davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-05-11
ALASKANS IN RIOT
over COAL CASES
Show Violence in Order to Easteu
Decision by Secretary of the
Interior as to Dispute.

Cordova, Alaska, May 6.--Excitemeni
Ver the dumping OF the Alaska Steam.
ship company's coal pile into the bay
as protest against Presidents Taft's
allure to acknowledge receipt OF any
of several hundred cablegrams seEt t
him last Saturday. asking him to ex.
pedite the opening of the Alaska coa
fields. subsidized today. Deputy mar,
shals are guarding the company's prop.
erty. 1t is thought there will be M
further trouble.
The excitement caused by the gov
ernment's failure to hurry action IL
Alaska coal land cases reached d
climax here yesterday, when 800 bust.
ness men and citizens, armed WITH
shovels. marched to the ocean dock OF
the Alaska Steamship company, where
they proceeded to throw several hun
dred tons OF British Columbia coal into
the bay.
Incensed at the thought Of no reply
TO many appeals cabled to President
Taft to urge early action looking to the
opening OF the Alaska coal fields, the
citizens Of Cordova decided to follow
The example set by the Boston tes
party" and thus express the serious
crisis that has been reached in thu
Alaska coal situation.
For several days the sentiment in
favor Of some public outburst had beer
quietly growing.
FISHER WILL RENDER
HIS DECISION SHORTLY
washington, May 6.-Secretary OF
the Interior Fisher has answered the
cablegrams which were sent to Presi.
dent Taft by the citizens of Catalla
and Cordova, asking for relief from the
coal situation in that territory. Failure
to receive replies from President Taft
yesterday was responsible for the citi-
zens OF Cordova engaging In 1.-The Cor.
dova coal party"
The dispatches, of which there were
about 80, were turned over to the inte-
rior department by President Taft. In
his reply to these messages, Secretary
Fisher said that he was now studying
the situation In the territory thorough
ly, and would render such relief az
he could, as soon as possible.
The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-05-11

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The Washington times., 1911-05-20
BERGER'S CRITICISMS
SHOW WRONG SPIRIT
To the Editor of THE TIMES:

To the Editor Of THE TIMES:
After reading Congressman Bergers
interview on conditions in Washington,
1t occurred to the writer that the gen.
tleman's criticisms are unjust. II Mr.
Berger is anxious TO improve conditions
in Washington. he would be more sue
cessful II he approached the subject in
a more kindly spirit. 1t will not help
the city to divide the inhabitants into
hostile camps. Neither Is 1t wise to in
sist on radical socialistic measures as
the only means of improving conditions.
Mr.. Berger should bear in mind that
there is not a real Socialist community
in the United States II Socialists really
believed in their own doctrines. enough
of them would unite to form distinc-
tive community. where their peculiar
theories could be tried out to success
full conclusion, If such thing were
possible. -...
Denunciation OF existing conditions
and of wealthy people, "shoddy aristo-
Gratis" etc, do not help matters, but
only reveals the injustice and ill temper
of individual Socialists. Leaders Of
the party denounce Christianity, and
say they will destroy 1t when they come
into power. Yet 1t is only in Christian
countries that socialism can get a
hearing.
As to real estate in Washington, II
Mr.. Berger viii look up the subject he
will find that city lots have been sold
here by the square foot since the earliest
times. 1t is by no means a modern in
novation. If prices are high, that is
because property Is in demand, AMI
people who are buying u have faith
In the future Of the National Capital,
and are willing to pay high prices. 1t
would be impossible for ring of specu-
Again, II the facts were known, 1t would
be discovered that much money has
been lost as well as made by real estate
spectators in Washington.
Opening up, grading, and lighting
new streets in the suburbs may seem
foolish to Mr.. Berger, but If he will in
vestigate little he will find that It pro-
notes the growth OF the city. Every
new building pays it's share of taxes,
besides giving employment to mechanics
and laborers, men in whose welfare Mr..
Berger claims to be especially inter-
ested. 7. B.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
MAKES PROTEST AGAINST
PROPOSED SUNDAY LAW

To the Editor Of THE TINES:
Please catch the ones responsible for
the Johnson Sunday Observance Bill,
take their likeness, and then let the
working people erect a monument (of
ice) to them. Why all this agitation
about the moving picture theaters, like
wise stores being open on Sunday? In
the first place what chance has the av-
erage working man for recreation on
that day if the theaters are to close.
and Secondly what harm Is being done
If they are open? During all this agita-
ton have yet to hear an answer that
contains one grain of sense, all answers
being this or that, but nothing direct
being stated. Who are all these people
who want these places closed, and what
do they do on that. day? Perhaps some
of them own a horse or horses. perhaps
an automobile, and If they do, then how
do they spend their time on Sundays?
Again they may own neither of the
above, but on the contrary they belong
to a regular gossiping circle which
meets late Sunday afternoons and at
which time they procede to discuss their
neighbors in way the latter would
not like. The average working man
tolls hard all day, goes home and cleans
up for dinner, after which he finds time
to read his evening paper and have a
smoke or two, by which time 1t Is too
late to go out with the children. and
he has to go to bed to get away from
himself. Another class of wage earn
er works from about noon until late
. in the evening, while still another class
work entirely at night, and these various
classes are the ones who must suffer
from the selfishness of the so-called re-
formers, but which the writer would
call something else, and of whom there
are far too many in this country.
The moving picture theater is not a
menace, neither is 1t wrong for them to
run on Sundays, for the men and
women, boys and girls, who attend them
are enjoying inexpensive and clean am
usement instead of running the streets
like a pack of wild horses. which they
would do If these places were not allow
ed to keep. open. Close the theaters and
you drive them to the streets and parks.
keep them open, and you know where
nearly all of them are. Which would
you prefer, Mr. and Mrs. Reformer?
Another thing, there Is no law which
compels one to attend any church or
moving picture theater; those that go
to either place do so because they wish
to, and those that don't attend either
one or other place don't have to, ano
you can't make them. don't for one
minute think that the Honorable Mr..
johnson really believes in deprivtng
The Washington times., 1911-05-20

Associations is not ready to advocate
the abandonment of the modern,
equable method of street extension in
the District of Columbia, thereby ad-
vocating the taxation of the people of
the entire community for the benefit Of
the few who are developing suburban
realty. Such a thing is unthinkable,
yet if the association opposes the alley
elimination scheme it must, logically,
oppose the street extension scheme.
The "half and half principle, as we
see il, does not enter into the alley
question. The rule that damages for
opening streets shall be assessed
against adjacent property-that the ex-
pense shall be borne locally-has al
ready been laid down in the existing
alley law and in the numerous street
extension laws. The Monday Evening
Club only asks that the present statute
be amended to permit condemnation
juries to spread the benefits over a
wider area.
The great virtue in the amendment
is that its passage would mean the
actual elimination of the alley slums.
Without it, the chances are that our
PSI inhabited alleys would remain with
us indefinitely.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN AL
LEY SLUM QUESTION.

Here's a situation worthy of careful
consideration. Let us suppose, for the
sake of argument, that a syndicate of
promoters has purchased a large tract
of land in an outlying section of the
District. 1t has decided to create a
suburb in which people will be invited
to buy lots and build homes. The
first thing to be done is to get some
streets opened up through the district.
The syndicate goes to the District
Commissioners and to Congress, pro-
duces a map of the new suburb, and
has bills passed authorizing the laying
out of streets. Suppose those bills pro-
vided that the expense of building the
streets should be paid from public
funds, half from District revenues and
half from the Federal Treasury.
What would this meant
1t would mean that the people Of
the United States would foot ne-hall
and the people of Washington the
other half of the bill for the creation
of streets that would benefit the own
ers of the property to be turned into
suburb.
That's the way some streets have
been opened up through outlying sec
tions. That practice, however, has
been abandoned, because of the protest
of the people of the whole District
against furnishing money for public
improvements to benefit a few. The
practice now is to require the owners
of benefited property to meet the ex-
pense of new streets.
William Nick. Clayton, president OF
the Federation of Citizens Associa-
tions, would reverse this system, ac-
cording to his statements before the
District Commissioners yesterday. He
would have the cost of street exten-
sions provided from public funds, half
from the Government and half from
the District. He took this position in
arguing against the new plan for
elimination of alley slums, presented
to the Commissioners by representa-
tives of the Monday Evening Club. Mr..
Clayton opposed the plan of charging
the expense for converting alley slums
into minor streets to, the benefited
property, and when asked if he op-
posed the application of the same plan
to ordinary street extensions, he said
he did.
Surely the Federation of Citizens
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
BEN NGREET'S MERRY
WIVES PLEASES BIG
OUTDOOR AUDIENCE
Players Give Excellent Rem
dition of Shakespeare
Play on Lawn.

The stately oaks and luxuriant leaved
naples on the lawn of the Bristol
School formed an ideal setting for the
Shakespearean comedy, The Merry
Wives of Windsor" which was pre-
sented last evening by the Ben Greet
Players.
The success Of the presentation was
beyond question. and there was large
audience. The play is one that Is ad-
mirably suited TO an out-of-doors pro-
duction, and every condition seemed to
have been made especially for last
evenings performance.
As Mistress Page and Mistress Ford.
Grace Halsey Mills and Elizabeth VAL
entine. respectively, led poor old Fall
staff merry race, with their plotting
and intriguing. Elizabeth Patterson was
winsome and delicious Anne Page.
seen too seldom upon the stage. Ben
Greet himself, as Falstaff, was delic-
iously funny. especially in the scene
where in he seks refuge In the clothes
hamper. How to dispose of bis massive
bulk In so small a space was a ques-
ton that set the audience guessing. but
the trick was performed with success
by Mr.. Greet.
Ruth Vivian as Mistress Quickly was
charming. There always Is great
temptation to give the greater portion
Of praise to this talented young woman,
whose reading of Shakespeare lines is
delight to the ear, and whose graceful
movements appeal to the eye. Mayne
Lynton, as DR.. Gains, was all that is
required in the role of an erratic. half
crazy Frenchman. George Vivian gave
a satisfying portal OF Sir Hugh Evans.
The remainder of the cast, including
Chester Barnett, Frank McEntee, p.
Seymour Vivian, Dallas Anderson.
Thomas S. Louden, Redmond Flood,
Harry Calver, Leonard Bolton, Helen
Sheedy. and Phyllis Schuyler showed
excellent training in their conscientious
rendition Of minor parts. Adding to the
enjoyment of the nights performance
was incidental music Of the sixteenth
century by Nicolai.
At the matinee, THE Comedy of Err
rors" was given, with Mr.. Greet as the
Dromio of Syracuse, and Mr.. Vivian as
the jeweler. The other members of the
company were satisfactorily cast, but
the play Is by no means the best in the
Greet>repertoire. Only a small audience
braved the heat Of the afternoon.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
Don't F1irt If You
Would Enjoy Years

BROCKTON., Mass. May 2o-Here are
the rules by which Mrs. Mary NJ. Scrig-
gems who celebrated her ninety-seventh
birthday today. says she expectes to
live to be- one hundred:
Lots of regular hard work-fifteen
hours a dav is not tco much.
Abstain from idle sossiping about
your neighbors.
Never f1irt. for 1t is a useless waste
of energy.
Most emphatically do not read novels,
for it destroys the disposition. Women
get wrinkles worrying over the troubles
II you have vanity of dress destroy
1t. The young women of today who are
binding up their limbs with hobble
skirts. arc shortening their lives.
Keep away from dances and moving
pictures.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
THE MAN WHO WATCHES
THE THERMOMETER.

Edgar Poe wrote a story called "The
Imp of the Perverse." This is prob
ably the special form of Beelzebub
which prompts a man to watch the
Thermometer. On day when it is as
hot as Tophet it is rather wholesome
sort of philosophy to think of green
fields and running waters and leave
the weather to those who are hired
to mind the job. But there are people
possessed of the impish perversity in
question, who insist upon adding sew
eral degrees to their discomfort by
sleuthing the mercury along the whole
centigrade of its upward progress.
Nourishing their own misery, they
trust the tiny tube with sublime and
childlike faith. Skeptics who wouldn't
take the word of a sundial as evidence
that the sun was up will believe
thirty-cent thermometer in preference
to their own senses. Luxuriating in
mere genial warmth, with a fresh
breeze whispering through the trees,
curiosity-or perversity-will draw
them to the drug store corner or the
postoffce just to find out whether they
are really comfortable or rot-and then
invariably discover that they are not.
The chances are that the thermometer
in question is one that is given away
with a pound of tea and couldn't tell
the truth in three trials. 1t matters
not. The curious one has gone out
looking for trouble and, of course, has
found it. Then he passes it on to
make his neighbors unhappy, until the
archives OF the local Weather Bureau
have to be searched to convince him
that the records of forty years have
not been broken. ~
A whole body of literature has
grown up around the man who watches
the clock. Great moralists have told
us that he will never amount to any
thing in life-and have come. pretty
near proving it. He is not one of the
diligent who shall stand before princes,
but he is at least harmless compared
with the confirmed student of the
thermometers who keeps alive and
magnifes the misery of his fellow man.
By contrast he inspires a tolerance
which is almost affectionate toward
the man who reads the gas meter.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
VIEWS OF A HERETO
ON WEARY OF LIFE
To the Editor of THE TIMES:

To the Editor of THE TIMES:
I am pleased to be one of the many
thousands who are thanking you for
your editorial of Saturday, May L.
ITO One Grown Weary of Life"
Your able and timely observations ap-
pear to me orthodox" so. correctly so
that you may decline 10 admit any sug-
gestions from "heretic." But am so
gratifed to see iayman discuss so
freely theme presumed to belong to
the exclusive preserves of the profess
sfonal clergy, that 1 venture a few
words.
The general question raised, To live
or not to live, is not one of any one
creed. age. or people; It is of universal
human interest.
The particular question raised by your
correspondent: Should one be justified
in Fastening his death II he be weary
of life' Is broader than may SEEM for
weary of life'' is a very comprehen-
sive phrase. and yet he hardly means
that; but rather. means weary of the
conditions that have beset his life. for
whatever cause or causes.
Is one justified In taking his own life
for any reason? The age we live in
answers no. We make It a crime to at
tempt the deed. 1t Is considered cow
ardly; and why so? What is suicide? Is
our view of suicide superior to the an
Client one, which, under certain condi-
tfons giorified II as heroic?
We glorify our martyrs, and what is
a martyr? One who prefers to die than
submit to undesira ble--intolerabl if
you please-conditions The martyr can
purchase life by compromise: but he
courts death in his cause invites
IL: prefers IT, Is that not suicide?
History lauds the martyr as q sui
The Washington times., 1911-05-20

satisfactory warning Of the frequent
happenings with such insane rates Oh
speed.
sober-minded reason stands appalled,
at the useless misery caused by the
increasing experiments in daring on
wheels.
With each of the 10000 machines in
this country taking fresh chances OF
ment, II is easy to see the increasing
liability for continuous accidents, most
of which might have been avoided.
But each driver. in his assumed su-
greater speed records, fills a certain
reckless exhibit, in which he has elm
mated the. bounds of caution, and
fatality of greater or less dimensions
occurs.
1t is high time that the State snd
general governments had set standard
of forced restraint in the reduction of
speed demanded by the safety and gen.
eral welfare of pedestrians and the trav-
cling public.
The great opposition to Che automo-
bile is not the opposition to the machine
itself, but to the manner in which 1t
is handled by its reckless drivers. whose
exhibit of daring so often reaches the
for tragedy, confirmed by the physician
and the undertaken.
Scarcely a day passes without the
narrowing details of an automobile ac-
cident. II
I This evidence OF cumulative facts in
action cannot be eliminated by any
theoretical proposition of safety, how
ever plausibly 1t may be voiced or BY
whomsoever 1t may be presented.
1t is no stretch of the imagination.
with the number of machines rapidly
reaching the million mark. that more
forcible legal care must of necessity be
exercised, and the law limit of speed
confined to reasonable movements OF
safety.
The ponderous machines outrun the
street cars and pass the danger limit
of passenger exit, seemingly with no re-
cody making the attempt to see how
near they can run to some one and
miss. A NJ. BROWN.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
TO TELL MUSHROOMS
FROM DEADLY TOADSTOOLS

To the Editor of THE TINES: y
A query from Ignorant" asking for
some short cut to he used in The sepa-
ration of edible from poisonous fungi
has been answered by the following
astonishing statement.
The only test that is certain Is the
old-fashioned one of the silver spoon,
whicE, il IS said, will discolor in cook
Ing If the mushrooms are poisonous"
The possible consequences of a reli-
ance upon that apcient and exploded
theory are so greviOus as to call for
this prompt correction. There is alb
sOlutely no rule for the separation of
edible from POISONOUS fungi The COL
lector must submit the plants TO the
examination of some one familiar with
them. In this way an amateur may in
a short time become acquainted with a
few safely edible species. II is only
ir the popular miad that a difference
" Fts betw:.n mushrooms snl toad
stools; botanIcally they are the same,
and II is equally correct to speak of
edible toad-stUols OF poisonous mush-
rooms. MYCOLOGIST,
department of Ag-Icultufs.
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
Eliot Says Government
Couldn't Run Railroad

CAMBRIDGE, Mass, May 2O.-Follow-
ing his lecture on The Collectivists'
Remedy" the ninth of a series now
being given at Harvard by prominent
men on The Social Problem and Its
Remedies" Ex-President Charles w.
Eliot, when asked what he thought of
the decision of the Supreme Court in
the Standard Oil Trust case. said he
thought 1t wise. When asked whether
he believed in the Government owning
the railroads he answered:
''The National and State Governments
are absolutely incompetent to conduct.
as things are now, a railroad, coal mine
or any such undertaking. = Look at the
Postoffice Department. The first, sec
ond and third class postmasters all are
spoils appointments. In the inferior
grades men employed sooR find that
there is no need of aspiring to these
higher positions"
The Washington times., 1911-05-20

other people of their pleasures, He
can't be that selfish. 1t is rather a
case Of good ship being steered with
bad rudder and a foolish captain
II the picture theaters are to be closed
on Sundays, why not stop the street
cars, close all garages and stables pub
lie and private). close all stores, stop
the sale of newspapers. allow no one
on the streets without some sort OF
badge indicating they are bound 20
church service, and thus make a good
clean job Of 1t, and when you have
done 50 then you will have truly made
this a city of Puritanical beauty. and
the hearts of those who live only for
themselves and plan how others should
spend their time and money would be
made glad. JUSTICE
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
Eva Tanguay Is Ill;
Forced to Quit Work

NEW YORK, May 2n-Eva Tanguay
is III and was compelled Yesterday to
cancel the rest of her engagement at
the Bronx Theater this week. She
complained of a nervous breakdown and
was ordered by her physician to take a
rest. She is booked to play at the
Colonial next week. but II Is doubtful
whether she will be able TO appear.
Eugene and Willie Howard. with their
act, THE Porter and the Salesman"
are taking Miss Tanguay's position on
the bill
The Washington times., 1911-05-20
AUTOMOBILE AS
AGENT OF MISCHIEF
To the Editor of THE TIMES:

To the Editor of THE TIMES:
The automobile as an agent Of
travel under reasonable conditions of
use has advantages that are not to
be despised in the ease of movement
from place to place.
realization of danger in unusual
and excessive rates of speed go to
their destruction with no fault but
their own.
They fail to see any danger for them
selves-that is reserved for the other
fellow-till they have passed the dam
ger line to their sorrow.
The recent accident at Berwyn, re-
sulting In instant death, should be .