davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Judge Thorington's Report

A full publication of Special Mas ter Thorington's special report shows that 1t was confined to defense of the right of a state to regulate domestic railroad rates, leaving inter- state rates to the regulation of Con- gress. The nature and properties of the no commodities act and the 2h- cent passenger rate will be discussed in Judge Thorington's final and full report.
 Even if the Louisville and Nash vile case should be first acted upon by the district court it is reasonably certain that the three cases will be heard together by the supreme court of the United States, and it is to this decision that all must look for a final determination of the entire mat ter. An early decision in these cases is not probable. :, The nature of Judge Thorington's S final report is to some extent out lined in letter addressed by him to the Montgomery Advertiser. While. :" he says, T am free to say I think the state statutes regarding railroads, taken as a whole, are in their effect on railroads too drastic, if not in a measure oppressive, l, as special mas ter, have nothing to do with that fea- ture; I have only to deal with the question whether the state prescribed rates for interstate traffic are suf- fieient to yield the railroads a fair and just return on the property de- voted by them to the public use in interstate business; and, also, wheth- CT the state classification of roads for rate purposes is made on a just and reasonable basis, or whether such classification is arbitrary and unjust These questions are still open and nc findings thereon will be made unti the coming in of the final report. , Judge Thorington's final report vii be awaited with interest. There i. promise that it will be in accordahct with the new rule of reason that bears the imprint of the high cour- itself.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
READING AN OLD LETTER
n the New York Mail.

TOl1l llt NtW Olh
 There is nothing more interesting than to come across, unexpectedly, an intimate and gossipy letter that one wrote, one- self, 10 or 15 years ago. In reading such a letter, one is looking at oneself from the outside. The process is a good deal like looking out of the window and seeing oneself go past in the crowd. The strange part of the matter Is that in reading such a document, one Is gener- ally filled with a sort of pity for the fellow who wrote it. He seems to have been rather uncertain of himself. Tie groped for his facts and his ideas. Evi- dently he didn't know much. He was merely an imperfect adumbration or the admirable person who is now overlooking his correspondence, eh? That is the first impression. But presently one feels diff ferently about it. Those half baked opinions may now have hardened into dogmas. We may now be cocksure of what once We only surmised. But who is so hopelessly wrong as the cocKsure man? If the person one was 15 years ago could contemplate objectively the person one is now, perhaps he would pity the purblind dogmatst more than we pity the groping experimentalist.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
LET HIM BE ANATHEMA!
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 The Hon. Claude Augustus Swanson. senator in Congress from Virginia, has been caught in helnous sin. He has been accused of and he has con fessed to buying stocks on margin. The stock which is the corpus delicti hap pens to be that of particularly in famous monopoly To own stock in any corporation is to be unworthy of office. and indeed of citizenship. To gamble on margin in Wall street is crime so arch and monstrous that we wonder
 at MT Swanson if he dares to return to Virginia His public usefulness is gons His name Is reprobate Some statesman
 of less aleatory instincts must succeed 1 him.
 Yet since virtue consors the roll of patriots In office she cannot be content with the overthrow of Claude Angus tus. Who else in the Senate, who in
 the House, who in any elective or ap-
 pointive post anywhere in these United
 States. has been "ga<nbling?" What
 blameless agriculturist. shaking dice
 with Fortune, has bought farm, what
 merchant a store, on margin which the gods call mortgage? What planter has
 borrowed from the shylocks on the security, ironical word, of crops to be
 raised? Whose corn, whose cotton,
 whose store and stock. whose cows and
 hogs, what automobiles of tribunes of the people, hang on the tenuous thread
 of paying interest on borrowed money?
 What pillar of tho peoples hope Is
 gambling on his credit, perhaps has plastered his estate with mortgages 10 pay his expenses at the primaries? ! Let him be anathemal
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09

by an inevitable recession later in the season, and the planters will lose in the end instead of gaining by the eff fort to establish and maintain a price above what the actual condition justifies, in addition to losing the cost of Storage. It is the spectators who will profit"
 There is some truth in this, and still it is not unwise to endeavor to lessen the early season rushing of bales to market. The impulse to sell as soon as bale is ready for mar ket is too strong in September, Octo- Der and November, and if the farm CTS union and all other southern as- sociations can prolong the marketing of cotton until it covers the entire cotton year no one should object. No one would be hurt thereby, unless 1t be the New England mill men and the bear spectators of Liverpool and New York. The sending of crop to market has never been restrained, but there is no reason why it should not be to some extent regulated. The farmers union has no desire to check the tide of bales as the marketing season comes on, and it will keep on seeking a remedy until it finds one that is practicable and efficient.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Richard wightman, in the septemp

Richard Wightman, In the September
 Business formerly The Book -keeper).
 Each new sun is a sign in the heavens to be up and at 1t. At what? Life! The big work of man Is neither masonry, manufacturing nor merchandising. It is life itself. Incidentally, there are bricks to be laid, wood to be shaped and goods to be sold; but these are only jots and titles in the scheme of individual ex- istence. The main thing is life itself. Life well wrought is a fabric which com mands the gaze of all discerning eyes, the responsiveness of all neighboring hearts. Life bungled Is a producer of ceaseless shame. An appreciation of life Itself lies at the base of all clean and constructive endeavor. If a man is living well his bricks are laid plumb, his factory fights friction and waste; his goods are full weight and wrapped well for the market. In the weaving of a life every day counts for good or i'll. The loom is never still. the shuttles are always hurting, and the pattern assuming form. Sixteen hours thoughtfully devoted to life-its purpose, spirit and principles-will kill any bogy of Encouragement or despalr. Ana II brings no distraction from the incidental task. During the proper portion of that same Is hours bricks may still be laid, wheels turned or goods pushed over the counter. A day is a wonderful thing and should be dealt with as unit-as lit tie section of life not terrifying in itself. not too big to be handled easily and ok dav mack if with the best living you can muster. Blessed is he who at sunset can look back upon kindly and industrious hours.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Official Phones and Typewriters


 ] Special Examiner German. backed by the governor and attorney general, says that when county officials are equipped with fat, even princely, fees they should not charge office conven- fences to the people. They have been in the habit of installing telephones, typewriters and adding machines, and collecting the expense from the peo- pie, on the principle no doubt that they could not afford the expense that they need, in fact, all the fees that come in for other purposes.
 Examiner German says that the ex penditures for office accessories are not authorized by the law, and that all such expenditures are, therefore, illegal. This decision necessarily ap- plies to the past as we'll as the pres ent, and refunding of past expendi- lures will amount to a pretty sum.
 Examiner German deserves credit for unearthing the leak. He very plainly stands up for the law and the people, regardless of the interests or the rings, and it is to be hoped he will keep up his investigations until all other illegalities are weeded out of the courthouse of this county.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Bias in Cotton Crop Report

'It is a radical mistake,o says the
 New ycrk Journal of Commerce,
 for planters and dealers, or asso- citations of them, to attempt to fix a price in advance and to sustain it by withholding the supply from the mar 'ket and storing it in local warehouses. It is impossible for them to fix the actual normal market value, and their inevitable tendency will be to put their asking price too high. The acute traders at the various ex- changes, with their own sources of in- formation and means of judging, can not be led far astray by misrepresen- tations or misjudgment, and will be able to calculate fairly well whether the price can be maintained. They will sell short, or in advance of pur- ehases, for future delivery, to profit
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
AMATEUR NIGHT"

Ruth Rerkley, in Harper's Weekly.
 'Lade-ees and gentlemen" the bar ker announced facetiously, the ann ateurs will now make their appear ance, and any coins that you have ly- ing loose in your pockets they will be glad If you will t'row it at them, fur that is their only recompense,"
 The first to make his appearance was one legged boy. He had a for him a certain respect so that he neither got the hook nor was he "booed." It also brought him a shower of money, and by the time he had finished his two songs the call boy had picked up nearly half a hat ful for him. ~
 The Dutch comedian who came on next hadn't a ghost of chance. His whiskers fell off. and as soon as he had properly adjusted them. water was squirted in his face by a man stationed in the orchestra for that purpose. Then he was put on the back of dummy mule, and, while he was frantically trying to pick up his whiskers, which had again fallen off, a man beat him over the head with an inflated bladder and dragged him off the stage
 The sad looking girl dressed in black was next on the list. She had on a battered hat, the sha abbiest of coats, skirt that was fringed and torn around the bottom, and in one stocking there gaped large hole, through which shone the white of her skin with startling distinctness. A second before going on she discovered this hole.
 "Oh, Gawd, girls" she exclaimed. some un give me their eyebrow pencil quick till I mend me stocking"
 One of the girls whipped out the required article from her bag, and like flash the girl had blackened the white of her skin that peeped through the hole in her stocking, un- til all was uniform black.
 Then she went on. The audience didn't know what she could do. but ap- parently it didn't want to know for her appearance seemed to be enter tafnment enough. Again and again she tried to sing, and each time she tried the "booing' and yelling be- came terrific. Suddenly there ap- peared huge six-foot man who seized her round the waist, then a hook descended and caught him by a pad fastened to- his back, and togeth- CT they went floating up and off the stage. Despite the entertainment her half starved look and her downtrod- den. appearance had afforded, not a single coin had been thrown her.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Regarding Church Attendance

q have not come across any church statistics recently, but from general reading there seems to be a falling off
 in the attendance in some of the larger
 churches in New York and other great
 cities." said a layman who was reared In a small town in the south.
 'eWhen I was a boy the few men who did not attend church regularly were locked upon as heathens. No matter what their social position might have been by rights they were in certain sense ostra- cised, and no matter how good their morals were they were numbered With the wicked. It has been long time since I came in contact with provincial man ners or provincial views. l am church- goer myself, and think that every man not a Jew should be affiliated with some Christian denomination. In the south, even in a busy, pushing, feverish city like Birmingham, most or the men or my intimate acquaintance attend sunday services at one of the churches; yet l know there is a very large unchurched class in Birmingham as in all other big cities, and perhaps if l were to go back to my native town I would find even there more so-called free thinkers than when was a youth.
 Religious tendency on the part of many men as well as many women comes large Iy from sentiment-traditiona family sen timent-and I cannot well imagine how a man who had been brought up in a Christian family could form the habit of staying away from church altogether. Re- cently I have thought that perhaps such absentees from church had become tired of the incorporate and un-Christian lam guage used by some ministers in po- itcal campaigns growing out of Every now and then pastors in New York and Chicago ask the question. Why does the pulpit no longer attract men? The same question Is beginning to be asked in south ern cities Preachers of all denominations must have moments of introspection, and those open minded pastors whose preaGh- ing has borne little If any good fruit will probably change their methods, and what ever has been calculated to repel men be cut out. All consecrated Christians, whether they be ministers or laymen, have but one object in view when it comes to delivering a message from on high-good of souls"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
ASSURING THE AEROPLANE

George Brock, In Harper's Weekly.
 The man who saw automobile i'm surance coming when no one else thought 1t could possibly amount to anything now says very frankly that he is keeping a close watch upon aero plane insurance. It will come sooner than any of you expect" he states positively. That has set people think ing, for slowly but surely inquiries are drifting in today through agents. large proportion of these inquiries get to the young man of the automobiles. good many of, the agents can think of no one else to send them to.
 There are about 800 aeroplanes in practical use in this country" he says. General insurance upon them is im possible as yet. The risk is so great that the premiums would be beyond all reason. The question of rates Is not even talked of. The premium would have to be at least 50 per cent, per- haps even nearer 100 But that does not mean that this is always to be so. Aeroplaning is becoming safer and safer. It took years for us to learn how to build automobiles. That prob- lem 0dS D6tl SOlNcu. liic piOp'Shi VI the airship will be solved"
 At this moment, however. there is such a thing as aeroplane insurance. Policies can be issued, and are issued. They are limited policies, of course. You can insure your aeroplane today everywhere, anywhere, and under any circumstances and conditions--except
 in the air. The aeroplane is already risk-not, 1t is true, in way that does it or its owner very much good.f Still it is a beginning An aeroplane policy can be taken out for its trans- portation by land or water or while it is resting in its hangar. In other words, to the progressive insurance man. the airship at rest is as insurable as a barrel of flour, a stock Of dry goods or a household of furniture. When it is alive and flying it is diff ferent matter. He is afraid of 1t then, and is standing back, thinking ana waiting for developments. The aviator who insures his machine takes out the ordinary automobile pol icy, with special clause or two added. One feature is that the policy as made over to suit the craft of the man-bird does not any time cover self-lgnltlon that Is, any fire originating Tn the machine itself. The cost of these aero plane policies is not high. The rate IS s. about the current price for insur- ing automobiles. The ordinary auto mobile .'floater policy runs from 21a to per cent, according to the condi- tion of the car insured.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
BAD CHRISTOPHER AND GALLANT From the New York World

A grasshopper yesterday hopped out of St. Paul's church yard and into Vesey street to see the sights. jump landed it on the openwork, pale lavender stock
 ing of a young woman. who was on her way from Jersey to Coney Island.
 ''Br-r-r-r, ugh-h-h,' she said. Then she gave a kick that sent her high heeled, patent leather pump flying into a yellow taxi at the curb. The chauffeur. gallantly fell over backward and seized the shoe.
 clutching at the railing. balanced herself on one foot, like a stork,' the chauffeur put the slipper where 1t belonged. The onlookers cheered.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
ANNIE: BY ALBERT PIKE

We fingered daily, 10th to part
 Nor noticed, as the green world spun
 Unceasingly around the sun,
 Times river swiftly by us run,
 Like rapid Ouachita. How fondy did her soft arms twine k Around me on the Ouachita! [. Her sweet lips chastely pressed to mine, Her brown eyes radiant and divine
 Each brighter than a star. She was my heart, my soul, my all;
 I loved her dearer than my life; < And ere the Autumn leaves should fall. 8
 Shorn by the sharp frost's glttering
 knife
 hoped, escaping the worlds strife.
 To make her my own darling wife,
 On sunny Ouachjta. Sadly, ah sadly by me glide Thy waters, clear, cold Ouachita! My Annie, my betroth-ed bride That summer, sickened, dropped, ana died! & My Heaven lost it's star. A prayer for me was on her lips The last she ever uttered heres Her sweet eyes, dark in deaths eclipse, For me still glittered with d tear;
 Why, could I not be with thee dear Or know that thou vast dying, near t The sunny Ouachita?
 Thy woods are green, thy flowers are bright, Thy waters sparkle, Ouachita! Thy glades still gleam with golden lighti But day to me is like a night Moonless, without a star. Dear Annie while above thy grave | sing ths melancholy strain. The wild-fowers that upon it wave Are watered with my eyes warm rain, Yet does one happy thought remain | We shall be one in Heaven again, < As on the Ouachlta. sPronounced Wash-i-ta.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
The Harmon Bureau

'The partisans of Governor Harmon are well organized, and are working consist entity and with commendaDle energy for his nomination as democracy's standard bearer for President in 1912" said vet eran.
 Supporters of democratic candidates ia recent years may have employed press agents and maintained regular publicity bureaus, but with the exception of Sam ual J. Tilden no aspirant for the presi- dency has backed a systematic propa- ganda. Mir. Tilden kept a dozen secre- taries busy preparing interesting stories and sending them to the country press. It was all right. But from viewpoint of dignity it seemed somewhat out of place. In the case of Governor Harmon, he is too well and too favoraby known to need any press agent boosting
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09

The golden, climbing jasmine grows Along the bright clear +Ouachita: On each bewildered wind that blows It's sweet perfume there over flows, And eddying. floats afar. It is a wild, sweet, simple flower, Each leaf a glossy evergreen And when the spring rains softly shower It's jeweled ringlets, gold and green Float on the charmed air. between The stately trees, that overlean
 The sunny Ouachita. Jyp each tall oak and sturdy ash And elm, along the Ouachita; Where dew drops on the thick leaves lis flowers like beautys glad eyes flash, Each bright golden star Temntine the mad bees there to roam, Great misers, adding to their store ne honey, in their hollow home, In that great branching sycamore, Around whose knees the waters roar, dozen centuries or more,
 On sunny Ouachitas I love it's simple flowers that gleam Along the silver Ouachita: love the bright, clear. dancing stream, Tor there I dreamed happy dream, Bright as all such dreams are. met my little Annie there
 A dear, sweet, lovely, blushing maid, A flower as delicate and fair
 As those l twined with each dark braif Of glossy hair, while far we strayed, Wrapt in the green frees pleasant
 shade,
 By sunny Ouachita. Her soft eyes and her angel face, Like sunshine, blessed the Ouachita: And blushing in my fond embrace, Trusting she wandered far There, hand in hand, and heart in heart Two souls together knit in one.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Increasing Wealth of the South


 Those who have doubted the re- ports concerning the wealth of the south will lose their doubts when they read that individual deposits in na- tional banks in the south were nearly trebled in a decade and a year. In 1900 such deposits stood at 65,000,- 900, and on June 2, 1911, they aggre- gated $726, 287, ,726! Not over one- half of the deposits in the south are carried in national banks, and the sum total, therefore, amounts to an immense sum.
 Like gains in the present decade will make the cotton farmers of the south as independent as the wheat growers of Kansas or Iowa have be- come. True, the individual deposits of the south are not altogether those of farmers, but when deposits are be- ing trebled every ten years it neces- sarily follows that the farmers have hand in the movement All of the deposits do rest upon and relate to southern crops, and pretty soon the southern farmer will begin to build better houses, to buy autos and to fill the colleges with his sons and daughters. This is exactly what the trebling of individual deposits every ten years means.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09
Atlanta Is Conscience Stricken

Atlanta has long been engaged in turning its police department into a revenue department, both for itself and for the fee brigade with which it has for some time been afflicted. Its sense of mans inhumanity to the humble and defenseless is leading to action. The recent legislature en- deavored to rid the state of the fee system, and now the chamber of com merce in Atlanta is becoming sensi- tive over the number of needless ar rests in it's city. In a recent report committee of its chamber of com merce published the following table to show that arrests in Atlanta are beyond all reason: