davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
ATWOOD'S GREAT FEAT.

The astonishing success of Harry
Atwood in breaking the aviation long
distance flight by his journey from st.
Louis to New York, makes many Of
the dip of death" circus stunts look
pale.
The marvellous thing about Atwood
is that he learned to fly only last May
at the Wright school, where he took
eighteen lessons. Before that month
had expired he had flown 100 miles in
practice flights at the Atlantic aviation
meet.
Many a man lacks the courage to
enter some ordinary employment in
which he will be perfectly safe phys
ically, where the worst that can hap
pen is the loss of job. until he has
spent some years in preparation for
technical perfection.
Yet the aviator walks out Of ma
chine shop, an automobile garage or a
circus tent some day, takes few les
sons in flying, and risks his neck with
entire unconcern. The more than two
score of fatalities already recorded
must be largely due to the fact that
every aviator in the world, speaking
on the basis of the experience required
in other callings, is still green hand
at the business.
Certainly they must get warning
enough of the perils of their craft dur
ing their preliminary lessons, as the
average aeroplane breakage occurring
in teaching man to fly is said to cost
$4,000 to repair.
Over in cautious Europe they spend
more time in practice at regular av-
iation schools. But they seem to turn
about as many aeroplanes into kind
lig wood as over here.
In situations of great peril, the
quick thinking American, even If over
rash, is perhaps safer than a more
cautious personality. What creates ac-
cidents is lack of presence of mind.
The man who can snap his fingers at
death is the man who can repel the
Bullets of the hurricane with the same
self possession as he would brush off
fly. The cautious man, who with
keener foresight sees the true peril in
all its horror, finds his nerves too par
alyzed to act.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
THAT NEW SWITCH TRACK.

The ordinance granting a franchise
to the Union Pacific railroad to build
a track down the alley between
Braasch and Norfolk avenues, from
Fifth to First streets, should be very
carefully drawn so that the interests
of the public are properly safeguarded.
The News believes that, on the
whole, the track is a desirable propo-
sition. There will be certain draw.
backs to it, but there will, on the other
hand, be big advantages and The
News believes the advantages con-
siderably Offset the disadvantages of
the proposition.
But for one thing, the city should
require the railroad to lay the rails
low in the ground so that they do not
rise above the earth, and then plank
every inch of the way between the
rails, just as close to the rails as
is possible. This is one way in which
the inconvenience of the track can be
reduced.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
WANTED-MORE HOUSES.

One way for people owning vacant
lots in Norfolk to realize returns on
their investment, instead of contin-
ually paying taxes without income,
would be to build modern cottages
upon those houses, to rent.
There is a tremendous demand for
modern dwellings in the city-a de-
mand that cannot near be satisfied at
the present time. Dozens of people
are looking for homes in Norfolk, with.
out success. The News knows of a
great many instances where people
who want to move to this city right
now, are prevented from doing so by
the fact that there is not a house to
be had.
That condition speaks we'll for Nor.
folks prosperity, but not very we'll for
its enterprise in providing places to
live for people who would become Nor
folk citizens if they only were given a
chance.
There is no use trying to bring more
people to town if the men now living
here, owning capital and property, are
unwilling to risk investment in houses
that the newcomers could live in.
Few prospective citizens care to buy
at first. They want to try the town a
while, to see how they like it. Clearly
enough, then, it's up to Norfolk prop
erty owners who have the money or
tho credit, to provide houses to live in
if they desire the city to grow. It's
about reached the limit until number
of new modern houses, or apartment
houses, are built.
With the demand there is for dwell.
ings at this time, it would look to the
ordinary eye as if such an investment
ought to be counted mighty desir-
able one.
incidentally, it might be added that
the same famine that exists in dwell
ing houses, also exists in business
buildings.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

employed, booked next week for Wash.
ington, will provoke the contcmptuous
sheer from the prosperous citizen that
all these men could find work If they
wanted it.
one thousand members, It is an
nouncod, are to walk from Baltimore
to Washington to attend.
The fake side of unemployment is
suggested 10y the recent remark cred.
tied to the manager of the leading
employment house in Chicago: mo
able bodied man need want work more
than u short time Every day in the
year | have applications for men that
simply go to waste because cant
fill them. Ninety per cent of the un-
employed don't want to work"
B. c. Marsh, secretary of the Penn
sylvania Society to Protect Children,
recently studied 1lS unemployed
men" He found that 100 had given
up one or more Jobs in six months.
Employment was secured for 81, but
only six of these men stuck to their
work. Forty-tive men, when they
learned that work was being sought
for them, suddenly disappeared. Mr.,
Marsh put on old clothes one day and
tramped the streets looking for work.
He was offered 16 jobs.
The starting of public enterprises
for the purpose of furnishing employ.
ment is not wholly success. An
English report on such an institution
states that men would give up jobs
paying 20 shillings per week to take
public jobs for the unemployed pay
ing to shillings a week for part
time.
The above, however, is not the
whole picture. The number of people
who have been physically enfeebed
by child labor is far greater than we
suppose. A host of men % to 80 years
old find all their vitality Slapped by the
strain of toll at an age when they
should have been at school and veget-
ating in the open air. Who can blame
them if their blood flows cold and pale,
if they have no heart for the industry
that cheers the normal man.
Nuremberg, Germany, and many
other European cities make it their
regular policy to construct public
works in periods when many men are
out of work In our country, when an
appropriation is secured, we are toe
much in a hurry to wait for time OF
general unemployment. Besides, in
our grating and shifty politics, the
funds might not be available at latel
date The more centralized cities OF
the continent are in better shape 10
pursue that far reaching policy OF
economy and humanity.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
CHINESE STUDENTS CONFER.

The majority of our readers would
be vastly surprised if they could drop
in some day on the sessions of the
Chinese student conference now being
held at Princeton, n. ].
The American impression of John
Chinaman is derived almost solely
from the laundryman, who shuffles
along the streets in his wide trousers
with the silence and furtiveness of the
Oriental. The type of Chinese stu
dents that one sees at any of our large
universities is as different from this
as the ordinary Harvard university
hand just over from Russia's plains.
Nearly all the laundrymen come
from the most struggling class of Ia
borers in few provinces of China.
The students are mostly the sons of
wealthy merchants and are backed by
plenty of money.
Consequently the Chinese student is
very much of a dandy. He spends
money lavishly on our choicest tailors.
He has Epicurean supper parties at
elite restaurants where he touches ell.
bows with the dress coated Smart Set.
He is physically as clean type of
manhood as you could find outside a
manicurists parlor. Every hair is
| brushed into its proper setting, the
sharp creases of his trousers are di-
rect from the tailor's iron.
With this marked dudishness, there
goes, as is not common with Amer
lean youth, an intense seriousness in
work. The Chinese student is not an
athlete. He came to this country not
to knock little balls in the air, but to
take back rich cargoes of American
scientific learning to make his country
young again.
And so while his American class
mates are running bases and sitting in
hammocks at the summer hotels, John
Chinaman, bachelor of science, is read.
ing solemn papers at the Princeton
conference, on modern learning. His
auditors listen intently, seated in SOL
emn rows, where they took their
places on the second that the clock
marked the hour.
In spite of the fact that they have
wealthy fathers at home, these boys
work like ditch diggers. They COM
bine culture and industry, two quail.
ties which when united carry man
very far.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

A highly profitable venture-to the
promoters-was cut short the other
day in New York when three fellows
were arrested by secret service men,
convicted of using the mails to de-
fraud, and cast into the dungeons of
Atlanta federal prison. Their special
ty was wireless" stock and the
means which they utilized to adver-
tise it consisted of circular letters
sent through the mails to all parts of
the country. They sat in their New
York Office day by day and while two
of them were kept busy opening let
ters and taking care of the money
which they contained, the third pre-.
pared and mailed the circulars which
brought it in. Thousands of dollars
flowed into their treasury for stock
in a company which was non-eXistent
the suckers were falling over one
another in their eagerness to grasp a
proposition which would make them
independently rich in a short time. The
brainless dupes of course got left and
lost their money, but they got what
they deserved.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
KEEP DOWN THE DUST.

The National Association for the
Study and Prevention of tuberculosis
has just issued a warning against the
dangers of dust, showing that the per.
centage of deaths in the dusty trades
is more than double that of all men
employed in other trades.
The United States government ap'
pointed a committee to act in coop
Grafton with the state authorities in
making an investigation into the metal
mining industries especially. But it is
not in these employments alone that
disease turks. Dust is menace to
life and health in the street, in the
factory and in the house.
1t is especially to the latter that at
tention should be called as it is within
the province of the homekeepers ia
do much to change conditions here by
simple means and little care. The
association warns against dry sweep
ing and the use of the feather duster
which scatters but does not take up
the dust
Open windows and more fresh air
are the great and sure panacea for
health in factory, schoolhouse and
dwelling. They cannot be emphasized
too much.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The country, it seems, accepts the
presidents judgment that there was
no public exigency which demanded
action in August, just as it accepts
his implied promise that in December
there will be reduction of the du-
ties. Nobody knows officially what
the tariff board has found regarding
the wool schedule but that it will
bring in a report recommending sub
stantial reductions, is generally ac-
cepted. The democrats will then
claim, no doubt, that the boards re-
concentrations are the same thing as
their bill, and that all the president
has done is to save the over-protected
wooden industry for a few months
more. But there is difference be.
tween a bill hastily put together and
passed by partisan force, and one
based on the scientific findings of a
non-partisan board, The latter will
command the confidence of the coun-
try and none will be able to make
much Roadway against passing it.
Thus the president will have con-
tributed to the elimination of the tar
if from politics, for if both parties
accept wool bill proposed by the
board, the people will demand that
this body be given a regular standing
and wide powers.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

La Toilette and Underwood wanted
to get credit for the revision that all
agree must come soon. The president
checkmated them. While the demo-
cratic and insurgent politicians had
supreme confidence in their own judg-
ment as to the best way to cut down
the schedules, President Taft, who
knows politicians quite thoroughly, is
convinced that the judgment of expert
tariff students is far more reliable
than that of men who are playing for
power and the presidency.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

a number of wealthy Italians here and
in sunny Italy. Funds were collected,
the monument, executed by n noted
Italian sculptor in Florence and cast
in bronze, purchased, and arrange
ments were made to have the work of
art shipped to New York to be pre-
scented to the municipality But there
are several italian newspapers in New
York ana the editors and publishers of
the other papers were not inclined to
remain quiet and allow their rival TO
get all the glory and advertising re.
sulting from the presentation of this
gift. The donors or rather the pros
pectiye donors of the statue, for the
presentation is not as yet an accom-
plished fact did not display great dip.
lomatic tact and laid themselves open
to a great deal of criticism. In their
desire to make the gift as prominent
as possible, they overshot the mark
by advocating the erection of the mon.
ument on Times Square, which is
about the most unsuitable spot that
could be selected for a Dante monu
ment. This suggestion has aroused a
perfect storm of protests not only from
the rival Italian papers, but from the
public in general. At present the
plans are in confusion and there is
even the possibility that the munich
| pal art committee may decline to &C.
cept the monument.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

Many things can happen within a
period of twenty years and it does not
lie with anyone to dispute the mar
velous possibilities in every line of
endeavor that may be brought to a
fruition within the limit of a score of
years. But the prediction of Claude
Graham-White, the English aviator,
that within that time, airships 1000
feet long with wings of steel able to
carry 1000 passengers and make the
trip from England to New York in fiji
feen hours, 200 miles an hour, sounds
much like fairy tale. Yet stranger
things have happened in the last TWEEN
ty years than the fultillment Of this
prophecy.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
HARTMAN LINE CONTROVERSY.


Labor leaders attempting to bring
about strike on the Hartman sys.
TEN of railroads, have chosen an ex.
ceedingly inopportune moment, 1t
would appear to the dsinterested OBJ
server, to involve those lines in a
labor controversy. Business with the
Union Pacific has been bad for
months, so bad that heavy retrench-
ment mas only recently been an
nounced.
The principal demand of the labor
leaders-that the employer deal with
a federation composed of all classes of
employees, instead of with individual
crafts-is one which the railroad Of
ficials declare to be grossly unfair and
unjust, not only to the railroads but
to the public at large. They point out
that a controversy in one shop might,
by reason of this federation scheme,
paralyze the entire Hartman system
of railroads, thus working great hard
ship upon the public. The further de-
mand that no man could retain en-
ployment unless he belonged to this
federation; and that the railroad
would have no right to look up man S
standing, either physically, morally or
as to efficiency; and that no man
could be discharged without consent
of a committee of fellow-employes-
these demands and others seem so
outrageously unreasonable that the
railroad officials feel they would bet.
ter turn their system into the hands
of receivers than to grant them.
The public always suffers from a
s. 6e, and the public will hope that
the men may not go out. The Harri'
man system has always paid it's men
unusually we'll and many Of the en-
ployes believe in letting we'll enough
alone, it is said.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The American people are not ready
to see their government go into the
railroad and mining business, as has
been suggested in connection with the
Alaskan development 1t is true that
the government is building Panama
canal and is operating the Panama
railroad. But the work of piercing
the isthmus is a gigantic public work
of so costly and difficult a description
that private capital would not under.
take it. And the strategic military
purpose of the canal, which makes it
a necessity, even if it does not pay a
profit, puts the whole project on a
different footing than the Alaskan eX.
ploitation
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The testimony of the late Senator
William P. Frye, who for more than
forty years so ably represented the
state Of Maine in the national con.
gress, is refreshing, in an age when
the prevalent idea is that the pursuit
Of wealth is the main business of life.
He might have amassed a large for
tune in the practice of his profession
had he been willing to have served
some large corporate interest but he
chose instead, to give his services to
the nation. Before he died, speaking
to some of his friends about his ca.
reer, he said: II would not exchange
my life for any monetary considera.
ton. If I could go back and know
that a million awaited me at the law,
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The Japanese take to American
baseball in remarkably clever way.
Our national game has made more con
quests in Japan than in any other
country. They are not as good bat
tiers as some of our teams, but in base
running and field work they are for.
midable antagonists for our mines
The Chinese are far inferior to their
brother orientals, but they are improv
ing, and they, too, take kindly to the
favorite American game.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The tourist travel is by no means
all one way. Every year the westward
bound travel across the Atlantic in.
creases, and tourist agencies in Lon.
don say this season will see more
Europeans in this country than ever
before. They are slowly becoming
convinced that there are few things
in Uncle Sans domain that are worth
the attention of old and cultured Eu.
rope.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

President Taft is a master of ideas
That is his realm. He is not a schem.
ing politician. Since the president
ceased 10 coddle ambitious men in
congress and to work for the great
measures in which he so thoroughly
believes, directly with the people, he
has grown measurably stronger with
them.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

So few, in fact, that II hardly seems
possible the enterprise of property
owners on that street will allow the
movement to fail by default.
It won't be long, of course, before
this paving movement is going to
spread to all parts of Norfolk. That
sort of progress is inevitable in a
growing city of Norfolk's prospects.
York, Ncb, and Grand Island and
Fremont and other cities of this class
in the state already have many times
Norfollts paving mileage and Norfolk
isn't doing itself justice not to keep
up with the procession. This is too
good a town to trail along in the rear
on public enterprise. And eventually,
the paving will come in spite of every
thing.
But there's no time like the present
for public improvement. a few more
signatures on that petition would in
sure the paving early next spring and
would give impetus to other public
improvement. 1t would instill new
spirit in Norfolk, and would beget con-
fidence in the towns future.
Hesitation on the part of the main
residence avenue of the city, in the
matter of paving, has depressing
effect upon the whole community. AS
the principal thoroughfare of the city,
Norfolk avenue owes it to the town
to set the pace, now that the chance
| is at hand.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The British board of trade has in
vestigated the relative cost of living
in America and England, and reports
that food and rent combined is 50 per-
cent higher in America than in Eng
land or Wales, but to offset it the av-
erage working man in America re.
ceives more than two and a quarter
times as great wages as the English
or WEIGH working man.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

Americans are drinking less coffee
than formerly, at least there has been
constant decline in the importations
of coffee for several years. On the
other hand the importations of tea
and cocoa have steadily increased
particularly cocoa, of which the con-
sumption now surpasses that of tea,
in the United States.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The whole Moroccan business on
the German side reads much like the
Luxembourg business on the part of
the French emperor Napoleon ILL., and
bids fair to end the same way To
threaten war with no intention of
making war if the bluff is called is
Vretched diplomacy.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

though, reminds us that THOSE were
the days when they caught the fish.
These fish yarns by n. A. r. and w. F.
H. and I. G. NJ. would fade away if we
could only remember distinctly some
of the big catches we used to make,
with Mish Leavitt, at Horse Shoe
lake, or Ole Lows, or down below the
dam. Those were real fishing days,
those were-away back there, twenty
years ago.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

A minister in Chicago complains be-
cause the women of his congregation
pay SIS for a pair of silk stockings and
drop pennies in the collection to make
up for their extravaganza. He also
admits that the cause of his complaint
is that he can't marry the woman of
his choice on the pennies the women
drop in the collection box.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

DR.. Wiley predicts that within
twelve years smoking and tobacco
chewing in public will have become OBJ.
solete The doctor will find that in
this representation he is not even
as accurate as old Hicks in his wealth
er predictions.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

There are rumors of an ice famine
in Alaska and Siberia. Reports from
the government steamer Bear, by wire
less, are to the effect that there is no
ice in Berng Sea or on the shores of
Alaska or Siberia. What will the po-
lar bears do?
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

Prof. John NJ. Woodso of Cambridge
says that a twelve-cent breakfast is
the only meal needed in twenty-four
hours by literary men. If this is true
it makes the literary profession more
possible than had been supposed. Still
some literary men lack the twelve
cents at the time that breakfast is
due.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01
AROUND TOWN.

Wish The News would cut out that
twenty year ago column. Makes a
fellow feel old to read about some of
those things that happened, it seems
like, only day before yesterday. No
wonder we're getting thin-haired and
grey and round shouldered and out of
the notion of dancing.
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

A sort of opera bouffe war has brok-
en- out over a proposition to erect a
monument to Dante, the great Italian
poet, in some inconspicuous locality on
Manhattan island. The plan has been
launched by the publisher of a prom
inent Italian newspaper published not
far from the New York city hall and
The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-09-01

The public condemns newspaper re-
porters that listen at key holes and
bride servants, and then buys the
newspapers that pursue people like
Col. Astor and Miss Force with these
methods.