own fat. He had to face
the joint dangers of disease and med
icine men, with no resource but his own
vitality. The survivors of these trials
became the ancestors of the following
generations, and so humanity progressed
In other ages man survived only by hay
ing brute arrogance enough to be the
leader of a feudal state or cringing
servility enough to be a serf. And he
likely died then, unless he was the best
fighter, the best staryer, or the most
completely plague-proof SO the unfit
were eliminated and progress resulted.
To be sure, the unfit were not always
the worst, nor the fit the best. Neither
did the ruthless elimination confine itself
wholly to the unfit. The bg-browed
puny-backed thinker was the UNFIT and
the burly brute and selfish schemer were
the fit. That is the reason most of us
inherit so little brains and so much bru-
talitD and seltishness. The man who did
not starve was sometimes the robber who
got food and sometimes the coolie, who
survived doing without it. Frequently,
too, the element of accident preserved
some of the unfit and destroyed some of
the fit. But in the long run the system
gave the advantage TO those who for
that age and its problems We're the filter,
and the accumulation of these advan-
tages through the generations is human
evolution.
Drink, in our time, has taken the place
of starvation and violence. The men
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
a SHREK FOR HELP

HHERE is no doubt whatever that
the country is going as fast as it's
II legs will carry it to the doggone
bow-wows. The wall arises from the
sun-kissed shores of the Atlantic to the
tepid bosom of the Pacific, from the
shimmering lone star Of the land of POGO
tempo to the stern Businesses of the
Snake river. The stoniness of the times
is without parallel. The sufferings of
the husbandmen are unprecedented.
Even the munificent wages of SO per
diem fail to attract farm laborers in
some OF the states.
South Dakota is one of the latest
states to feel the effects of the desola-
ton of the fields of industry. From
Wagner comes a shrek that will echo
and re-echo through the land. A
wealthy farmer in that town tells a
story that caps the climax of all the
"hard times tales of the year that has
just passed into the beyond. Having
found that altitudinous wages-record
breakers in the United States. regardless
of location-and weekly dances for the
amusement of his farm hands failed to
hold them, he laid deep plans for put
ting an end to the prevailing stringency
in the labor market. In local news
paper he inserted an advertisement
reading as follows:
"Wanted-A man to plow Will fur.
nish riding pillow with canopy top. I
will feed, harness and unhitch horses
and carry breakfast to him in bed. If
the water doesn't agree with him. will
get some from Avon that will. VIII
also furnish him team and buggy to
drive evenings and Sundays. Should he
prefer an automobile. will buy him
one"
1t looks good, doesn't it? But II only
half worked. Every applicant for the
job he offered evidently was from Mis-
souri,. He wanted to be shown" Ten
or a dozen horny-handed toilsmen lolled
up to the farmhouse and agreed to the
terms. but before embarking upon the
enterprise each and every one of them
demanded that the motor car should
nc piOuuSSu, 40 al SNiuOiSS VI 6poh
faith on the part of the employer before
a sod should be turned. The Dakota
man was there with the goods" how
ever. He ordered late model car from
the east by telegraph, in the meantime
renting one for the pleasure of his
hands. The result is that for the first
time in several months he now has
enough men to run his farm. And yet
some poor, deluded persons, posing as
optimists, will insist that hard times
have not landed on the country's solar
plexus.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
FUNNYGRAPHS

Say" she asked, after reading the
news from the czar's troubled kingdom
what Is this douma, anyways?
II think" replied her husband, that
that's simply the Russian way of spell
ing door mat "-Catholic Standard.
These big hotels are not SO complete"
Whats lacking?'
THE express elevator gets you to the
fifty-second floor al. right, but there a
half-mile corridor confronts you, and no
cabs. "-Philadelphi Bulletin.
-
your wife needs exercise; she sits
still too much.
I'm get her a silk skirt
How will that help?'
shell keep moving so as to make 1t
rustic. Houston Post,
q
Mr.. Hartman stated some time ago
that the Illinois Central would be d.
vorced from Newport society, but II must
be admitted that he has been having
strenuous time securing the divorce.-To-
peka Journal.
New England Lady correcting waitress)
You should not eat with your knife.
You might cut your mouth. Waitress
Wa-al, I'd as lief cut my mouth with a
knife as to jab 1t with fork.-Judge'
Those Italians in Kentucky who died
from eating a buzzard probably did not
us. enough seasoning. Caring nothing for
politics, they had never been trained on q
crow diet.-Nashyille American.
"Ah, my boy" said the purse-proud in
dividual. as he handed round the Flor de
Toofas chats something like cigarW
yes" responded one of the victims
what is it?"-London Opinion.
Apother "Florodorai sextet girl has
been divorced, which reminds us that 1t
is about time to record the demise of an
other of George Washington's body sery-
ants.-Rochester Post-Express.
81
"The time, the place, and the girl How
seldom we find them together Bah!
The combination that we seldom ma To-
gether Is the man, the shower, ana the
umbrella. louisville Courier-Journal
-
Mrs. Flynn-An' phat's yer son Moike
dom now, Mrs. Casey?
Mrs. Casey-Sure. Moike amt doin' any
thing, Mrs. Flynn. He's got a govern
ment job!--Life.
ma, why does Sls sing so much when
Mr.. spoonsmore is hereT
IT think, dear. she is trying to test his
love "-Chicago Record Herald.
a
The Mother-If he proposes today, tell
him he must speak to me. II he doesn't
propose, tell him l want to speak TO
him. -Fliegende Batter.
-
She dndignantly)-You had no business
to kiss mel
He-But il wasn't business; it was
pleasure.-Town Topics.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

VII HEN toward the close of the IA
wv nous opera Of Gilbert and Sulli-
van. the mikado comments upon
the slovenly way in which a statute IS
drawn and promises to have it amended
after the executions have taken place,
there is always a loud guffaw. But the
keen sarcasm of Gilbert hit at existing
conditions. Our statutes are, as a rule,
drawn very loosely, and the unfortunate
thing IS that the courts as rule are
insistent upon technicalities rather than
intentions.
The late Illinois legislature passed an
act "to regulate the sale of cigarettes. -
and in the body of it provided that none
whatever should be sold. The supreme
court has held that this can only apply
to those containing deleterious materials,
because the title of the act read ''regu-
late" instead of prohibit" The court
says that it would have been entirely
within the power of the legislature to
prohibit the sale and that it should be
careful how II entities its legislation.
The peculiar thing about this decision
Is that the court actually turns itself int
a legislative body. The legislature in
tended to prohibit the sale of all cigar
cites and supposed that it had accom-
piisded its purpose. Its failure was due
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
NO CAUSE FOR ALARM

NHERE is no cause for alarm in the
developments of the first day of
the new year in the naval and
military affairs of the nation. The fact
that the commanders of the national
guard organizations of the three Pa
citic coast states have been invited to
go to Washington to confer with the
war department holds very little of
that peculiar significance which an
excitable correspondent in Portland
thought he saw.
The action of the war department
was to have been expected. For sew
eral months past the trend of govern
mental policy has been toward provid-
ing better defense for the Pacific coast.
The sailing of the mighty fleet now
bound for these waters may mean any
one of half dozen different things, but
the last and least possible of all is that
the fleet was dispatched because the
government entertains fears that we
shall have any serious trouble with
Japan.
During the past fifteen months WASH
ington, for a long time Indifferent to
the needs of this expanding western
coast, has learned that the protection
of the rapidly growing cities and towns
from the entrance to Puget sound to
San Diego is a thing as greatly to be
desired as the protection of such cities
as Charleston, S. c.; Savannah, Ca;
Baltimore, Md, and other eastern sea-
port cities. In the past congress APP
pears to have overlooked the fact that
the United States had more than one
coast. But it is awakening to the
truth that in California, oregon and
of millions of dollars in improved real
estate that are worth as much to the
nation as property of a similar value
in Maryland or Florida. Consequently
what so natural as that the war depart
ment should lay hold upon the problem
from the three states directly in
terested?
If the administration of the affairs of
the war department in the past had
been what it should have been the
Pacific coast would now be properly for
titled. The department is about to rec
tify the errors of the past. But it must
be conceded, while denying the likell-
hood of war with Japan. that it is ex-
ceedingly unfortunate that it has been
found necessary or expedient to take
up this work within few days after the
sailing of the great fleet of warships
headed this way. This combination of
circumstances gives jingoes, both here
and in Japan, meaty morsels for their
tongues; but neither country will allow
itself to be plunged into serious trouble
by the attitude of the fools who talk a
hundredfold better than they fight.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
When the Courts Assume
Legislative Functions

to the word regulate" in the tie.
Now. in practically all states there Is a
constitutional provision that the cruN OF
a law shall be clearly stated in the Title
and unnumbered statutes have been sent
to limbo because this requirement has
not been carried out. If the Illinois court
had declared the statute defective ana
void it would be ineligible. But when II
makes the title of more effect than the
act itself, and when 1t goes on to say
to what extent it shall be carried out
it seems to the layman that it~is
strange proceeding.
Doubtless the legislature will proceed
to amend the title next session, but that
is not of so much interest as the fact
that the court has obviously and deliber-
ately changed the legislation of the state
from what was intended to something
which never was intended and all be-
cause of wrong word to the title.
Which once more calls attention to the
argument that every legislative body
ought TO have the services of commits
sion learned in the law and astute In the
matter of drawing statutes, to the end
that ~the representatives OF the people
may get what they want in their DIS.
Doubtless we have too much law, but we
ought to have what we do get written
so plainly as not to be upset by mere
tochnicalities -Philadelphia Inquirer.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
SAME OLD FARCE

THE free seed farce has become
something more than a joke, In
Il spite of the warning of Represent
tative Tawney, chairman of the house
committee on appropriations, that ma
tional expenditures are likely to exceed
the national revenues for the next fiscal
year, and in the face of the action of
practically every organization of farm
ers in the country in protesting against
this folly of distributing among the
farmers seeds that in the great ma
jority Of cases are used for no better
purpose than to feed hogs and cattle,
the one bill gravely recommended by
a house committee for favorable action
just before the adjournment for the
holiday recess provides for an appro-
priation Of $4,000 for 2he continuation
Of this asinine trick of getting solid"
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
DIAPHANoUs FORAKER

TIME country understands Senator
Foraker and his motives in the
u fight he is waging against the
president. 1t understands why he is
making such a vigorous campaign to
corral the Ohio delegation to the ma
tiona1 Republican convention next sum-
mer Nobody who has kept a watch
upon Foraker's political undertakings
of the past few months has been mis-
led into the belief that the statesman
from Ohio entertains the slightest hopes
of securing the nomination for himself
His purpose, therefore, must be to
secure control Of the delegation from
Ohio, if possible, for the sole purpose of
using it in the convention in any man
ner that may appear to him to be ex-
pedient at that time.
The bitter enmity which Foraker en-
tertains for President Roosevelt ex-
tends, naturally, to Secretary Taft.
First, last and all the time he is not
one-tenth so much for Foraker, in this
fight, as he is against Roosevelt and
Taft. His unuttered motto is ''any-
thing to beat Taft" He is not even
working for the benefit of his own
party. Hence the warfare he has in
augurated is contemplate.
Few politicians of national reputation
are so INSCRIPTIONS as Foraker has
proved himself to be. If we are to be
guided by the tone of the eastern Re-
publican press, regardless of its atti-
4,,da toward either the president or
Secretary Taft. Foraker finds little SYM
pathy in the ranks Of his party ia his
shameless effort to deal the Taft boom
its deathblow simply for the purpose
Of hitting the president. 1t would be
6ificult to conceive Of more ruthless
political enemy than the FLOODED
ohio senator shows himself to be.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

many and England. the struggle for SUI
premacS was transferred to the Atlantic.
The discovery and settlement of America
and the traffic between the Old and the
New World has made the Atlantic the
seat of empire.
The expansion of the American people
to the Pacific, their ACQUISITION of de-
tendencies in the greatest of all oceans
the fact that 9OOOO0,OO0 people surround
this body of water; the irresistible tempt
alton which the exploitation of the vast
majority of this people offers, the awak-
ening of Japan-all these destined the
Pacific to be the greatest empire the
world has ever known.-John Callan
O'Laughlin in National Magazine for De-
cember.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
I. Rom OUT THE PAST A TOKEN

In the mellow light Of evening
When the autumn hreezes blow
When the shadows gray are weaving
Memrie Of the long ago.
1, in fancy, am recalling
One whose face TO me was ienr-
While the withered leaves are iaillhs'
And the day il dark and drear'
When thy hopes lie crushed and broken
And thy path is fraught with Woe
Take from out the past a token
some word, some smile, Of long ago.
Take from out the past token
Remembranee of some sweet word spoken
1t will light the darkest way.
It will make thy years seem brighter
With the golden glow of love-
1t will make thy sorrows lighter
Fondest thoughts # those above.
-Garret H D. Nyse in Brooklyn Eagle
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

her sister the duchess of Fife. The
queen herself has always been known to
her relations and intimate friends as
Harry"
Many of the mobiles of England bear
oueer nicknames, among the most odd
and unaccountable of which blue
monkey" applied to the marques de
Several The king himself bestowed upon
Lord Buchan the very appropriate title
of pocket Adonis." and upon Loru Rib
blesdale that of the ancestor because
of the latters old style dress.-Harper $
Weekly
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

Oklahoma is bound 10 keep in the
public eye. Although not quite out Of
her swaddling clothes she moves to the
center of the stage with a United
states senator who is urgently invited
to go to Washington 10 explain certain
transactions which are currently re-
ported to bear close relationship to
those which endorsed former United
States senator.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

w. L. Douglas OF Massachusetts, is re-
ported to have dreamed that the shoes
of Roosevelt are exactly his size.
Douglas Is an authority on shoes, but
we don't know about the dream book
he reads.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
The unsoIVabIe

The Sphinx's riddle had been answered.
THAT was easy" cried the solver.
Suppose she had asked what the present
a girl made ne was meant to be used
for?"
While the cold beads stood on his fore
head he gingerl Used handkerchief case
for enwiper.-Hscper's Bazaar.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

Does the fact that the paymaster Of
the Pacific fleet is travelling in the
refrigerator ship mean that the sailors
are to receive a cold deal?
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03
The Knabe Angelus

We know of nothing equal to the fascination of driving
cahe perfect rhythmic its motion it glides along
smooth roadsthe exutant feeling of the quiverng
responsive to the ghest touch of gudance-te ex
hlarang kaleidoscope sweep of landscape field brook and
farm-unless be the joy of playing the KnabeAngeus.
You love music-of course-it's instructive passion
which you crafty by means of the Angeus combined
with the Knabe Pano-both in handsome symmetrical
case which occupies space than the usual piano II
you play the piano. the player will not interfere at all with
your personal playing is Piano ano-PayerPano,
Just as you ke-and you will enjoy comparing technique
and Interpretation with the authoritative playing of the An
geus which is taken from the interpretations OF masters
Of course the "Nlelodant attachment has contributed
largely the individual supremacy of the Knabe-Angeus
Call on us when down and this extraordinary
instrument.
McMlevRlNnGs,
sa.AA~a "". .~1mU KzEE 2EE1sE
AI6-4I8 SO. Broadway
Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-03

Two thousand cases OF grip in Los
Angeles? Who has been indulging in
post holiday dope?