davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

her upper works, and when repaired the upper deck was removed and the masts reduced by one.
 Although experiments in steam nayiga- tion date back to the middle of the six teenth century, the practical fruition of the idea was only attained nearly 300 years later in Americn. In 17s7 John Fitch propelled the Perseverance by steam upon the Delaware at the rate of three miles m hour. Disheartened by failure to secure support for the promotion of shis invention, Fitch committed suicide two years later.
 It remained for Fulton to overcome the obstacles under which his predecessors succumbed. His first successful trial was upon the Seine; but it did not elicit from the French the encouragement which the inventor had been led to expect. He transferred the sceiK of his operations to his native country and in 1907 the Claremont, steamboat of his construc- tion, made the trip from New York to Albany. This event marked the begin ming of successful steam navigation. A | great number of steamboats were launched in different parts of the world in the years immediately following.
 The first steamboat to cross the Allan tic was the "SavGnnah which made the voyage in 1S19, but as it depended large ly upon its sails the cause of steam nay igation was not greatly advanced by It's exploit It was not until 20 years later thnt a vessel, relying entirely upon it's boilers. crossed from England to Ameri- ca. But the struggle between steam and sail continued until after the middle of the last century and was only terminated In favor of the former hv tho intrndnc-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

tion of triple expansion engines. the adop- tion of the screw and the substitution of iron for wood in the hulls
 The rivalry between Great Britain and !. America in steam navigation was very keen and for years the latter nation held the 4ascendency. In the carly fifties the Collins Line of New York built four fine shiye which wrested the supremacy of At lantic from the cunard Line. The ini- tial trip of the first of these vessels the Arctic created as much of a sensation as the first voyage of the Lusitania.
 The Collins liner left New York on her maiden run. March 20, 1852, carrying what was then the unusually large num- Der of 45 passengers. Once fairly out to sea- all sail was set, and with paddles revolving at full speed. The most mag nifcent vessel afoat' started on q stag gering course across the Atlantic. She rolled fearfully and the passengers de- clnred that gale blew throughout the voyage, but, on the evidence of the log, 1t was never more than stiff breeze, and that either dead aStern or on the star board beam. so that the high run of sos miles was not much to boast of. The Sovereign of the Sens or the Red Jacket would have made equal headway under similar conditions.
 The Arctic" is thus described by a Journalist who made this first voyage in her: -Never did there hoat upon the ocean q more magnificent palace than that which now bears us. Our ship Is 2SO feet in length, The promenade deck. as we now sail is ds high above wuter as the ridgepOle of m ordinary two-story house. The dining saloon 1sa large, airy, beautiful room. 82 feet long and 30 feet
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

route was an unfailing object of inter- est to the tourists who are all the while journeying to Washington from all parts of the country, and the guides who pilot strangers about the city could always astonish their charges when they re- tailed the amazing totals of the wealth the old wagon had held in It's history whole trainloads of money, almost as much, indeed, as exists ill the whole world today.
 But this portable landmark of Uncle Sam's financial district has had to give way before the march of progress in the Treasury. In it's stead there has lately been placed in service a new money motor or currency car, specially designed and constructed for the govern ment. Ultimately there will be two of these horseless vehicles, and they nre going to work wonders as time and labor savers. The new money mover is capable of carrying half again as much money as the horse-d drawn vehicle, and is capable of much speedier operation. h. deed. so much more expeditions is it in the delivery of bulky loads that the bu- reau officials are planning to have the new vehicle do double service, and not only deliver the fresh output of money, but also the nations postage stamps. You know, the Bureau of Engraving and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
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of the new currency car a few years hence.
 As far back as the oldest inhabitant can remember this loading and unloading of Uncle Sans most valuable product has been carried on at what is known as the east front of the Treasury This has meant that the handling of the boxes, bags and cases in which the money is transported has taken place on Pennsyl vania avenue, in full view of the passing throng. Pretty risky, maybe you think, when it is taken Into consideration that each wheeled packing cnse that is rolled out of the vehicle from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing contains 412,O00 notes or bills, which means S412,0 2,000, if the currency be of the s1 denomination, or s4, ,120. .O00. If the contents be $10 bills. Well, evidently the officials concluded that 1t was tempting fate, as well as wasting time, to unload thus in the pub lie eye, and accordingly they are con structing new basement entrance to the Treasury over on the opposite side of the building, next to the White House. and here the loading and unloading of money will be carried on In sheltered courtyard but with sharpshooters watch ing as they do now from concealed want age points to see to it that no suspicious characters take an undue interest in the proceeding. a
 Once inside the Treasury a large pro portion of all the made money now delivered there goes to a new vault that has latey been completed far underground below the massive granite building. Uncle Sam's newest and largest money chest cost the government more than $34.O00, and Is one of the finest vaults In the world, if not the finest. It is 54 feet in length, about 20 feet wide and 1G feet high and it's interior has 15,000 steel pigeonholes each made just large enough to accommodate a package containing 4,O00 bank notes. The walls of this subterranean safe are of the heaviest steel and the monster door has locks with four combinations, but the main safeguard for the buried wealth lies in an electric protective system that cost $0,000, and which enmesl1es the entire vault in closedrawn network of electric wires-more than 1T miles of wire In all The slightest interference with any wire at any point will sound alarms and the system is tested every 10 minutes day and night to. see that 1t is in perfect working order. Af
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

money that filled the old wagon on the trips 1t made with clocklike regularity these dozen years past? We'll. no, not exactly. To the casual observer 1t looked like full fedged money in every sense of the word, but. for all that the print CTS at the Bureau had virtually com pleted the greenbacks' and the 'yel- lowbacks," 1t wasn't. in intrinsic value, so much as half made money, because 1t lacked the significant little seal of blue or red that conferred upon each slip of paper the dignity of legal tender. Un- til q new months ago this seal was not impressed on each bill until 1t reached the Treasury Building, and consequently the officials never worried much lest any body should try to steal currency that, in it's uncompleted state. would not pass muster with any banker or keen-eyed business man. Now, however, thanks to the economical new combination machines which have been referred to above the sealing" of the currency is done in conjunction with the other operations of manufacture at the bureau. Hence 1t is simon pure wealth that is wheeled along the streets of Washington these days, and the officials have devised an elabo- rate new system of safeguards for the money in transit.
 Foremost of these safeguards is the new automobile itself which has a body of steel and wood strong enough to re- sist almost anything save a dynamite ex- ploson and which likewise has the speed to run away from robbers, If necessary something in which the old wagon was lacking. Moreover, the motorcar Is sur round ed, whenever there Is money aboard, by force of picked guards such as the old wagon could never boast of. These special policemen, all former non-com- missioned officers of the United States Army, and expert revolver shots, are in uniform and each Is armed with the latest approved type of magazine gun. Two of the guards ride with the chauf- feur on the front seat of the car while three or four occupy positions on seat across the back of the car, and one mounted officer accompanies the automo- bile, acting as a sort of scout and hold ing up street traffic along the route of the 'joy ride The new money car will carry as much as 5000 GOO on single trip, and inasmuch as the three faithful horses, Tom, Ned and Lee, which were lately retired on pension, had hauled during the past II years !, total of $14,- 0OO,0OO, 900, 1t can be surmised what a transportation record will be to the credit
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

~ CIENCE has an interesting word to
 say. on the subject of the origins - of the various delicious fruits, which mankind cultivates at the present era It Is only just to man to state that many of our most valuable fruits owe most Of their good qualities to skilful manipula- tion on the part of humanity.
 Most fruits took their present shape in periods so remote that when the era of human history opened the fruits like the domestic animals were already known and used by semicivilized man. Yet on the other hand the fruits most in use at the present time have been wonderfully improved by horticulture within the last 900 years. ss'
 The pineapple. for example, was un- known before the year 1850, when it was found in Brazil by the explorer. John de Leri, growing in the tropical jungle. The wild pineapples was very small, very woody In its textnre and by no means as sweet and juicy as the present-day article. It was cultivated in France for POO years before even the wealthy could obtain many of them, and only within the past 90 years has the pineapple been brought into its perfected state and put at price within the reach of the ordi- nary purse.
 On the other hand, that most delicious of all fruits, the royal favored apricot, was known to the Greeks at the time of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
Scientific Evolutio11 of Fruits.

Homer and figured among the dainties Of the famous banquets of Lucullus. Like most things whose origin dates back of human history. the origin of the apricot Is placed in China. This Is done because 1t Is found In wild state in China, where its fruit is smaA and bitter, show. ing what countless centuries of cultiva- tion has done for this particular fruit F People still living can recall when the humble ordinary tomato was q tiny and unusual growth that was ranked as a fruit and called the 'love-apple.' It's tremendous increase In size and its even more marvellous increase in abundance shows strikingly just what intelligent cul tivation by man can accomplish fin the evolution of fruit or vegetable.
 Pear trees were found in Europe among the Greeks at the dawn of history and for 5000 years the care and intelligence of men have been studying the best methods of increasing the size and flavor of the pears. As a result 1t can be safe ly maintained that no Greek hero or king ever possessed pears equal to those that the present-day child can buy with q few pennies.
 The fruits as described here are. of course, only the primitive forms of the cultivated fruits Modern fruticulture has developed almost countless brands of nearly every well-known fruit, all of which have some special quality to recom- mend them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

Department. These new-fangled money makers were combination machines-that Is, each did the work that had formerly required several different pieces of appar- atus. Consequently, many old machines were displac ced and there was no need for services of dozens of men and women who had formerly operated these now superhuous pieces of equipment. The net result was that the operating force at the Treasury Department was reduced to the tune of something like POO persons, and there was brought about a saving of many thousands of dollars.
 Now in this good year 1911 the powers that be are going to tackle the other half of their huge house-clea ming contract. They are revising the methods of handling new-made money from the time it leaves the currency factory until it reaches the ultimate consumer" and improving the system for storing the nations surplus wealth, and be it explained this latter is a new horn of the dilemma for. thanks to the emergency currency act Uncle Sam must now keep in reserve at all times about $500. 100000 of legal tender in excess of what he ever had laid by for a rainy day at any time in the past. This present undertaking may not result in such sweeping economies as did the new wrinkles in money making last year,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
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but it is fully as interesting and will be even more significant, perhaps, in its re- suits.
 A particularly up-to-date angle of the rev status of affairs has been found In the introduction of a gigantic automo- bile to perform every day the most re- sponsible job of draying known to the world. All currency, embracing bank notes, gold and silver certificates, etc. produced by the United States govern ment Is printed at the money manufac- tory connected with the Treasury-a printery known as the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Now, this odd print shop is not located in the Treasury. but its 4000 employees oc- cupy a building Of their own some half a mile away. Hence, 1t becomes neces- sary to transfer the paper money, as fast as it is printed to the Treasury Depart ment Building proper, where the legal tender Is stored away in huge reserve vaults to be drawn upon as needed to replenish the circulating medium.
 From time out Of mind, we might all most say, this transfer of money had been made by means of a big wagon. looking very much like an overgrown "black maria.'' This somber van, as drawn by three powerful white horses 1t rumbled back and forth on its short
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

Printing turns out our postage stamps as well as our paper money, but here tofore special wagons have been required to take these to the General Postofilce Building, whence they are shipped to postmasters all over the lapd.
 With it's own electric plants in con- stant operation day and night, and lots of electricity going to waste, so to speak, it will not in reality cost the govern ment anything to supply juice" for the storage batteries of its newest au- tomobile. That means about S1,200 a year to the good over the present outlay for feeding and caring for horses. keep ing harness in repair, etc. After all, how ever, the most highly esteemed qualif cation of this new horseless money van, is that it affords greater security for its precious cargo. Now, of course, 1t is very desirable to have all the protec ton possible when you are toting snch a valuable parcel around town, the more so because there Is now more money in the strong box on wheels at every trip than there ever was in the old days. But the reason why the extra precau- tions for this new portable safe have been imperative is that 1t is now real money which is shifted from the Bureau to the Treasury three times day.
 But, you are asking, wasn't it real
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

wide, where 200 guests can dine conlfor- tably. The parlor Is embelIished in the very highest style of art There are nine cooks on board whose united wages amount to $4,OOO q year. The ships crew consists of 135 men. There are four boilers. each heated by eight furnaces, and unitetlly these consume 80 tons of coal a day. The two engines are of ,00D horse -power,and the weight of these enorrnous machines Is 800 tons. Fifty-two men escohstantly employed in their ser vice. The ship carries about 3.000 tons, '
 The ''Arctic'' left New York at noon of Saturday, March 20, and anchored in the Mersey at 7soclock of the evening of March 8l. mnking what 6as for that tirle' remarkably speedy trip.
 The Collins Line bost markedte srept
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22
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>HE presence in the port of New
 York recently, at one and the same
 time, of that finest example of mod " ern shipbuilding, the Lusitania, and
 the oldest American vessel afoat, the little schooner Polly afforded an i'm pressive illustration of the wonderful de- velopment that has occurred In naval architecture during the past century. The Polly was built In 1895, and at that period was considered quite up to date. Though only of 45 tons register. she was one of the most active and successful privateers in the War of 1872 Heavily armed and carrying crew of IS men. she was formidable opponent and frequently at tackled vessels several times as large as herself. During the two years of hos tilities she took il prizes, including three or four large merchantmen. Once only was she defeated In her many fights and on that occasion she fell captive to a British frigate, greatly superior to herself in size and armament. Before the close of the war she was recaptured by the Americans
 This little 60-foot schooner has rounded Cape Horn six times and has twice sailed completely round the world.
 Tn the first half of the nineteenth cen tury substantial improvement took place in the form and rig of sailing craft both in America and Europe. It was during this period that the styles which prevail today were evolved. The old high poop decks and quarter galleries disappeared with the lateen and lug sail. the sharp stern was permanently abandoned and vessels became longer In proportion to beam The schooner rig became thoroughly popularized and the fast vessels of the day were the brigs and schooners, which were made long gvand low in the water. The changes made In hull and rig in this stage of evolution had for their object in- crease of speed and ease in handling. A merchantman of those days was liable at any time to be called upon to fight or to run from an overstrong enemy.
 In this development America outstripped all rival nations and her vessels were the fastest and most beautiful upon the seas This was the palmy period of our shipping trade when packets sailed, with freight. mail and passengers, on regular schedules from all the principal ports of the United States. The superiority of this service lay not less in the crews than in the vessels themselves. Competition against them was maintained as long as possible by foreign lines. but they gradually drove nearly all their rivals out of business. They were generally two-deckers, of about 1000 tons register, previous to 1S40 In that year the first three-deck packet, the splendid Guy Mannering started on her maiden voyage from New York. She had | poop and topgallant forecastle deck, was 100 feet long 40 feet beam and 26 feet deep in the hold. At 20 feet draught above the keel she would carry 2400 tons
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

of cargo. This build theEceforth became the popular style of packet.
 These vessels were capable of wonder ful speed under favorable conditions. and for many years after the introduction of steamships furnished the quickest means of passage. The James Baines ran from Boston to Liverpool in F days and hours; the Red Jacket once reached New York 131a days after leaving Liverpool; the Mary Whiteridge made the trip from Baltimore in 13 days and hours. How ever. the usual time was 10 or 20 days from New York to Liverpool and from 30 to 35 days on the homeward trip.
 One of the American packets, the Great Western. sailed regularly from New York on the 4th of March each year with a copy. of the presidents message to Con- xress. As beitted the noblest vessels of their day, the packets had high sounding names. Among the most celebrated of these greyhounds were the President Vanguard, Orbit. United States, Hercules, Napoleon and Independence.
 The packets were the fast ships from 1915 to 1s45. After them came the clip pers, designed primarily for fast freight Ing and to meet the demand for the rapid transportation of tea, coffee. spices dried fruit and other cargoes liable to deterior- ate on long voyage. These vessels sat low in the water, had broad beams, sharp bows and fine waterlines. One of the earliest clippers. the Rainbow once went to Canton and back In months and 14 days, three weeks of the time having been spent in loading and discharging cargo. This time was two months short of that previously occupied by such voyage. The Sea Witch, one of the most celebrated craft of her day. made the voyage from New York to San Francisco in 97 days. She was n sharper vessel than any of her predecessors, with rakine bow beauty of form throughout The ships of this class had tall and raking masts, and the yards were so long that they spread an enormous area of canvas to the wind.
 American built vessels of the clipper class gained and mnlntained the lead. al- though hard pressed by British, rivals. There were several famous races between American and English clippers from China to their home ports. Once the Chrysolite and Stormaway flying the Union Jack, and the Surprise and Challenge. with tho Stars and Stripes at the peak, engaged in such contest. The British vessels ar rived at Liverpool in 1O8 and 109 days, respectively, and the American ships at New York in 105 and 108 days.
 The discovery of gold in California gave a great impetus to the building of clip pers. An immense number of persons de- manded passage, and everything that they needed had to be carried from the East to the Pacific Coasf. Tn 1850 and the years immediately following. as many as 200 keels were sometimes anchored in
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-22

advance in steam navigation. but how great development hus been made since can be judged with the aid of few facts and figures relating to the Lusitania and the sister ship Mauritania, which is built on practically the same specifications
 Thtse wonderful vessels were the first to reduce the Atlantic voyage to i've days, which necessitates an average speed of 23 knots. They are nearly S0O feet in length. 6O feet in depth. and have "a total displacement of 33.2OO tons. They have passenger capacity of 540 first clnss 460 second class aud 1.2'W third class In their furnishings they are us Luxurious as the most splendid modern hotel. They are driven by turbine en- zines of 7O.OOO horsepower. Their daily consumption of coal is' l,006 tous