davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Inv Fares and increased Earnings

In the seven months and half end ing February Il, the passenger earn ings of the Southern railroad were in- creased $seS,906 over the receipts of the corresponding period of the previ- ous year. The period just ended was. too, characterized by a business de pression which affected a good part of it-a depression that has cut down gross receipts on all railroads.
 The fairness of the Southern rail- road in going still further in rate re- duction by putting on sale afe4r April 1 commercial mileage bookSfat cents a mile and family mj.szge books at 2A cents a mils goes to show that it has faith in gate reductions in increas- ing business. The people will on all hands be glad to hear that the leader on rate reduction has suffered no loss on account of it.
 When times become normal the pros- pect Is that the Southern's passenger earnings will be still further increased. When lower railroad fares are known to mean increased passenger earnings, the railroads will not be long in get ting into the swim. The Southern had the foresight to see how increased re- ceipts could be secured, and if the returns for seven months and a half are even duplicated in the next seven months and a half all other roads will soon adopt the Southern's satisfactory DOlicy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Price of Iron

Tn January the leading ironmakers of the United States endeavored to maintain the price of iron on a basis of $13.5O for No. foundry, Birming- ham delivery, and limited tonnage was sold on that schedule. But In order to tempt consumers some large contracts were closed at figures around s1275. During February $13.50 was still quoted for small lots, but for large contracts the price seems to have ranged from SIP to $13. It is under stood that $13 Is now the top price quoted, except perhaps for carload lots. Some furnace companies are ready to sell for $12.50 on a No. 2 basis, but this is believed to be the bottom price.
 According to one of The Age-Her- aids special correspondents, the pre- diction is made in the east that before
 the decline eliminates southern pig WILL come uOWH CO @S duu northern DIE to SIP. Those who predict s9 iron are either pessimists, bearish consumers or else men who are not familiar with the situation. The best informed and most far-seeing ironmakers are in- clined to think the bottom has been reached. But whether it has been near future drop as low as s11 Nine- dollar iron is out of the question; not that 1t cannot be produced here for less than $9. It has been made here at | shade under $6, and if worse comes b worse it can me made again for s6.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
CANDIDATE TAFT
 TALKS ID '. M. [. A,

Springfield. Mass. March 1.--Secre- tary of War William H. Taft addressed an audience of more than 200O persons in the court square theatre this after noon. He spoke under the auspices of the Y. M. c. A. and took the work of the Y M. C. A. as his sub ject, payin 8 particular attention to the international aspect of that work and emphasizing the aid which the association had been to the government in the Philippines and in the Panama canal zone.
 Secretary Taft was in this city only few hours. coming from New York and departing early this evening for Millbury Just prior to his departure he was entertained at luncheon by a few citizens in the Nayasset club.
 Secretary Taft devoted considerable attention to the civilizing agencies at work in the Philippines and to the methods employed in carrying out the delicate task of acquiring the four year lands without causing friction
 The trouble was removed" he said. without the slightest denominational or secret friction. I venture to say, with deference to our forefathers that such a thing could not have been ac- complished in their day with as little criticism under the circumstances. The Anglo Saxon had to fight 400 or 500 years before we learned to govern our selves. but we hope we may be able to furnish the Filipinos with a short cut so that in a generation they may be given the independence they deserve"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
From the Boston Globe.

From the Boston Globe.
 T~ HE editor-in-ehief, NJ. stephane lV Lauzanne of Le Matin, Paris,
 who is visiting the United States to study American newspaper methods. is very complimentary in his explanation of his first impressions of our newspapers and the manner in which they are pro- duced. He is impressed most forcibly by ''the rapidity with which things are done" in our newspaper offices. The lead ing newspapers of France have all the machinery with which American offices are equipped, yet the Frenchmen have not acquired the American habit of per- forming quick work for patrons
 M. Lauzanne is here chiefly for the pur- pose of ascertaining how Americans ae- complsh so much in so little time while attending to the multitude of details in- cidental 10 the publication of a great metropolitan journal
 A busy American newspaper man is at times as astonished as M. Lauzanne is when he sees the amount of the daily out put of news in his paper He is so en- crossed with his work and is daily con- fronted by so many new and startling events that he does not take the time to reflect how wonderful are the changes which have occurred in newspapers within a comparatively short period.
 News gathering is accomplished with remarkable rapidity now, because Amer ican newspaper men have taken full ad- vantage of all the facilities afforded them by fast presses and the improvements in railway telegraph and telephone service And to these has been added recently wireless telegraphy.
 The rapid dissemination of the news is also required by the public. Extra ed- itions at all hours of the day and, night must be printed because the public de- mand it. A notable speech in Congress, war news, a European sensation. ter rible disaster of any knd-anything Of ex- traordinary interest-must be served to newspaper patrons a few minutes after the occurrence.
 A paper that lags behind with the news never gets to the head of the procession in circulation or influence. No expense is spared by an up-to-date American jour- nal whether printed in large or a small city, to secure and print interesting news as rapidly as possible.
 There are no drones in American news
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Prosperitv Convention,

Baltimore, March 1.-Under the aus pices of the Travellers and Merchants association a prosperity convention will open tomorrow and continue four days. Speakers of national reputation will make addresses. Governor Austin L. Brothers and Mayor J. Barry Ma hool will welcome the delegates on be- half of the state and city. and on Tues- day night there will be read a letter from President Roosevelt The purpose of the convention is to restore conf dence by showing favorable business conditions in the sections form which the delegates come.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02

But when this district sold s6 iron everything was on rock bottom. Wages were barely above the starvation point. The situation today, while not as bright as it promises to be this time next year, is far from gloomy After the October panic the furnace companies readiusted wages. As rule wage workers readily accepted the cut High wages and the high price of every thing had put up the cost of production in this district to something like s12.50. Since the first of the year it is costing on an average about s10 ton to make
 Furnace companies would rather not attempt further reduction, and It is safe to say they will not do so un- less they are driven to it by a pro, longed period of depression, which no one here expects. This district will not sell se this year. The proba- bility is it will be selling $15 iron be- fore the second quarter of 1908. In the meantime five furnaces in Ala bama that were idle on January have resumed operations and the outlook for a reasonably steady trade between now and summer is improving every day,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
PLAYWRIeHTs IN THE SOUTH,

From the New Orleans Pickayune.
 Harry Leon Wilson, author of "The Spenders," The Boss of Little Already" and "Ewing's Lady" while on his way here had the misfortune to contract a severe case of tonsilitis, but he recov- cred sufficiently to leave yesterday for the Pass.
 MT. Wilson is here to meet Booth Tarkington, who, with his family, ar rived last week. They are going to Pass Christian to get together and complete their new play, Cameo Kirby" in which Nat Goodwin will star next season. This will be the second play they have produced in collabora- tion. "The Man from Home" was the first, and William T. Hodge Is now starring in that.
 Pass Christian will be quite a place for playwrights this season, for in ad- dition to Tarkington and Wilson's be- ing there, George Broadhurst an- nounced before his departure Monday that instead of finishing in Nashville the play on which he is now working he also will establish headquarters at the Mississippi resort and do his work there. MT. Tarkington and MT. Wilson expect to have their play finished with in a month, and they will sail for Flu rope March 25 and again take up their abode in Paris.
 When they get pack to the French metropolis MT. Tarkington and MT. Will son will take up the writing of a new play which they have so far only out lined. It will be based on the mar riage of wealthy American girls to European noblemen
 Harry Leon Wilson succeeded Bon ner as editor of Puck, and was con- nected with that publication for sever al years. His first literary production, "The Spenders," was dramatized for and played by William Crane. Mrs. Will son, by the way, was Rose O'Neil, who is no less distinguished than her hus- band. Mrs. Wilson has won the recog- milton of both continents as an illus trator She signs her work "ONeil," and has executed some of the best mag azine illustrations in Europe and Amer ica The BeauX Art salon of Paris conferred upon her the highest honor a woman can receive by electing her to associate memb ership.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
PRESS HERE AND ABROAD

paper offices. M. Lanzanne says that in French offices he thinks they are too prone after leisurely getting the news to stop and discuss it. thereby losing time. He attributes this failing to the fact that the French people love words.
 Tt is passion, almost an obsesslon with us," he declares, and adds '"rhe man who can talk well-to him we bow down, whether what he says is wrong or right Some one has said that for years past France has been governed by words alone. l think it is true. If man is elo- quent, and knows something of writing. and can juggle skilfully with phrases, the French public says, There is a great man. Let him remain in power!-no mat ter what he may happen to do."
 American writers are all working rapid ly for common objeet-the good of their paper. During working hours they have not any time to waste in talk. They are chosen for their adaptability for the sev- eral tasks and an important qualification is the faculty of doing rapid descriptive work. first-class descriptive writer is now aided very materially by an artist who illustrates the scene of his descrir- tion There is scarcely a sensational piece of news that is not illustrated more or less under modern newspaper methods.
 M. Lauzanne will discover that the dif- ference between American and French methods of serving news to the public is due to temperament and environment. Americans insist on receiving the news of the day promptly and will patronize only those papers which comply with their wishes. In France the public is not so in sistent on rapid news service.
 Our distinguished visitor himself indi- cates this tendency of his people when he writes: ''The old world is slow nov ing, given over to traditions, and it Is from these very traditions that she gains her greatness and splendor. It takes long time to overthrow anything there even things that were better dispensed with"
 The United States has not any news paper traditions to follow. Here the news paper has been developed along certain rapid lines, which cannot be changed without giving displeasure. Rapid news gathering has become almost a science In America M Lauzanne is charming conversationalist and will be heartily well comed wherever he goes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
SWIN BURNE.

From the New York Times.
 It is good news that we are to have a new long poem and new prose work from the foremost living master of Eng fish prose and verse, Algernon Charles Swinburne. His Duke of Gandia," long expected, will be published simultaneous 1y in England and the United States, April ?. His book on "The Prose of the Age of Shakespeare" is in proof.
 Students of the literature of the Eliza bethan era already owe much to Swim burne. The qualities of temper and dis cretion he may lack as teacher are more than compensated for by his broad sympathy, his sense of historical prespec- tive, and his eloquence of expression. As a prose writer he must ever be high ly esteemed. His rank in poetry will be high rank. He is the last of the nine teenth century English poets, and is, as- suredly. one of the greatest of them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
HIS FIRST RIDE.
to the New York World.

Special to the New York World.
 Winsted, Conn.-John Brophy of Champ vile had his first ride on a steam train yesterday.
 He had driven to Thomaston, where his horse dropped dead The mercury was nearly down to zero, and his friends ad- vised him to take train instead of walking home.
 Farmer Brophy approached the ticket office reluctantly and bought a ticket When the little piece of cardboard was delivered to him he hesitated to accept 1t. He knew it was far too small to take him five miles to his home. |,
 The agent, explaining at length that it was not necessary to have a long ticket to reach his destination, succeeded in as- suring Brophy that no bunco game was being pulled off,
 When the train arrived MT. Brophy had about decided to walk rather than risk his life in such a conveyance, but an eld- erly neighbor of a patronizing dispo- sition took him in tow. As the train left the station Brophy was holding firm ly to the seat ahead with both hands.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Mir. Underwood and Revision

Judge Samuel L. Weaver announces that he will be a candidate for the congressional nomination in this dis trict and ". NJ. Drennen is prominent as a prospective candidate. For both of these gentlemen The Age-Herald has the highest admiration, but in view of the present situation the best interests of the district demand that they stand aside in favor of Congressman Oscar W. Underwood.
 If the democrats control the House of Representative of the next Congress and they will-Congressman Under wood is strong and popular enough in his party at Washington to become either speaker or chairman of .he ways and means committee. He has been growing ever since he first took a seat in the House, and in the Sixty first Congress his strength would be felt and appreciated.
 But let us assume, for the sake of argument. that defeat will again over 1 take the democracy-what then? This district should take into consideration 1 such a: possible contingency, for MT. Dalzell. leader of the protection or Dingley crowd, has given notice that l in case of republican victory next November a special session of the | Sixty-frst Congress will be convened next spring to revise the tariff. This district has important interests at stake in case of revision, and revi- sion is certain to come. A democratic victory would mean revision in Decem- Der, 1909, and republican victory would mean revision in April, 1909. MT. Dalzell speaks by authority.
 Can this district afford to dispense at this time with the influence and popularity that Oscar w. Underwood has earned in his long congressional career? The emergency is near at hand, and this district needs on the spot the man who has served a good many years on the ways and means committee.
 No new member could secure place on the ways and means committee. | Unless Oscar Underwood is returned this important manufacturing district will be without representation on that all-controlling committee at a time when revision is a certainty at the hands of one party or the other.
 As matter of business we cannot afford to swap horses in the revision stream, and as a matter of sentiment we should sustain MT. Underwood in such way that he need not leave his post to contend for reelection. He is safeguarding the important interests of this district, and fair play calls for practically unanimous support of him at the May primary, for no one else can step into his shoes in the Sixty first Congress. No one else from Ala bama can secure place on the ways and means committee. And he may prove to be the choice of a victorious party for speaker.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
For Denver.

"There are not as many district can didates out for the Denver convention as expected remarks a commercial sales man, who travels in many sections of Alabama. 'I am rather glad 10 see 1t as 1t is. The primary plan, all right as general proposition, is expensive to the candidate. and where the democrats in given district come together and agree on slate as it were, all but the two favortes keep out or drop out of the race; and that means the minimum of expense which the winners will incur.
 If the democratic party had more than one candidate for President, the campaign for delegates would then be hot. But with only one candidate, the position of delegate is mostly honorary
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Two Indians In the Senate

When Senator Owen of the Chero- kees met face to face Senator Curtis of the Kaws in the Senate there arose a dramatic scene that has perhaps never been equalled in that body. Both are real Indians, the spokesman of the Cherokees having much more Indian blood in his veins than the spokesman of the Kaws. The Cherokee champion insisted that he and his people (with apology to Theodore Roosevelt) were citizens, net wards, and that they should be treated as such in the Indian appropriation bill. As a member of the Cherokees he insisted that neither he nor his property were under control of the Secretary of the Interior-that "the five civilized tribes" were now ancient history-that all Indians hold ing allotted lands are no longer wards, but American citizens.
 The subject Is to be discussed again by Senator Owen when the Indian ap- propriation bill is again taken up, and it is not at all improbable that the discussion will become instructive and possibly historic. The fact that there are two Indians in the Senate Is sug- gestive, going to show that the Red Man is not going out without leaving a record in our highest deliberative hOdy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Reunion Declaration.

AS the Confederate veterans are in tde habit of seeing reunion cities in gala dress it is hoped that Birmingham will be suit ably decorated when the vets come in June" said. Capt J. L. Darby.
 Birmingham is busy town, and we , have not paid as much attention to deco rations as Richmond, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville or New Orleans. But if business men and householders will only give the matter reasonable attention this city will present a gay appearance during the approaching reunion"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Haywood on Roosevelt.

Philadelphia, March 1.-William D. Hay wood secretary of the Western Fedora tion of Miners, who was recently acquit- ted on the charge of being implicated in the murder of Governor Steunenberg of Idaho. was the principal speaker here to- day at a socialistic labor meeting, held under the auspices of the Moyer-Hay- wood -Pettibone conference. In paying his respects to President Roosevelt, he said: ITO say the least he is peculiar, When we were in prison he stabbed us in the back with his letters. l say that this was not tho act of a brave man..
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
A LIFE LESSON.

By James Whitcomb Riley. There! little girl; don't cry!
 They have broken your doll, know; And your tea-set blue,
 And your playhous too, Are things of the long ago; But childish troubles will soon pass
 by
 There! little girl; don't cry! There! little girl: don't cry!
 They have broken your slate, I know,
 And the glad, wild ways
 Of your schoolgirl days t4< Are things of the long ago; But life and love will soon come by There! little girl; don't cry! There; little girl; don't cry! They have broken your heart, I know;
 And the rainbow gleams
 Of your youthful dreams Are things of the long ago; But heaven holds all for which you sigh There. little girl; don't cryi
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 There can be equal rights until dis tribution begins.
 It's surprising how little money a man can get along on when his family needs 1t all.
 If a man can't make up his mind which of two or three girls to marry ono of them will do it for him.
 What a woman loves about a baby is how handsome 1t would be If 1t looked more like her family.
 One of the hardest things is to believe as strongly in a man you admire as you get mad with hts friends if they don't
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Export Iron,

"A few weeks ago one of the furnace companies of this district shipped 1500 tons of pig iron to England, but l have heard of little export trade since,' sai1 an iron broker. Tt is quite likely, how ever that ironmakers are figuring on con- siderable export tonnage.
 Our export business was immense in the sos when this district was working on a rock bottom basis. Since that time near ly all our iron has been needed for domestic melt"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Minister Wu Banqueted.

San Francisco, March 1.-At a ban uuet today given in honor of Chinese Minister Wu Tung Fang by the Chinese merchants of San Francisco, Minister Wu is reported to have given utterances to some significant remarks, the tenor of which was that the exclusion of the Chinese laborers of the United States is a fixed factor and that those who make attempts to oppose the exclusion laws or to violate them, are acting ill-advised- ly and against the interests of the Chinese. 7 He said that his aim from this time on would be to secure better treatment for the exempt classes of Chinese in the United States and large trade relations between the United States and China.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
BUNGLES THE JOB.
Jealous Husband Tries to Kill His
 Wife and Himself.

Springfield, Mo-, March 1.-After visiting a Springfield undertaking establishment and purchasing collins for his wife and himself and forcing the undertaken to write farewell note for him, Thomas R. Ray, laborer today shot his young wife in a crowded street and attempted to kill himself. She will recover.
 Believing that he had killed his wife, Ray turned the weapon toward his own heart but the remaining cartridge failed to explode.
 He then surrendered
 Jealously is said to have prompted Ray tC commit the deed. After being locked up Ray attempted to commit suicide with a pocket knife, but the attempt was frustrated. ls
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Complaint Is Dismissed.

Madison, Wis, March 1.-The Wiscou- sin railroad commission yesterday dis missed a complaint against the use of gasoline motor cars on the Illinois Gen. tral railroad. The complaint was made on the ground that the motor was dan gerous and inadequate as a means of To- comotion." The commission in dismissing the complaint held that the use of the motor cars mark an advance in railroad ing and will result in great benefit to the public"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-02
Mardi Gras At Natchez.

Natchez, Miss, March 1.-The city IS thronged tonight with Mardi Gras visitors. The carnival spirit is in the air and everybody is in humor for the street parade of the volunteer fire department that will usher in the Mardi Gras session tomorrow AS all the hotels are crowded. the citizens are providing accommodations in their houses for the visitors and cots are being placel in public halls The identity of Rex XI, the Queen and her maids will not be known until 'Tuesday night the air is full of mystery.