davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

it happened that the FTfty-frst was billion-dollar Congress-
 Cannon first took his seat in Congress in 1873 and except the term 1ss1-s3 he has been a member of the national House of Representatives ever since. a record that beats all others in our national history. Blaine was the speaker, Pig Iron Kelly the titular leader on the floor, though Garfield was the actual leader. Ben Butler was there with his force bill, and it was in that Congress John Young Brown hurled at Ben Butler that terrible philippic that pierced even his rhinoc- erocian hide.
 The bloody shirt was a-waving. The c. o. P. hated everything southern but the negro and at that time the south was not yet emerged from carpetbag rule. Negroes were in Congress with scalawags and carpetbaggers. MT. Can non was a bloody-shirter of the most scarlet hue. Julius Caesar Burrows was another bloody-shirter of little more ornate speech. William l.. Wilson used to say that Burrows kept his speeches under glass like waxwork, to be brought out now and then for an airing.
 The morning of the November election in 1874 the country woke up astounded. The elections had. gone democratic by overwhelming majorities. Samuel J.sTil- den was chosen governor of New York and the new Congress had more than three score democratic majority, the first democratic Congress to sit in Washing ton since March 4, 1S59 Above all old Beast Butler was beaten for reelection in Massachusetts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

sturdy honesty. and a determination to appropriate no money except for public purposes only; that was the Joe Cannon in the Forty-seventh Congress. and that is the Joe Cannon of today. The Forty eighth. Forty-nInth and F1ftieth con- gresses were democratic. You see, in those days the democratic party was democratic, and had the art Of gaining victories, an art 1t lost when it ceased to be democrat in 1894 But the Fifty-nrst Congress was republican by three or four majority. Reed and Mckinney were the leading candidates for speaker. Reed beat Mckinley because he was an infi- nitely abler man. Had Mckinley been speaker Reed would have been chairman of ways and means. He would have made the tarir and he would have been elected President in 1S98. There would have been no Spanish war, and no acquisition of the Philippines. Mckinley was bullied into the war with Spain It was impos- sible to bully Reed. In this connection I want to say, as q democrat, that the course of the democrats in both houses of Congress just before the declaration of war with Spain was the sublimest piece of idiocy in all the annals Of ass- hood. They forced that inglorious war and established the republican party in power indefinitely.
 appropriations, and then turned enough democrats out of Congress to give him @ working majority under his rule to count a quorum. At the succeeding cleo tion in 1890 the democrats gained the greatest and completest victory ever ob-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVENLY Rev George Eaues
EaUes

other and future world, but the saliva ton of society, of mankind, of the whole world of men. They are daring to claim for His dominion every de- partment of human interest and activi- ty and thought. They are saying, This ancient usage is wrong; there foro it must goT Idealism is coming back to politics and business. With all the stark pride of indecent mammonism. there walks nevertheless the spirit of Jesus through our land. With all the gaunt aggressiveness of class-hate and class ss-oontempt and olass-fear, there is growing a desire for human under standing of human conditions in every class. There Is being generated a new nobility of knighthood which is cham pion of those who are cheated and de- luded and oppressed. The old parties are tingling with the invasive anguish
 of new life. Worn out party catoh-
 words are being forgotten. and the necessity of saving the whole land for the whole people Is thrusting itself on
 the consciences of the elect. The day
 of a new redemption draweth nigh. Some day once more the organising
 reactionaries who have dominated our
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

And then 1t was that the G. O. P. proposed to make 1t illegal to elect democratic Congress and so Ben Butler, at the last session of the Forty-third Congress, pressed his force bill. Ran dal of Pennsylvania, Beck of Kentucky, and Lamar of Mississippi led the fili- buster and 1t was one of the hottest and longest parliamentary battles in our political history When they supposed they were beaten hint from Blaine, the speaker, taught them how to renew the fight and keep 1t up until March 4, and then old Butler abandoned the bill with Parthian shot at Blaine that went true to the mark. Now Blaine did not care rap for the south, but he knew that with that force bill the law Grant would be absolute master of the republican party and he further knew that Grant would never allow the nom- ination of James G. Blaine to succeed him in the White House. Had Grant been his friend, Blaine would have se- cured the passage of the force bill.
 But what a piece of folly it would have been; Every southern state that had been a party to the Confederacy would have held convention and pro- claimed that they preferred bayonet rule to negro rule, carpetbag and scalawag rule and the bayonet would have been authorized. The business north would have stood for that about 15 minutes and in the succeeding Congress there would have not been enough republican mem- bers to demand the yeas and nays.
 During that entire period Uncle Cannon
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

more an hour of destiny Is striking. and afar they see shining the towers of the City of God. America is beginning to realize the value, the cost, the ne- cessity of ~The Kingdom of Heaven"
 Time was when religious people thought the end of all religion was to save ones own soul and secure a place in heaven, rescued from the imminent danger of eternal woe. For that the Savior had come and lived and taught and died and risen and ascended, be- cause He loved each individual soul unto death, and sin could be conquerer no other way.
 It was a wonderful, a sublime faith, and many a saint has gone to God most victoriously with that great con fession. But we know this Is not all of Christianity because 1t is not all of life. Our religion must be as wide as our life. Jesus comes back upon us with His word Kingdom" And Amer ican Christians, aye and many who do not use the name, are feeling their carts stirred by the message of that word. They see that Jesus has no less an aim than an empire, the salvation not merely of the individual in some
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

was a bloody-shirter of the fiercest sect, and even as late as 1890 he supported with all his might the force bill of Henry Cabot Lodge that was designed to make Mississippi a republican state. In those days he not only thought l, possible to subject the whites of the south to negro rule, but he held it desirable to accom- plish this.
 In this connection I shall call atten- ton to the latest rebel outrage. It seems that the song Dixie has been pro- nounced the most popular in the union by the song bureau of the National H. brary, whereat and whereupon sundry Grand Army posts at the north have taken action and denounced this obses- sion of the public taste as altogether reasonable in every particular.
 The Forty-fourth, Forty-nfth and Forty sixth Congresses were democratic, but by the narrowest of maJorities tho Forty seventh was republican. There were nu- merous candidates for speaker, Frank Hiscock being the logical one. Reed was a candidate Burrows was 2 Vndfdate. and some votes were cast TOT uncle Joe Cannon, though he was not candidate in a serious sense. MT. Keller of Ohio was elected, mainly through the efforts of Page of California and Hazelton of Wisconsin. By this time Uncle Joe had proved himself valuable member of tho House. Then. as now. he was no orator, but he is endowed with an abundance of strong sterling common sense, a will of iron, and a courage, moral and physt- cal to face the devil. Add to these
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

ing hint, the hint that these outbreaks of mob lawiessness justify the negro in giving free rein to his passion, 1t is certain that every black bully with a bottle on his hip, every black murderer, cutthroat and assassin, every black beast in the stature of man, will well come it as the most comforting words that have been offere1 on the negro ques- ton in half century,"
 The truth is this same New York Evening Post. while posing as a friend of the negro. is doing much to demor- afize the negro and influence him to bring any amount of trouble upon him self. Such suggestions as the above from this exponent of negrophilism en- courages the negro criminal to engage in the very crimes which the law abiding white citizens of the south have been doing everything in their power to prevent. If the New York Evening Post really loved the negro half so earnestly the south common sense ought to sug- gest to its editor that this is one of the most dangerous ways in existence to help the negro.
 ''Sectionalism is dead" say the newspa- pers. magazines and stump orators. and they press their point with what Falstaff called ''damnable iteration" but if sec tionalism be dead. then 1t certainly does not lie quiet in Its grave. On the con- trary 1t not only visits the glfmpses of the moon but stalks abroad in daylight and limelight. Indeed it is the liveiiest corpse that the world had seen since voltairs Killed" Christianity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30
BRITISH SITUATION

far rather be members of a parliament in College Green, in Dublin, but so long as they are kept in the British parlia- ment their votes must be counted, and if they cast their votes with the liberals and thereby-put the liberals in major ity the liberals are bound to count them. MT. Asquith declared himself in favor of home rule for Ireland and the Irish mem bers will support him on that account. He is in duty bound to accept the sup port of the Irish members and to make good his promise so far as he is able. He may not be able to carry home rule, but he can at least introduce a bill to that effect and if he is beaten on 1t he will fall with honor The policy for Asquith now should be the policy recommended by the famous French statesman, Tau dace, and again, raudace, and still again. taujours Faudacel Nothing but boldness can win now, and no man loves boldness better than a Britisher. What we lack in numbers we must make up in cour- age," said a famous English general as he led his men into battle, and he won.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30
JOSEPH G. CANNON-By Sauoyard

tained in our history. Tho democratic majority in the House was more than twice the entire republican membership of ss, and for the only time in ss years Uncle Cannon was elected to stay at home.
 Thus the democratic party had the world in a basket, and in 1892 they swept the country and put Grover Cleveland in the White House. All they had to do to retain their power indefinitely was to follow their leader, but that they would not do. They revolted. set up Bland and Bryan, and when they led the party into the pit, 90 per cent of the democrats cussed Cleveland for their misfortunes Had they followed the counsel Cleveland gave and been overtaken by disaster there would have been some sense In abusing the democratic president.
 However. it is all right now. Mir. Bryan denounced MT Cleveland as bunko-steerer, and yet the convention that nominated Mir. Bryan in 1908 was reduced to the necessity of eulogizing Grover Cleveland. Sometimes it Is & good thing to set a dish of leeks before a great man. It disciplines his appetite.
 Thomas B. Reed was as proud as Luci- fer. He was conscious of his immense superiority, mentally and morally. to Mc- Kinley, and he was wounded to the vftals when the party preferred Mckinley to him. Later he opposed the Spanish war and the acquisition of the Philippines. and when he saw his party was deter mined on the policy of expansion, he re-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

nation will face the king and cry with the old apostle, 70 Nazarene. thou hast conqueredp
 For the gospel according to Matthew is destined to out last in the scriptural canon of mnkind even that long-ac- cepted, much be-lauded work. the gos- pei according to Adam Smith. At last it will he proven that aS a ciyiliac. e7 ] as a trade promoter and as a wealth creator the love of God in human lives is far. far superior to the selfishness of the devil In that day, with blurred eyes the heather worshippers of eternal power shall perceive and worship the Lamb in the widst of the throne" So with new confidence the church is pray ing the prayer of the sons of light Thy kingdom come" And 1t is very very night at hand.
 Neither the hungry and heart broken and defeated, on the one hand, nor the fat and self-indulgent. on the other, can see the dawn of the new age. But nevertheless 1t is already within us, and beyond us. The old preachment gathers new meaning: Repent for the Kingdom of heaven Is at hand"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30
ANALYZED-By F. I. Monks

that none but unionist legislation will
 meet with It's approval. If this condition be true there is no use in the people electlng liberal government. and if the popular will is defeated constitutional government is at an end. AS home rule was most decidedly an issue in this cleo ton and as 1t was one of the main blanks in the liberal platform. the course which seems best now for the liberal party Is to introduce home rule bill and pass 1t. What action the house Of lords would take 1t Is difficult to foreten. but 1t is not at all improbable that the union fists would recommend it's passage merely to get rid of the nationalist party In the house of commons. An Independent par ty of 80 members or more can make and unmake a government at any moment unless there should be such another landslide to either side as occurred In favor of the liberals in 1906. The nation ists hold the balance of power now and
 will again If another general election is held three or six months hence. The na- tionalists have only one purpose to serve in parliament and that is to obtain home
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

"HIS 10 the best abused public man
 since the entire republican party
 4 and 90 per cent of the democratic party maligned, slandered, reviled Gro- yer Cleveland for protecting the public credit from dishonor. Grover Cleveland was elected President in 1892 because the republican Fifty-first Congress was afraid to trust Ben Harrison with free coinage law. The Sherman silver law. enacted by Congress republican in both houses and approved by a republican President. was an assault on the public credit and put the country on a silver basis and it would have put the treas ury on the silver basis if anybody but Cleveland had been President.
 , But Cleveland preserved the public ~redit and got more abuse for 1t than any other President in our history for he was assailed by both parties Cannon is speaker of the House and all he has done Is to enforce the Reed rules. He has done nothing that Reed and Hen derson did not do and 1t is the sys- tenn, and not the man, that the insur- gents ought to assail.
 Nobody has dared to say that old Joe Is corrupt, He has saved the American people too many millions for that. ven- ture to say that Joseph G. Cannan has saved to the treasury more than Elihu B. washburn, William s. Holman and Samuel J. Randall combined. He has always stood fer economy and those who saw how he 1ght to keep down ex- penditures hay. always wondered how
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

When in doubt lead trumps, and lead the best" is the advice of Hoyle.
 The unionists hope to have another election soon in the expectation of fur ther reducing the liberal majority. If the liberals are simple enough to allow themselves to be caught in that trap they will deserve to be sent to the opposition seats, and under the present condition of affairs 1t is most likely they would find themselves there. Tariff reform in Eng land today Is as little understood by the masses as Is the tail of comet by as- tronomers but it serves to make votes. Neither Chamberlain nor Balfour nor any other advocate of tariff reform has ven tured to put his views clearly and openly before the public; they have simply con- tented themselves by saying This Is the remedy for your ills," and every Hodge and Giles has swallowed the dose. Now, if this tariff reform were proposed by the liberal government, by the friends of the masses, it might be worth consider ing, but when it is advocated by the lords and dukes and big land owners sim ply as a counter proposition to putting
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

signed from Congress. In my little way urged the democrats to nominate Tom Reed for President in 1900, and if they had discovered the sagacity to do so. he would have been elected
 When Reed left Congress there were several candidates for his shoes. Dave Henderson, the poorest equipped man for the place who ever held it, got 1t. He got 1t because Uncle Joe Cannon had op- posed the oleomargarine bill. next to tho ship subsidy the most infamous bill of an economic nature that Congress ever con- sidered. A Mr. Hopkins, now happily a statesman out of a job, represented the Elgin, ILL, district, and he became a candidate, not for speaker exactly. but to beat Uncle Joe, and he did.
 But when Henderson retired from Con- gress all eyes turned to Uncle Joe, and he is now serving his fourth consecutive term, an honor that came to but one other, MT. Stevenson of Virginia, who re- signed during his fourth term as speaker to be minister to England. Henry Clay. served longer than any other speaker. but not continuously.
 As was the case with Cleveland, the wave of personal abuse that threatened to engulf Uncle Joe will recede, and his popularity will be greater than ever. He Is honest. That is universally admitted. His is an exceptionally strong person. ality. He is brave and fighter, and has rendered the state some service.
 As for the insurgents, why don't they insurge7 Horace Greeley insurged; so did Carl Schurz.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

and this 1t is which has led public men to believe that the land owners influ- ence has been at work. If free trade has done any injury at all to the English people 1t is to the working men who find employment in mills and factories, and yet these are the men who voted for 1t. The effect of free trade on the farmer is to reduce the cost of agricultural imple- ments and household furniture and by these means put him in position to compete successfully with foreign im- portations Undoubtedly 1t was the land lord influence that governed the rural voter at the polls.
 The return of the liberals to ofrice means Lloyd Georges budget will be passed by the house of lords and after that the reform of the house of lords itself will have to be considered. What shape that reform may take and to what extent 1t may go are purely con1ectural at present, but certain 1t is that there must be practical reform if liberal leg islation Is to be carried.
 The house of lords is unionist in It's policy and tries to create the impression
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

ans, the son of a tinker. and the crea- ture of the people. should be for titles and dignities and pre-eminences and should despise the herd and i'll born? It is said he was the primum mobile in the Senate for the titles for the Presi- dent in hopes that in the scramble he might get a slice for himself. The com mittee of the lower House have reported s5oO0 for his salary at which he Is much offended and am in great hopes that the House will still offend him more by reducing it."
 In another letter of September %, 17S9, he writes: '"rhe session Is this moment closed and the members would have parted in tolerable temper if the dis agreeable alterations on the score of the seat of government had not left very strong impressions on the minds of the southern gentlemen; they suppose with too much reason that the same kind of bargaining which took effect with respect to the Susquehannah may also take eff feet in other great national matters, which may be very oppressive to de-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

a tax on land and royalties and unearned increment in values 1t does seem strange that the masses should support it. It the opinion of most people there is only one explanation and that is that the English love their lords and dukes. We'll. they can hardly be blamed thousand years of servitude will wear the iron into the souls of most men.
 The house of lords precipitated the con- test and entrusted their cause to the unionists. By very skillful piece of strategy the unionists switched the oues- ton from the action of the house of lords to one that appealed more closely to the popular opinion. It was just like drawing red herring across the trail when hounds are pursuing a fox quite a common practice by boys during the hunting season in England when they want to baffle the dogs, and never did the trick work better than during the re- cent election. The voters in the country districts supported the unionist policy of protection while those in the manufac- turing centers stood for free trade, the exact opposite of what might be expected,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

clashing their flaming swords in the secret places of our souls thrusting into our hands their dripping blades. Why should we be compelled to join that conflict? Why may we not just live? Whence this fatal necessity of taking sides and doing battle? Is it not good enough just to breathe and work and play and run and love and be loved? Enough of this somber talk! Away with this sad seri- ousnessl Let us be natural and close our eyes to unpleasant agonies and discom- forting refiection
 Someone has said that our Anglo-Saxon race Is too serious. We have. they say, too deadly an earnestness. We need to become gay with Greek gayety; with the beautiful spontaneous merriment of, let us say, Paris at it's best. This Puritanical intensity must be outgrown; we must quit worrying ourselves with problems" and put away our sackcloth, sell 1t in rummage sales to our negro neighbors. and put our ashes not on our heads, but in the ash barrel for those same negro neighbors to dump, betimes. to the mel ancholy music of convict chains.
 So we have been learning how to enjoy life. In that great enterprise America Is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-30

TAX MULLER, tho learned Sans MI skrit scholar, suggested just M prior to his death the possibil- ity. if not probability. of the Oriental schools of thought eventually dominating the western world both in philosophy and religion.
 Hypothetical az the idea may appear at the hrst glance, the Bahaist move ment at present sweeping the Levant the dead savant and if merit is to be measured by success painful contrast is engendered between the fleet footed movement of Abdul Baha's proselytins campaign and the. relatively sloth-paced advance of the Christian missionaries in the far east.
 Abdul Baha, the center of the new cult. dwells in Acca, an obscure part of Syria. but 1t is not alone In the land of the Arab and Mahommedan that millions are hardening to his creed. for Europe and America as well are supplying converts by the hundreds who yearly make pil- grimages to the little Syrian town. Five years ago Marseilles was thronged with Bahaist pilgrims en route to Acca to such a degree of congestion that as political measure the expedition was in- hibited by the French authorities and during the past summer the writer mot many Americans who were journeying to the latter day Mecca with fsver1sh eagerness born of intense sincerity. And they were pilgrims of intelligence and culture, men and women of divers pro fessions including artists, musicians and patrons of the liberal arts.
 Abdul Baha is in the prime of life but like all of his alleged prototypes he had his forerrnner proclaiming his ad- vent and has been subJected to persecu- ton, privation and Imprisonment. as well as self-imposed peEioda q fastiug, re- treat and psrsonal abpeeation. tzis cult