davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
May Return to Birmingham

c. A. Mountjoy of Tulsa. Oklahoma after spending few days in Birming- ham, left yesterday afternoon for New York. He was a resident of Birmingham for several years and was esteemed as one of the most prominent lawyers in this part of the state. He was at one time law partner of the late John W. Tomlin- son. Removing from Birmingham to New York MT. Mountjoy practiced law in the metropolis until a year ago when he went to Oklahoma to live.
 Birmingham has improved wonder- fully since 1 last saw it." said MT. Mount joy. 'I always did like this city, and it is possible that I will return here and make it my home once more.
 Tulsa, where I am now living, IS a town of 25.O00 population and is growing fast. Oklahoma is @ great state. It IS filling up rapidly with a good class or home seekers. But all in all Alabama offers more inducements to home seek CTS than any state with which l am familiar. As for myself I have always been partial to Birmingham. This IS fine city and 1t has a splendid future
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
CoMsTOCK WARS ON POSTERS

From the New York American
 Anthony Comstock has started out to check the crime wave by placing the ban on every billboard in the city that de- picts pistol play of any description. Among the reputable authors that he considers having an immoral influence when their scenes are pictured Is Henry Arthur Jones, and agents of the Society for the Suppression of Vice we're busy pasting white slips of paper over the thrilling scenes from The Dancing Girl" one of Jones' pieces.
 Theatrical managers who have ordered large amounts of posters showing a re- volver in action are highly wrought up by MT. Comstock's censorship.
 Every manager If the play warrants 1t. has a revolver scene among his eight and sixteen sheets as the larger billboard paper is designated and he goes to an ex- pense frequently of from s5OO0 to s10,00O billing his show.
 If MT. .comstocws order is enforceable through the courts, and Comstock says that it is, it means practical confiscation of :5o,000 worth of paper ordered by man agers.
 Mir Comstock has written to the mana gers of the Thalia and Academy of Music, saying that in posting picture scenes de- picting bloodshed they are disobeying the law. If that be so, the theatrical man. agers declare they might as well close their theatres, for then the actual scenes, which are much more vivid, must neces- sarily be misdemeanors.
 Also they believe that MT. Comstock has overstepped the interpretation of the statute regarding billboard displays, and they intend to continue to advertise their show as they always have, fighting the issue in the courts if necessary.
 "Comstock's attitude is ludicrous," said Sam livingston. the manager of the Acad- emy of Music which has fallen under the ban because of posters of ''The Dancing Girl" ''Seventy-five per cent of the best plays have some scene where revolver or a knife is brought'into use for a dra- matic climax. The effect is always moral, and to attack it is to attack our best and most reputable dramatists.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
THE UNDERWOOD BIRCH.

From the Buffalo News
 Mir. Bryan in his capacity of party peoagogue and general boss undertook to criticize Chairman Underwood as. sumng after his usual fashion, certain things were true, such as that MT. Un- derwood, who is interested in iron, pur- posely delayed action on the iron and steel. schedule out of self-interest.
 It was but an easy task for the chair man to show that MT. Bryan's criticism was haseless, that he spoke in ignorance ana that he is fussy and bossy and is not needed; in substance, MT. Underwood told MT. Bryan where he got off. There seems to be no other current term that quite so completely expresses the summary buna- ling of MT Bryan off, the cart that he got at the hands of MT. Underwood
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
Progress of the Veto Bill

Just as the British reform bill of 1882 was passed in the upper house without the creation of new peers, so no doubt will the veto bill be passed before August IS in the house of lords. The Balfour motion to censure the government for asking for and obtaining the Kings consent to create new peers, if need be, was doubtless the last act of the opposition. The government was sustained by its ac- customed majority in the commons when the vote of censure was taken. The Halsbury insurgents endeavored during the debate to discredit the leadership of MT. Balfour and Lord Lansdowne, but they accomplished nothing in any direction.
 The whipping, of the Halsburyites is progressing, and when the veto bill is sent back to the lords it is predict ed the Halsbury revolt will dwindle to insignificance, and the bill will be passed without the creation of any new peers. The story of 1882, which is now history, will repeat itself. It was the Duke of Wellington who sur rendered in 1882
 The problem is not after all very
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
TO STOP PLOTTING
From Harper's Weekly.

From Harpers Weekly.
 Word comes from Paris of 300 success full experiments with the stablisator, an invention which automatically steadies the equilibriums of aeroplanes, and keeps them from upsetting in coming to earth. It sounds like good thing, and they tell us that the inventor, M. Doutre, is sup plementing it by another contriyance to maintain a lateral equilibrium, and ex- poets to revolutionize aviation.
 This is encouraging news as well as interesting. It makes one feel that great public needs are pretty sure to inspire remidies. It helps ones faith that if the Supreme Court has not already of fered a sufficient stabiisator to the trusts. somewhence there is one coming to them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
The Greatest of the Evils

(Which of the social evils that afriict us," asked a well-known amateur soci- ologist, "can compare with ignorance? Ignorance has ever been mans greatest foe-the source of misfortune, mistakes, mseries-the standing menace to progress, individual, national, racial.
 "All of our public educational expendi- lures and efforts-public schools high schools, state colleges, are expressions or our partial appreciation of this patent fact, since these schools, with the excep. ton of the vocational sections at Auburn and Tuscaloosa. are avowedly preparatory for real education-the real education got ten from experience. oral tradition and most important of all, from the accumu- lated knowledge of the race recorded in printed books
 "The education that tells seems to be the continuous kind, kept up throughout life, and when an individual in any call ing ceases his educational activity he is tains with the individual obtains with the collection of individuals, known as the Icommunity.
 Intelligent self interest would seem to indicate, then, that we not only provide free books of all kinds in our public libraries but would further indicate that
 we induce our citizens by all possible means to make use of these books for continuous adult education.
 "Wes combine to fight smaller social evils. we 'orate' and we enthuse' about evils that are not comparable. We sn- gender enthusiasm plus. and, enmity over the prescribed way a citizen may procure liquor. We get excited over the possibil- ity of the commissioners permitting nov
 ing piFures seven afternoons in the week.
 Would 1t not be feasible to employ a DOT ton of our enthusiasm in the fight against this greatest of the social evils, this
 mother of all the breed-ignorance?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

a big majority, and I was surprised, there-. fore, when they won only by a few thou and in a total vote of about 5oo,00o In the light of present facts l believe II the state-widers had pressed their cause two years ago they would have scored big victory which would. in my judgment, have been bad for the business interests of Texas.
 There are thousands of Texans, no doubt. who voted the prohibition ticket last month who will be glad two years hence,~or sooner, that the state escaped constitutional prohibition.
 Tn Maine, where prohibition has been a part of the organic law for something like 30 years the democratic party made a great fight for a resubmission Of the question to the people, and in the cleo tion In September it is pretty safe bet that the democrats will be victorious Local option is democratic doctrine, and it must seem strange to northern demo- crats that so many southern democrats are ultra -prohibitionists. But the prohi- biton wave has spent itself, and it will not be long probably before Georgia and Tennessee vote themselves back to a local option basis as Alabama has done. One reason why Tennessee and Georgia have long Is because the laws were not of the drastic sort that the radical element in Alabama succeeded in passing. A strang- CT visiting the cities of Tennessee would not think he was in a prohibition state,'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
A RAILROAD STORY,

fireman was up for examination for promotion to the position of engineer. He passed d fair test on the rules and ma- chinery, but during all of it the examiner was constantly lecturing him as to the need of economy in the use of fuel and oil; so that by the time he finished his ex- animation 1t was pretty well on his nerves. Having finished the technical part, the examiner thought ,he would put the man in a critical position to see what he might do in an emergency; so he put this question: "Supposing you are the engineer of freight train on a single track and you are in head-on collision with a passenger train and you know that you could not stop your train, that a collision could not be averted, what would you do?" The man, unstrung by the viz orous instruction he had received as to economy, replied in this way: "Why, I would grab the oil can in one hand and lump of coal in the other, and jump"
 -Atchison Globe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
Making Up ones Mind

| There are many kinds of prohibition lists" said a citizen. First, there is the lprohibitionst who Is 'actuated altogether by principle. He will admit that prohi-
 bition does not prohibit as well as he lad hoped it would, but on the whole he con siders it his duty to vote against liquor
 in any shape or form. He opposes sa- looms and he opposes dispensaries. He | votes dry whenever the opportunity pre- sents itself.
 Then there is the prohibitonist whose pride of opinion rather than principle makes him an uncompromising op- ponent of the liquor tariff. lis pride of opinion dominates him and he is so full of egotism that he ,an- not see straight when complex moral questions arise. These pride-of- f-opinion men are quite numerous in politics. Those who proclaimed themselves in 1896 Bryan democrats and in favor of 16 to 1 will still argue that free silver is good doctrine, and the same character of politician who once said he was for prohibition will al- ways be a prohibitionist. The old saying that wise men change, but fools never, is as true today as ever But there are many men who, from pride of opinion, admit to themselves that the blind tiger is curse and that the only way to clean out the blind tiger is to have strictly regulated saloons, yet on account of their pride of opinion they will not change when it comes to voting.
 Another class of prohibitionists is made up of bandwagon politicians. They don't bother with principle. If they think prohibition is the winning card they are prohibitionists. When prohibition is on the down grade, as it is now, they cease to be prohibitionists. At least that is the way with many of them.
 "A great many men who voted dry in Jefferson county in 1907 were not full fledged prohibitionists. They were dis gusted with the dives in Birmingham and they voted with the Anti-Saloon league in order to see how this city would get along without the liquor traffic. There were apparently good results from prohi bition during the first 12 months, but the blind tiger scandal got worse and worse and hundreds of men who voted dry in 1907 will vote for the saloon on August "A. They are practical men and they can see very we'll that the dispensary would not improve conditions here to any ap- preciable extent. The sale of liquor would be legalized and the blind tiger would continue I do not know whether MT. Wells forecast will come out right or not. He predicts a majority for saloons of 2200, I believe. My guess is that the majority will be between 2500 and 5000. The rank and file of those who will vote for saloons do little or no talking. Those who will vote dry and then wet on tho same ballot-the dispensary men-do a good deal of talking. It is safe to say that 97 per cent of the members of the Birmingham Business Mems league will vote for saloons and that 65 or 70 per cent of the members of the Chamber of Conr- merce will vote for saloons. It is hard for many men to make up their minds at this juncture, and for those who are wavering a good rule is to vote with the majority of the members of our business organizations.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
Buck to Alabama

That was good idea that someone suggested In a short interview in The Age-Herald a few days ago. namely, that If the railroads would get up special ex- cursions for Alabama home-comings good results would follow said a man we'll informed on the agricultural resources of the state.
 During the past 10 years several thou sound Alabamians caught the moving fever and settled in Oklahoma and other states that had been largely exploited by the railroads. Many of them have thriven, no doubt, but the majority proba- bly, now wish they were back in Alabama. Northern farmers are coming south, and within the past two or three years hum dreds of them have bought small farms in Alabama No matter how productive lands may be in other states they cannot surpass the lands in this state. The tide of home-seekers has turned this way, and by the time the next census is taken there will he very large increase in population due to northern settlers"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

Prom the New York Press. !, Most of mans money soon gets to be somebody else's.
 Some people seers to think they got married only to have free license to quarrel.
 A girl can make any old bunch of cor respondence love letters by tying it up in pink ribbon.
 You know that the bank clerk who bal ances your accounts isn't wrong, but you suspect him just the same.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
CuRED.

CURED. The merry game of politics Is often rather rough; The ''mayoress" of Hunnewell Declares she's had enough. The councilmen have jeered at her And kept her temper hot Until she loudly doth bewal Her most unhappy lot. On that sweet day when she goes back To private life, we'll bet It wouidnt be quite safe to ask, Are you suffragette?"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
Business Improvement

Business conditions in the south are good" said Leo K. Steiner. the banker. Here in tue Birmingham district there has been steady improvement for some time. The big crops in this. state will help to make genuine prosperity, and l think we will have prosperous times for at least the next F months"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
Texas Politics

'I was in Texas the week following the election in that state and several pro- hibitionists whom met spoke bitterly of the result said Phillip w. Riordan of Chicago. "1 spent nearly two weeks in Texas early in the year when the cam psign was just beginning to get interest ing. 1 thought the ants would win by
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
POLITICS

''1 have nc wish to fuss and fight"
 A certain person said But, holy smoke! that very night
 He lost his blooming head And, mixing ill all argument,
 He waXed 2" very not, He grabt ed a tfao who dare I dissent
 And whipped him on the spot.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

No one believes now-a-days that the del egates in d convention make 4 platform. Such documents are prepared by the elect long in advance. and the delegate has no more hand in it's writing than the Man in the Moon
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

G. W. Burton, who is gathering alleged statistics for the tariff board, is writing at the same time protection articles that
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
CORONATION

From Judge.
 Knicker-"Woman's crowning glory Is her hair''
 Bocker-"But she doesn't want any. body to see her put it on."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES

through the window into the unresponsivs darkness and sank back to his place. The other did precisely the same
 'Is 1t Blaekheath?' inquired the first. 'aThe Lord only knows" replied the other In hopeless fashion.
 A small, apologetic, shrinking sort or .Engisnman, sitting next, spoke up.
 T beg your pardon" he said softly, for intruding upon your personal and private conversation, but as l happen to share that knowledge with the Almighty, permit mc to say that it is Blackheath.
 August Lippincott's.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

Chicago and New York are very proud of their respective postal banks. Besse- mer has had one so long it considers it an ancient institution
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The war, or rather discontent, in the countries of the world exists in Persia Morocco, Hayti and Mexico They lack good public schools.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
A NATURAL CONCLUSION.

 "All that girls moments must be spare moments" |tt Why do you think so?" Shes so spare herself.''
 PLENTY. He kissed his little wife Twice a day. ssar. The postman did the same, So they say.
 Birmingham Age-Herald. And then the iceman
 Came along
 And kissed her as She sang a song.
 Schenectady Union. THEN HE WOKE UP. Have you heard about Tinkum's latest nightmare?" No" ''He dreamed he owned fourishing flock of breweries." ."Well?" ''Then some reformers came along and made him convert them into ice fac tories" PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

Harrison Grey Fiske says the English stage is 25 years behind the American There maid with a dusting brush opens play as rule.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
INCONSISTENT.

"I am not averse to a few words of praise"
 And yet, only the other day you told me that you preferred to have your friends speak the truth about you"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The war maneuver along the Mexican border is being dissolved just as the Mex jeans are getting ready to fight each other
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

England gains but few Americans, but those she does secure are very choice. The list is headed by Willie Waldorf As tor and Prof. Jack Johnson.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

Col. J. Ham Lewis has Parisian man. ners, but his accent is a little off
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The center of population is always live.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The barrel that went over Niagara with a man in 1t has gone on the vaudeville stage.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The automobile siren should be ban ished to Alaska or perhaps to Guam.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The waiting for the report of that tariff board is the standing political joke of the season.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The weather bureau should be eneour- aged to maintain for month or two the present reasonable temperature.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
BILLS RENDER ED

That stage lord acts like the real article"
 How so?''
 "All ;ie letters he gets have isin-glass ftonts"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
TIME TO DIE.

Oh may some bard with grief profound Prepare my epitaph, Whens serching all the world around, 1 can not find a laugh.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

London, Paris and Berlin not only have the Moroccan question, but they also have Moroccan weather.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The Canadian navy escaped from a ledge off Cape Sable. It still exists
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

Motorcycles are, in well-regulated cities, required to cough under their breath.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

pr. Percy Brown still claims to be able to photograph the soul Illinois should ask him to turn his camera on her jack pots.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

The man who walks on the wrong side of the sidewalk is almost as bad as an end-seat hog.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

WILLING TO PART WITH HER. "I'd like to be an angel"
 She warb1ed off the key, And everyone who heard her said, That's what she ought to be-"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

Potatoes are becoming proud and naughty and decidedly hard to get.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
A FIT OF ENGLISH HIJMoR.

EII UT ENGLISH HUMOR.
 The night train was approaching Black heath, outside of London, and two Ameri- Sans, uracquainted with the locality, were i:' doubt as to the station. One peered out
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09
GIRLS LINES ARE CHANGING

The European war cloud has become has-been.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

He will steal, sir, m egg out of q clOister.
 --AIps We'll That Ends Well.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-09

England gains but few Americans. but those she does secure are very choice The list is headed by Willie Waldorf As tor and Prof. Jack Johnson.
  Chicago and New York are very proud of their respective postal banks Besse- mer has had one so long it considers it an ancient institution. The war, or rather discontent, in the countries of the world exists in Persia, Morocco, Hayti and Mexico. They lack good public schools
  Harrison Grey Fiske says the English stage is 25 years behind the American There a maid with a dusting brush opens play as a rule
 ---s-=- The war maneuver along the Mexican border is being dissolved just as the Mex jeans are getting ready to fight each other. Dr. Percy Brown still claims to be able to photograph the soul Illinois should ask him to turn his camera on her jack pots.
  The weather bureau should be encour- aged to maintain for month or two the present reasonable temperature
  London, Paris and Berlin not only have the Moroccan question, but they also have Moroccan weather The man who walks on the wrong side o1 the sidewalk is almost as bad as an end-seat hog.
 The waiting for the report of that tariff board is the standing political joke of the season.
 The barrel that went over Niagara with a man in 1t has gone on the vaudeville stage.
 The automobile siren should be ban ished to Alaska or perhaps to Guam.
 e- Col. J. Ham Lewis has Parisian man. ners, but his accent is a little of"
  The Canadian navy escaped from a ledge off Cape Sable. It still exists.
  Potatoes are becoming proud and naughty and decidedly hard to get.
  cIn Loc has-been.