davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
SHAVING TIE HOUSE CAT

From the New York World.
 Many are the regulations issued in these later days in the name of sanitary science on behalf of public health. Legislatures have enacted them as laws. City and county councils have ordained them as ordinances Health boards have an nounced them as orders. But few have equalled and none surpassed for original ity the command that has gone out from the state board of health of Kansas that all cats shall be shaved
 Some time ago a Chicago surgeon in- formed the world that he had found six distinct kinds of deadly germs attached to the whiskers of a tomcat enticed from an alley to his laboratory. lnis set the Kansas men to work ,and they found in the fur of the domestlcated kitty many more germs equally deadly. Hence the decree.
 The argument is simple. Cats do not bathe al dogs do. Cats have an aversion for water. Their thick fur forms a safe breeding place for micropes, some of which are not found in the hair of a dog or of any cleaner animal So the order runs to the Kansans, Shave your cat as you would your horse or your dog; if that be too much trouble kill him."
 Proverbial philosophy has made us fa- miliar with the idea of a singed cat. We also know of skinned cats, for many of our rarest furs are made from such. But @ shaved cat is twentieth century concept. Conceding the advisabllity. of the reform two questions remain. Who will shave the cat? And what sort of a show will shaved cat have at a cat show?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
MemoIi ss Bnndmnster

Phillip Memoli, who was leader of a fine band in Birmingham for several years, but who is now bandmaster of high-c1ass band of 45 pieces in Italy, is making quite a reputation in his native land," said an Italian member of Nappfs band
 AS was seen recently in The Age Herald, Memoli has graduated in a conservatory in Rome as a bandmaster. That means that in addition to being n slSillful director he interprets artistic music in musicianly, authoritative way. The position he holds is one of much honor. The concerts that he di- rects are paid for by the municipality of Serino. He receives a good salary, and is provided with large official
 house in which to live.
 "Memol, when l knew him. had re ceived all of his musical knowledge here in Birmingham. He was considered an excellent bandmaster and an exception : ally good chorus director. He directed a chorus at St. Pauls church for sew eral years. During the past two years | he has studied hard under distinguished ed ! teachers of theory, Interpretation and composition, and he must be regarded ! as peculiarly we'll equipped to have se-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
A cypress, not n bosom, Hides my poor heart.
 Twelfth Night.
Iron and Steel Exports

The iron and steel exports of this ountry were carried to unexampled 'igures in the last fiscal year. They 'oot up $23O, ,725, ,251, thus exceeding he record year of 1908 by nearly '47,000,000. Exports of iron and steel lave been increasing fully 30 years, ut the 100000, 0,000-line was not rossed until the year 1900.
 The great exports of the fiscal year nded came in a dull time at home. The domestic demand was light and producers seem to have sought a mar ct in other centres.
 The result shows, at any rate, that American mills are able to compete n foreign markets with those of other ountries, and this fact will have Seight when the duties on iron and teel are revised in Washington. A vast quantity of iron and steel roducts were exported in the fiscal ear ended June 30 last, and this, per Bps, accounts for the reasonable |, ,intenance of production in time gecomparative depression in the do-
 tic demand.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
cured the conductorship of a municipal band of 45 men"
nf CanSassiug

Straw votes are interesting and some times may indicate the drift of political opinion, but in campaigns such as me one now in progress in Jefferson county, a house. toulouse canvass made by oppo- nents of the saloon would be altogether unreliable, said an old politician ' am sorry to observe it, but the lying habit has developed with politics growing out of prohibition. From my experiencee would say that most of the dispensary people proclaim their views while those who have made up their minds to vote Tor the saloon go about their business and say very little If the prohibition-dispensaty liquorites have made a heuse-to-house canvass and think they have secured majority they will be badly mistaken when the votes are counted Nearly every man who has run for office has come to the conclusion that all men may not be
 liars. but many of them are-in a cam paign. Straw voting and house-to-house are equally worthless now only the ballot will count, and be count ed on August 2i."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
BASE LIBEL ON THE HEN

From the New York Sun.
 It is a base libel on the American hen 10 charge that she could lay about twice as many eggs as she does every year, and is therefore slothful. It is unbelievable that the American Poultry association is responsible for this reflection on her powers. The truth is, the hens egg out put is automatic, being regulated by the treatment her owners give her. On a proper diet, which includes shell making material, she works with great diligence, according to her breed. If she is expected to pick up living about the barnyard and to keep herself warm in exposed win ter quarters. her tally naturally suffers. The hen is a gold mine only when her owner co-opeartes with her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
Business in the south

William Perkins of Richmond, a repre- sentative of one of the large independent cigar manufacturing concerns, is spend- ing a day or two in Birmingham He Is the guest of his kinsman. Perkins Ellis
 "I find business in the south fairly good for this time of the year" said MT Per kins. "The south is now known every where as highly prosperous section of this country Nearly all of the southern cities have been pushing ahead for some years past. Birmingham has improved wonderfully in the past few years, and Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and other large southern cities are more than hold
 ing their own. When it comes to progress sive cities, however. my home town, Rich mond, is surpassing all the other southern towns in building operations this year. Richmond has long been a wealthy city, but it has taken a new start recently and was never so prosperous as it is today
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
From the New York su,l.

From the New York Sun.
 r AJOS Schulz, Hungarian manufac |.
 .urer. whose office is in Budapest,
 "- but whose tile works are at Szuc- sany, told Sunday how the last two years have seen his country awaken to it's grea- industrial possibilities. settle down to busi~ ness and start In to accumulate wealth.
 MT. Schulz attributes this change in programme largely to tlle fact that people over there are getting rest from polti- cal turmoil; that the party in power has a sincere desire to work for the good of the country. So far from disturbing busi- ness by all sorts of freak investigations, he says, the government substitutes or takes stock in companies that engage to develop certain resources lately dis covered.
 This is Mr. Schulzs first visit to this country. He has come over with Mrs Schulz partly to visit his daughter, Mrs. NJ. Geller, at the St Regis, and partly to study lines of manufacturing in which he is interested, to see if he can take back any new ideas to Hungary.
 General business in Hungary experi- enced very great. improvement last year." said MT. Schulz yesterday. ''I have every reason for thinking this year is going to be very prosperous We are beginning industrial development in every part of the country. We have had extremely good crops, and our agricultural products will be worth more than 2000, GOO crowns or s4oo,0ooOoo. which means a record year. The wheat crop is especially fine.
 Many new industries have been estab- lished in the last 12 months and all the big banks have increased their capital stock in the year at least 40 per cent. Hungarians have accumulated so much money of late that private individuals cannot use it and the banks have gone into all kinds of undertakings. l believe that business in our country is now on so solid foundation that there could be no fear entertained of crisis or even of business getting bad.
 Hungary is increasing very rapidly in manufacturing, particularly of textiles Until recently we imported what we used of such manufactured products. In a short time we shall be able to take care of the entire local demand.
 This development dates back only about two years. The first contributing
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
Fires and Shingles

Shingle roofs are conflagration breeders, says A. V. Bennett, chief of the Birmingham fire department Over one-third of the fires in this city spring from sparks falling on shingle roofs When losses in adjoin- ing buildings are considered we find that nearly one-half of our fire losses are traceable to shingle roofs.
 The insurance companies are quick to penalize any community that has an abnormal number of fires. They have added at least 25 per cent to their fire rates in this city because of the use of shingles on roofs. There are other materials than can be used, all less expensive in the long run than shingles.
 MT. Bennett's letter is timely and in every sense economic. The com mission will, no doubt, give it atten- tion with a view, not of removing shingles that have been placed, but of calling for other covering in all cases of remodeling or new construction.
 The inflammable shingle is as much out of place in city as well or dry closet. It should be weeded out as fast as it rots out, and in the course of a single decade each and every shingle roof in this city can be abol- ished. The commission has power to do this, and it is to be hoped 1t will use it's power for the general good.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
HUNGARY'S PROGRESS

cause of it was the increase in population by reason of the emigration to America having come practically to standstill Another reason was that the wages of h. borers were put up, the increase in two years amounting to 40 per cent. Then there was another reason
 For the five years preceding 1909 Ve had been suffering from indefinite and disturbed political conditions, and capital had become so timed that it was afraid to invest big sums in anything. Those at the head of the government did not care a fig for industry and commerce. Two years ago this was changed The long vexed questions between Austria and Hungary were ancably settled. and a new liberal government went in. which has proved truly a government for the people The stimulus given to investment by the knowledge that the property would not be taken away on some trumped ,1p charge and the manifest sympathy of ths government with everything that meant the promotion of sound business acted as great stimulus to capital, which has been drawn out of it's hiding places ana applied in almost every direction to the development of our resources.
 One thing Of greatest interest in Hun gady just now Is the recent discovery of natural gas in vast quantities. In some places there are wells which, tested. show possibility of developing as much as 50,000 horsepower. In these the gov ernment is very much interested. If pri- vate individuals engage to develop these gas propositions the government will either give them a subvention or take from 30 to 10 per cent of their stock. These wells are mainly in the southeast ern part of Hungary and one group is within 150 miles of Budapest.
 None of this gas has been used as yet for commercial purposes, but on the saiee steamship with me came two engineers who have been sent over here to study the ways in which natural gas is utilized and especially how to produce saltpetre
 New York is the greatest and most de- veoped city in an industrial way that have ever seen,' said Mr. Schulz in aa- swer to a question. He looked out of the window and saw how Fifth avenue ap- peared to be getting over an earthouaxe In other ways I don't think under t..e present circumstances it would be fair to make a comparison with other cities. he added.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
THE NEW SOUTH
m Collier,s Weekly.

From IOlller Ntthls.
 It is now two years since this paper began to try to call public attention in Il conspicuous way to the fact that the south Is the coming west, that there is now going on in the south the equivalent of that impressive expansion which took place in the west from five to thirty years ago. The difference is only in manner; the booms in various parts of the west were always spectacular and sometimes unhealthily feverish; the south's develop ment in every material aspect is steady substantial and permanent. This change in the southern states is in it's present an1 it's future, so much the most important economic phenomenon now occurring on the continent of North America that it nished by some recent census figures deal ing with agriculture.
 The Southern states. which, ever since the civil war, have been producing the least per capita in farm values, are now beginning to produce the most. The Cen tral western states, long the synonym for the abundance of the soil in the last decade, show a 5s per cent increase in crop values; the south Atlantic states show an increase of 13s per cent. South Carolina, only twenty-sixth among the states in population. has become thirteenth in crop values One other interesting fact shown by the recent census is that the rural south is becoming white; in the last de- cade the whites in the rural parts of the south increased 15.4 per cent the negroes only 6.S per cent. This tendency will grow more marked with the coming in of farmers from the central west, who are just learning that they can sell their present farms for s10o an acre and buy southern land just as good for s2o.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
IN HOTEL HOBBIES
4 Peculiar Feature

Tt is interesting to compare politics
 tmes,a said a democrat and a veteran.
 We had stormy conditions in Alabama
 for several years after the war. White men who voted the republican ticket we're severely ostraclzed. and I remember thai as late as '76 democrats and republicans were at daggers' points. SO to speak.
 But we have got over all that, I am glad to say, and although the democrats are still in an overwhelming majority in Alabama man can be republican and gentleman and have the same nl9h social standing that he would enjoy were he voting the democratic ticket There 1 Is absolutely no friction socially bstWeeH democrats and republicans
 Tt seems all the more peculiar then that prohibition politics is the only sort that stirs up bad temper. I consider my self very temperate man in eating anu drinking. In fact I am temperate Pe- cause the extent of my drinking is about three bottles of beer in week. Yet oe- cause I voted against prohibition m i22' when Jefferson county went dry l was looked upon by some of my neighbors as a whiskeyite. In the memorable amend- lment campaign all of us who. opposeo that un-American and intolerabie meas ure which sought to fasten sumptuary laws on the people of Alabama were call ed whisky-heads
 ''When we voted for Col. Emmet O'Neal we were reproached for being on the whisky side, but everyone knows that good, honest, thoughtful men are found on both sides of the liquor questlon-juse as many good men opposed to prohibition as those who favor it. In fact l thlna the anti-prohibitonists among the busl- ness men far outnumber the prohibition ists.
 But why should men, especially ac- quaintances, become choleric over the question of liquor? At any rate 1t strikes me as passing strange that men should grow hot in the collar here in Birmins- ham over the pending issue, since nearly everybody who doesn't vote for the sa- loon will vote for a dspensary. l. seems to me that no one of ordinary intelli- gence could figure out & dry ma jority. It is a question of dispensary or saloon. If I were living in a small city l might be induced to vote for a dispensary, but in Birmingham. with it's big population and with it's ambition to be conidered real -dispensary? Neverl
 But l try not to get in a rage because my neighbor across the street differs with me and votes for a dispensary. l believe in the Christian religion. and am church member, although a poor one. cannot get 1t through my head how church leaders and some preachers can indulge in incorporate language as they do. Among the teachings of true re- ligion are love for neighbor and forbear- ance. Intolerance, anger and bearing false witness are sins that church mem bers are supposed to avoid.
 Well, the election will soon be over, and if the saloon side wins, as I suppose it will, it Is to be hoped that Birming ham will be spared another exciting cam paign growing out of the liquor question for many years to come.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
BotlArbitration and the Senate

e arbitration treaties may not yent wars, but they will, at any loci, .f succ present public sentiment con courrning them. If they should pre- ."ub but single war they would be glorious accomplishment, and the ending general arbitration treaties hould be accepted. The cruelty and he wjckedness of war, to use a hrase of MT. Taft's, call for all pos ible efforts looking to arbitration. But the Senate stands in the way. is standpat body, and it would and up for it's alleged prerogatives egardless of the blessings of peace any other public interest. It is nore tenacious when it comes to pre- ogatives than any other legislative ,ody on earth.
 The pending treaties provide that when any particular dispute is sub ect to arbitration it is to be sub nitted to the high commission of in- uiry for whose creation each treaty provides. Right here is where the Senate butts in with it's prerogatives. t says that if the high commission to decide whether a dispute shall 1T shall not be arbitrated then the ,rerogative of the Senate in relation O treaties is violated.
 In other words the Lodges of the Senate are willing to knock arbitra- ion in the head in order to preserve he prerogatives of the Senate. It is we'll nigh impossible to see how ar ,itration can be rendered feasible un- ess this objection in relation to the ligh commission be withdrawn. Only questions which are justiciable are to ,e referred to the high commission of ix. If five of the six commissioners ay question is justiciable then it ould be arbitrated
 -rhe technicality put forward by the nate will not command the ap-
 val of public sentiment. The Sen
 can delegate it's power. It must
 on the convention embodying the
 hs. of arbitration. It can, in a I'd, render arbitration possible anc
 hould do it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
Arizona and the Recall

The President has vetoed the state cd bill in accordance with general lpectation. This, however, need not ,ep Arizona and New Mexico out of e union, for Senator Smith of ichighn, chairman of the territories mmittee, proposes a resolution pro- ding for the admission of both ates whenever Arizona strikes from r constitution the recall feature, so
 as judges are concerned. The tritories committees of both houses hy speedily report resolution to ht effect, and this seems to be the ktkest way to get around the pres-
 ntial obstacle. As soon as Arizona
 mes state she can, if she so 0ses, put the recall provision back
 CT constitution, and affairs will
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
THE YEARS OF YOUTH

Rosa mond Marriott Watson, in the Athenaeum. sit and watch the weary, weeping
 weather, The clustering raindrops thicken on
 the pane; hear the waters and the wind com
 plain O for the years when we were young
 together. The dripping branches and the drench-
 ed dark heather, The low gray clouds that shroud the
 lonely height, Weigh on my heart that once had
 found them light, 'O for the years when we were young
 together. Time the .implacable, has us in his
 tether, And Memory ssself turns trator--when
 I seek Her hoard of golden ore she will not speak tt ta pta o for the years when we were young
 together. Thourh silli may fall a tide of halcvon
 weather With sun to gild such treasures as re-
 main, What Time has taken he cannot give
 again 0 for the years when we were wounr
 together.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
then move along as if nothing un- usual had happened

then move along as if nothing un- usual had happened.
 The President is basically wrong in this matter. 1t is his duty, as 1t is of every congressman, to inquire if the two territories have sufficient popula- tion for states, and if they are quail fled otherwise for elf-government No other questions properly come be- fore him unless, indeed, he desires to be autocratic. The recall of judges may be vicious, but no good reason exists for denying to the people of Arizona the right to do as the people of Oregon have done, and as the peo- pie of California will, no doubt, do this fall. The real issue presented is that of self-government, rather than of autocratic rule.
 The proposition of Senator Smith of Michigan is feasible, timely, and preferable to no action at all The two territories should be ad- mitted to the union even if both go democratic next year, and men like Senator Smith of Michigan take an view of the whole matter by proposing to overcome all ob- stacles in the most direct possible manner.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-17
SHOULD HONOR UNDERWOOD

From the montgomery Journal
 Just as soon as Congress adjourns Oscar Underwood, chairman of the ways and means committee, and one of the most prominent democrats in the country, will go to his home at Birmingham for rest, and the people of Alabama should give him a cordial and enthusiastic welcome.
 Congressman Underwood has made a name for himself in Congress and is frequently mentioned by leading papers over the country as a good man for President Birmingham should have committees appointed to meet and well come Alabama's distinguished repre- sentative. Prominent democrats from all over the state should be invited so as to make the reception a state affair.