davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
NAVY TARGET PRACTICE

From Harper's Weekly.
 Perhaps very few outside of the serv- ice know of the important part that the telescope and the cross-bar sight have played In the development of target work Before the recent introduction of the telescope and the cross-bar the gun pointed strained his eyes in the impos- sible effort to adjust their focus to three widely separated objects simultaneously the rear sight a few inches away, the front sight a dozen feet distant from the rear one, and the target anywhera from 15o0 to 13.00O yards. Ordnance ex- perts worked. over this problem, and the result was the introduction of the tele- pieces of crossed wire at the end of the telescope. When these 'cut' on the tar get. the gun-pointer presses his electric button and the gun does tho rest.
 It Is eminently spectacular, this great gun-battery practice. This is from a de- scription given to the writer by an um- pire whose station was on one of the ships towing the taget: Through the glasses you could see a needeike flash
 
 distant that her outline was but an in- distinct blur upon the horizon. Having caught the flash the glass Is dropped, the eye goes to the stop-watch, and you begin to -three-four-- lve-six-seven--eght ht-nine-ten-eleven- and about then you will hear a faint drone which, in the next fraction of a second, swells into a mighty roar-the roar of an express rushing at the rate of thirty miles a second. With the roar comes a flying of spinters from the tar get, a geyser leaping a hundred feet ir air, then another and another as the | ricocheting shell glances from wave tc | wave, and then, last of all, the faint far-off boom of the gun which had hurled l the missile"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
Fifty Years Ago

Fifty years ago on Wednesday next General Beauregard telegraphed from Charleston to Secretary of War L. P Walker at Montgomery, "We opened fire at 4:30." It was the opening shot of the greatest civil war in all history. Major Anderson was shut up in Fort Sumter and when it fell the war was well begun.
 Many northern papers are reprint ing stories of the mighty events of fifty years ago. Those events seem almost mythical to the young people of today, but to the veterans of the war they seem very real. They are full of vital interest to the veterans of today.
 Fifty years is long spell of time to the young, but in the history of a nation it is but breathing spell. The fifty years that will, after Wednes- day next, include actual war on 9 gigantic scale will always remain the stormiest and darkest period in the history of the country, and it is not remarkable that its events are to be retold in the columns of many north- ern newspapers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
FIRE IN BUILDINGS

Peter Joseph McKeon. in The Survey.
 The neglect of the fire danger is wide-
 spread. A campaign against fire should
 bo waged, Just as there is campaign
 against tuberculosis. Fire is a disease which is epidemic in all buildings and which will yield only to the same treat ment which has been successful with other diseases. Education is the first step.
 The same conditions which existed in the New York factory building, which killed women and girls, can be found in
 many other buildings. Many of the peo-
 pie who are indignantly asking who are
 responsible for this loss of life are prob ably maintaining buildings equally as dangerous Their own homes, indeed, are in nine cases out of ten personal death traps. If man does not protect his home and his family, is he likely to pro- tect his factory and his employees? Some improvement can be secured by legislation. If theatres and tenements can effectively be safeguarded so can factories. But the laws will have to be based on sound principles of fire safety and will have to take heed of what fire prevention science has already established as necessary precautions. They will have and they will have to recognize the changed demands which changed occu-
 pancy, processes and populations make on structures
 Responsibility for the enforcement of the law must be centered inescapably upon public agency commissioned and equipped to carry out Its full purpose.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
Pocahontas Coal at Panama

The government has just purchased 550,000 tons of coal for the Panama canal from the Pocahontas Galleries company, paying therefor s2.51 ton, and the Earn steamship line agrees to carry it to Colon at S12913 a ton, making the total cost of the coal S3.S01a a ton delivered at Colon. This is IA cents a ton less than the govern ment pail for West Virvinia coal last year.
 If Alabama coal cannot be delivered at Colon at $2.S0, as good in every way and for every purpose as Poca- hontas coal, then all information on that point has been misleading. It should be remembered that West Vir- ginia coal is wheeled over iron rails nearly 800 mile before it is placed at tidewater. When Alabama coal can be barged to Mobile at a cost not ex- ceeding 50 cents a ton it will be strange indeed if the price paid by the government cannot be knocked into a cooked hat. The entire transporta- tion cost to Colon of Alabama coal should not exceed $1.50 a ton after the the Warrior and Tombigbee are opened to barge navigation the year round. One dollar and fifty cents taken from $2.80 leaves $130 for coal at the mines in this state, and wher it is sold in punches of 550,000 tons that price would suffice.
 In that case Alabama coal can un. dercut West Virginia coal $1 a ton and still leave profits to all concerned in the movement.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08

census and the official announcement of the result. Every step upon which legislative apportionment could be based had been taken before the leg islature met, and yet, it deliberately ignored it's plain constitutional duty.
 What is the result? The next elg- islature will be elected in November, 1914. It will meet in January, 1915. It will presumably reapportion the state, and the first election of sena- tors and representatives will take place in November, 1918, and a new and justly apportioned legislature will meet in January, 1919! Will the state submit tamely to any such wrong as this?
 The provisions of the constitution are as plain as a pike's staff. The legislature has ignored them. It is about to disband after a tumultuous session of fifty days. And Jefferson county will continue to have but seven representatives when it is entitled to eleven! This is neither justice nor constitutional rule, and there is not a district in the state constitutionally constituted.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES

, ments to advertise what was not exactly true. They have advertised cures that will not cure, and remedies that do not remedy. Also the Gazette has refused to take painless dentists and mining stock and Sunday amusement advertising, and employment advertisements that look queer. This is an office rule that may not be broken. Yesterday o. M. Wilhite brought an advertisement to this office which declared that if you want to get street cars vote yes This state- ment came under the rule. It was like an advertisement reading. If you want to cure rheumatism take Doc Greens Dope" The advertisement of Doc Greens Dope would have been changed to read, If you want to feel the pleas ant effects of a more or less injurious stimulant that will make you forget your rheumatism for few moments, use Doc Greens Dope" And the advertising of MT. Wilhite was changed to read, 'If yod want to lease the light plant to get street cars, vote yes" That rule goes. If the Rev. J. H. Rice should bring in an ad vertisement, saying Take the Congre- gational Route to heaven-the only direct route," it would be changed to "a direct route." If Howard Dunlay should bring
 in an advertisement claiming that the Union Building and Loan association was the best in the world, it would be qualified by the word almost" If Mir. Rorabaugh should advertise his justly eei- ebrated and popular Queen Quality cor would be changed to read, "As far as it goes. If Mir. Finney should advertise his telephone as a cure for profanity. the advertisement would be changed to read, providing you are deaf and dumb."-Em- poria Gazette.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
REEDS DEFINITION OF FAME
From the Century.

From the century.
 The reform of the rules was great achievement, pre-eminently the achieve ment of a statesman Of high order, who looked before and after. The word statesman" however, especially in con nection with MT. Reed himself, cannot be used without at once recalling his fa- nous definition. I happened to sit next to him in the house. and he showed me the letter asking him to define a states man, and his reply:
 "A statesman is a successful politician who is dead"
 The epigram was published, flew over the country, and has become familiar quotation. But the sequel is less we'll known. The correspondent who asked the question telegraphed as soon as he re- ceived the answer:
 why don't you die and become 6 statesman?"
 MT. Reed handed me the telegram, and said: Here is my answer: No. Fame Is the lats infirmity of noble minds. "
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
THE NAME OF A CROOK -on, the New York World.

From the New I 1OTk Woiiu''
 Magistrate Corrigan has done service to philology in publishing the "monnikers' of a number of crooks said to be operat- ing in New York. His list Is mine of wealth for students of the origin of the proper names of improper people.
 Personal peculiarities are delicately sketched in Big Lanper, Benny Slyfox, Lefty Rosenberg, Red Healy, Paper-Col- lar Joe, Cock k-Eyed Manheimer, Abe the Lush and Horsey Sappersten. Place names are borrowed today as they were a thousand years ago-Fargo Day, English Joe, Dutch Annie, Mamie. Sadie and Sally Boston reminds us that in the Chinook tongue "Boston cayuse" means a horse of little worth. There are any number of Kids, recalling a former citizen of New York, the famous captain of that name; and in Little Zamo and Skeets Martin also we read humorous allusion to youth and small stature.
 Knockout Sheehan is probably one of those who have annoyed legitimate pan handlers by the inartistic use of physical prowess in lieu of their more deiicat' art of moral suasion. Anything but mo- nastic calm Is suggested by the Red Monk and Harry the Monk; New fork knows Monk Eastman. But what are We to make of Little Riby, Harry the Green CT Kid Gigger and Big Shin?
 One fruitful source of names-the oc- cupational, such as Baker, Brewer and Messenger-is missing. Crooks do not work. We have Butcher Collins, indeed but in a strong-arm artist the name is capable of double interpretation. As for Scoops Dagley, phiology may well be stumped
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08

TOW comes Sir Almroth Wright
 M the British doctor. to exasperate l his fellow scientists and to con- fuse the helpless layman with the declara- ton in 8 lecture on "Bacteriology and Health" that 1t doesn't matter particu- larly whether we keep clean or not as far as physical well-being is concerned. Fur thermore, he questions the benefit of fresh air treatment for tuberculosis and brings the 13-inch gun of his scientific erudition to bear on the hoary wisdom of the maxim that prevention Is better than cure"
 Sir Almroth Is known to medical men the world over through his theory Of the Opsonic index and is credited with saw ing the lives of countless children through his method of increasing the congeala- bility of the blood" In the presence of these portentous evidences of scientific greatness we are only capable of the emo- tions of simple awe, but even layman may give voice to wonder when Sir Ann roth declares that washing the body, fresh air and exercise for health are either superstitions or just plain foolishness. Washing the body to keep off microbes he salutes with a merry scientific ha-ha, because he says washing merely increases the number of microbes and by making the skin tender, tender skin beinf culture ground for bacteria. Microbes, In his learned opinion, never bother the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
Motoring in South

The south is daily becoming a more
 suitable touring territory for the win
 ter motorist," says c. S. Carris, a con-
 bile company. He recently completed a
 trip in that section with District Man.
 ager L. E. Hoffman and travelled by
 automobile and other means 5000 miles
 "The roads during the last two
 months we were in the south were free out the southern country there is no- ticeable improvement in the highways In many states can be plainly seen the effort the south is making to improve its roads and industrial standing. we drove 2000 miles in all and saw roads improvement is especially marked for 30 or 40 miles around Atlanta. The highways there are good macadam Georgia Is the most progressive of all southern states in highway improve. men.
 Tn Florida they have great dea of trouble with roads on account of the fine, dry sand. It will not pack under wheels and cars sink into it to the axles In parts of Florida they take long pine needles, called pine straw and spread them over the sand. making road over which travel Is very good. We go1 through the sand all right but on low gear. In this state they have had nt
 rain since December l."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
ReapportiOnment Ignored

The constitution of 1901 says ''it shall be the duty of the legislature at it's first session after the taking of the decennial census of the United State in the year 1910, and after each subsequent decennial census, to fix by law the number of representatives and apportion them among the sev eral counties of the state, according to the number of inhabitants in them respectively; provided, that each county shall be entitled to at least one representative" Another provis- ion of the constitution requires the legislature at its first session after the taking of the census in 1910 to devide the state into senatorial dis tricts "as nearly equal to each other in the number of inhabitants as may be-"
 And yet the present legislature de- liberately ignored the constitution, thus leaving the apportionment of the state unjust in every part, and to a certain extent unrepublican and un- representative. The apportionment of the state into Legislative districts has nothing to do with congressional apportionment. The two are distinct and on different footings. The one depends upon congressional action, and the other upon the taking of a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
WHAT ALLIED HIS MEAT

From Tit-Bits
 Stepping into small restaurant, a grumpy old man demanded of the waiter a certain piece of meat he had in the show window.
 But" said the waiter, i've"
 NO buts," replied the old man. You bring me what I ask for, or I won't get anything here at all.
 Rather than lose a customer, the waiter did as he was told, and, getting the piece of meat, took 1t back to be cooked
 After long wait, the meat was brought to the customer who, instead of thanking the waiter, said:
 Look here, young man, what is the matter with this meat?''
 Nothing Is the matter with it, sir, ex- cept that the paint on 1t has formed a few tlisters from the heat"
 why, what do you mean by that?" asked the man.
 Simply this,' replied the waiter Those pieces of meat you saw in the window were not made to eat. They were made for advertising purposes, but you insisted, sir, upon having one oi them.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
GOOD OLD DAYS.

GOOD OLD DAYS. Sing me a song of the good old days, The days when men could mix, Could laugh and joke. then go their waya And not talk politics.
 Denver Post Sing me song of the good old days, The days we loved so well; When suffragettes were very scarce And neer thought of raising-well!
 Allentown Democrat. Sing me a song of the good old days, The days so full of bliss; When you didn't think of microbes When girl you found to kiss.
 --Wilkesbarre Times-L Leader. Sing me a song of the good old days, Of happiness and cheer, When at Spring poetry like this No pessimist would sneer
 Scranton Tribune-Republican. Sing me song of the good old days. Those days of joy and laughter, When every time you made a dime You were not called a grafter
 Schenectady Union. Sing me a song of the good old days. Ere the time of nature-faking;. When Theodore Roosevelt's grand-stand plays
 Were not called his'try making.
 PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
The Daily Weather Map


 l Have you learned to use the daily weather map?' asked man who likes to watch the weather changes. 'I think I am getting to be quite an expert. find it very interesting each morning to look over the map and see If I can de- termine what kind of weather we are to have during the day.
 T have learned this much: always watch the places marked high and low These marks refer to the barometric pressure and they have the greatest in- fuence on the weather High means that the atmospheric pressure of the pre- vious at that point, while low designates the point of lowest pressure. Naturally the wind will blow from the high pres sure areas to the low pressure areas be- cause the air seeks to maintain the uni formty. For instance, the other morn ing when I saw that the big low area was centered about St. Louis and that the high area was in Florida I natural ly inferred that the breeze would blow from Florida toward Missouri. As the air from Florida is naturally warm and as it had to pass over Alabama en route to the low pressure area in the upper Mississippi valley I naturally concluded we would have warmer weather. That was the beginning of this weeks hot spell.
 Just get In the habit of studying that map a little while every morning. You will find it very interesting and there is the greatest satisfaction in seeing if you correctly predict the weather for the day You will find that you will soon be able to make some very creditable fore casts"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
Exum Return. to City

President Culpepper Exum of the com mission returned last night from Mont gomery, where he has been attending the legislative session for few days. He as- sisted in securing the passage through
 the lower house of the viaduct bill for
 Birmingham and was immensely pleased
 last night that the bill hai ridden safely
 through the law making bodies.
 'The vote in the house upon the
 measure was very gratifying to me,
 said President Exum. "The vote was
 overwhelmingly In favor of the trans action and it is now up to the governor
 for his approval
 "The senate vote and that of the house demonstrate that the legislators of Ala bama are in pretty close touch with af- fairs here and are willing to assist this lcity in the solution of one of our most vexing problems.
 II have no doubt but that the viaduct measure will become a law very soon and that the conditions ir the vicinity of Sloss furnace will be abated.
 "When it is realized that large DOT ton of our eastern population use the First avenue crossing several times every day, and that each time they are ex- posed to a certain element of danger, the necessity for the viaduct cannot be over estimated"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
FURTHER INQUIRY
1t C,.1.-a Duoto naolor

From the Cleveland PlaIn Dealer.
 A Cleveland man was reading some jok es about how the English weren't SC slow as they are supposed to be to get g joke. He believed it. too. So he triec his theory on a British guest of his. "Did you ever hear Mark Twain's joke about how the report of his deatf had been greatly exaggerated?" h. asked.
 No" answered the Englishman eagerly. "but I'll wager it was good What was it?~
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
THE CLOUD

By Father Tabb. Far on the brink of day
 Thou standest as the herald of the dawn Where fades the nights last fickering
 spark away Ere the first dew-drops gone. And when the evening dies Still to thy fringed vesture clings tho
 light. Ii.Nf-s The last sad glimmer of her fearful eyes On the dark verge of night { So, soon thy glories wane! Thou, too, must mourn the rose of morn
 ing shed. Cold creeps the fatal shadow OCT the
 train And settles on thy head.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
TRIED TO WORK HIS WAY

From the CnlcdSo News.
 You may talk about the romance of working ones way through college ed ucation," Chicago student said the other day, but I don't see much fun in it myself. Of course, when one looks back he can see the humorous sides of the experience, but at the time it's plain, hard work
 and, from what I had heard, I thought it would be snap for man possessing the slightest athletic ability. In fact, I came from the prep school, where I had been the local pride in football, on a promise that l would be given some sort of student service to pay my way through.
 'When landed in Amherst l had about s25 in my pocket to pay my entire ex- registered I was informed all freshmen were obliged to live in the dormitories. That suited me all right until I found 1t cost $50 a term for the room and that was expected to provide furniture for my quarters myself. Then I went to look up man who had promised me work. I found him and asked him about the stu dent service he had promised me.
 He thought ponderously for a while and then said, blandly
 We'll you sec you cant get it this term; all the jobs are taken. But you might find some work to do in the town. I'll tell you he continued excitedly, as brilliant thought struck him, there's s three tons of coal standing out in front of the gymn now. If you carry that in you can make half a dollar.' |.
 "I figured up and found that if work ed 12 hours a day hauling coal I might earn enough to pay for my books; so I de- c,ded Amherst was no place for me-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
THE REAL THING IN HELMET HATS
 From the Los Angeles Herald.

Just at present the latest spring style in men in Los Angeles is policemen and their hats are the cause of 1t all.
 In two weeks 1t Is estimated that more than 300 new helmets have been purchased by members of the Los Angeles force. and of the 300 scarcely score have ever ap- peared at headquarters. When an in- vestigation was started 1t wasn't hard 10 find "the woman in the case" or rather the women. In just one afternoon on Broadway 27 poicemens helmets dis- guised with ribbons and flowers were dis covered
 Of course there are helmet hats that
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-08
COUNTY JAILs AND IDLENEss

Beverly Robinson, in The Survey. In all our county jails ideness is proba- bly, the worst punishment to which crim- irals are forced to submit. How provide work for them? That is the great prob- lem.
 It Is certain, however, if sheriffs were men of the proper stamp, far more could be done to keep men, women and boys occupied than is done at present in all our jails. But what hope Is there to get other than political heelers appoint ed sherlffs? The law of the state of New York states in regard to sheriffs, Article K, section 1, An act depriving the sheriff of the custody and control of the county jail and the prisoners therein is unconstitutional" etc, according to tho law as amended to January 1, 1910, and now in force
 "Sheriffs shall be chosen by the cleo tors of the respective counties once in every three years" etc. In two counties, of which New York is one. sheriffs are chosen every two or four years.
 To complete one of the greatest evils of idleness in jails, I need only cite from the New York Sun, which states apropos of the Essex county penitentiary, New Jersey:
 When the prisoners are at work their earnings go to those who are dependent on them. Eighteen or twenty of the cases of Restitution that have reached the charitable societies of Essex county each month are those of families of men con fined in the penitentiary."
 In addition. that ideness has an ob- vious bad effect upon the health. moral and physical, of all prisoners is appar- ent to the average inspector, or visitor if he has only very moderate inteli- gence and sympathy.