davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01
POSTMEN COULDN'T READ
Difficulties of the Postal Service in
 Parts of Rural France

Paris Correspondence London Globe. Just as no we'll conducted municipality would engage a blind man as road sur veyor it is difficult to imagine the British postoffice employing as postman one who could not read. Yet the case is not un- known in France.
 One of the Figaria's subscribers wrote
 to that paper the other day from a little
 seaside town on the Normandy coasr 'The postal service is not well done here and we get our letters very irregularly In winter this little town has only 300 in habitants. so it has only the right to ono
 postman over 40 years of age who gets ZIP year. He must be over 40 so that the state will not be obliged to pay l,im | a pension. For that price and under these conditions we have a modest factor who
 does not know how to read. He explained few days ago that knowing the names
 of the people who live in his quarter he
 managed to decipher their names, but for
 the others it was plus difficile.' One of our friends asked him:
 Have you any letters for me?' 'IIe replied:
 "I don't think so for little while ago I called at your brothers and if I had had
 any for you would have given them to him. ft
 The story recalls that told by the late Emmanuel Arene of the Corsican post ! | was impossible for him to take the letters to those for whom they were intended he solved the difficulty by meeting his fellow citizens on the village market place. At | the same hour every day he stood there with his letters spread out and every one 1 took the mssives addressed to him. There was only one man in the village | who received letters every day, mostly | from the surrounding communes that was the local doctor The first day after | his appointment the postman noticed with
 a suspicious eye that the doctor claimed | half of the letters in his box. What sort | of man can this be-" he asked himself. The next day the same thing happened
 and it took the postpan all his time 10 | refrain from asking for an explanation. | On the third day all the letters were for
 the doctor Quietly he collected thenf l One, two, three. four As he was about to, | take the last one the postman. losing pa- tience, asked him angrily: Aren't Tou 1 going to leave any for the, others2' IL
 took some pains to calm him. but after l that he decided to learn to read. | I remember seeing rural postman "de- l livering his leters from little table In
 the center of village in Ak GU Provence l about three years ago, but 1t was not pe- l cause he could not read. The surround- I ing country had been ravaged by an eartn-
 quake, hardly one house had been ler l standing, and 1t was useless for the post
 man to try to find the people whose homes had been destroyed. z | They were sleeping in carts. by the way l side and in the fields and every day be- l tween certain hours they used to come
 into the village and the postman. sitting
 under tree in the market place surround
 ed by crumbling walls and heaps of lath and plaster and broken furniture, would
 select from the package in front of him l tie letters destined for the people who
 had no address.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01

, had gone about hundred yards and was beginning to think he might reach the cage in time after all, when suddenly the earth seemed to drop from under him. He pitched forward and went tumbling down through snow and brush and crash ing timbers.
 It was instinct rather than intelligence that made him reach out and grasp at something to break his fall. He struck one obstruction that seemed to tear one arm almost from it's socket; his head hit an- other and his leg third. Then he stopped falling. By the time the meteors and comets that flashed into view from the crack he got on the head had passed from | his vision he found himself hanging by one arm to piece of timber. He under stood the situation at once-he had fallen down the mouth of an abandoned mine. The timbers had been put up to hold the decomposing rock. The brush had been piled over the mouth of the shaft to warn wayfarers. But the snow in the night had covered 1t all.
 Big Missouri swore at his folly in not keeping to the trail. He swore at the fool who had not put something solid under that brush. He swore at the snow that had covered the pitfall from his view. Having relieved his mind to this extent, he proceeded to climb up on the timbers and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01

in the spring. In some of these cases lime makes a good antidote or coirec-
 tive. and for others different medicines are required.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01
What Soil Is

It makes ones head buzz when he thinks of these big scientific features of Uncle Sam's work. They are hard to de- scribe in popular language, and the scien- lists use terms which would frighten the reader. I have been talking with many of the soil experts, and among others with pr. Milton Whitney, who has been at the head of the bureau since it's begin ming. and who knows more about soils perhaps, than any other man in the country.
 In the first place. what is soil?
 It is the thin skin which incloses The body of old Mother Earth, formed of the dust of the old lady's scourings. We all know that. it is dsntegrated rock, but the experts say that the rock alone is not soil, and that it must have humus or some vegetable or organic matter mixed with it to make the crops grow It must have water and afr and also the myriads of little devils of a vegetable sort known as bacteria
 All rock is mineral. and the soil Is made up of minerals washed from the rocks by
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01
vey.
 Testing United States With Augurs

Sam is working in this great soil sur vey.
 Testing United States With Augurs
 But what mighty job 1t is. Think of going over the United States with an augur, an inch and a half in diameter and three feet in length, and boring down into every ten acre field to find what kind of soil it contains. That is just what Uncle Sam is doing. He has al- ready tested the most of the land of the great plains, and has actually made soil maps and working plans for a territory larger than France, Germany or the Spanish peninsula. He has mapped and analysed the soils of considerably more than one hundred million acres in the eastern part of this country, having com pleted the work over enough land to make four states as big as Illinois, or five the size of Ohio or Kentucky. This testing has been done by counties or small areas picked out at some dis tances apart, so that general knowl- edge of the soils lying between is already known. It shows just what the soils are and to what crops they are adapted and l how they may be improved. It has been so done that we now have a fair knowl- | edge of the soils east of the great plains although the practical working plans and maps have to be made for each county and this work will go on for decades tc | come.
 1 An army of experts is now at work ii | the dry plains region, mapping the coun' try from North Dakota to Texas. Other experts are testing the places in tht Rocky mountain basin where the recla nation plants are being created, anf considerable surveying has been done 1T | California and in other parts of the Pa | cifc slope, as well as in the gulf states
 and the Mississippi valley. The worl | has been such that we have now a gen
 eral outline of our soil territories as wei
 as accurate knowledge of about 5 pei cent of the whole The total land of the | United States proper aggregates abou 1870 million acres, and, as I have said
 of more than 100,0OO,000 acres we havt | already completed surveys. The worl 1 began about eleven years ago It is car ried on by one of the chief bureaus O.
 the agricultural department owhose sci ! entific laboratories and other arrange
 ments are among the finest of the gov ernment. In addition to the actual ex
 haustive surveys, prospecting surveys
 have been carried on in many sections
 and there are on file reuests for 70
 and more additional surveys. covering
 about one-fifth of our country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01
How the United States Was Made

Dr. Whitney could tell you just about how the United States was made. He knows where the soils came from and how they were laid down upon the rocky surface of the globe. have before me a map made by his bureau which shows our great soil provinces. It is in many colors each of which describes the land of it's location. In the first place there are the soils which have been washed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-01

the rains and looSened by other agencies so that 1t may furnish the root food for the plants In order that it may do this 1t must consist of particles which are in- finitesimally small. Many grains of the soil are so little that you cannot see them except when some millions are collected together. Take the Norfolk sand, which runs along the eastern coast of the United States, from Florida to Long Is- land. That is good vegetable ground but thimble will hold more of It's particles than there are men, women and children In this whole world. It measures about two billions to the gram and that many can be enclosed in a cylinder one-fourth of an inch in diameter and half an inch long.
 There are other soils which have even more particles than this and it is said that the best wheat lands and grass lands are fine that from ten to fourteen bil- lion separate particles or grains may be crowded into a thimble.
 These particles are usually roundish in shape They are separated by air spaces, and single cubic foot of soil is said to expose to the roots of the plants an area of surface equal to three acres That is, each particle can be reached on all sides and the aggregate surface of these billions of particles equals three acres. It is according to the division of the particles and the character of their con- tents, as well as according to the way they have been laid down. that we know what our soils are.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

"JIM. CROW CARS IN WASHINGTON.
1t would be poor policy to compel the
public service corporations of the Dis
trict Of Columbia TO establish ''jim.crow
electric cars in the city of Washington,
for as the head of the nation Washing
ton is supposed to typify the sentiment
of the entire nation, and it is really
there that the people from foreign lands
gather to get their impressions OF the
correct American standard. Ii Wash
ington should maintain this color line
in the matter of local transportation,
it would give the impression to other
nations that the entire United States
feels the same about the matter, where
as, as matter of fact, at least one-half
of the nation does not give snap Of
the finger regarding segregation OF the
negro on street cars and for the most
part that half looks with disfavor on
the policy. Moreover, if Washington,
the head of the nation, were to accept
this policy OF discrimination, it would
sooner or later reflect on the remainder
of the country, which has just been
spoken of; the 'jim-crow" sentiment
would grow in the northern tier of states
through the force of the example at
Washington, and gradually the policy
of segregation would gain support. Hav-
ing admitted the negroes as citizens and
having accepted their services in the
rebellion, having accepted their army
services now in times Of peace and hay-
ing to certain extent given them recog-
milton in official life, all OF which has
tended to raise the colored race from
the depths OF slavery times, it would
be a backward step to now begin a
discrimination in the matter of trans.
portation And Washington surely ought
not to head the movement.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

end OF the industry ia seriously ham
pered because of poor transportation ia
cilities, as it is necessary to use teams
both for hauling fuel to the mines and
then for hauling the material away from
the mines, the nearest shipping points
being Hyde Park and Johnson. This
haul is over distance Of fourteen OF
fifteen miles; and the difficulties of the
work under climatic and road conditions
that obtain in sections OF the state at
certain periods can readily be imagined
A railroad to connect with an existing
line, the st. Johnsbury & Lake Cham
plain system, would reduce the trans
portation problem very greatly and rem
der the mining of the asbestos much
easier. II is estimated that the present
annual output can be increased fiyefold
in case railroad is built to the quar-
ries. Inasmuch as this asbestos deposit
is one of the richest in the world, it is
easily seen that Vermont win be dis
tinct gamer if the project, which received
an impetus by the signing Of the charter
yesterday, is carried out. 1t is to be
hoped that the railroad will be con-
structed.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20
MEANS MUCH mo- vERMoNT.

To Vermont as whole, there is more
than passing interest in the bill which
was signed by Governor Mead yesterday
granting a charter to the Chrysotile
Railroad company. This company pro-
poses to construct railroad line which
will tap the great asbestos mine region
in upper Vermont about the towns OF
Lowell and Eden; and if the project is
financed, as it now bids fair to be, the
asbestos industry viii 60 ahead by leaps
and bounds. Even at the present time
according to the United States geological
reports, the Vermont chrysotile output
exceeds that of any other state in the
union, while that of Vermont in connee-
tion with the Canadian output from the
same mountain range amounts to sew
enty per cent. of the entire world out
put.
Under present conditions. the Vermont
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20
WILLIAMSTOWE.

The union chorus will meet Monday
evening at che house of w. B. Jones.
Mrs. Marshall Lamsou, on the Dir.
Martin place, is reported as quite ill.
At the meeting Of the state library
commission in Mortified Wednesday,
Williamstown was represented by School
Superintendent II. D. Casey and Miss
Mary Waterman.
The auction OF Maynard f. Spencer
yesterday afternoon was well attended,
and good prices were realized. The farm
itself had already been sold to Rev.
William n. Roberts.
Alvin Hall, who had the misfortune to
lose leg recently as result Of an ac-
cident, will bring a horse TO the village
Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock to real
ize what he can from its disposal.
Prof. Howard of Middlebury college
passed through this place yesterday en-
route for Chelsea, where he was booked
to speak in the evening. He was the
guest of Mr.. Casey, who took him over
from this place to Chelsea.
Those who attended the lecture by
DR.. Edwin A. Blake last evening lis
tened to something worth hearing Tn
der the title, Air Castles and How to
Build Them" Dr. Blake came to the de-
fence of the proper use of the imagina.
ton, and declared the vision to be a
necessary prerequisite Of a career
There was relish of humor through IL
all, as when he alluded TO his expert
ence with an Oriental in Egypt who
wanted to sell him a mummy. He told
the astonished native that we had plenty
Of those things over in America. and
live ones too.
The members OF the Williamstown
grange will serve an antiquarian supper
at their hall Wednesday evening, Jan
uary 25, from to s o'clock. Bean
porridge, boiled dinner, baked Indian
pudding and old-fashioued raised dough
nuts are among the good things to be
found on the tables, which win be light
ed with old-style tallow candles. Fol
lowing the supper, an entertainment will
be given, consisting OF old songs, reci-
tations, readings, etc, by people in old
style costumes. Come eat OF the food
our grandmothers cooked and hear the
songs they sung. Everybody invited to
dress old style.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Emma Goldman is still receiving her
usual bit of free advertising given when
she is refused permission to speak in a
public hall. Columbus, Ohio, is the lat
est place to keep this woman before the
public eye in this manner. They may
learn some time that this is not dis
pleasing to the woman, but that it really
gives her the publicity which makes her
address in the next town better draw
ing card, with corresponding increase in
receipts.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Gov. Foss is even charged with re-
electing Senator Lodge; but the charge
should be taken with grain of salt,
since it is followed by another statement
to the effect that Foss can even yet
make a good governor, the statement
being tacit admission of bias in the
first premise In any event, Gov. Foss'
influence in the recent election was of
the vanishing quantity.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Not all people will credit the reason
advanced by Senator Martin p. f. Curley
of the Massachusetts, legislature, in ex-
planning the chance of his vote from Mr.
Whipple to Mr.. Lodge, that he was
asked to do it by his friend, Ned Cur
tbs, and therefore he did. 1t certainly
establishes new plane of craftsmanship
to do as ones friends tell one to do
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

While facing the necessity of direct
tax, Vermont people are to-day inclined
TO breathe a sigh of satisfaction that
they are not compelled to meet an out
lay to repair FIRE damages on the State
House. The ineipient fire of yesterday
morning in the speakers Office annex,
while in itself small, might easily have
assumed very dangerous proportions but
for the timely appearance of the alta
ehes of the State House in their rounds
of early morning duty. Hence, it is
with feeling of relief that the public
heard of the prompt squeIching of the
flames The sweepers certainly earned
their salaries that time.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

There wasn't much in Pownal, and
there's less to-day, after yesterdays
visit of the fire fend. This element
is an active agent toward depopulat-
ing Vermont by destroying its indus
tries.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

The officials of the Central Vermont
or the Grand Trunk railroad might con.
fer distinct favor, If they would an
nomce whether or not it was joke
that statement about the railroads
erecting hotels along its route in Yer
mont. The statement given out just at
this time, when the Central is fighting
the Boston & Maine in the Vermont
legislature, looks rather suspiciously like
a piece Of batting. We should like TO
be told if we're wrong in the conclusion.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Would not State House fire corps
be handy organization, made up of
workmen about the building who have
been trained in this extra duty?
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Danville, Ill.,, is sick with vote corr
ruption.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

shunted to the sidetraek by the Yer
mont legislature Central Vermont?
WELL perhaps. And then, again, there's
the Senate,
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

New York has it's deadlock and YER
mont its timeloek; but the former will
probably break its lock sooner.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Yale university wants $5o,00o,O0o for
endowment. That makes the university
of vermont's request FOR a single million
look extremely modest.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

senator.elect Lippitt of Rhode Island
ought to be a good talker
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

Frank E. Langley, Publisher.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20
TALK OF THE TOWN

There is style, quality and economy
in every waist purchased at the Paris
Shirtwaist House Currier block.
The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-20

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1911.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-24

general invitation is extended to all
to attend.
The topic of The Christian En-
deavor meeting in the Parish House
at 80 will be "An Evening with Mis-
sions in South America" The meet
ing will be IN charge of the visiting
committee. Everyone invited.
At the mid-week service on We'd
nesday evening the subject to be
considered will be Jesus and Ma
ture," The suggested lesson is Mat
thew 1894. These mid-week serv-
ices are found very helpful to all
who attend.
Latter Day Saints, Reorganized.
Church on King Street near Thomas
Square.
g:45 a. m.-Sunday school. Classes
in both Hawaiian and English. Les
son June 25th, quarterly review.
II a. m.-Morning worship. Sermon
in Hawaiian and English.
6 p. m.-ZiOn's Religio-Literary So
ciety. Lesson June 25th, quarterly re-
view. Also musical and religious pro
eram,
1880 p. m.-Evening worship, Ser
mon in English.
We invite investigation, taking the
Bible as the standard by which to
Judge Everybody welcome
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-24
HIGHER WAGES
CONTINUED from page one.)

and as the result of the lack of labor
on the plantation it is said that the
mill has been forced to shut down
for some hours at a time, for lack OF
cane.
The japanese side of the case, as
told by their attorney, Harry Irwin,
is also interesting. He says that the
trouble dates back to the time when
the Japanese on Waiakea forced the
management to give them leases and
contracts. Up to that time there had
been no contracts, except verbal ones
and the Japanese were compelled to
rely entirely upon the word of the
they got. They complained, and
finally went on strike. Sheba was
sent up here to settle the matter,
and as the result leases have been
the rule since It is understood that
only part of his fees and expenses
were paid at that time. Since this
trouble the Japanese claim that Man
ager Kennedy has been trying to get
rid of the Japanese leaders in that
movement. who are the same men
now under arrest.
Charges Are Resented.
They say that they went to Camp No.
7 to notify the Japanese there of a
meeting at which it was proposed 20
raise money, but that there was no
shouting or boisterous knocking on
doors. They also state that the Jap
anese from whom Mr.. Kennedy OBJ
tains his information was a leader
in organizing the Waiakea japanese
Planters Association, but is now
against it because he failed to obtain
the leadership himself, and the hui
whom he represents. In regard to
the charge of vagrancy, they are very
sore, saying that the men are not
Migrants, as each of those arrested IS
said to have from twenty to forty
acres of cane under lease and cult
walton. They are talking of bringing
heavy damage suits against Kennedy
for malicious prosecution.
During and before the court session
today there was no disturbance of
any kind, the Japanese being very
quiet and we'll behaved. Though
their leaders advised them to go
home, they refused to do so, saying
that they wanted to stay and see for
themselves just what was happen
ing.
The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-06-24
CENTRAL UNION CHURCH.

Two visiting ministers will occupy
the pulpit of Central Union Church
on Sunday.
At the morning service Rev. Ed
ward B. Turner, pastor of the Maka-
wal Union Church at Paia, Maui, will
preach on THE Touch of Faith, ="
using for his text, Mark 1927.
At the evening service at 1880 n.
m. the Rev. Rowland b. Dodge, pas
tor of the Wailuku Union Church,
will speak.
The quartet, consisting of Miss
Edith Rosslyn Collais, soprano; Mrs.
Charles S. Weight, altos Mr. Arthur
Wall, tenor, and Mr.. George A,
Brown. bass, will furnish music at
both services.
The Bible School will meet as
usual at $3.50 a. m. with Superintend-
ent Bowen i'm charge.
An adult Bible class for ladies and
gentlemen is being conducted at the
Sunday school hour in the church par
Tor by Prof. John w. Gilmore, A