davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08

From the Pittsburg Sunday Post.
 On the afternoon of December g. 17al, Wolfang Amadeus Mozart was buried in the Vienna cemetery But what a burial it was for one of the brightest geniuses of music! A fierce storm was raging and one by one the few friends who had started with the body from Mozarts desolate home. where his wife lay i'll, dropped out of the procession and when at last the casket was placed in the pauper's vault, only the~seXton and his assistants were present.
 Thus was laid to rest the great Mo- zart who today is idolzed by all who understand the beauty of music
 No one in Vienna took the trouble to inquire about Mozart's grave. Not visitor sought it. Even his wife neglect ed to inquire what had been done with the body of her husband, and it was not until 19 years after Mozart's death that any effort was made to locate the spot where he lay. Strange to say, this efforb was made by his wife's second husband, George Nissen.
 But the grave was never located. Forty-one years after the burial the King of Bavaria taxed Mozarts widow with neglect for not having had the grave marked. but she replied somewhat im- patiently that she had supposed at the time that the sexton put a cross over the spot.
 And so today the grave of Mozart is but a name as is that of John Sebastian Bach. For fl years before the death of Mozart. Bach had been laid to rest in the Leipsie church yard without even stone to mark the place. Ludwig Schunke tells that one day while in Leipsic he sought diligently to find some trace of Bachs grave and finally interviewed the sexton on the subject
 Where is the grave of John Sebastian Bach?s he asked.
 John Sebastian Bach?" was the reply.
 How can I tell? You know there were so many Bachs."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
Musical Enthusiasm.

"The activity shown by the Apollo club orchestra is noted with much interest and pleasure in musical circles" said music lover passing through Birmingham. and who was formerly a leading spirit here. Several years ago this organiza- tion was the life of musical enthusiasm in Birmingham, and gave untold pleasure to music-loving people. During this time they had a well organized chorus in ad- dition to their orchestra and produced several of the standard operas, such as 'Maritana 'Msrtha,' and Bohemian Girl, in thoroughly artistic style, besides Mer- cadantes Seven Last Words in of our principal churches. There was more real musical enthusiasm during that time than appears to exist now, and 1t is for this reason that the renewed activity of the club should be a source of pleasure to every one interested in music.
 Birmingham has in it's citizenship sev- eral genuine artists, who are properly they do not use their musical attainments for a livelihood and there is no reason why this city should not have an anna teur orchestra that would be source of pride and advertisement for Birmingham outside of the pleasure 1t would give to it's members and the good it would do toward increasing and building up musical in terest and enthusiasm Should this fea- ture be heartily fostered and encouraged during the coming months there would be no trouble in having a music festival during the spring of 1910 that would be a credit to any city, as the interest among musical folk, nurtured week after week, would be such that there would be no trouble in raising almost any reason able amount to employ large orchestra and vocal celebrities for a grand festival.
 There is nothing that creates as much enthusiasm in pupils as ensemble prac- tice, and for this reason it would seem that all teachers would encourage their pupils to become members of this or ganization as soon as they are compe- tent to handle their instrument with any degree of proficiency.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
GROWING CORN.

From the Washington Post.
 Some statistician has estimated that in Maine the corn crop of last year averaged 4o.5 bushels, while the like crop of Illinois was but 31.6 bushels per acre, computing the aggregate yield of both states From this the deduction is drawn that the farmers who would grow corn hould go to Maine, where corn is sold at 84 cents the bushel, rath- CT than to Illinois, where the price is only 57 cents.
 But suppose the same culture were applied to the soil of the two states? In Maine corn Is grown in patch; in Illinois it is planted in field. In Maine the energies of the soil are reinforced with fertilizer, while in nli- nois the virgin vigor of the soil is drawn upon. In Maine the crop will get at least five ''plowings;" in Illinois it will be fortunate if 1t gets three. The Maine farmer never "overcrops" him self; in Illinois few farmers are con tent to plant 10 acres to corn if they have 20 acres they can devote to that crop.
 It is a fact positively established that the greatest yield of corn that ever came from a single acre was grown in South Carolina-more than 50 barrels of five bushels each. The Orange Judd company offered a large premium for the best yield per acre, and our South Carolina farmer was awarded 1t; but nobody would pretend that South Caro- lima is in the same class with Illinois as corn state. It is not half equal to Kentucky for corn.
 These statistics" only show what the farmer of Illinois or Iowa. Missouri or Kansas, could do if he employed proper metho ods. Nearly all the seed planted is not fit, and very little of the culti- vation is thorough. The corn crop ought to be double what it is on less acreage than is now devoted to the crop.
 In this connection 1t is encourag ging to note that a single ear of corn at the show in Missouri some days ago brought at public sale $1 grain. And the man who purchased it will make money. by the transaction, just as did the stockbreeder who gave $30,000 fol a short-horn calf in New York some 40 years ago.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
Outlook Bright

The quiet condition of business throughout the country at this time will, it is believed, give place to activ- ity in the near future. The general situation is satisfactory and the out look for the early spring trade is bright. Certain it is that with the ap- proach of definite crop news in June a revival of prosperity will be in evi- dence once more, provided the crop reports are favorable.
 With bumper crops next summer, crops such as We had last year, the railroads will be overtaxed and all in dustrial life will be in full play. We are likely to have fine crops, and with, an abundant harvest 1909 will turn out to be one of the best years in our his tory. It may not be a record-breaker, but it will average well. The country Is impatient for a prosperity record, such as we had in 1906, and it is pre- dicted that 1910 will make new high record in industrial and commercial progress.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
THAT sUFFRAeETTE POEM.

From the New York Post.
 Because the prize poem in Chicago contest for a woman's suffrage anthem was written by a man, women who want votes need not be discouraged. They may ascribe the result to the vag- aries of the ordinary prize competition, where it seems the rule that the first place in oratory shall be won by Chinaman with an address on Anglo Saxon Ideals" the best school essay on Abraham Lincoln be written by Rus sian boy, who has been only six months in this country and the Cycles $1O,- 900 prize for a novel be carried off by Miss Lavinia Perkins of Bismarck N. D.. with a story of Athens in the time of Aspasia. If a man turns out to be the author of the best suffrage hymn, it may be largely because man, the tyrant, knows best the wrongs under which he has made woman suffer. Who like the Sultan of Turkey could draw up a poetic indictment of the iniquities of Abdul Hamid? This and accident are undoub tedly the reason for the out come in Chicag go, and not the universal law which may be put forward by the light-minded that when woman wants something particularly well done, she calls on a man, for her poetry, as for her clothes
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
Fat Rulers Are Popular

In one of the yassal states of Brit ish India a lean ruler is dreaded, and it is said a maharajah with no fatness whatever stands a chance to be re- moved by the slow poison route well understood in the Orient
 A correspondent goes on to show that all weighty rulers have been fat men-the President of the French re- public, for example The late Queen Victoria was also stout and so is King Edward. The Kaiser would also be stout if he did not do all in his power to fight down the accumulation of adj pose matter
 These facts all go to show that Will liam Howard Taft has the first essen tial of a successful career. He is as fat as any ruler need desire to be. Stout men are said to be active through necessity and good-natured by reason of his very makeup. There have been exceptions to the rule Lin coin was thin, long and cadaverous, and Jackson was not weighty, neither was Jefferson. These may be excep- tions that prove the rule. namely, the fat man is the successful, efficient and popular ruler.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
BLISS IN ARCTIC CIRCLES

age, disposition and fighting weight be- force he can get a permit to go on with the festivities.
 He can keep any number of dogs he wishes without fear of either policeman or hydrophobia. He has the privilege of raising large families of children and no landlord comes around and complains be- cause the banisters show marks of shoes.
 His children do not trouble the neigh bors, because there are no doorbells to ring, no chimneys to fill with straw and no windows to break.
 The Eskimo dresses himself and his family in real sealskin. He has plenty to eat, because crops never fall in his coun- try, and if he prefers raw whale to pate de foi gras that is his business en- tirely.
 Then there is his political outlook. He never has elections and doesn't care two tracks in the snow who is President or alderman, so long as the fish continue to bite.
 N"In all probability polling places will not interest him until some Arctic ex- plorer discovers the North Pole. After that. of course, his troubles will be plenty.
 Tn fact" continued the discontented man, there is no end to the advantages of the lack of civilization enjoyed by the frost-bound Eskimo. His country will never be overcrowded by immigration from other lands. The native population will never become too numerous, on ac- count of the irritable dispositions and hearty appetites of the polar bears.
 "As for the sanitary condition of these people, they have the finest system of hygiene in the world. Every spring their houses melt and flow into the ocean, leav- ing them to begin with new, clean build- ing material the next season.
 Greenland is the Utopia of the western hemisphere" co6cluded the discontented man. If it wasn't for the fact that I expect a good political job next spring, I'd go there myself"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08

tract or combination in general restraint of trade is reasonable or not. a power which. as We have herein shown the courts deny 10 themselves. is conferred on the mere head Of bureau Tn one case and on a special body in another case, and thus by making civil and criminal prosecution hinge on the question of req condolences or nnreasonableness it de- stroys. as we shall hereafter show, the provisions of the act as to criminal prose cutions, and renders them nugatory, and opens the door wide to doubt and uncer- tainty as to civil prosecutions"
 This proposition invites all the abuses of arbitrary power, and the Senate committee certainly did right to expose it's fallacies. The bill is as dead as Hector and some other way of controlling hurtful corporations and trusts will have to be devised.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
Amending the Sherman Antitrust Act

The judiciary committee of the Sen ate has presented an adverse report on the bill devised by the President to amend the Sherman antitrust act. This no doubt disposes of the subject so far as the Sixtieth Congress is con cerned
 The bill reported against was queer mixture of queer policies, all un-Ameri. can. It aimed to set up two sets of corporations, the one good and the other bad, and the division of the cor porations into these two classes was to be done by bureau or by a prac- tically irresponsible body. The judi ciary committee of the Senate thus discusses this provision of the pending bill:
 The difference between the two classes of corporations Is this-that in the case of common carriers, the interstate coms merce commission Is given the power of determining the question of reasonable ness or unreasonableness in the first .in- stance while as to other corporations this power is conferred on the commits sioner of corporations. In the one case the power of giving quasi, or qualified, i'm munity from criminal and civil prosecu- tien is conferred on the commissioner of of corporations. and in the other case on the interstate commerce commission. In both cases the power of determining. without notice or hearing. whether 8 con.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
BATTtEs IN THE AIR.

From Henry B. Hersey's "The Menace
 of Aerial Warfare" in the February
 Century.
 Let us consider for a moment the pos
 abilities of an attack on New York city which we would have available for de- fense at the time. It would then be neces- sary to rely largely on land defenses. If the attacking fleet were accompanied by thoroughly equipped aeronautic trans
 ports, dirlgibles might be inflated and
 sent in over our Notifications, dropping
 torpedoes into them from the sky at the same time that the fleet would be making an attack from the water. Due notice having been given of bombardment, these
 same dirigibles might sail over the sky
 scrapers of New York, dropping bombs or torpedoes into the very light shafts of the proud structures and wrecking them completely. If the dirigibles should be disabled by shots from the land and destroyed or captured, we should thereby infiict on the enemy loss of perhaps five
 men and possibly $lOO,O0O-a loss trivial as compared with the damage done by one eXplOSlV6 uTOpptu llOu thc ohy.
 What is true of New York applies with greater force to San Francisco or Seattle. All these possibilities are based partly on the supposition that this country
 would not be prepared for serious. aerial
 warfare If, however, we were as well
 prepared as we ought to be within the
 next~few years, the possibilities would be different. At the approach of a hos tile fleet our air cruisers would be on the | alert Every move of the enemy would be reported and as night drew on our air craft would hover near and under cover
 of darkness make a sudden attack, drop ping torpedoes on their ships, perhaps
 down the smokestacks into the very vitals
 of the ship. destroying it instantly. Or
 if both sides were equipped for aerial
 battle, the ships of the air might meet
 in the sky for the death struggle-and battle royal it would be. Each would
 be armed with light guns carrying bull let or shell which would explode on striK- ing even the silk of the gasbag and throw fire in all directions.
 l This would ignite the gas In the pal loon, causing a terrific explosion ana sending the wreckage and crew hurthng through space back to Mother Earth, which will always receive calmly the I wrecks we give her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
RulIdind In General.

Boom conditions in the building line are apparently existing in the south judging from the amount of construction work being done in Birmingham, Montgomery, 0pelika, West Point, LaGrange, Macon and other towns in Alabama and Geor- ga." said Undertaken E. T. Shaw, who has just completed a trip through the central part of these two states. Tt is astonishing to note the number of build- ings being erected in these places, espe- cially in the smaller cities. So much building can only indicate one thing and that is that affairs generally are assuming a very prosperous tonen
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
Mystery About the Maine

The Sulzer bill providing for the rais- ing of the Maine and the burial of the 63 seamen now held in the wreck, has been before the house committee on naval affairs nine months, and it prom ises to die in it's hands. A call for letters and data brought forth nothing of value or public interest. But all feel there is some reason why infuen- tial men at Washington do not desire to see the Maine raised.
 The Spanish contingent in Cuba say the Americans refuse to raise the Maine because the fact would then stand exposed that the ship was sunk by an interior explosion-that the Spaniards had nothing to do with the explosion, and that American of ficers should be punished for the loss of the ship.
 Be all that as it may, there is hesi- tation over an appropriation, say, s200,000, for the raising of the ship. "No American" said MT Sulzer, 'is afraid of the truth" This is no doubt true of the great proportion of our citizens, but it is plain there is small circle at Washington which is able to defeat year after year any attempt to appropriate money for the raising of the Maine In other words, there is a deprea of mystery in inc case
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
WHY IS NEVADA7

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 The total vote of Nevada in 1908 was 24,267; it's total population has shown a steady decrease since 1870 and does not today much exceed 130, ,000 ac- cording to the estimate of it's governor, while the census returns do not give it within 90,000 of that figure. Neverthe- less it's fantastic proceedings might se- riously comp1icate international rela lions, in view of the fact that outside nations cannot be expected to discrim- mate between hotheaded and illregu- lated Nevadans and the generality of the population of the United States.
 The Japanese many not appeal to our sympathies, but it must be allowed that their dignity and boise compare very favorably with the heated and ilrtamed outbreak of the Nevadans. We read that the people of Japan as a whole never express their feelings under the strongest provocation," and we could be persuaded to exchange a modicum of Nevadan nonsense for this Japanese phlegm.
  two millions of white people of Cali fornia and Nevada are seriously per. turbed by the very remote possibility of a Japanese invasion. The foreign min tster of Japan has announced the de- sire and intention of his government to direct the surplus population to the nearer and more friendly shores of Corea, Manchuria and Formosa; to concentrate the emigration in the Asi- atic mainland and, so far as may be- to discourage and deter its diversion to the Pacific coast of America. So effec- lively has this programme been carried out that there is known to be a pos itive decrease in the number of Jap anese residents in the disturbed dis tricts, and all agree that Japan is con cerned, first of all, in solidifying her hold on her recent conquests, in effect ing an equilibrium in her finances, and, for those very reasons, in keeping the peace.
 But Nevada which one writer char r- | acterizes as "a horrible example in the sisterhood of states" insists upon being taken seriously. It will ignore the con- stitutional privilege of the federal government to determine our interna- tional relationss-and will do it's own in- sulting.
 As we have pointed out the white population of Nevada is decreasing and so also, Is its Mongolian contingent, which, In 20 years has dropped from 54OO to 1900; but this rotten borough" state can, if it choose, provoke and in- suit. It can do the foolish thing that might lead to foolish bloodshed. | Why is Nevada?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
From the Boston Globe.

From the Boston Globe.
 @ HERE is frequently in the United
 Y States and Great Britain tai tall talk of of opiuns, but the best place for a move ment of this kind Is in the oriental coun- tries where opium is grown and pre- pared for foreign markets. Stopping this evil at its foundation is much better than sporadic attempts to do so after the poi sonous material has been exported or smuggled. A congress, international in its character, in Shanghai, whose aim is to devise measures for regulating the use of opium as well as checking It's abuse, should be fruitful of satisfactory results not only in China butsin the island of Formosa, a new possession of Japan.
 It has been known for long time that Great Britain was the chief importer of this drug, but 1t is now said that if China is in earnest in it's purpose to abolish it's use the British government will discontinue the trade in opium. Many doubt the ability of the Chinese to enforce edlcts against the use of opium, never theless if she is trying to do so there lR no reason why treat Br1Ialn ana OtneT countries should not stop exporting the article for other than medicinal pur- poses.
 The Japanese government however, is said to have no use for opium in It's main territory, but in Formosa. where it has been in use for centuries. there is at present a crusade to reduce the quantity
 used The consul general of Japan stationed in New York, in an article in the North American Review, states that he thinks his country will be able to do much to correct the opium habit in Formosa.
 In the island of Formosa, which was ceded to Japan in 1S94-5. after the Chino
 Japanese conflict, it appears from the consul generals statement that in 1900 the Japanese government. after mature consideration, set about to put into prac- tical operation the forces which, had commended themselves as likely to be eff fective, and accordingly established a so- called gradual prohibition which involved certain regulations, some of the objects
The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-08
From the Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
 ~ HE discontented man arose and 9 delivered his oplnion=or what he
 said was his opnion-of the far and frozen north.
 arm sick and tired of hearing about that wretched creature, the Eskimo" he said. We, as civilized people, waste entirely too much sympathy on foreigners whom we know little or nothing about. We hear of the Eskimo as living in squalor and an ice hovel that has no gas range. running water, open plumbing or hardwood floors But we do not hear of his many joys.
 T have been asked to subscribe to fund for the purpose of sending to those dwellers in the north certain articles of furniture, which the solicitor of the do- nation said no human being could get along without. I read the list of articles before writing a check for large amount.
 T saw at, once the advantage warm ing pan would be to the Eskimo. A char coal fat iron might not come amiss. But I drew the line at sideboards and poree- lain-lined refrigerators. Also, l am con- vinced that stationary washtubs, enam- eled bedsteads and marble-topped center tables would only be in the way and make life harder for those simple folk
 "The Eskims do not need any of our assistance. The farther We keep away from them the happier they will be and the less whisky will find it's way into their midst
 As they are now. they are the happiest people in the world. They may not realize it thenselves, but they are. To ciyilize them would only be to add responsibilities and expenses without doing them any particular good.
 If an Eskimo wishes to get married, for instance, he does not have to exhibit his bushes before a cold-eyed clerk in a courthouse and tell the intendeds name,