The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-20

to all the world and the sentiment ought to sink deep in the heart of every youth who is ambitious to become a valuable factor of respectable society anywhere.
 When I was a boy in Barren county, Kentucky, there lived in our community Henry Davis. He was poor man, with a family and a renter When he died he owed George Thompson a smal ldebt but considerable to one in his circum- stances. Thompson charged the thing off to profit and loss and thought no more about 1t. Henry Davis left son Jim Davis, noble name.-and that boy toiled in the tobacco patch from sun to sun, from dawn to dusk, denying himself even necessaries till he got to- gether a sum. about s100 sufficient to discharge his fathers debt to the last cent This he took to Thompson, who flatly refused to accept it, being a pros- porous man, but the boy forced 1t on him, and went off happy in the thought that he had honored his parents mem ory. And so he had, but he had rendered himself an invaluable service also. It was the best investment he possibly could have made. He had established his credit on the 1rmest foundation, and want or | even inconvenience, so far as concerned | material things, ever after passed his i, door without knocking. I am glad I was l a schoolfellow of that Jim Davis, though he was big boy and I an urchn. | And so the thing for West Virginia to do is to pay her debts like an honest man, and not go supplicating Congress | like contemptibe beggar.
 l It is announced that the promised pot ash war with Germany 'has been avert ed" What fools these Americans be! When they were making the Payne-Al- drich monstrosity somebody fetched in the resounding and sonorous maximum and minimum and by It we were going on an expedition of commercial and | financial "Veni, vidi, vicl." Here was | the policy: We were to defy all alier peoples with the threat: If you don't do as we would have you do, we vii | lay an additional load of taxation on our own people," That Is what the max | imum and minimum is and all 1t Is. | First we tackled France, and France paid not the least attention to us, for we'll France knows that our enormously | rich-especiaily suddenly rich as many | of 'em are-are going to have flxin's from | Farce, even though our tariff be raised to the moon. Then we backed down, but proclaimed "a great victory for American diplomacy" that some of our fools swallowed
 Then we put the horrible threat up to Germany that we would put cumulative taxes on our own folks if she did not mend her commercial manners; but Ger many budged not an inch. The result
 was another backdown by the United States and another great diplomatic vic tory" just like that we gained over | France. Then came Canada, and an other retreat on our part, and another | "diplOmatic victory" of the same kid ney
 Then we got in the row with Germany over potash, and we threatened her with our maximum if she did net allow HIS to write her taxation on her own do- nestle potash, which Germany flatly re-
 fused to ,do. and we again backed down
 though this time without a '.diplomatic victory" At least the victory Is not at this writing announced.
 And all the time there is old Eng l land, with her free trade, the manufac- turer. the carrier. and the banker, inter- nationally saw the statement the oth- CT day that her increase of merchant | tonnage In the foreign trade for the year | 1910 exceeded the gross mercantile ton
 mage of Germany, her nearest rival, if wt
 can call it rival, and all because it is
 the economic teaching of the c. o. p
 that when an American trades with a.
 other American he is bound to gain, but
 if he trades with foreigner he is bound
 to lose Hence we leave the field thai
 belongs to us to England.
 The maximum and minimum Is dead
 and its daddy, Protection, is mighty sick l Washington, April 12
 1 versary of Shakespeare. The leading