davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
Art of Coffee Making.

There are many places in Birming-
ham where a person may find a good
cup of coffee at some time during the
day, but few places where it may be
obtained at any time" said lover
of the cup which cheers but does not
ineberiate.
Good coffee can be made by any
careful person; a very excellent cup
from the ordinary grades provided the
beans are picked over to remove the
imperfect grains and the rotten ones;
also the gravel for all coffee has more
or less of this in it. The parching
is a most important detail.
ut is to the coffee served at lunch
stands / desire to refer particularly.
Patrons will notice that coffee from an
urn at say 1 o'clock is fine. At 10
o'clock deteriorated and at IL 1t is pos
itively bad. This is from the failure
to thoroughly cleanse the urn. The best
and surest way to do this is to boil
water in the urn for several hours.
This process absorbs the oil deposited
on the inside of the urn. Now, if this
oil is not removed the coffee absorbs
a portion of it with the result that poor
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
Meet 1t Is set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be
villain. Hamlet.
Senatorial Elections

Twenty-Five states now cast direct
primary votes in choosing United
States senators, leaving II to join the
procession later on. Last year Illinois
passed such an act, but it was vetoed
by the supreme court of that state A
new act is being discussed. Kansas
enacted primary law providing that
all candidates for elective offices, in
Guiding United States senators, shall
be selected in primaries. Maryland
did likewise Ohio and Michigan both
passed primary laws covering the NOM
ination of all party candidates. About
four states a year accept the new
plan, and in the course of five years
the convention will have become we'll
nigh obsolete in the states.
The Chicago Record-Herald thinks a
constitutional amendment will doubt
less come in time to clinch the move
ment for the direct election of United
States senators. This can be readily
accomplished through the calling of a
convention upon the request of two
thirds of the states, and only four more
states are needed to insure the calling
of convention.
Strange enough, Alabama selects
senators by direct popular vote and
yet she has thus far neglected to ask
Congress to call a constitutional con-
vention. The subject should be
brought up at the coming special ses-
sion, and if any reason exists for dis.
trusting the people when United States
senators are to be selected it should
be made known. The electorate in
Alabama is supposed to be intelligent
1t is based on tax paying and intelli'
gence, and to say that such an electo.
rate needs middlemen to act for 1t in
any matter would be surprising. At
any rate the special session, and Ala
bama should either vote Yes" or NO
on the proposition to call constitl
tional convention to provide for the
popular election of United States SEN
atOrs
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
In Behalf of Mine Workers

The meeting held at East Lake Sat
urday under the auspices of the Ala
bama Coal Operators association
brought together operators in close
touch with superintendent, mine fore
men and mine physicians, and was a
notable affair. 1t was not only largely
attended by mine foremen, but as the
prime object of the meeting was the
discussion of mine accidents and the
humane movement for the training of
mine workers so as to enable them to
render intelligent aid to the injured,
known as the first-aid movement, ex-
cellent results are expected. First-aid
corps will be organized Immediately at
several mining camps in the Birming-
ham district.
DR.. NJ. j. Shields of the medical re-
serve corps of the United States army
is the American pioneer in this work,
and his admirable lecture at Satur-
days meeting received the close atten-
ton it deserved. DR.. R. NJ. Cunning
ham Endorsed the movement and so did
other physicians of mining camp expe-
rience. State Mine Inspector Ed Flynn
discussed the qualifications required of
mine foreman and stressed the re-
sponsibility which rested upon the man
who filled that position.
Most of the addresses heard on Sat
urday were published in part in the
Age-Herald of Sunday, and this morn
ing is published in full the able and ex-
haustive paper entitled, THE Proven
ton of Accidents in Coal Mines" pre-
pared and read by Edward H. Coke of
the Tennessee company.
The gathering at East Lake had its
social features as well as its practical
side, and similar meetings from time
to time will doubtless be found worth
while.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
TEXAS STILL UNHAPPY.
Oil Trust Expelled, But People Have
to Pay More for Product.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
few months ago 1t seemed that MOTH
ing more was necessary to make all Texas
happy than to expel the subsidiary of the
Standard Oil Trust from the state, but
the course of events proves once more
that Man never is but always to DO
blest."
There is no record that sellers of crude
oil get cent more for their raw material,
but it is sure that buyers of refined are
paying more. As soon as the trusts COM
petition ceased the independent refiners
raised their price cents. This seemed
like taking liberties with the people of the
state of Texas, not to mention the re-
ceiver who was operating the trust plant
on behalf of the state, but no resentment
was shown. On the contrary the receiver
promptly advanced his price to the same
level, just in the manner which causes
railways and other retainers of trade to
be prosecuted for conspiracy. But Texas
can hardly prosecute itself, and seems
well content with profits of 40 per cent a
year upon the unwatered price paid for
the plant when the trust was expelled.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
THE REIGN OF BASEBALL.

Hugh c. Weir in the World Today.
The reign of baseball is to be viewed
from a triple standpoint. The elements
of its popularity are drawn from three
sources: the game itself, the players and
the neople. We may combine the. first
and the third in the statement that base
ball is essentially democratic amuse-
ment. appealing with equal force to the
banker and the office boy, the millionaire
and the chauffeur, the professor and the
.lanorer. Football, basketball, tennis, golf,
have only selected patronage. Their
favor IL among the few. Baseball is uni
versal in its audience, primarily, OF
course. because the native American, no
matter what his station or income, is
lover of the strenuous, and baseball Is
nothing If not virile. This. of course, is
true of football, but football is lacking in
wearing qualities either from the stand
point of players or spectators. 1t is es-
sentially a sport of limited season and
audience.
Again baseball is wholesome. clean; per-
haps no more SO than other sports, put
rather from more obvious and spectac-
ular angle. AS it is played today 1t IS
practically impossible for questionable
dealings to creep into the contests OF the
diamond The spectator knows this ana
is co..tent to accept as just and fair. the
result of the game, unless, Of course, the
umpire-the much harassed, much-abused
umpire-rubs his hair the wrong way
Since. the great leagues abolished gam
bling, the average American citizen KNOWS
that in baseball he will find an amuse-
ment as nearly f1awless from a moral
standpoint as 1t is possible to be.
Undoubtedly much of this condition is
due prifaariiy to the players. If the game
owes it's present status to one factor more
than another 1t is to the men on the ala
mond. The average reader can recall
without an effort the days when game
of BASEBALL was far more apt to end In an
AFFAIR of fists than of runs. When the
umpire was not chased from the held the
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19

players themselves chose to decide the ar
gument by "free-for-all" fight. This
condition could be changed only by the
players themselves And they changed it.
Look at few of the leaders of the new
baseball"
Hans" Wagner of Pittsburg is one of
the proprietors of a steel plant at Car
negie, Pa; "Matty' Mathewson of New
York is an insurance broker during the
winter months; "Hughie' Jennings, the
manager of the Detroit team, is a lawyer
and good one. Indeed, he once told me
that 1t is one of the ambitions Of his life
to retire from the diamond to his law
office. Napoleon Lajeie of Cleveland has
made as much OF success of business as
of baseball. Not long ago he assured me
emphatically that the same elements Of
progress are necessary in both.
We find almost every college repre-
tented in the ranks of our leading ball
players. Fred Tenney of Boston is
graduate of Brown, Grant of Philadel-
, phia is Harvard man. Devlin of New
York has a Georgetown diploma, White
of the Chicago Americans is also
Georgetown man. In fact, we find our
university ball players multiplied at al
most every turn. The main fact, how
ever, is not that many of our ball players
are business men or college men, but that
they have lifted the standard of the game
to that of modern business and college
life. From a financial viewpoint, they
have made baseball a sound business
proposition both for themselves and the
men who pay their salaries. From an
athletic viewpoint they have lifted 1t to
the level of clean, whole-souled college
rivalry. And because the game has ele-
ments of strength and enthusiasm, which
will bear development, and because the
American people admire clean-limbed,
warm FLOODED contest, which will shake
q man out of his pessimism and lethargy
into the spirit of action and optimism,
their efforts have met with a success
which. is little short of marvellous.
There are 80, 600, coo residents In our cities
and towns. If one-half of this number
go to 20 baseball games every season
there would be an annual attendance of
5000 200. AS the present estimate is
only one-tenth of this figure, 1t can be
said with truth that great as is the insti-
tuition of baseball, 1t is still an infant in
dUStry.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
The Stock Market,

Henry Clews in his Saturday review
says in part;
THE effort to force the market to a
higher level was renewed this week with
a vigor which showed that powerful and
The question is will they succeed? 1t
must be admitted that circumstances in
many respects are much in their favor.
Money is cheap and plentiful. Business,
though not yet up to the normal in vol
ume, is steadily improving. The crop out
look, except for cotton. is very salts
factory; and as everyone knows, our
farmers are confidently looking forward
to another very profitable season. Even
cotton is likely to do better than now
feared, because damage reports have I'M
is at least two months for possible re-
cuperation.
Confidence generally in business cir
cles is strong. The spirit of hopeful
ness prevails nearly everywhere, and all
the influences at work are such as would
naturally tend to discourage the selling
of securities. At the same time there
is an element Of weakness IN the situa
ton that is generally overlooked. The big
holders have plenty of securities for sale,
and more are coming in large amounts
Some big operators are anxious to sell
in order to realize the handsome profits
now offered. Their only difficulty Is
want of buyers. Both the public and
investors generally. apparently, are diff
cult to tempt at these figures; and 1t Is
noticeable that the market often declines
on good news from unexpected inside
selling, making the average buyer exceed
ingly cautious. and properly So There
is no question but that values are ex-
cessively high. In many cases quota
tons are above the highest existing be-
fore the panic; and no one pretends that
business. although better than a year
ago, has resumed normal activity. At
present many stocks are yielding very
small returns on their market values.
and if dividends do not go up prices
must eventually go down."
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
". E. Clark in Golfers weekly.


~ LAsKA is a poor mans country
lP01 in the sense that the poor man
who works with his hands is
able to earn large wages-large, even
when the high cost of living in the In
because some large capitalists own the
it is a poor mans country in that tho
the prospector and small miner of the
future will have an opportunity to sell the
ground which he has acquired to one or
another of the large operators without
fear of being forced to make sacriflces
because some large capitalists owns the
railroads The greatest safeguard for the
poor man In Alaska today Is that freight
rates on railroads are subject to strict
federal supervision and adjustment. IN
der this administration, at least, 1t may be
confidently expected that proper
supervision will be exercised AS for mines
of gold quartz, and coal, and copper,
poor men usually do not operate them
anywhere; but 1t is safe to say that the
poor prospector who discovers big de-
post of ore in any part of Alaska that
is accessible to a railroad, will have no
trouble in selling 1t at a fair price to
any one of a score or more of large
investors who have recently become iden-
tilted with activities In the far north.
Enthusiasts will say that Alaska's peo-
pie will number 100000 within the next
half century. Obviously no warrant ex-
lists for such a prediction. No such num-
Der will ever be supported by the actiyi-
ties of the mines or of the fisheries or Of
the forests, and the problem, therefore,
becomes one of the soil. OF the soil more
will be said later. The subject of the fish,
cries may be disposed of briefly with the
statement that the output of canned SAL
mon has for many years been valued at
from 100000 to SS,0O0,0OO annually, and
that the industry Of packing and ship
ping other kinds Of fish has grown rapid
ly within a comparatively recent period.
The fishing industry will certainly suffer
in the future unless the wise precaution
is taken to replenish the stock Of fish.
Some encouraging progress has been made
in this direction within the last two or
three years, but not enough to allay en-
tirely a feeling of uneasiness lest the
supply of salmon be seriously depleted at
a day not distant in the future.
Fifty years hence the forests of Alaska
will, it is conceived, be producing an
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
Latest London Craze.

From the Dundee Advertiser
The latest craze among the ultrafash-
ionables of London is to have dirty faces.
Some few years ago the same young men
developed a fancy for perambulating the
streets without hats, but the coming Of
the automobile has changed the mode Of
showing that you are not quite as other
men. The idea is to carry just enough
dirt to look like fast long distance rider
who has no time to remove the traces
of loconlotion. slight disarray of the
tie and collar is great aid to the
Illusion, while the real artist will add a
slight suggestion of cramp in the legs
A finishing touch is given by an oily
smear on the nose. This may seem like
an exaggeration, but it is not more alb
surd than the fashion of a century ago,
when young men aspired to look like
coachmen or Jockeys.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19

whereas Chicago now has a So differen-
tial under st. Louis, a reversal of s. in
favor of st. Louis.
The lowest rate obtainable now between
New York and Chicago is lake and rail-
during the open season on the lakes,
when 50 cents a hundredweight is
charged, rail and water at IS cents
being the next best during the closed sea-
son.
With 55-cent rate between New York
and st. Louis, he railroads would be
compelled to readjust rates to every
point in the Mississippi and Missouri river
territories.
These changes will be duplicated
when the Warrior river is opened
abreast of Birmingham, provided this
district gets ready to take advantage
of a river open the year round to slack
water navigation. 1t rests with the dis
trict to say what rates shall be on
goods, say, of the first class. Heavy
freights to the sea- such as iron, steel,
coal, coke, steel rails and the like will
inevitably be foated on barges to tide
water simply because the railroads
cannot afford to meet rate of 40 cents
a ton. This district has not risen to
full appreciation of the water transpor-
tation that the government is about to
hand us as a free gift, but it will come
nevertheless, because few men see
what the masses do not.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
In Virginia and Elsewhere.

1.-THE gubernatorial campaign in Vir-
ginia is quite exciting although neither
of the two candidates Is regarded as at
all forceful.' said Henry S. Ayres OF
Washington, d. C. Judge Mann, the
prohibition candidate, and ex-Congress-
man Harry st. George Tucker, the local
option candidate, are aggressive enough,
and both are clean men from a moral
point of view; but I am told by my
friends in Virginia that neither measures
up to the gubernatorial requirements of
former times. From all I could gathe,
the betting is in favor of Tucker The
fact that Mann was a political friend of
the late General Malone, who sought to
disrupt the democratic party in Virginia
about 80 years ago, will lose him votes,
but Tucker is running on a true demo-
cratic platform-local option-and that of
itself should make him winner, even If
he had little else in his favor Mann has
been standing candidate for governor
for 20 or 25 years, and he is about sure to
meet disappointment once more when
election day rolls around in November
next. Had a contest been made In Vir-
ginia between the anti-saloon forces and
the local option forces two years ago,
statewide prohibition would probably
have carried; but there is now a decided
reaction. In Richmond the saloons are
strictly regulated, and suppose it is the
same way in Norfolk and other wet
cities in Virginia.
IT have never taken much interest in
the prohibition question. and therefore
am not especially well Informed on the
so-called prohibition wave. But after
spending four days in Georgia came to
the conclusion that prohibition is farce
in that state. Here in Alabama prohibit
ton may work all right in the rural dis
tricts, but judging from the great num-
Der of liquor dealers licenses issued In
Birmingham there is doubtless a large
traffic in whisky here. Why. there seems
to be as many men engaged in the liquor
trade in Birmingham as there are in
Washington. D. c., which is legally wet
and always will be-"
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
BEN BOLT.

BY Thomas Dunn English
Don't you remember sweet Alice, Ben
Bolt?
Sweet Alice, with hair so brown,
Who blushed with delight If you gave her
q smile
And trembled with fear at your frown?
In the old churchyard in the valley, Ben
Bolt,
In a corner obscure and lone.
They have fitted slab of granite SO
gray
And Alice lies under the stone.
Under the hickory tree. Ben Bolt,
That stood at the foot of the hill,
Together we've lain in the MONDAY shade
And listened to Appleton's mill.
The mill wheel has fallen to pieces, Ben
Bolt
The rafters have crumbled in,
And a quiet that crawls round the walls
Takes the place of the olden din.
Do you mind the cabin of logs, Ben Bolt,
That stood in the painless wood?
And the button-ball tree, with its motley
That nigh by the doorstep stood!
The cabin to ruin has gone, Ben Bolt;
You would look for the tree In vain
And where once the lords Of the forest
stood
Grows grass and the golden grain.
And don't you remember the school, Ben
Bolt
And the master so cruel and grim?
And the shady nook in the running brook
Where the children went to swim?
Grass grows on the masters grave, Ben
Bolt,
The spring of the brook is dry,
And of all the boys who were schoolmates
then
There are only you and I.
There's change in the things l love,
Ben Bolt,
They have changed from the old to the
new;
But 1 feel in the core of my spirit the
truth,
There never was change in you;
Twelve months twenty have passed, Ben
Z Bolt,
Since first we were friends, yet hall
Thy presence blessing. thy friendship a
truth,
Ben Bolt Of the salt sea gale!s
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
Government by Special Interests

Charles S. Barrett, president of the
Farmers union, recently returned from
Washington, where he talked with men
Of all parties and all shades of opin-
ion, and he came back declaring that
"a SNOWFALL upon the equator at high
noon stands about as much showing
as do the south and the democrats in
the revision of the tariff
Long success has made the repub-
lican leaders at Washington fearless
of public opinion. They expect return
ing prosperity to blind the eyes of the
people to all the injustices of a new
tariff bill, and so they have prepared
bill without any regard to the south
and very little to the ultimate con-
sumer anywhere. 1t is bill stuffed
with jobs for this or that special inter-
est In order, for example, to please
the wool growers of the far west and
INC "OoiCh Liiilo OWucu Ill bOSlOn q
duty of II cents pound is to be laid
against common unwashed wool. When
this wool is washed four pounds Of it
is needed to make one pound of cloth.
The duty on wooden cloth thus be-
/ comes A cents pound, which Is pro-
hibitive. The result is that little mon
ey will be brought into the treasury by
the duty on wool, but tax Of 5000 ,0O0.-
900 will be levied and collected from
the people for the benefit of the wool
growers, the mills and their middle
men.
This Is why we lack government by
the people. We have instead govern
ment by special interests for special
interests. And this will continue to
be the case so long as the consumer
permits the republican party to make
tariffs and to remain in power. Mr..
Barrett d es not exaggerate the help
lessness of the south. The entire coun-
try is at the mercy Of lot of benefi-
Charles who think the people can be
fooled at least another time The cleo
tions of next year will show whether
they have accurately forecast political
results.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
Musical Attractions.

"Loudon Charlton of New York, the well
known successful manager of high-class
musical attractions, will open a branch
office In st. Louis, and has taken charge
of the St Louis Symphony orchestra of
80 performers, with view of making a
festival tour next spring." said music
lover. HE writes to a friend that he ex-
poets to bring Madame Sembrich here in
February, and that he hopes to book the
st. Louis orchestra for the third week in
April.
'Damrosch is planning to bring his or
chestra to Birmingham early in April. and
If Charlton comes with an orchestral
later in the same month Birmingham will
be better off unsteady than usual"