davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
DISAPPOINTING

HT LILLIAN HOWARD TAFTS ad-
w dress in acknowledgment and
acceptance of the Republican
nomination for president will be dis
illusionment and keen disappointment
to citizens who had hoped for an an
nouncement Of radical policies of re-
form, including trust busting" No
trusts will be busted If Mr.. Taft is
elected president. His speech is not
merely unsatisfactory, but is actually
disheartening to those who hoped the
Republicans had found a man who
might be induced to think of the pas
senger coaches in the big national
train, as we'll as the goods vans. How
tiresome is this Republican sermoniz-
ing on the rights OF capital and the
rights of labor! No Republicans seem
to be able to see an inch beyond the
materialistic aspect of this great land.
And they all twaddle, twaddle, twaddle
in almost the words of Tennyson's S
Northern Farmer" whose ear was so
tuned to acquisitiveness that even when
he was out driving behind his old nag:
"Dost ma ear my 'orse's 'eels," he ex-
claims, "as they clatter and clatter
away? PROPUTTY! PROPUTTY!
PROPUTTY! that's what they seem
to say!" Property! Property! Proper
ty! And that's all that Taft seems to
say. At one point of his address he
actually approached a recognition of
the individuality and manhood of his
fellow citizens who work for a living.
LABOR" he exclaimed, has not the
right to injure their EMPLOYERS
property" (proputty! proputty! proput-
tyl That's what. he seemed to sayD.
Echoing Mr.. Taft, we ask, Has Capital
any earthly right to injure the women
and children who compose the flesh and
blood families OF the living, breathing.
talking, eating human beings who
work for wages? Here Is where Taft
fails to make his case; although we
must say his narrow -horizoned method
of reasoning is not any more deplora-
BILE than that of thousands of Republi-
cans who never have been through the
mill of adversely, and gayly prattle
oracularly on subjects they know
nothing about. OF course Tabor has
no right to injure the property of en-
ployers. On the other hand. it is the
duty of employers and controllers of
capital and owners of property to see
to it that their fellow human beings
and fellow citizens of the United States
are not injured by deprivation and
starvation. We still think Mr.. Taft is
a good man, well meaning, and per-
haps we'll informed on some subjects.
although we have not as yet had an
opportunity of discovering what these
subjects may be. That opportunity
will doubtless come later on.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
VAL STONE CLAIMS THIS
STORY Is NOT FLlPPANT

LOS ANGELES, July 26.-[Editor
Herald:] Age must be creeping on me
fast. 1 seem to have reached my anec-
dotage. Here Is another story. Now,
please, I. K. G., don't call me "fippant"
"a wee story may be short cut to
the heart of a question, provided lack
Of humor and perception in the hear
ers does not dull its edge:
Tommy raided the pantry for jam.
Like the greedy, overbearing boy he
was, he wouldn't let his little sister
come too. You can't climb jam
would only make you sick" Girls
should stay and play with their dolls"
etc. In coming away, Tommy mad
the joint that was for dinner. When
investigation ensued, what do you
you think was Tommy's plea? He
claimed that, were it not for the other
sex, superstition would be well nigh
dead, and the clear light of science
no, no, that is not it. He said: Sissy
ought to have been there, then she
would have noticed the cat and turned
it out. It's all through her." he de-
clared, there's no mutton for din
ner."
The "old Adam" dies hard. HE
blamed the woman.
Now, this may be f1ippant, but
think not. 1t comes closer to the core
of the issue than many a long. dull
argument; though of course 1t is pos
sible I. K. G. may miss the point OF
this story, as he did Of the previous
one. The mass will understand, how
ever, and 1t is for the mass rather than
for any individual that the Public Let
ter Box caters. Long may 1t wave!
VAL STONE.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
WANTS TO SEE REPLIES TO
MARION MARTIN AND MRS. S

LOS ANGELES, July 26.-[Editor
Herald: am sorry Mr.. SIS use of the
parrot story has been misconstrued as
''flippancy." In suggesting its telling,
1 am sure had no idea Of treating the
woman question lightly-it is a Sc
rious matter in my mind. But when a
joke (even though it be poor one
in ITSELF can be employed to point
moral, why should we not tighten con-
troversy by it's use? Let us not be
sour-faced, even though we be earnest.
For my part, was surprised to see
~. K. G." take notice of this little bit
of combined pleasantly and argument,
while those trenchant letters of Marion
Martin and Mrs. S. remain unanswered
I would like 81. X. G. or someone else
of his way of thinking to reply to those
letters.
AS to ~. G. KS" contention that
superstition survives THROUGH WO-
MAN, he alludes, of course, to the fact
that it is the woman chiefly Cor large
ly) who supports the church. In this
his idea of a fair criticism, seeing that
this very thing is due almost entirely
to mans own deliberate action (nega-
tively) in restricting woman's outlook
and interests, and positively in max
ing his women-folk his religious stalk
ing-horse," so to speak, to do the
family religion" and keep his name
respectable" while he (strictly
among friends, of course) pooh-poohs
it as "womanish nonsense" and himself
goes fishing. MRS. VAL STONE.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29

suades all the other brains to resume
right way of thinking. "a man is a
man for a. that" and man comes
first In order of precedence and con-
sideration, his works second.
Every bit of machinery and every
penny of invested capital might be
swept off the earth tomorrow by
great-lets say spiritual hurricane, and
If enough active brains were left the
world would soon be restored to what
we are pleased to call normal" physi-
cal conditions. Mankind illustrates this
repeatedly, because brains repair the
effects of war, pestilence, famine and
earthquake, and when everything looks
blacklist and most hopeless, brains be-
gin to think, and the work Of restora-
ton is soon in full progress.
In every line they ever wrote and in
every formal declaration or agreement
to which they signed their names the
fathers and founders of the United
States pledged themselves and their
inheriting posterity to the perpetua-
ton of a system in which MAN would
always take precedence OF Ine WorkS ol
man, in which HUMAN BEINGS would
count for more than capital, or fac
tories, or anything thinkable. For this
reason, and because they believed In
the supremacy of man and in indivi-
dualism and Individual rights in So
ciety, the consciences Of these patriots
were clear and they were sincere and
in earnest when they wrote the words,
which today do not always sound sim
cere or earnest, because they do not
agree with conditions:
I'VE hold these truths to be self
evident, that all men are created
EQUAL, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness"
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
EQUAL RIGHTS

MI ANY citizens-we won't call them
N good citizens, yet they are not
-NA bad citizens, and think they are
good-are so unfamiliar with the first
principles of Americanism and with
the foundations upon which the struc-
ture of this great country rests, that
they imagine our general governmental
plan is an elaborated device for the
protection and security of property.
When they hear of the only form in
which the word protection is used polit-
ically, namely, with relation to the
tariff, they think of the industry which
is being protected from competition, of
the AMOUNT of money invested in it, of
the weekly or monthly sum of money
paid out, and sometimes, but not often,
of the wage Garner, who makes the in
dustry possible, and is THE INDUS
TRY. Everything he handles and
works with and manufactures and sells
is the material out Of which HE
creates the industry. Even the ma
chinery which does so much work now
adays was in somebody's brain before
1t was machinery. The whirring
wheels and shrieking sirens announce
that the spirit and mind of man are
behind all this display of Industrial
forces in action. Therefore, man at all
times and forever, as long as the ma
turaI law lasts and an age of actual
miracles does not change all things, is
entitled to take precedence of ma
chinery and of financial methods. He
is of more account than incomes, ex-
penditures, investments, real estate,
battleships, mills, factories, locomo-
tives, typewriting machines. aeroplanes
or flying machines. These all represent
mans brains-or spirit, If you will
but not one of them voluntarily came
into independent existence, and as soor
as the owner and operator of any great
establishment begins to think the en-
ployes, the hands," as this Individual
loftily calls them, are of less real value
than stock, machinery and invested
capital, then look out, for there's some
thing amiss with the social structure
and there is trouble ahead unless some
intelligent and masterful brain per-
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
MAKES A REPLY TO FELLOW
ToWNsMAN; QUOTES SCRIPTURE

POMONA, July 27-[Editor Herald:
James T. Irwin of Pomona is anxious
to know why 1t is that the event so
much spoken of in Scripture arouses SO
little interest, and should like to put
in my guess as to the reason why.
We of the Letter Box department are
mostly wage earners-when we get the
chance-and therefore more interested
in live issues of the day, such, for in
stance, as you say, socialism, dogs or
single tax, than some old and forlorn
fairy tale due some 1900 years ago.
Even If it were not fairy tale but
a real event, and Jesus would come to-
day, would he acknowledge any Chris
tian of today? He would not.
Jesus gave his disciples certain COM
mandments which they had to obey.
He did not say his blood shall give
them license to disobey him. Who has
ever discussed his commandments in
the pulpit or on the street corner? 1
shall give you clew as to where you
can find some of these commandments
Take your Bible and turn to Luke,
1873, 6:S0-S5; first half Of 11:4; Math,,
6:31-34. His very last commandment,
according to Math.. 1920, says: Teach
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
A Big Registration Means
Danger Ahead for Machine

the machine, pressed by the rising tide
of popular contempt and indignation,
that Herrin has been compelled to call
out the reserves and drag Governor
Gillett in the political muck. The pow
er Of the state executive has been used
without remorse to make politics for
Herrins strikers. A bank commission
er was permitted to draw salary from
the state while doing the dirty work of
Herrin, until the scandal grew so great
and overpowering that his resignation
had to be accepted" in order that his
usefulness to the machine might not be
impaired. The powers of the state har-
Dor commission have been used to in
timidate men who dared to be inde-
pendent In politics. The patronage OF
the state has been handled as bribes to
get control of the San Francisco county
committee.
In Alameda county and in Sacra-
mento the machine politicians are US
ing their powers to jam through
vicious and fragrant gerrymander OF
the apportionment of delegates, in the
hope of lodging the wave of popular
indignation by concentrating party
representation in the back waters of
politics, where it is hoped that the
programers can steal control.
These are the ancient practices of
the professionals, with the latest i'm
provements added, but such tactics
sometimes return to plague the invent
ors and even promote and accentuate
their defeat. We are convinced that
Herrin's freebooters are confronted
now by just such a condition. They
have passed beyond the breaking point
and the raw politics that they have
done will be the most powerful factor
in their own defeat. Their weapons
will be turned against them, for a ger
rymander that goes wrong redoubles
thn disa star
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
TN THIS instance the government
was seeking to punish one of the

TN THIS instance the government
was seeking to punish one of the
Il largest shippers in the world,
whose vast monopoly VIGOROUSLY mad
been built up on the eXaction of re-
bates from railroads, so as to crush
out competition.
Accordingly the finding of error In
the exclusion of the testimony offered
rests on one of the most wretched lit
tie molehills ever magnified into a
mountain by a court. And yet this Is
one of the three reasons given for
setting aside the Judgment of Judge
Lands and thus allowing the Standard
Oil company to escape paying the fines
imposed, says the Sacramento Bee.
Likewise petty and trivial is the rea-
soning of the court as to the alleged
difficulty of ascertaining the lawful
rate by reference to the tariff, merely
because there was no specific rate on
OIL The merest dummy of freight
clerk could find the rate on oil from
such tariff in a minute or two. And,
of course, the Standards officials di-
rectly concerned knew what the rate
was, otherwise there would have been
no "blind- billing" and no collection out
of the usual way. No business man is
foolish enough to believe that the
Standard did not know what the rate
was, and what rebate 1t was getting.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
Oil Decision Is a Rank
Apology for the Big Trust

The circuit court further says Judge
Lands was wrong in measuring the
number OF offenses by the number of
carloads shipped, and also in imposing
the maximum penalty for "a first Of
fense."
In these, as in other respects, the
appellate decision reads like an apology
for the trust, one of the most no.
torious, unscrupulous and cunning
lawbreakers in the country. The gov
ernment had caught it mapping, and
had made out a strong case. The op-
portunity was afforded Judge Lands
to make the punishment exemplary,
and he took 1t, as he should have
done.
This reversal naturally disgusts the
people. 1t is not in the interest of
substantial justice, but, in effect,
blow at the policy of regulation of
tursts and railroads. The public will
find 1t difficult to believe this judg-
ment was not Influenced by causes
other than n disposition to enforce,
fairly and squarely, the law designed
to prevent the rebating and discrim-
nations in favor of large and power
full shippers.
Such decisions necessarily tend to
impair public confidence in the courts,
and to create a demand for ga new
dea1o
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
DISGRACEFUL SYSTEM

N[TIZENS of Los Angelica have made
up their minds that this commun-
ity must not allow itself to be
disgraced by a system Of dog catching
which is sheer barbarism and makes
of dogs species Of game to be hunted
with nets and other devices. Instead
of having a closed and open season
for CANNES the dog hunters pretend to
observe a distinction between licensed
and unlicensed dogs, but numerous
complaints have been made that a
license tag is not always protection
to a hunted dog. With the adoption
of a humane system of regulating dog
keeping in the city the day of the pro-
fessional dog hunter will be over and
the family dog will no longer be treat
ed like coyote with bounty on his
scalp In view of some recent occur
rences in Los Angeles it is difficult
to realize that dog licensing when first
tried in big communities was intended
as a means of protection for the dog.
The Society for the Prevention of Cru
city favored It because a dog was bet
ter on in the pound or beyond that
bourne whence no dogs return. than
prowling the streets, suffering from
hunger. No city which regulated dog
keeping did so with any intention Of
providing lucrative form of un-
Christian endeavor for indolent per-
sohs Of a piratical disposition, who
would rather lassoo and net dogs and
battle with small boys and women than
do an honest days hard work. The
employment of persons of peculiar
temperament and mentality became
necessary, because the ordinary aver
age man, with all his faults, is kind
to animals and is especially kind to
dogs 1t was therefore somewhat RI
diculous to talk of a humane" dog
catcher, or to try to make the public
believe that humane men, according to
generally accepted standards of hu-
rnanity, would under any circum-
stances act as dog hunters Apart
from these considerations dog catching
is unjust because it Furnishes the dog
for the offense of the dogs master,
who neglected to obtain a license.
Punish careless or rebellious people
who don't or won't obtain licenses.
Don't punish the unlicensed dogs. It
isn't their fault. Finally. let the S. p.
c. A. take charge Of dogs which are
homeless and hungry and the entire
dog problem win be solved.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
Banking Methods as Good
as Are Any i'm CiUiIiZafiOn

where abroad in the land. The imag-
ination Of the people was excited and
the Judgment of all but the sanest
bankers was warped by their environ
ment says the San Francisco Chronicle
All that passed away many years
ago. The best known banks of the
United States are as conservative.
ably managed and safe as the best
known banks of the oldest countries
of Europe. True, we have no great
national bank to serve as a general
clearing house of credits and as the
fiscal agent of the government and we
need one. We had one once, and it
was a sound bank, which doubtless
meddled too much with politics and
was killed for political reasons, instead
Of being regulated and controlled for
financial reasons. There is still, be-
cause in the nature of things there
nust be. a central clearing place of
credits, and there is great financial
power there which is exercised with
out the oversight and restraint which
would be given to a great central ma
tional bank, and there is a lack of that
promptness and Vigor with which such
an institution could act in emergen-
oies, and an awkwardness arising from
the devices which are necessarily in
vented and used With that exception
our banking system is as good as any
ether, and in no other country in the
world are banking traditions better or
banking administration more conserv-
ative than in the United States. Some
staues-including our own-need more
effective regulation for public super
vision of banks. because in no part
of the world is 1t possible to prevent
unworthy or incompentent men from
&C occasionally getting control of bank,
snd rigid supervision diminishes the
RI1t VUifhnI1f affentfua
supervision, except for national banks,
the influence of our most important
bankers has served to maintain high
standard of commercial honor among
banks and make them safe consorva-
tors of the resources of the people.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
VENEZUELA

UNFORTUNATELY for Venezuela,
her new troubles come at time
~ when American friendship would
be all-important to her, and when the
protection of the Monroe doctrine might
be of more value than any sum of
money Friends of Venezuela who are
also friends of fair play hope that even
at the eleventh hour the United States
will intervene to prevent grave
trouble and perhaps bloodshed. They
are asking the American nation to con-
slider seriously its action with regard
to claims against the government.
These friends make the point that in
refusing to abide by international arbi-
tration America has established pre-
cedent which may yet be injurious to
its own interests. The most important
case under controversy, and that most
strongly sustained, or perhaps backed
is the proper word, by the American
department of state, is that Of the
New York and Bermudez Asphalt COM
pany. It is maintained by Venezuela
that this company stipulated in its con-
tract that disputes and controversies
arising therefrom should be decided by
Venezuelan tribunals. Venezuela de-
clares it has positive proof this COM
pany encouraged a plot to overthrow
the government of Venezuela. The
Venezuelan courts decided the COM
pany's concession was forfeited not only
because of failure to comply with terms
of the contract but because of COM
plicity with the Matos revolution, by
which, in the plainest language, the
company had made of itself conspira
tor. Evidence heard in a New York
court proved the Asphalt company had
supplied funds to Gen. Manuel Antonio
Matos to aid him In his endeavor to
overthrow the Castro government. A
writer In the North American Review
says: by refusing to accept the award
merely because the arbitrator's Views
of equity and justice are different from
those of the claimant or even from
those of the secretary of state, our
government takes a position unworthy
of a great nation. Unless fraud is al
legged, the United States should set the
example Of abiding by the decision of
international arbitration as at present
constituted, no matter how crude the
system, and find some other way of
dealing with a claimant who is dis
satisfied with an award than sending
ultimatums to weaker nations. Other
wise the impression will soon prevail
that INTERNATIONAL ARBITRA-
TION IS FINAL ONLY WHEN THE
AWARD IS SATISFACTORY TO THE
STRONGER NATION"
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
Z rEws that registration for the pri-

NEWS that registration for the pri-
maries is unusually large, not
AZ only in San Francisco but like
wise In Alameda and Sacramento coun
ties, as we'll as in other important CEN
ters, must be encouraging to the Lin
Roosevelt league and to all the
friends of good government. A large
registration always means that the
people are aroused to the need of TAX
ing affairs into their own hands. 1t is
evidence of disgust and Indignation,
Que to the betrayal Of public trust by
the professional politicians.
It needs but the most casual examln-
alton of contemporary political condl-
tions in California to indicate the gen
esis of this indignation. In the history
of the state there have been no such
examples of raw politics and the ha-
grant denial of representation as those
which have consistently characterized
the policy of Herrin's machine from the
opening of the current year to date.
The present phase of Herrinism pegan
with the appointment of more than halI
the Republican state convention dele
gates from the professional politicians
and programers in such manner as TO
deny the rank and file of the party any
voice in the choice of delegates. HaV-
ing packed the convention in manner
to control the election of a majority OF
the state committee, Herrin's men tneh
proceeded to efface that body altogeth-
er and substitute for 1t an executive
committee exclusively composed of pro-
gramers That is one way of securing
Harmony" The rank and file or the
party is allowed no voice or represent
tation in the conduct of the campaign. n.
Its members may be permitted to vote
in November, but that is the limit Oh
their activity, says the San Francisco
Call. ,.u of
So desperate have been the straits OF
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-29
DECLARES DEMOCRATS ARE
SIGHTED BY THE OFFICIALS

SOLDIERS HOME, July 27.-[Edi-
tor Herald: Republican fairness and
a square deal has been shown in the
selection of boards of election to be
held at National Military home Thurs
day, July 80. Democrats have been
ignored and excluded from all boards
in all precincts in said home. Demo-
cratic votes are not needed to carry
propositions for good roads in Los An
geles county. It seems to be a Repub-
lican baby, and hundreds of old Demo-
cratic veterans will resent the insult
and vote against the proposition.
OLD VETERAN AND DEMOCRAT.