davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Taft, PilCh0t and BallilQer

The real issue In the Pinchot-Ballia- ger incident relates to water powers in the far west and their control by the water power trust. Chief Forester Pin chot is endeavoring to preserve the status quo until Congress can conduct a searching investigation, while Sec retary of the Interior Ballinger is charged with a desire to stop an exten- sion of irrigation schemes and with an intention of letting the water powers on public lands go with the land. This means, 1t is feared, that the water pow CT trust will gain control of the great water powers of the Rocky mountain range. It is a deep and important is- sue, and President Taft's personal at- tention Is needed in relation to it.
 The issue comes up in connection with the withdrawal of large areas of public land from entry under the forestry law Near the end of Presi- dent Roosevelt's term, for example. 750,000 acres were withdrawn In Mon- tana in order to conserve water power resources. Secretary Ballinger has re. stored the right of entry in this land, and the water power trust has since secured entries that will give 1t the best water rights in Montana Secretary BAllinger holds that there was no legal warrant for the withdrawals in Mon- tana,--that Congfess has not adopted the policy of withdrawing lands for the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
QUEER BITS OF HISTORY.

From the Chicago News.
 On the English breakfast table in the time of Queen Elizabeth there were meats hot and cold, beef and brawn, boar's head and venison pasties, but to wash down these substantial viands there was little but ale. The most deli cate woman In the land or the most fret full invalid had to be content with a mug of small beer, stirred up with a sprig of rosemary. The dethronement of ale subsequent to the introduction of tea, coffee and chocolate was one of the most marked events which have severed tho social life of the present from that or past days. Tea took the chief part in this revolution, which practically was begun when in 1857 Garraway opened his famous tea house in Exchange alley, London. Tea was in its early days ap- parently taken as a medicine as well as a beverage, for Pepys in 1862 writes: ''Home, and there find my wife making of tea, drink which Mir. Polling, the pothecary, tells her Is good for her cold"
 It is now nearly 400 years since the first proposal was made for the Panama canal canal was suggested as early as 1920 by Angel Saavedra, but for long time all such suggestions met with determined opposition from Spain. who made it a capital offense to seek or make known any improvement on the existing route from Porto Bello to Panama. More recently Louis Napoleon, when a pris- oner at Ham, spent much time consider ing the practicability of such a scheme. It was not, however. until the California gold rush of 1S49 that any accurate knowledge of the typographical conditions was obtained, and even then 30 more years elapsed before the actual site was chosen by an International commission and the work begun.
 During excavations conducted near Will lendorf, on the Danube, by the prehis- torical section of the Austrian Natural History museum, a chalk flgurine, Il cen timeters high, has been discovered in a stratum containing instruments and weapons characteristic of the stone age. The figurine shows traces of having been painted and represents a female figure with remarkable precision of artistic ex- ecution.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Southern Theatres and Their Yoke

Tomorrow the managers of the high class theatres in the south are to meet in Atlanta to consider once more tho klaw- -Erlanger yoke. The managers desire as a rule to see the open-door policy adopted, but they are not as well organized as are the managers of the east and of the west. Then, too, the managers do not think the trust should pocket 80 per cent, leaving the locals but 20 per cent of a given piece of bus mess.
 And yet it is not claimed by the managers that conditions during the season about to be opened in the south can be materially changed, for the en- agreements of the coming season were made months ago, but the Atlanta con- ference of tomorrow looks to the per lection of an organization embracing the best theatres from Virginia to Ar kansas included, which may endeayor next year to establish in the south the open-door policy. The Shuberts may be shut out from the south this winter. but there is feeling they will not be year later. In other words, the south ern managers seem to be getting ready to reject dictation from any booking concern, however powerful it may be. At present they have no voice at all in the selection of attractions. They stand helpless to be worked and plucked at will by the theatrical trust. The Atlanta meeting may well become epochal in southern theatrical matters.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Pallagra Has Coma To Stay

The disease that has afflicted dis tricts in Italy many years, called pella- gra, has probably been felt in this country at least twenty-five years. In those years it's nature was not, how ever, understood. It was reported un- der a variety of diagnoses, but it is now known and reported and classified as a distinct disease.
 Pellagra Is scaly eruption of the neck, face and wrists, accompanied by mental disorders, and the physicians in Italy attribute its prevalence to the consumption of moldy corn. The cause of the disease has not, however, been fully ascertained. It Is known to be contagious, even to the point of an epidemic, and no doubt it will receive from the scientists careful attention in the future.
 The eating of wet and moldy corn should be avoided on general princi- pies, and especially should this be the case wherever a case of pellagra ap- pears. The disease has been largely confined to the south, but at present the Marine Hospital service is investi- gating a case that arose in Peoria, II. Until some other cause Is detected it is safer to consider the source of pei lagra to be the eating of wet, unsound corn, and the sale of such corn should be regulated and, if possible, prevent. ed, for unsound corn is unfit food for both man and beast.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Revising The Wheat Estimate

Actual results from the winter wheat harvest and reported conditions from the spring wheat fields are leading to a sharp revision upward in crop figures. Not long ago the department of agri- culture predicted total crop of 663,- 100000 bushels, and it is now reason ably plain that the total crop will be 703, 3,00000O bushels. The crop of 1909 is the largest ever grown except those of 1906 and 1901. The record crop is that of 1901, which was 74S,460,000 bushels.
 The years fine, even great, crops are being discounted in the speculative markets of the country, and to some extent in general trade. The country was not waiting so much upon the completion of the tariff as it was upon an assurance of great crops. This as- surance is coming to hand and general liaue ID HUI easihS on efoiy AoHu' AHo condition of normal prosperity is being restored, and just as soon as big corn crop and an adequate cotton crop are assured prosperity will literally be 'in our midst" Its increasing rumble can be heard on the iron rails, and that rumble bids fair to be deepened and broadened as the months of the calen- dar year go on.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17

purpose of conserving water powers. he may have the law on his side, but even if he has, the entire matter should have been held up until Con gress could investigate and act upon the great question of forest and water power conservation. In a broad sense MT. Pinchot stands for the Roosevelt policy, while MT. Ballinger proposes to act strictly within the statutes as they stand at present. The people will be apt to say that he should be restrained until the matter can be submitted 10 Chief Forester Pinehot should be re- tained in the meanwhile.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
IN HOIEL LOBBlES
From Buenos Ayres.

c. Dominica of Buenos Ayres. promi- nent representative of the Argentine rail- way. is in Birmingham. The Tennessee company is to roll considerable tonnage of rails for Argentine. and the distin- guished visitor is here to visit the steel plant, see the process of rail manufac- ture and examine the methods of test ing the rails according to specifications. MT. Dominica was escorted to Birming- ham by John Hughes and ". T. Corbett, officials of the United States Steel Prod ucts Export company. The party spent a part of yesterday at the steel mill at Ensley, in company with President George G. Crawford and Vice President F. H. Crockard of the Tennessee com pany.
 MT Dominica Is accompanied to the city by Mrs Dominica and Mss Monch of Buenos Ayres, and Mrs. Hughes accom- panies MT. Hughes and Mrs. Corbett comes with MT. Corbett. The entire party are registered at the Hillman.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
THE CANDY LIMIT.
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
 A successful women writer declares that when the spirit moves her to write book she buys five pounds of candy and a pint of ink When the candy is gone and the ink used up she knows that the book Is long enough. Is it merely a coin cidence that this ladys writings run as a rule Into the latest confections of hu- nor, while her pints of ink turn them- selves often into liquid measures of poesy?
 Anyway, the confession of this fair writer is in a new line. If not good for the souls of readers 1t ought to serve as a suggestive precedent to other authors. Let many of these tell us also how they know when to stop. Let others tell why they do not know. Let some explain if they can why ever they begin.
 If the candy-box limit of composition is of frequent acceptation the question will become important of what the boxes hold Surely there would be for a writer of the Henry James school nothing less than molasses rolls, famous for affording the long chew, while a Marie Corelli TO- mancist would work on taffy of assorted flavors, tested for endurance. Lozenges of high scent would mark naturally the course of the Anna Katherine Green de- tective yarn, and an Elinor Glyn ven- ture In letters would proceed to the con- sumption of spiced bonbons and preserved ginger.
 Perhaps, really the candy measure of time and inspiration ought to be made a literary compulson. How easy it would be then to censor the book market by cutting off certain lines of sweets!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
THE ISSUE IS JOINED.
.om the Selma Times

From the Selma Times.
 The election at which will be proposed the amendment to the constitution pro- hibiting the sale and storage of whisky in Alabama will be held some time about December l. The Selma Times had hoped against hope that the people of Alabama would be spared the agitation, the fearful campaign and its attendant results, but the powers in control of affairs in this state. with blindness that Is deplorable to the welfare of the commonwealth and its citizens. decreed that this election should come. Then let 1t come, and until the battle is over and the result is known let the welkin ring with politics until the people, surfeited, shall cry. Hold, enough!'
 the people of Alabama, if the difference Is borne home to them between the simple issue of prohibition and writing in the fundamental law of the state, a police regulation where 1t should only contain declarations of principle. will cast their suffrage for the proposed amendment.
 This paper has favored prohibition from the first agitation of the matter. It de- clared its purpose soon after the present owner took charge of espousing the cause of prohibition should local option elec- ton be held in Selma. It was glad when the passage of the statewide bill made unnecessary an election in Selma, and 1t does not criticise even the far reaching and somewhat encroaching upon personal liberty laws passed by the present session of the legislature.
 The Selma Times wants prohibition in Alabama and wants it tried fully and completely. However, 1t does not arrogate to itself the wisdom to see what the fu- ture may contain and it utterly disagrees with the idea that the people, while in state of frenzy must shackle them- selves at the behest of fanatical agitators so that heroic measures and means will have to be adopted to right an error should error the experiment prove in Ala bama.
 Believing sincerely that the constitu- ton is no more the place for law on prohibition than 1t is for law against murder or that most henious of crimes, rape, and refusing to be swept from It's feet by this hysteria of the day which, having been born with Theodore Roose- welt, has been nourished through the agency of cheap imitators, and Is des- tined to die of its own malignancy. The Selma Times will stand for the right of liberty and the pursuit of happiness as guaranteed under the constitution of the United States and of the state of Ala bama, and battle for the welfare of It's constituency opposing making of the fun damental law of the state a patchwork quilt
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Llbrarv MeetIno TonIoht.

The Birmingham Public Library as- sociation will hold regular monthly meeting at the city hall tonight at 8 o'clock and not only members but all persons interested in the library are urged to attend.
 Many valuable books have been pre- sented to the library within the past few months" said a member of tho association, "and we have more than $2000 in money in bank. This is not a large sum when the needs of lf- brary in a large city are considered. but 1t Is a good nest egg.
 Now that business conditions are improving and greak prosperity-1s~Dre-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
GOOD OLD DAYS.
Recollectlons of Stage Experiences of
 Half Century Ago.

J. M. Barron. Veteran Actor, in the New
 York Morning Telegraph.
 Looking aft-say 5S years-and calling up the sayings of the great actors who have gone in advance to find that some thing after death, reminds your veteran that ere long he will be in the cast of the Great Beyond.
 Edwin Forrest and Harry Perry were always at swords drawn-two up. two down, and prime. Once they were on the same floor of a hotel. The bell boy rapped at Perry's door and asked if he were MT. Forrest. Harry came out. and in his loudest tones exclaimed:
 ''I am not Mir. Forrest The great bear is In the next, cage"
 In the old time 1t was customary for the guests of the hotel to leave their shoes at the room door to be polished by the night porter, continues MT. Bar ron. Charles Pope left his, and they were stunners-rawhide, No. 15, ad va- lorem. They had bay windows built on them to accommodate the bunions. One morning Charley reached for his railroad tie scrapers. They were non est. He Brdppeu lne peii pun, BdNe II d Nicious yank, which brought the clerks to find where the fire was. Charley explained. The proprietor said he would get him a new pair if his were lost, and went next door to the shoe man and asked for pair of congress gaiters, No. 15.
 "F1fteen!' gasped Sir Crispin. Con- gross never passed such a bill, nor was ever such pair built or launched. What do you want 'em fora walrus?"
 No; a tragedian.
 In the meantime the porter brought the caissons in a basket. He had taken them home to get help to polish the superficial area of the property Charley merely whispered that there ought to be spe- cial purgatory built for hotel porters."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Georgia and Ratification

When the Georgia senate declined to ratify the Sixteenth amendment 1t sim ply declined to support the national democratic platform and 1t lent en- couragement, to say the least, to those who believe that poverty instead of wealth should bear the chief burden of government. It put an obstacle in the way of taxation reform, and no one in the south could understand why 1t did 1t.
 It was, however, the action of the Georgia senate, a small body. It was not the action of the people of Georgia, and no doubt the latter will see that Georgia ratifes the amendment next summer.
 An interesting chapter in the Geor- gia case Is brought out in New York, where two wings of the democratic party are getting ready for battle. The O'Brien-P n-Parker-Sheperd wing is to hold conference at Saratoga on Septem- Der g, while the progressive democrats are to meet at Albany September 4. MT. Bryan Is expected to be present at the Albany conference and to deliver before 1t an address. The call for the Albany conference says, among other things:
 The principal figures who should be at the Saratoga conference are members of the lawyers trust of New York city, and they organized the lobby that prevented the recent session of the Georgia legisla- ture from adopting the income tax amendment. They are also extending their plot to other states
 How much truth there is in these statements cannot be ascertained, but 1t is known that there is to be a severe contest over the ratification of the in- come tax amendment-tha capitalism is endeavoring to defeat it-that action upon 1t has already been postponed in Connecticut and Georgia.
 The people of Georgia will no doubt see where they stand, and as for New York, it is plain 1t is to be next year great battle ground on which the pri- mary issue and the income tax issue will be fought out. The lines of battle are already forming, and secret inf1u- ences are everywhere at work, except in Alabama, which has acted on both questions-and she acted right.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
TENNYSON CENTENARY

Browne, De Quincey and Ruskin He was happy in his friends, numbering among them Gladstone, Huxley and Car lyle.
 He had a high ideal of the function of the poet. Hence he never wrote a line when, dying, he would wish to blot. He had the full artistic sense of beautv. He possessed the two great essentials-sim- pliclty and clearness. He has. indeed been charged with not being philosophio or deep, and yet several of his works treat of the greatest problems in ethics. religion and philosophy. He had also been accused of not being Christian, How that accusation can stand in face Of his panegyric of prayer In The Pass ing of Arthur or of the exouislte sentl- ments contained in Crossing the Bar, lt Is next to impossible to imagine Here is what he says of prayer: IT thou shouldst never see my face again. Pray for my soul More things are
 wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore.
 let thy voice nd
 day.
 For what are men better than sheen or That nourish a blind life within the
 brain,
 If, knowing God, they lift not hands of
 prayer
 Both for themselves and those who call
 them friend? For so the whole round earth ia every
 way
 Bound by gold chains about the feet of
 God
 And the concluding stanza of Crossing the Bar" written when he was 8o vears old, runs thus:
 For tho from out our bourne of time
 and place
 The flood may bear me far. l hope to see my Pilot face to face
 When l have crossed the bar
 Tennyson knew how to put into one happy touch, one word or phrase, a whole volume of thought and sentiment Take, for example, the lines from Break. Break, Break: And the stately ships go on
 To their haven under the hill But o for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of voice that is still! Break break, break,
 At the foot of thy crags, sea! But the tender grace of day that Is
 dead
 will never come back to me.
 Or take the magnificent figure in "Locksley Hall': Love took up the harp of life and smote
 on all the chords with might, Smote the chord of self that trembling,
 pass'd in music out of sight.
 Westminster Abbey contains all that is mortal of Alfred Lord Tennyson: his wife, who survived him for nearly four years. sleeps her last sleep in the island village sacred to the early years of their singularly happy married life. In Fresh water church there is tablet erected to the poets memory, on which there is a versiied inscription, composed by his son, the present Lord Tennyson, which concludes with the appropriate lines: Speak living voice! To thee death Is ! .e death;
 Thy life outllves the life of dust and
 breath
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Too Much Glory.

Members of the legislature who have important interests at home have be- come impatient to get back home," said a man just returned from Montgomery.
 'There are lawyers who are losing bus- iness. It Is suffering for want of atten- ton. Of course the Country Cousins are enjoying the luxury of A per day and mileage, but the lawyer with valuable practice is losing in two ways: He can not live on the A according to the life of the Capital City and he is missing fees
 "As the question of patriotism has been raised on the commission question as to the present Board of Aldermen, I desire to know If we do not have an evidence of disinterested patriotism in the service given the public by able lawyers in the legislature?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
A Lonq Record.

'I have been with the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power company for 1T years, and during that time I have not had all in all over 60 days of holidays and 1ay-offs,' said a dispatcher.
 "Yes, there are men with the company who have seen even longer service than I. One man who has literally worn him. self out is out in Colorado for recupera- tion.
 NO, there Is no such thing as Sundays and regular holidays for street car men. On Christmas Day we work just the same as every other day. You see, the public wish to ride on such days even more than on other days, and of course we have to serve them"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
Severe Thunderstorm.

Charleston, s. C., August 16.-A severe thunderstorm visited Charleston this aft ernoon, doing no material damage in the city. so far as has been reported, but blowing down all the telegraph and tele- phone wires leading into the city, so that for several hours tonight the city was practically isolated frcm the outside world. The Western Union has estab- lished tonight a temporary office four miles from the city and expects to re- establish "a comnlete service early to- morrow.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.

From the New York Press.
 An innocent girl Is too innocent to know it.
 If an automobile breaks down under a girls window she will tell 1t was a sere- made on a guitar.
 When a man knows how to do one thing right he tries to prove 1t by doing something else wrong.
 No matter in what order they were born, a woman can get to be younger than all her brothers if they live long enough.
 A woman is such a curious combination that when she Is ashamed her husband isn't two inches taller than he is she can be proud he isn't half an inch shorter. '-~i .i
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
A Cooler Shell Due.

We have had a pleasant summer, notwithstanding the rainy days in Pune; and while the past few days have been scorchers a cooling spell is almost sure to come before the end of the present week." said an old citizen who has the reputation of being weath CT prophet.
 The early part of September will be summer-like during the day but the nights will be delightfully."- cool. And I predict cool days as well as cool nights after September 22. With De- tober will come a short Indian summer spell, but the real Indian summer will not be due until late in November"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17
cnns Get Rule Hooks.

The members of the police department are being supplied with new rule books. The books were received from the printer yesterday morning, and hereafter every officer will be required to have his book of instructions with him while on duty. The new books are handsomely bound in half morocco and contain on the front leaf the names of the police commis- sloners and the officers of the police de- partment. The names of the men on the police force and the numbers and loca- tion of the fire alarm boxes are printed in the back.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-17

dicted for the coming fall we should be able to increase the library fund very materially before the end of the year. With a concerted movement on the part of our public-sp spirited citizens Birmingham should have a splendid li- brary within the next 12 or IS months"