davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27

should not be. The boys of Alabama should wake up. Write at once to the state department of agriculture and procure Bulletin No. 38, which shows what was done in corn growing in this state last year and how it was accomplished. Hughey Harden of Banks, Pike county, ploughed his acre March 10 from 21 to IA inches deep. The soil was a sandy loam. He planted Hastings corn in rows three feet apart, and he used 1900 pounds of SPA guano:
 Now there should be this year as many boy winners in Alabama as in Mississippi, and The Age-Herald ap- peals to the boys of the state to be up and doing" Hang the banner Excelsior out, and set your teeth to bring Alabama up to the Mississippi standard and possibly little be- yond.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Immigrants Wanted in Alabama

Immigration Commissioner Cowart hopes in the course of his term of four years to bring into this state 100000 additional people. These peo- pie will in part remedy the labor shortage that occurs from time to time at our manufacturing plants. These shortages are so frequent and so well maintained that they are al most chronic. MT. Cowart hopes to overcome these deficiencies, and in addition he hopes to be able to bring here many immigrants to till our un- titled lands These lands can be had in many instances at low prices, and MT. Cowart proposes to begin with listing all saleable untitled lands, and to lay these lists before German, Italian and Swedish agriculturists in their homes across the sea.
 All this is very good, but it should be supplemented by efforts to induce farmers in the middle west, where the climate is severe and trying to many to come here, where they can buy lands at low prices, and where the climate is simply beyond criti- cism. A very large number of farm CTS in the middle west are seeking new homes every year. Iowa actually lest population in the decade ended last year, and no state in the middle west held at home her own people in the decade mentioned.
 The south wants an influx of farm CTS from the middle west, and MT. Cowart should conduct, say in Indiana or Illinois, an emigration movement to Alabama. Let him select a county in Indiana and work it energetically until he has secured a carload of col onists, first selecting locality in this state to which he would lead them.
 Systematic and vigorous work on MT. Cowart's part can accomplish the task he has set for himself, and The Age-Herald is confident he will get better results by efforts made in the middle west than he will from efforts in Sweden or Germany, or even in Italy, so far as farming is con- cerned.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Improvement in Trade

The business world had been nerv- ously waiting for the interstate com merce commission to render it's de- cision on the petition of the railraods to be allowed to advance rates, and now that the matter is settled, even though Wall street did not like the decision, business in general will be quickened. It is safe to predict that the railroads that have not already placed orders for needed equipment will soon do so. If it had been shown they were losing money at present rates the interstate commerce con- mission would have acted in fair and business-like way and granted their petition. But the showing spelled prosperity and not disaster, for the transportation lines. Some of the railroad companies may soon be- gin to cut wages, but whether they do or not they are sure to come into the iron and steel market as large buy CTS.
 There. has been pronounced feel ing in the financial world that busi- ness would move along on quiet lines during the first half of this year, and that the last half would witness prosperity, which, if not a record breaker, would be the beginning of an era of good times equal to the prosperity of 1906. In the Birming- ham district large building opera tions are already in progress, and other extensive construction work will be undertaken before the spring is ended. Last year brought an aver age of prosperity, but from now on business improvement will be in evi- dence on every hand, and every man that wants employment, will have it
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
FAVOR FOOTBALL IN GERMANY From the WaShinPtnn Pnst

From the Washington Post.
 German colleges and universities do not encourage athletic sports as much as those of America do," said F. Schloessn- ger of Heidelberg, where is located the oldest university of Germany, at the Ra- leigh. "Your national game baseball, is almost unknown in Germany. and is never played by students attending the univer- sities. There is a tendency among the faculties of the larger institutions to dis courage sports in the earlier years of college, but the older boys indulge in football, tennis, golf and field sports. Football Is growing in popularity, but there are few, if any, intercollegiate games. It would seem that with the mill itary spirit of Germany and other Eu- ropean nations, football would be oc- companied over there by as much rough ness as it is here, but 1t is not. I do not recall single fatality as a result of football contests at Heidelberg, and there are few injuries, while in this country, understand, there are several deaths and many injuries every year.
 Heidelberg Is popular resort of jeans go to Heidelberg every year than persons of any other country. The uni- versity has student body numbering up- ward of 5000 young men, while the Univer- sity of Berlin has coco students.
 The United States Is wonderful coun- try, and Washington is more like Eu- ropean city than any I have visited here. like its wide, clean streets, and it's magnificent public buildings"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
New York and New Jersey Pivotal

The Senate will undoubtedly pass the apportionment bill without amend, for it is peculiarly a House matter, and the Senate never has at tempted to dictate to the House as to the number of it's members.
 Assuming then that the House will consent to 433 members, the cleo toral college will consist of 521 votes. The winning candidate in 1912 must therefore secure 266 votes.
 The sure democratic votes in Ari- zona, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mary land, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennes- see, Texas and Virginia number 160, leaving 106 votes to be secured else where.
 New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio would cast 121 votes, or 15 more votes than are needed.
 New York, New Jersey and Mis- souri will cast TT votes, and 29 more votes are needed. These can be got by building on either Indiana or Ohio and gathering in three or four small states.
 The contested states will be Ohio, Connecticut, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ne vada, New Jersey, New York, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. These states will cast 161 electoral votes, and out of them the democrats must secure 106 electoral votes. The demo- crats can not readily win without New York and New Jersey.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Oregon Poses as a Model

Oregon poses as a model political commonwealth. Her advanced system consists of the Australian ballot, the registration law, the direct primary, the initiative and referendum, the corrupt practices act, and the presi- dential preference bill. The recall, it will be noticed, is not included in the reforms of the model commonwealth. Just why it was excluded has not been explained by even Senator Bourne.
 And now comes Iowa and adopts the plan that gave republican Oregon a democratic United States senator. Under this plan candidates for the legislature either pledge themselves to vote for the peoples choice for United States senator or declare ex- pressly that they will not be bound by such choice. This morally com mits the candidate to the choice of the people.
 The Chicago Record-Herald says Illinois needs the plan quite as much as Iowa does. Iowa." it says, "has Q deadlock on it's hands, while Illinois has the Lorimer and jackpot scan- dals and painful memories of the con- troversy over the Hopkins result un- der the advisory vote on the senator ship. The legislature should enact a measure embodying the Oregon-Io Iowa plan, or amend the Daley bill already before it into acceptable shape and pass it." This shows at any rate how the Oregon plan is marching on. The air is full of reforms.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
UNIVERSITY AND WOMEN STUDENTS From the Mobile Register.

The Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs, an organization whose record in encouragement of education in this state is worthy of highest praise, petitions the legislature to- provide adequately for the housing of the women students of the state university. At present three old residences formerly occupied by profess ors are used as dormitories for women students. and only 30 women can be ac-' commodated comfortably Meals are served In a common dining room, and the houses are so scattered that many risk wetting when the weather is indictment. The policy of receiving young women as students seems to be perrhanently- es- tablished, as is the case at practically all of the state universities. If this be true, it is clearly the duty of the state to make better provision for them.
 What is needed is a living hall, to &C., commodate 100 or more students, arranged with assembly room and laboratory of domestic economy. The university does not make preparation especially for wom- en- It is time that something be done. Not much is asked for. There is a state school for girls but this does not pro- vide the university curriculum. The young women who are qualified go to the university for the higher training; but
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
From the New York Telegraph.

From the New York Telegraph. n ERT LESLIE, president of the Vau- Ih deville Comedy club, and some - thing of giant in stature being over six feet in his silk socks, was tre- | mendously interested yesterday in the dispatches from Belfast, Me-, to the pur- port that "Admirar' Don 0. Robbins, dwarf living with the family of City Marshal Knowlton, had arrested a full grown man. -about-town, and unaided had turned the key of the lookup upon the unruly person.
 "As I understand it." said MT. Leslie, the charge was a trivial one, but the achievement was immense. This boy Don is said to be only 40 inches tall and weighs only 49 pounds, but he is 50 years old and regular genius with a toy pis- til.
 "The episode has given me an idea for a great lecture on the subject of Dwarfs That Have Made Good. I shall start in with Major Doyle of the Metropole, and carry my audience back to the days of dwarfs that were clever enough to do anything
 Look at these notes I have put down already. Of course, I haven't had time as yet to round out the incidents in their lives, but I've got a good start on the sketch, and I think I can get away with it. Some of these fellows were so surprisingly small you would have had to carry a pocket magnifying glass to realize they were really worth a casual inspection.
 Even our own Gen. Tom Thumb was only two feet one inch in height and weighed only 20 pounds at the age of 20. His right name was Charles S. Strat- ton, and he was born at Bridgeport, Conn. He was first exhibited in London in 1884. In 1863 he married Lavina Warren. whose stage name was Betsy Bump
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
SUMMER LONGINGs, )anis Elorence McCarthy.

An! my heart is weary waiting,
 Waiting for the May Waiting for the pleasant rambles Where the fragrant hawthorn bramt1es With the woodbine alternating
 Scent the dewy way. An! my heart is weary waiting.
 Waiting for the May. Ah my heart is sick with longing.
 Longing for the May Longing to escape from study To the young face, fair and ruddy. And the thousand charms belonging
 To the summers day. An! my heart Is sick with longing.
 Longing for the May. An! my heart is sore with signing.
 Signing for the May Signing for their sure returning, When the summer beams are burning, Hopes and flowers that, dead or dying,
 All the winter lay. Ah my heart is sore with signing.
 Signing for the May. Ah my heart is pained with .throbbing.
 Throbbing for the May Throbbing for the seaside pillows, Or the water wooing willows; Where, in laughing and in sobbng,
 Glide the streams away. An, my hearE my heart is throbbing,
 Throbbing for the May. Waiting. sad. dejected, weary,
 Waiting for the May Spring goes by with wasted warnings Moonlit evenings. sunbright mornings Summer comes, yet dark and dreary
 Life still ebbs away; Man Is ever weary, weary,
 Waiting for the Mayi ..-,y.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Negroes New York


 Tn recent dispatches I notice that va rious New York taxieab companies are fast relegatng their negro drivers to minor duties about the garage and stables and filling their places with white men," said a prominent citizen yesterday.
 'Not only does this action on the part of our eastern friends serve to illustrate how weak a thing is race prejudice when pitted against judgment but it also shows that the people of that section have start ed a sensible wedding of incompetents from responsible places. which move mcnt will ultimately be followed by the peoples of other sections.
 ''rhe negro has shown least of all any aptitude for manipulating complicated pieces of mechanism, and it is a strange thing how so many people have put their ready confidence in the ability of inex- perienced young negroes whose knowledge of the construction and working of an au- tomobile goes scarcely farther than the steerage gear
 Tt is hardly fair to discriminate against the negro driver when there are so many reckless young white boys who take in hand the safety of women and children and sometimes of whole families There are always times when the utmost skill is necessary to carry a machine safe out of an emergency, and it would be only justice to the safety of the public in gen. eral if some observance were made of a restriction whereby only the adjudged competent should be placed in control of an automobile"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Alabama Boys, Attention

See here, boys of Alabama, this should not be. Dr. s. A. Knapp of the department of agriculture, writing to Governor Noel of Mississippi, pre- sents the names of the 100 best boy corn growers in the country, and only one of the 100 lives in Alabama Hughey Harden of Banks, Pike coun- ty, who grew last year no bushels of corn on an acre. Only one out 100!
 Mississippi furnished 33 of the 100 boy winners. Leslie Anderson of Brookhaven grew 225 bushels on an acre; Bennie Beeson of Monticello, 212 bushels; Kennie Devine of Sha- ron, PIT bushels, and George Martin of Campbellsirette, 160 bushels. Against list of B successful boy corn growers in Mississippi Alabama presents but one name only. This
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
ORIGIN OF CIGAR BANDS

From the Washington Herald.
 Cigar bands were not originally used for advertising purposes" said Samuel S. Freitag of New York, wholesale to- bacco dealer of that city. who is at the Raleigh.
 Long ago. when it was common for Cuban and Spanish maidens to smoke c- gars, just as they now smoke cigarettes, the manufacturers of the smaller cigars started placing bands of manila paper around thtlr products for the ladies ben eft These bands the women removed and placed On their little fingers, so that they could flick the ash off the cigar without soiling or burning themselves. It was many years before the dealers thought of placing rings of gaudily col ored paper in the place of these sober and purely utilitarian bands; but as soon as one man was bright enough to do it. all the others immediately followed suit"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
LETTER FROM JUNGLE REMUS''

From the New York Evening Post.
 TT is hard to see why Uncle Remus'
 Magazine should relegate it's regular 4 Uncle Remus letter to the advertising pages, unless that is where good maga- zine editors put their best stuff. This latest letter from Joel Chandler Harris to the little daughter at boarding school shows that our present-day practitioners in the primitive and the whimsical have still 9 great deal to learn. Lewis Carroll or Sydney Smith might have written the letter, but it is hard to see why they could have improved upon it.
 Dear Tommus Git begins): There was once an old man who had little daughter off at schol-away off; yes, it was most 200 miles and he was so mean that he forgot to give the poor child any pin money when she started. Yes, he was meaner than that. After she got there he forgot to send her any money, and the poor child didn't have so much as a copper with which to buy peanuts and store can dy, and chewing gum. This little girl was for any money, and so the mean old man who was her father pretended to himself that this was good excuse for not send ing any. But his conscience had teeth like mouse and it kept gnawing away in his bosom. until at last she thought of the money; and then he fixed up a check and sent it in letter like this. Tt seems funny, too, but the check was just like the one I am sending today, and I think the same name was signed to it. Still, I think the little girl was partly to blame. Why couldn't she ax her pa to send her some money? When man is old and mean, he needs to be reminded of good many things.
 MT. Harris has attended performance
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
DWARFS WHO WERE FAMOUS

''There was another Tom Thumb, Dutch dwarf, who was only two feet four inches at the age of IS.
 After the death of Tom Thumb. Lavina Warren married Count Primo Mabri. who lowered over her by at least an inch and half
 'The head of the son of Mrs. Charles Tracy of Kingsbridge, N. r., was not bigger than a horse chestnut, and the mouth would hardly grasp goose quill. The mothers wedding ring would slip easily up his legs to the thighs,
 "Richard Gibson, a good portrait paint CT, whose praises were sung by Waller during the reign of Charles I, was three feet 10 inches in height He married Anne Shepherd, who was about the same in stature.
 "Carolne Crachami, who was born at Palermo, was only one foot and eight inches. She was exhibited in Bond street, London, in 1924, when about 10 years of age. The Fairy Queen, as she was called, was exhibited in Regent street, London, in 1850. and her feet were less than two inches That was another one
 General Mite was only one foot nine inches and weighed only nine pounds at the age of 1T, when he went on the mus cum stage in London in 1881.
 Lots of these little guys were the most distinguished citizens of their time. Phil etas was poet contemporary with Hippo crates, and the classics tell US that Phil was so thin that he wore leaden shoes lest the wind should blow him away 'Phil' died B. c. 2SO.
 But here is another good one-A. l., sawyer, editor of the Democrat, paper Of considerable repute somewhere in Florida in 1883, was only two feet six and one-half inches. weighed 8 pounds, but his paper had an awfulIy big circua- tion."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
MUSIC IN AMERICA

From the Boston Advertiser.
 Surely the American people are given much to musical composition. It cannot be denied that there are not many of us who present votive offerings at the shrines of the muses Probably no nation on earth Is so prolific on this score, or has there been one like us before. testimony thereon is offered by the librarian of the Congressional Library, where copyrights are applied for on these ventures in mel ody.
 Librarian Putnam has just reported that the number of musical compositions deposited in 1910 in the library, numbered 46 426. Now surely that is some figure. The quantity will not be denied, al- though the quality may well be ques- tioned. If any of these compositions are being sung or played, 1t is not generally known. None so far has been stamped with the mark of great genius. It seems pity that this great industry of musical composition cannot be concentrated into something worthy of Mozart, Bee thoven, a Wagner, Chopin and so on.
 But it is held to be good to see-the peo- pie trying for an ideal, however far from lofty strains they may fall. Possibly ulti- mately something great may be forth coming-in the day, maybe. when we shall have assimiated the blood of the musical Germans, the Italians, the French, the Russians, and the Poles, for, as history has shown there is no strain of great musical genius in the Anglo-Saxon blood. We may appreciate; we can criticise, but the Anglo-Saxon race cannot create any thing grand in music.
 Nor are we lazy in dramatic or dramat- ico-musical compositions Articles bear ing on this deposited last year in the li- brary numbered 431S, says MT. Putnam. That, too, is a respectable number. It is tantamount to 12 new plays, operas and operattas every day in the year. Thus busy is this 9S,OOOOOO people. All is not given to commerce.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
The Peach Prospect

Whatever the damage to the peach crop by reason of the recent cold weather there is already prospect that most of the trees in this vicinity will have a good average crop of fruit that is beginning to bloom during the past two days" said suburban gardener yesterday
 "I have number of fine peach trees on my place and they are loaded with fresh buds and blooms that the cold weather did not seem to touch. If we have no further severe weather it is my opinion that we will have plenty of fruit.
 Some of the largest growers in north Alabama have not lost an entire crop of peaches in 10 years, and I feel certain that these growers will have good crops this year. The grower who knows his business and takes care of his orchard builds fires among the trees during frosty nights, and in this way has always been able to save crop. I am sure that the best and most progressive growers have taken this precaution this year, and that we will have an average crop.
 Anyway it is too early to despair"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-27
Was Pierce a Traitor

Newspaper readers the country over were surprised and not a little shocked last week." said well informed citizen, when the news came from Concord, N. H., that the name of Franklin Pierce, the only son of New Hampshire who has ever been President was greeted with kisses, and President Pierce was de- nounced as a traitor. The occasion was the report of a committee of the New Hampshire legislature which had under consideration bill providing for s25OoO appropriation to be used in erecting a monument of Pierce. The majority of the committee reported the bill adversely, hut, thanks to the wisdom of the legisla- tors, the house adopted the favorable mi committee on appropriations
 People who have not brushed up re- gently on their history began on reading the account to ransack their memories for the deed or deeds of President Pierce that made him merit the name of traitor The probable cause of his unpopularity in New Hampshire today must be sough. OHiy dlteT coHSluerGtlOn or the fact tndi sectional feeling <s stronger in New Eng land than. perhaps, anywhere in the south. The memory of President Pierce is hated by the narrower people of New Hampshire for the req son, ,only,no doub that Pierce was a friend of Jefferson Davis, who was secretary of war during
 his administration. Then, too, Pierce was man whose sympathies were with tho shareholders of the south, and he op. posed in every possible way the coercion of the seeded states. He signed tho famous 'Kansas-Nebraska bill of Stepher A. Douglas, which permitted slavery fl the western territories and was in effec a repeal of the Missouri compromise. Thi
 bill was violently opposed by the north ern members of Congress and ,publi,
 meetings were held throughout the nortl protesting against the passage of tn,
 measure. It passed the Senate, however by a vote of 37 to 14. and the House b. la vote of 113 to 110
 ] Pierce was in no sense traitor. H.