The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-30

From the IOulSNllle COufler-JOuIldl.
 ~ IyILIZED man cannot live with ont pie. even if he is not a New O Englander. He may get along n,tbout literature music and art, with out friends. without books, without hirel- ing cooks but pie, upon occasion. he must and will have. Enterprising persons take advantage of the fact and puilo factories in which pies are made by the acre and sold by the wagonoad. They are not, as a rule. very much like the pies that anybody used to make Tor nome consumption. They often differ from the homemade pie in point of the quanty as of material the woodwork of cot tase built to rent differs from the rich mahopanv of a palatal home. They dli-
 for in flavor as the sensuous perfume or nieht-blooming jessamine differs from the exhalations of jimson weed or heaven tree. There is little to recom- mend the output of some pie factor1es unless pies are to be valued by weight like pig iron, or by toughness and resi'- iency, like rubber, or by the difference between the cost price and selling price, like the watered stock of wicked cor poration or a gold brick in the hands or a skilled operator. Yet, as was asserted at the beginning-without any fear Of successful contradiction civilized man cannot traverse the marrow vale be- | tween the cold and barren peaks or two eternities" without a little pie now ana then to hearten him, and give him conso- lation that he has perhaps failed to find in his career, in religion, in blame- 1 less but trying domestic life, in the study of literature. in golf. dog-fancying or some other hobby And since there are many men who have never been able to hire. or who in a moment of peevish- ness have sought divorce from, good l pie cook, many men must eat factory made pie The pie-factory cannot be l considered a wholly evil institution. IL may be said, in fact, to serve use | ful purpose, albeit it probably does not l promote longevity as greatly as 1t does the prosperity of the hearse factory the mixer of embalming fluid, the grave dig ger and other worthy toilers who need bread lust as much as the confectioner, the theatrical manager and the restau- l discourage the pie industry, as contradis- tinguished from pie making as an art, or | to animadvert upon the pie of commerce as long as 1t is not poison But shall we submit to the sale of pie made of | zinc?
 John Van Nest, a Chicagoan-and Tn | Chicago pie Is sometimes eaten for break | fast although the story that it is GUS tomariy washed down with beer at that
 meal is probably fiction-beleves that ne has sustained internal injuries as the re-
 suit of having eaten factory pie, ana
 that he should receive $20,0O0 from the
 pie factory, or foundry, as compensation. i He asks no punitive damages, but sin
 cerely believes that his digestive organs
 are in a state of disrepair that repre-
 sents a loss of the sum for which he 1 asks.
 Defendants pie had quantity of zinc in it. according to the plaintiffs allega- tion. He was hungry-pie hungry-and he ate it, zinc and all, as innocently as a toad swallows shot, suffering effects that caused him to feel like toad full of lead may be supposed to feel after he utilizes the deception and when he reflects upon the cruel perfidy of those who have
 taken heartless advantage of him. H'
 regards the retailer as particeps criminis
 charges him with being accessory before
 the fact to the wreckng of his interior
 and makes him co-defendant in his pray
 CT for relief.
 Mir. Van Nest will have the heartfel
 sympathy of millions of pie-loving Amer
 jeans. Zinc is metal that may be han
 died profitably when put to its legitimat
 uses. and there is a good deal of encour
 agement for honest men to mine am
 market it. But we shall undertake t
 show incontrovertibly, that it is not suit , able for pe-stock. like huckieberries pumpkin or rhubarh. {s . We quote a reliable reference DOOR [ written by persons of good standing wh l have no interest in injuring persons en 2 gaged in selling pies. or in smelting O ; refining materials for the pie of com merce and who are quite unprejudice
 dealers with facts. ws feel assured.