davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
YELLOW POISON

/
TN THE ''last dying speech and con-
fession" Of the wry-brained youth
who killed Captain Auble and
committed suicide he said: al borrowed
Ss5 OF my brother-in-law by lying. say
ing I was going to Arizona" In
this naive statement there is q self
revelation which will help convince
readers that the lad had a Munchau-
sen mental habit. He not only lied to
his relatives and friends, but he lied
to anybody who would listen to him.
and there is not any reason to believe
line of the hysterical screed pub
lished by the yellow journals but sup
pressed by newspapers which have
some regard for the law OF suggestion.
No person of mature mind could be
Influenced by the pitiful confession.
It is too fiimsy. Its incidents are dime
novel incidents. They never happened.
Its words are dime novel words. the
stock phraseology of the hack writers
who supply the "Three Finger Jack"
department Of alleged literature"
But on the young and impressionable
it will have bad effect. 1t is unfor-
tunate 1t should have been placed
within reach of schoolboys. Yellow
journalism has seldom been guilty of
more reprehensible performance than
the publication of the alleged confess
sion, especially as the publication was
not accompanied by the warning that
hardly a statement In the entire far
rago was founded on fact.
There is a good deal of amateur craft
and schoolboy cunning in the construc-
ton of the widely improbable and alb
solutely impossible yarn to which the
yellow journal devotes a great deal
OF it's space. For instance, sutherland
knew that If he used names in his con-
coction an attempt would be made to
find the dramatis personae who bore
those names, and, II they could not be
found, or If it could be proved they
did not exist, the story would receive
no consideration and would carry no
weight.
With a glimmering sense of the re-
duirements of the dramatic unities OF
Il
yellow literature, mixed with a deter
mination to keep his dream from being
disproved, the prevaricator accounted
for the disappearance of witnesses.
1.-THE big fire in frisco came" he
wrote, "and my confederates, Wells.
Errington and Sherwood, died and were
burned up!"
1t is a thousand pities a rattle
Drained, habitually untruthful young
victim of dime novels and other yellow
literature, and in all probability
reader of yellow newspapers, should
have cost Los Angeles the loss OF
gallant and efficient officer. Dime
novels and yellow literature and news
papers should be suppressed. Sale OF
the trash should be forbidden. Print
ers and bookbinders caught manufac-
turing such stuff should be punished.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
RADICALISM IN TIBET

A LASl The Dalai Lama of Tibet,
" the Grand Pajama Cor whatever
- it is) of the great oriental cult,
has fallen upon evil days. In Lhasa
the very cows that supplied him with
milk were worshiped. But the mystery
with which he surrounded himself was
ended rudely by Colonel Younghus-
way. are the modern representatives
of the barbarians who pulled the whis-
kers of the Roman fathers when the
famous city was successfully invaded
for the first time.
Irreverence is the most marked char
acteristic of the northern European
races, which are largely represented in
the United States. The Missourian who
must be shown, the Yankee with
dozen questions in a minute. the Scots
man who has his doubts-all illustrate
the spirit called by the Romans ''van-
dalism," in "honor" Of the Vandal
tribes.
Now the Dalai Lama has lost his
awe inspiring qualities. which, OF
course, were all spurious, all fictitious.
He was no more sacred than his sacred
COWS, which even the natives who were
formerly their humble servants ana
adorers have ceased to respect.
The Dalai Lama's secularization Is
completed by the mandate of his cap
tors that henceforth he must ride on
the cars like any other mortal. 1t is
evident radicalism has taken possess
sion of Tibet, and goodness only knows
to what lengths 1t may proceed, for
common sense is an awful thing when
1t obtains Roadway. Sometimes there's
no stopping il.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
CALLS CORRESPONDENTS TO
TASK FOR NEeLEcTiNe ISSUES

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10.-lEditor
Herald: 1t seems sad commentary
upon popular government when people
evince so little interest in what their
servants are doing in municipal ana
county affairs that they will fill the
SPACE of the Letter Box with discus
sions of matters of which they know
nothing or profitless rehashing OF
threadbare topics, while our city coun-
Gil Is hesitating whether to lop OF 20
cents a day from the pittance OF the
day laborers, whether to put the I'D on
the redlight district to stay, ana now
to best avoid the framing of q new
charter; and while the board Of coun-
ty supervisors quietly places three ana
half millions of dollars of bonds In a
manner open to suspicion, and the men
and issues of a general election are live
subjects for analysis and discussion.
Concerning the cut in laborers'
wages, 1t seems to me that If a cut Is to
be made 1t should be a horizontal cut
of all salaries paid by the city, from
the highest to the lowest, and that the
man in the city council who viii take
up the fight for this will prove himself
a faithful servant of the people and
worthy of the best they have to be-
stow. There is hardly a business IN
the city which has not had to stand a
cut In revenue the past year, and hard
~ a taxpayer who has not suffered q
decrease in Income. Why should the
city employees receive boom times sala-
ries when all other salaried people are
drawing hard times pay? The cut
should be uniform, the high salaried
man and the soft snap clerk as we'll
as the laborers.
If the zealots who are demanding
that Los Angeles try the oft tried and
always futile method of dealing with
the social evil, which may be hkened
to the manner In which the old-time
doctors treated boils, viz, scatter the
poison, drive it back into the blood and
circulatory system, rather than permit
1t to localize, where 1t can be controlled
and treated, will not profit by the ex-
perience Of older and just as decency
loving municipalities as our own, and
the rest of us keep quiet and let them
make all the noise, certainly our city
officials will have a right to suppose
them to be vox populi. One writer
says that the odor of social rottenness
in Stockholm, Sweden, smells around
the world, yet 1t is the only city OF any
size in Europe boasting the absence Of
houses of prostitution.
am already over the 300-word limit,
and not half run down.
ANA LYSIS.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
DRAes OUT WEARY LENGTHS OF
HEREDlTY AND ENVIRONMENT

LOS ANGELES. Sept s.-IEditor
Herald]: In the discussion OF the en-
vironment theory as propounded by
Mr.. Stone and his followers we have
had many arguments which I have
found impossible to take up and ham
die in the limited space you are SO
kindly affording the public, and eonse-
quently 1t seems this has either been
Inexperienced or the omission seized
upon and pointed to as an evidence of
the incontrovertibility OF their position.
l have been accused Of not knowing
the exact meaning of the word, but IL
Websters or the Standard Dictionary
are authorities I am convinced that
do, but | frankly admit don't know
what these gentlemen understand by
the term from the conflicting evidence
they submit.
want to say a word to "squgg' in
reply to his squib that I am glad to
have him satisfy his longing to display
his opacity. He says we are afraid
that 1t (Blatchford's environment and
heredity philosophy would let the un-
der dog out of hell. What in the name
OF common sense has heredity to do
with getting him out of hell? Why,
they have been arguing all along that
1t helps to get man there, and IL does
when he is foolish enough to believe in
it. Now ], for one, do not believe that
when a soul is in hell 1t cannot get
out again, but would hate to rely ON
the environment I might find there to
get me out. Men do not gather figs
of thistles," neither does sweet water
and bitter flow from the same foun-
TAIN" The only hell believe in is the
cumulative effects of guilty con-
SCIENCE" which results from viola
ton of divine law that can be over
come by reformation.
I want to comment briefly on Mr..
Stones question, 'Does not mans capa-
city for perceiFiHs+ the truth depend en-
tireIy upon his heredity and environ
ment? How can believe 1t does when
he suggests Immediately afterward
that these things substract from mans
power to even grope after the truth? in
his statement. MANS mind is not
true except just to the extent that an
Infinitely mixed heredity and an end
lessly complicated and kaleidoscopic en-
vironment have left him any power to
even grope after the truth" How can
anything endlessly complicated or In
finitely mixed assist man to any
knowledge? Mr.. Stone is becoming
Intoxicated by the exuberance of his
own verbosity. Modesty Is always re-
flected in moderation.
Before impeaching Mr.. Stones judg-
ment further we will give him an OPP
portunity to reconcile. the two state
ments quoted above. / guess that will
hold him for while. r.. N.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12

out manly lads. They are cutters. In
their games they show no sentiment OF
sportsmen's honor. They want merely
to win. They see their fathers and
brothers only at the supper table. and
need to be near a man at school.
Women teachers, too, inculcate habits
of tale-bearing and their pupils run
constantly into the woman teachers
don't missing inspiration to con-
structive, character building effort"
The "schoolma' am" of yesterday and
the teacher of today have exercised
more influence on the United States
than any other human force. Many OF
our great men were educated by
schoolma' ans. Many OF our bravest
soldiers, most daring pioneers and
most heroic citizens were temporarily
tied to "the schoolma'am's apron
strings" If the eastern athletic direc-
tor meant the boys Of the United States
are losing their grip and are becoming
weaklings, then that athletic director
is a-(whistle here).
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
WOULD SHOW THE POWER OF
CHRISTIANITY IN GOVERNMENT

NORWALK, Sept. S.--rEditor Her
add: / would like to remind Mr..
Candy that there never was an evil so
great but that some good was directly
or Indirectly derived therefrom; like
wise, there never was a blessing so
great but men in a large measure
turned it into a curse. Christ's teach
ings were so misconstrued as to make
possible the abuses against which the
French revolution was directed. 1t is
admitted by all reliable historians
that the excuses of the revolutionists
were inspired by the writings of such
skeptics as Voltaire, though they them
selves would have been Mortified at the
result.
But for Napo1eon's advent to power
the revolution would hhave run its
course. France must have been re-
duced to such chaotic condition as to
fall an easy prey of the reactionaries
and the full restoration Of the Bour-
bons. The revolution abolished relig-
ion, and not until Napoleon restored
the Christian religion was a semblance
of stable government re-established.
The blessings attributed to the revolu-
ton are due to the more truly Christian
influences since experienced IN France.
w r
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
BOND SCANDAL

)" HEN Los Angeles Herald firs'
wv suggested the appointment OF
" an advisory committee to CO.
operate with the board of supervisors
in the transaction of business relating
to good roads it was with the view of
providing for a great and necessary
public enterprise safeguard which
would inspire confidence and prevent
the possibility of defeat Of the bond
issue by reason of the attitude of the
people.
The public has been patient and long
suffering, and it's faith in official
human nature has not been strength
ened by various reports which news
papers are compelled to publish from
time to time regarding financial trans
actions in various parts of the coun-
try. We believed the appointment Of
an advisory committee would be
safeguard, and that any attempt on
the part of any officials to take adj
vantage of existing or eventual condi-
lions would be out of the question. 1t
is a matter Of Sincere regret that the
practical necessity for an advisory
committee has been demonstrated so
soon, and since public faith in the So
called ''solid three" members of the
board of supervisors has been sorely
tried, IL not shaken, we hope the result
of the work of the advisory committee
will be to restore confidence in the
three officials.
If it has not that effect then it
would be absurd to retain in office
three men whose official actions have
to be scrutinized in a way which has
caused scandal and affected the good
name and fair fame of Los Angeles
Citizens may be thankful that owing to
the character of the advisory commit
tee public interests are safe.
The conduct of the 'solid three" is
additionally exasperating in view OF
the fact that for San Francisco s
municipal bond issue there were ONE
HUNDRED AND ONE bidders, and
as a San Francisco paper puts it
eastern money raced with loca
money to answer the call"
Public opinion will not readily con-
done a transaction which was not only
unfair to Los Angeles, but Inundated
our city and county and belittled then
in all the financial centers of th'
country.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12

Says the Los Angeles Express: $50
ciaIism, which is the very antithesis
of anarchism. despite the efforts OF
ignorant or malicious opponents who
confound the two, derives its strength
from the endeavors OF organized plu-
tocracy to subvert government to its
own uses and control. Trusts and
monopolies are object lessons to So
cialists. So long as trusts seek to rule
the nation, Socialism will grow. When
the government rules the trusts, So
cialism will have lost its excuse for
being. Meanwhile, those who defend
the trusts and serve the monopolies are
rightly regarded by Socialists as their
most helpful allies"
This appears to be first class argu-
ment in favor of voting a straight
Democratic ticket at the November
election.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
THOSE EVENING SMELLS

Those evening smellsl Those evening smells
How fragrantly each odor tells
The secret OF the evening meal.
The likelihood of pork or veal,
The probability of stew,
The chances of q rich ragout, ~
About the hour of one meets
All kinds OF perfumes on the streets;
OF fowl scent, Of duck whiff,
OF cabbage and corned beef a sniff:
One tracks the pea soup to the spot
Where it is steaming, piping hot;
Or, If tits Friday, one inhales
Still greater sweetness--fsh prevails.
Although we cannot see, we feel
The presence of the shad, the eel,
The haddock. salmon, cod or trout,
We know they're there without doubt,
And smack our lips in expectation
OF what Wen get for our collation.;
For naught our appetite compeis
Like evening SMELLS those evening smellA
New York Press.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
PROPERTY OWNERS SHOULD
BE PERMITTED TO VOTE

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 11.--[Editor
Herald: I have been at times inter-
ested and at times amused by the some
what heated discussions anent the en-
reimbursement Of females which has
been pulled orr in the obliging col
umns of The Herald. AS near as re-
member, the dispute arose over the al
le-ed cruelty to dogs and, quite natur-
ally wound up concerning the alleged
cruelty to women, with now and then
some pious party kicking In with few
extracts from the Bible and plea to
the people to look to higher things
All, such Is lifeI
But, more seriously, the non-grant-
ing OF franchise to all taxpayers is PAL
pably unjust, while the granting of the
same to illiterate, immoral and i'm
provident males Is equally as unjusti-
fable.
A voter should be any taxpayer (poll
tax not considered), male or female.
who has never been convicted of any
felony or OF certain more serious mis-
demeanors (and not subsequently
proved innocent of the same), who can
answer to certain educational re-
quirement.
AS long as a vote is granted to the
ignorant and absolute there will be an
ignorant and dissolute element in poll
body OF voters morally and mentally
competent more direct power could be
intrusted to the individual ballot, and
t. -us the initiative and referendum, d.
rect election of all Legislators, the re-
call, etc, ETC., would be powerful
weapons in skilled hands.
It is ticklish thing to see little
Johnny or Yeggman Joe toying with
an automatic Colts. One hates to see
SO much political power In the hands OF
mental incompetency and moral COR
ruption. ~
BY all means permit the ladies to
vote-and the men, too, IL they WAL be
real nice - but not things IN human
form.
/ hav, merely outlined subject
which deserves a moments considera-
ton. Pray grant ii this and then
Lord bless you, dear people go back
to your rat-ldllingl
LLOYD LESLIE LUNSFORD. 4
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
SAYS Mr.. STEWART TAcITLY
GRANTS MR.. STONE HIS CASE

Los ANGELES, Sept 1O.-[Editor
HERALD: Mr.. Stewart writes a long
and rather nice letter only to give
away completely in one brief sentence
his whole position in so far as it is
antagonistic to that of Mr.. Stone. /
allude to that sentence in which he
speaks of man making use of his
opportunities" He here tacitly con-
cedes the -Blatchford claim that
a man Is at the mercy of his environ-
ment-depending for any effort at bet
terment upon opportunities" And he
misses entirely the point so repeatedly
gone over by Mr.. Stone that the indi-
vidual's power to react upon his sur
roundings at any given time is strictly
limited by his heredity and his past
and gone environment up to that mo-
ment. 4 am assuming that he misses
the point because he does not dispute,
but Just ignores II.
E. l.. WEDDERBURN.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
PUBLIC POLICY

TN NRAGED because a policeman
HI halted him on his way home and
- asked him his name, business
and residence, a citizen, after refusing
to answer the policeman, who, upon
his refusal to answer, escorted him to
the station house. brought suit for
damages for false Imprisonment, re-
covered in the superior court, but had
the judgment reversed by the second
district court of appeals on the ground
that "pubiic policy requires the police
officers to interrogate all persons act
ing suspiciouslX" The judges even
say officers have the right to subject
any person to an examination or
search when their duty demands it.
On the other hand, the citizen, we take
it, has right to protect himself when
he believes the man holding him up or
searching him is not policeman, but
a crook pretending to be a policeman.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
BOYS LIBELED

A N EASTERN athletic director says
IN he will do no more school work
Ia because schoolboys are becoming
effeminized. We never heard the word
before, but believe 1t means effemin-
ated. He says boys are becoming girl
ish. He must have meant old girl
ish, because the new girl is as boyish
as the new woman is mannish. The
new girl is an athlete, and is fond OF
outdoor sports. But George W. Ehler,
in quitting his work as athletic direc-
tor, was explicit.
He said: Schools are not turning
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
DIScREDITED

~ TILL, engaged in the dreary task o
totaling up the huge loss to the
| NJ United States caused by the Re
publican administration. ana with TINS
returns very incomplete-far from being
all in, statisticians announce that isO'
has broken all records for business
failures. In it's effects, therefore, the
Republican panic could not be COM
pared fairly with any former pamcs'
for former panics have been OF a some
what restricted nature; the disaster
belt, so to speak, has been narrow.
This Republican panic has ragged IKE
a nlague, and it is mournfully amusing
to read how Republican orators are
still prating away, still Dragging, still
asserting, as IL they had the shadow
of the shred of a claim on the con-
fidence or support of this nation. the
Republican party is so utterly unwor-
thy of confidence that to elect Re-
publican president, especially one with
the amiable and pliable character OF
Taft. excepting where labor Is con-
cerned. when the amiable and pliaple
man becomes the austere and tyranni-
cal. would be to invite disaster.
We are not calamity howlers and we
dislike exceedingly to take up a burden
of lamentations, but we are convinced
IT is our duty to help impress public
consciousness with the fact that the
welfare and the industrial peace, pros
perity and progress of the Unlteo
States absolutely and peremptorily de-
mand the election of a Democratic pres
ident. A Republican victory would be
q rueful victory for the nation, and as
to it's SEQUEL we neither care nor dare
to speculate.
Business failures give some measure
of the severity of the panic shock, and
serve to bring out, incidentally, the fact
that California was almost immune
There are many reasons for this, and
for our peculiar and fortunate situation
we should all be duly thankful, but the
advantages enjoyed by Californians
should make them more than ever
sympathetic with their fellow citizens
in less favored parts of the country.
In April failures reached the highest
total of any corresponding month In
the countrys history. In the number
of suspended firms there was an in
crease Of SO per cent over April, 1907
The liabilities involved were $22,SS5,O 900
compared with $9,SSS.OOO in April, 1907
In May failures were again the most
numerous ON record for that month
and liabilities amounted to double the
May record of any previous year of the
decade. The countrys exports and i'm
ports combined for April ran $66, 900, o0(
short of those for April, 1907, and
showed progressive decrease compared
with previous months of the present
year. In May they ran 100000 behind
those of last year.
The national treasury's deficit In
revenue during April was 1869. 900. In
March it was $S,5s4,OOO.
There is not business house in the
United States which would retain G
management the members of which
were continually promising to do bet
ter, and always going from bad t.
worse The affairs Of the countr!
should be treated with as much con
sideration and prudence as the affairs
of firms or of individuals. Uncle San
needs new business manager with ;
new official staff. The Republican
! management is discredited.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-12
Republicans H1Ue Nor DeaIt
lSQudreIy With Institute

A THE RESULT OF an enormous
" amount OF work performed by Da-
- vid Lubin of this state, the Inter-
national Institute of Agriculture has
been organized at Rome on the inlti-
alive of the king of Italy. A palace has
been assigned to be the permanent
home of the institute. Nearly all civ
ilized nations, including all the first
rate powers. have appointed delegates,
and the time has now come when 1t is
necessary to outline the permanent
work of the institute, provide the
means for carrying It on-and get at
1t. What that institute will finally be
and accomplish seemed impossible to
be seen. Some things which Mr.. Lubin
at the beginning thought possible have
seemed impossible to most others and
have never been included In the ten
tative official program. What REMAINS
of Mr.. Lubin's plans-the systematic
collection and distribution of agricul-
tural statistics In time to affect the
course of markets during the crop-sell-
ing period covered by tffe statistics
Is possible IL the world viii pay for 1t.
And 1t is a thing well worth doing. 1t
cannot be done at once, for sufficient
machinery does not exist in some inn
portant producing and consuming coun-
tries. But at the end Of a decade OF
careful work under an international
agreement, and at International exc
pense, great progress could be made
toward letting the public know the To-
cation and size of agricultural sur
pluses and agricultural deficits. A
great deal is known about such things
now by dealers and spectators who
nav for the information. and that
knowledge is in a good measure re-
fiected by the course of prices of sta
pies on the agricultural exchanges. But
there could be more of this information,
1t could be more accurate and 1t could
be given to the seller at the same time
that the buyer gets 1t. says the San
Francisco Chronicle.
That Is. in brief, the tentative outline
of the work proposed for the Interna-