davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER ?, 1908
urARrLEs AND CRUEL.


 great deal is said and written these days about the great trusts conabina lions and 5 corporations. and much of it is doubtless justified by the facts. but some of the lesser com binations, usually in the form of un- ionse haxs.ao right to condemn the srreater ones. That ''undertakers' trust" in .Chicag9. of which some was printed !, in this paper yesterday morning, Is about the most heartless and indefensible of any we have heard of.
 To begin with, this trust is taking a cruel and mean advantage of both sentiment and necessity. When loved one dies the relatives have natural desire to give the dead at least a decent funeral. Sometimes more is spent in this way than the survivors can well afford. but it is done as token of love for the dead and of re- spect for the one who has gone out from among the living forever. And under ordinary conditions burial is task that cannot be put off and de- ferred as is the case with most other duties of life. The matter of trouble and expense cannot be permitted long to stand in the way of depositing the dead body in its last resting place. Under these we'll known conditions and necessities it Is heartless, mean and cruel, and ought to be made crim- inal, for undertakers to enter into a combination and fix exhorbitant prices for their work. It is an unjust and unwarranted combination against both dead and living. It is taking advan- tage of sentiment and necessity. It is as if the grocers of city should all combine and put up the charges for all foodstuf to prices two or three times their value just because they know that people are compelled to have food.
 The article to which we refer tells that for a nice burial casket, which should sell at fifty or sixty dollars at a profit. the relatives of the dead are compelled to pay two hundred dollars. For a handsome funeral which should not cost more than two hundred dol lars, from four to five hundred dol lars are charged. This. we repeat. is not merely heartless and crdel, but 1t is mean and ought to be made crim- inaI, if that is possible.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
Amend the sherman Act.


 The Sherman act of 1892. nonula rlv Known as the antitrust law, declares illegal every contract, combination In the form Of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade ar commerce among the several States. or with foreign nations" It further provides that all persons particIpatinx m any such contract. combination or conspiracy are subject to penalty and that all goods in transportation in vi olation of this act may be seized and declared forfeit.
 Under the terms of this act, as it must be construed, 1t would be A pen have been driving rival express we. gons between villages in two conti- guous States to join forces and op- crate a single line.
 laundryman operating in a boundary town like Bristol. Va.-Tenn., to sei1 his business to another laundryman
 It would be penal offense for a and bequeathed an interstate business to dispose of that business to any one in the same line of trade.
 These points are all made plain in combe. of the United States Circuit Court in Now York. in the govern ment's suit against the tobacco trust They are entirely in line with past ueClSlOnS or the united states Su- preme Court in construing the Ser man act. The injustice as well as the absurdity of these logical and neces- sary deductions is glaring.
 President Roosevelt has described the present provisions of the sherman a9 as "noxious." In that they make no distinction between good or help ful combinations and bad or injuri- cue combinations. Judge Lacombe de@ scribes the provisions of this act as revolutionary" in that they make H. legal any form of restriction of com petition whatever Before It's passage. he points out, the courts had recog- nized a restraint of trade which was held to be not unfair, but permissible"
 The Sherman act was passed at Q period of great popular outcry and prejudice against corporations and combinations. It was admirable in intent. and has been most useful in results But as judicial construction has revealed the full effects of its language. the law is shown to be capable of working great and mani fest hardships. In the light of fact rather than theory, of experience rath- CT than agitation Congress should amend if at the drst opportunity.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
moNTcoMrRY,s HoNOR.

In the past generation no, incident. no one circumstance has advertised the South and its natural riches like the Southern. Commercial Congress which is now in session in Washing ton, The Southern Commercial Con- gress is a success without qualifica- ton. It has gone beyond what its promoters expected; 1t has centered national attention on the prospects and riches of the South, in a way that was hardly hoped for, by those who pro- jected the great gathering.
 The men who are speaking there, who are talking of the resources of the South and their ultimate develop ment are leaders of thought not only in the United States, but of the world. The message they are delivering is message to which the world is lend ing an attentive ear.
 The Montgomery Commercial Club is responsible for the Congress and for the advertising 1t has given the South. The Montgomery Commercial Club, through It's Secretary, G. Grosvenor Dave. launched the movement and al- most single handed carried 1t through to it's splendid achievement. The idea was MT. Dawes. He conceived 1t; he did the work. A few members of the fclub like President A. G. Forbes, who usually do most of the work, stood by him and told him to go ahead with the work. It cost the club nothing. It cost the South nothing.
 Mir. Dave had a great idea at the psychological moment. Tn some way, perhaps because of the recent election and the peculiar position occupied by the South, or perhaps because the South itself is taking up the work of developing it's resources, the time for such a meeting had come. The hour and the minute for the exploitation of MT. Dawes idea struck and he was ready.
 The Congress has already achieved much for the South: how great it's final achievements will be we can not at this time estimate. But Montgom. cry may feel a pride that its inception came; that it was inaugurated and carried forward by Secretary Dawe of the Montgomery Commercial Club as- sisted by other officers fo the club. Members of the Montgomery Com mercial Club should appreciate this at | its fullest and realize that the club has succeeded in a great public achievement. And realizing this they should put the club on firmer basis than it has occupied in recent months. The club has just rendered a splendid service to Montgomery. to Alabama and toathe South1
 r It has been an unselfish work. a work not for Montgomery, or for Ala bama, but for thes South.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
MINORITY IN CONGRESS.
It's Usefulness Threatenea bv DIVisOn
 Protection.

It's Usefulness Threatened bv DIVisOn
 Protection.
 Charleston News and Courier.
 The historic attitude of the Demo- crats toward the tariff for reduction of the duties as well as revision of them was restated at Denver as usual, but there may well be anxiety lest an inclination on the part of individual members of Congress to regard 1t as & local issue and to look out for the peculiar advantage of their particular constituents will be harder to restrain even than 1t has been therefore. On great issue such as this the party of the opposition ought to be closely knit and thoroughly organized. It Is already clear that the American con sumner has few friends before the Ways and Means Committee of the House and that nearly every man who has tariff testimony to present has an ax to grind.
 That protective schedules. however they may beneflt a special industry, means a higher cost of living and har- can people is thought that has been completely ignored since the Demo- cratic party began to scatter its fire under the direction of Mir. Bryan in 1898. but if 1t should transpire- that the American consumer finds the De- mocratic minority in Congfess Is his dependable friend at this time. 1t Is reasonably certain that this same con- sumner will come to his senses and vote his friend into power at a later day.
 However, the Democrats are at pre- sent a disheartened host. All of them in Congress are in the plight of the member celebrated by Tom Watson they do not know where they're att and if they should be held together and whipped into shape for work that counts for the general welfare of the nation. especially in regard to tarifr revision. we shall be greatly, but very agreeably. disappointed.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
The Plot of a saraou Play.


 Sardou sat working at a scenic adoption of Voltaire's "Candide" and 1t hung fire, not because there was no prospect of a dinner. but because his pipe was empty and he had not a pen ny wherewith to buy tobacco. Sudden ly, on opening a drawer of his table, he uttered a cry of joy at the sight or i've or six tickets of a wine com pany" which gave it's customers a voucher for twenty centimes for every bottle purchased. A quarter of an hour afterward he was the happy pos sessor of a silver franc piece and some sous besides.
 Picking up scrap of paper off the sanded floor of the tobacco shop hs was about to light his weed when the words Marie Laurent" caught his eye. The "unconside-ed trifie' turned out to be the fragme of a letter from the well known actress to her son Charles. Sardou put his find in his pocket but on his way home his plot-weaying faculties, stimulated by the fumes of the tobacco, at once reasserted them
 'This is the innocent letter Of a mother to her boy, he said to himself. "Supposing. however, it had been the letter of a woman to her lover, and falling by a similar accident into the hands of the womans husband. wish ing to light his cigar
 The suggestion led to his play Les Pattes de Mouche."
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
THE pREsfDENTs MESSAGE.

The Advertiser, according to its GUS tom, prints in full this morning the message of the President to Congress It Is a verbose document but there is little in 1t of the sensational, which has come to be associated with tine Presidents public utterances.
 The President delivers himself upon practically all the questions that are now before the public, but he sets of no cannon crackers and he releases no political sky rockets. A close reading of the message shows that he has ''inched'' forward his position on the national governments control of the railroads as opposed to State control It win be seen from the message that he has moved forward in that "twi- Night land" that lies between Federal and State control. This indication that the President reads the verdict of the November election as an en- dorsement of his ideas on centraliza- tion. is perhaps the most significant portion of the message.
 The Presidents recommendation of larger army and larger navy are but new statements of his old posi- tions. In fact the mesasge contains nothing novel. It has a more con- servative tone than most of the gov ernmental disturbers that have come from the White House.
 But Congress will. be in session until March {. The President will have ample opportunity to stir up the animals between now and then.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
MORNING THOUGHT
AHer
 Baby
A mother. wearing an old snlif konnAf nnshed her
BY 2. naAnvIN NIcHoLs

Her A mother, wearing an old ssss. split b2nnet, pushed her crowd. She s stood 'st0ass at tse foot of S' the ssliows ana begged, the sheriff to let her se1.r Kiss sn sher baby" once s.n more 4 Once I saw q long row of criminals chained neck to neck. marched into a train by a Texas penltentiary agent. tn S 'ns ttis isfs esgan sG oSSS away Saek waved a dark -bordered handkerchief. and with lips all quivering. shouted thfongh her sobs; Goodbye. Tom she rocked an innocent, euriy head over her mother er-heart--and dreamed of the years thAt were not. Such love. Is al- ways aeathlessE-aH else must yield to that ever held the reirs of power in ancient Rome, it IS recorded that on the morning after he was buried amid general execration. fresh flowers were known hand The deepest chasms into which humanity sometimes chances to drop, the deeper reaches of human de- which we are sometimes strune-lf we nave ever loved at all makes us for get the crime and misfortune and we iove with a power that is deathless and inexpressfble.- have always believed that If two hearts once loved they can never be torn apart The truth Is, love is wholly blind to anything that ar- gues against its utmost devotion.
 
 There Is an irresistible fascination in the life devoted to letters. The path of the literary genius is paved with bones. Few there are who turn their faces to the hills beyond the desert that ever live to cross it.
 
 There are only few dark days in the year Sorrow is soon gone: joy lasts forever. Most of our trials make us wretched for a day. but after we have slept We wake to find them all gone. But, sometimes there is a ghost that will not down.
 + s
 ., The dslta of the Mississippi is but the confluence of rnlitftude of streams draining all that mighty terri ttory between the Rockies and the Al. leghanies And so the power to do great things Is but the confluence of innumerable capacities for the smaller things that are Incident to every life,
 A
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
EDUCATION. CHARITY, COMMERCE.

The Advertiser feels that 1t can not too strongly emphasize to the voters of Montgomery the importance of the proposed municipal bond issue.
 In that issue are involved education. charity and business And surely there could be no other questions of such importance to Montgomery's peo- pie. For charity the bond issue will provide a hospital for the poor and indigent of the city. For education the proceeds of the bonds will be in building of new school houses and for the better equipment of the present school houses. The City Board of Education, composed of a number of gentlemen of the highest standing has declared that these Improvements are absolutely necessary for Montgomery to maintain the standing of its
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
The Worlds All RIght. aE laRnfld,s All sfIeht ]. aa .ahesa .ainla VI
...ssnatsFlaI Isrsuaarles.

Macon News. t tks sSs The approaching election of sene- tor in Oregon wilt be watched with ftn- terest, Senator Fulton. is to be boupc- ed, and he Is going about, denouncinE the unconstitutIonality of the Oregon method. In substance the Oregon method is the Alahama method carried to ultimate results. The party choices are submitted to the people on election day, and they decide the matter. Tho electors of oregon have named Cover nor Chamberlain as ther choice for senator, just as the democratic cleo tors of Alabama named John H. Bank senatorial choices The latter wera afterwards chosen by the Legislature and were duly seated, and 60 should Governor Chamberlain Dc, 2
 When the bosses and special inter- ests selected senators no one objected to them after the legislature. had act ed. and yet the legislature had no more freedom of choice than 1t has today, after a primary has spoken. What was good in the days of bosses should be good in the dRya of primaries. r The primary has come to stay. and so has the selection of United States senators by direct popular vote. It Is spreading over the country year by year, and in the course of time 1t will be accepted in the effete east despite its bosses and special interests. Oregon cannot afford to undo its ad-, vanced and progressive primary work, The men who were elected as State ment No. l men cannot afford to be- come marked men, and they will cer! tainiy present the country with a fine example of popular rule when they as republicans seat in the United States senate & democrat. This will be dem ocracy in the broadest and best sense Of the world.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

schools. For commerce. the bonds will provide a new city wharf Tho expense for this wharf will not bs large. but it will have an important bearing in building up the river traf- fic and after all Is said and done. the fact remains that river rates more than anything else means low freight rates for a city.
 The bond issue should carry.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

Speaking of Democrats who voted for Mr. Bryan against both Judgment and inclination, The Charlotte observ- CT remarks:
 And their reward for having sub ordinate Judgment and inclination. for having abdicated a right as free born American citizens, surrendered their will to that of the majority and co-operated with it in all heartipess. is to be stfgmatiZed now as near Democrats and assistant Repub licans," i" and to be told that they would bet ter "aline" themselves under their ap. propriate standards" As if the Dem ocratic party had an excess of mem bership!
 Oh, we'll; we have the authority of the poet that "Time at last sets all things even," fors words to that effect. and perhaps it will be so in this mat ter. We may yet see the grand old party on it's feet again and going mer- riIy along to success. Let's keep up the fight for principle as long as any Democrats are left.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
owe. voice to a TIber Bath.

New York Morning TeIegraph,
 Giulio Rossi, the new basso at the Metropolitan. owes the quality of his voice to a fall into Tiber. Had he never fallen into that historic river he would have remained a tenor. This is at least. his own explanation of the change In voice that came over him so suddenly. At 19 years of age he was studying singing with Tommasoni, the director of tho Sistlne choir. ROssi was studying boating at the same time. Hiring what the young poets insist on calling a shallop. he veRtur- cd out into the swift stream of the
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

How are the advocates of big navy to sustain themselves in their contention since our country and Japan Have entered Into an agreement which knocks out even the slight sem blance ofa war with JApang Whats the need Of a great fleet of @skeered- O-Noth1ns" if Japan isn't going to come across and blow Us ont of na- tional existeaeeq It is hard ca the race. Of jinsoss. of course, but they must put up with it.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
nenea. of open saIoons.

OItaWa lkan.l HtfHIu. .ll .l.
 A Kansas man wandered into sa- loon in Chicago to inquire the meth cd of pchling pigs feet for cold lunch es. when he met his long-lost brother serving as bartender This argument in favor of the open saloon should not be lost on the, Amalgafnated Associa- kion of Juice Dispenserss If the incis dent had happened in Kansas and not In Chicago the Kansas man would have had to follow his brother down the al- ley behind the livery stable in the dark, and might never have recoGnfz- cd him as his brother. sti
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

Poor little Pu Vi finds himself at the age of three called upon to rule over a population of some 4Soso00, 900 and an area of 4250.0 10000 of square miles. It would seem to be a job for man full grown. The estima ated population of the United States. in- cludIng our insular dependencies, is something less than 1O0.O00.000, and our area 3.75O,000 of square miles. And the President of the United States Is certainly not likely to find a single hour of the working day hanging heavy on his hands.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
A Matter of Tenperment.

btGOAly1 A9BASs
 The degfree to which the industry of digging the Panama Canal gives occupation to American restlessness. or. at least. to the restiessness of the present Administration, does not re ceive justice. Here is William Hubert Burr, a great engineer. and a mem beFs three years ago of the Board of Con- sulting Engineers. appointed by MT. Roosevelt. %ho declares that the pres ent route and method of building the Isthmain Canal are defective and sh Juld be changed. He condemns the route chosen, but ignores the fact that 1t has been useful for three years to occupy and even to absorb the energy of the Administration in that field.
 If the exigencies of energy, to say nothing of the necessities of engineer ing. require a further change. Pro- lessor Burr should be considerate, es- peclally, in holiday times. The untili- ty of the Isthmain project to com merce is morally of far Hess account than the utility. of it in ''psyehologi- perament of the Administration.
 John T. Morgan used to declare the canal on the present route wiuid not now noticing if from the stare.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

yellow Tiber. a few yards off the Cas- tie of St. Angelo. The shaliop capsix- ed and Rossi. the tenor. fell in. He was dragged forth. He had an attack of pleurisy. When he recovered he was a basso. The lovely tenor voice Is at the bottom of the Tiber together with Attla's treasures. N t'c
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

A French inventor is trying various experiments with view to making satisfactory and servieeable horseshoe of leather. but we doubt his success, If he will notice how soon the aver age small boy wears out pair of shoes he will hardly expect them to last on a horses feet.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

As The Chattanooga Times views it the main question is: Had pr. Crum been a white man would the President have appointed him collector of the port of Charleston?" In our judgment a majority of the observant and we'll informed people of the country will answer in the negative.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

It begins to look very much as if Brother Charley Taft holds the trump cards in the Ohio senatorship contest We don't profess to know a great dead about Charley but are of the opinion that he will be a great improvement on Foraker.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

When q man was brought up before a judge in New York for. everspeeding. and was asked what his occupation was and replied: "Rheumatism." We suspect he was about right, for we'll developed case of rheumatism can keep its owner employed about all the time. z.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09

The baby ruler of China is named Pi Vi When we contrast that with the long string of titles he bears if looks like making the tail too big for the head.
The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
sWORN CIRCULATION.

The Montgomery Advertiser Euaraptsss contract when. requested) that its daily cir cuiafion is larger than that of any morning newspaper printed in Alabama-and that lts sunday edition has the largest circulation of any edition of any newspaper printed m Alabama without exception ,5,
 The figures for November printed pStos represent the actual net ctrcnAatfohs aH 'S. turns having been deducted.