The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-23

From the New Yoork Herald.
 Yes. I noticed that little story from Georgia about a project to have monkeys do all the cotton picking" said Col. Rob er't Jasper of Birmingham, Ala, as he settled himself comfortably in. an easy chair in the lobby of the Marlborough.
 Great idea, isn't it?" he continued with a chuckle. Reminds me of one of my cid friend Musgrove's practical jokes Musgrove was one of the .sharpest busi- ness men I ever knew, but always had time for practical joke. He made his great pile in the old real estate boom days in Birmingham, and 1t was at that time that he played the joke l have in hind.
 "In those days things were wild in Bir- ningham. Men made money in every thing and would take stock Tn anything That was exactly what made 1t .possipie for Musgrove to carry out his ridiculous Joke. Just when things at their widest d sprightly young fellow came to Br- ningham from some place in Mississippi He had accumulated about s15,000 and>-he looked for a chance to double it in about two months.
 One of the first men he went to was Musgrove, for Musgrove was known all over the south for his remarkable finan- cial success. Jackson-that was the young fellows name as I recall-just dcgged the life out of Musgrove, begging him to in- vest his money for him. Musgrove kept putting him off till he finally got tired of the mans opportunities and resolved to have some fun out of him. So Musgrove went to several of his friends, Col. Ralph Armstrong, Colonel Bankhead and myself included, and told us about the young man and instructed us if he came to any af ous to tell him that Musgrove had some great scheme under way ana that there might be chance for him te get in if he was persistent enough.
 Sure enough, Jackson dropped in on Colonel Bankhead in couple of days, and the colonel told him of Musgroves great secret scheme. Jackson went wild at once. hunted up Musgrove and almost went down on his knees begging him to take his $15,00O and put it into the scheme, no matter what it was. Musgrove hemmed and hawed and offered many objections, but finally said there was just t15,000 worth of stock not yet sold, which he had been holding for his brother. But as long Jackson was so anxious he would let him have it and not tell his brother anything about it.
 Jackson was, of course, delighted He quickly turned his money over to Musgrove and promised to be on hand at the first meeting of the 'stockhold- CTS, the next day Musgrove sent us all word and we gathered the next day fa his office, all eager to ledrn what tnis wonderful but mysterious project was.
 First off, Musgrove nominated Jack sor for president, and then one of us nominated Musgrove for treasurer. But having been elected unanimously Jack son called the meeting to order, ap- pointed me temporary secretary and suggested that the time was ripe For Musgrove to enlighten the stockhold- CTS as to the nature of his project. Musgrove rose promptly, and unrolling a big roll of papers, heavy with seals and ribbons and covered with sprawl ing and ilegible signatures, proceeded to explain that the capital of the com pany was s400,00O fully paid; that the cempany's headquarters would be in Birmingham. but that it's chief fields of operation Would be plantation about 25 miles from Birmingham and the wilds of South America and Africa.
 "Then Musgrove paused and appar- entity was aboutto' take his seat with out saying anything more. Jackson was on pins and needles. it4
 ''But what is the business we are going into, Colonel Musgrove?' he asked in tcnes that revealed his anxiety.
 ' 'Oh,, yes,' said Musgrove I almost forgot that. Why, we are going to buy, sell, raise and train monkeys as farm laborers. They are now being used on the great plantations in South America and are found capable of doing all the work in the fields better than it can be