davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
NonoDy LOVES UNCLE SAM

John A. Sleicher in Leslie's.
 Everybody abroad is willing to pns' anything in the United States. We are the envy of all the world. Our pros perity, our progress, our independence and the high scale of wages in this eouh- try nave set all the other great nations against 1t. If it were not for commercial treaties which forbid discrimination against our trade, 1t would all be taken from us on one subterfuge or another.
 Germany did her best to drive out Amer ican meats by making the unwarranteo charge that they were unwholesome. our government .pi o1nptly and at great cost established a perfect system of inspection at the packing houses. It placed the American governments stamp upon our meats aud Germany did not dare continue it's warfare against them. Thus was the German market kept open Tor the products of the American farm and pack ing house.
 NOW Great Britain seizes upon mere pretext to strangle the importation ol American beef, pork and mutton. Who gave it this pretext?. Let the working men and farmers, who are more interested in this question than any other, ask their men bers of Congress.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
OLD TIME SALARIES

From the New York Telegram.
 The agitation going on nov among the atrical managers in reference to the sal aries paid to actors, which, 1t is claimed are entirely too high, is no new thing. similar plaint was made in 1799, when the Boston company, playing to losing busi- ness, caused the manager of the com pany to call attention to the salaries that he was paying the members or ms organization, which, he declared, were out of all reason.
 MT. and Mrs. Hodgkinson, $loo; Mn and Mrs. Hallam, s5O MT. Cooper, $S2; MT Jefferson. $e5; MT. Martin, $25; MT. Tyler s25; MT. Fox, s1s Mir. and Mrs. and Miss Hogg, sS2; Lee, SIP; Stockwell, s4; Mrs Melmoth, S25; MT. and Mrs. Seymour, s20; Miss E. Westray, s25; Mrs. Brett, $l4; Miss Brett s14; Miss Harding, slo; Mrs King, $e; MT. Harding, Jr., SIS; MT. Per kins. S12, and Miss Perkins, $20.
 They were the best actors of the time. MT. Cooper was an eminent tragedian, the Halams were foremost in the profes- sion and Mr. Jefferson was the founder of one of the most famous theatrical fam flies in tho country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
ToLsToy,s GRUEsOME PLAY

From Current Literature.
 Death has not diminished the stature of Leo Tolstoy. The peasantry of the Russian provinces of Tula, Kazan and Kursk are said to believe in his bodily return to earth before April, 1913. Is- rael Zangwill introduces the figure of Tolstoy thinly disguised as "E'rithiof' in his sensational recent play, "The War God produced by Sir Herbert Tree. The great Russian appears wear ing his peasants smocl and leaning on hs pilgrims staff, preaching the doc Urine of non-resstance. Almost simul- taneously the voice of Tostoy himself is heard in his last play. "The Living
 Corpse" published by his daughter ac- cording to her fathers instructions The
 Petersburg, and at the Burg theatre of
 Vienna, will shortly be published in Eng
 fish by Brown Brothers of Philadelphia.
 The publishers compare the play to Tol- stoy's powerful Power of Darkness. .' Herman Bernstein, who saw Tolstoy as
 late as last spring. regrets that the play seems to lack the final finish. After
 careful revision,' he says. The Living Corpse would have ranked with Tolstoy's $
 earlier master pieces, which established his international fame as an artist" Tol- stcy, however, was more concerned with his message ihan with his art. "As the
 reader turns the pages" remarks writer in the Boston Transcript, the piece less suggests the work of an old man than that of q man who wished much to say all that the play contains, and so wrote in concentrated haste" The play symbolical- ly enbodies the beliefs of Tolstoys final years. They came too late to be trans lated into deeds. He could only testify in print and on the stage to his faith in the natural man, unspoiled by social prejudices, unconstrained by legal insti- tutons, living, doing, sacrificing out of a wise, generous, discerning soul"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
,rhe. Cold Weather

"The almanac winter is half gone and although we have had a. good deal of cold weather, we. will have good deal more of it. said goosebone prophet.
 By next Sunday we will have warm spell, but that, I think, will be followed by a blizzard. I have an idea that the mercury will drop to zero before the month is over. Something tells me that February will be a rouch month, but l will be cautious about predicting that far ahead until after the groundhog has been heard from. Many people are dis posed to treat ground hog day with lecity, but I have kept record for 2o years, and in that time the instinct of the aforesaid animal has failed only thrice. It is safe to say, however, that we Will have an early spring, and that early veg etables will be well above the ground in this part of the country on or about St. Patrick's day"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
To Check Crime

All right thinking men must become aroused to the importance of legisla ton which will seek to amend and simplify the procedure of criminal trials. Alabama law is overburdened with technicalities. Here in Jefferson county white men guilty of homicide go un- whipped of justice, and this often because of the laws delays and tech nical hitches in general. Juries are often to blame, but this state will never be on a par with those states where capital offenses are rare until we have a thorough reform of our jurisprudence, and until the fee brigade is abolished.
 In the meantime campaign of education is needed. Grand juries have pointed out with emphasis the prevalence of crime, and have called loud for the. enforcement of law. Earnest appeals have been made by pulpit, press and social organizations for a better observance of the laws on the statute books, and yet hardly day passes that homicide is not reported in this section of Alabama. The pistol-toting habit is largely to blame for the murders committed. A bloody crime is sometimes traced to whisky, but the majority of recent homicides in the Birmingham district have been committed by men who were not under the influence of liquor Local public sentiment has been too long indifferent to Jefferson county's frightful criminal record. Let the good people protest louder than ever against pistol toting. The next leg islature will not be elected until 1914, but by aggressive public opinion much can be accomplished even before the law makers assemble and have oppor- tunity to enact the necessary legisla- tion.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16

From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
 During the course of the examination
 of Charles Wallitsch of Allentown, Pa, an applicant for American citizenship un-
 der the naturalization laws, the. judge
 asked him who William J. Bryan was.
 To the astonshment of the judge, as
 we'll as of every one else in the court
 room, the applicant replied that he had
 never heard of William J. Bryan. And
 this ir spite of tho fact that he has un-
 questonably been in the country for sev-
 eral lnonthsl
 This extraordinary statement, on it's
 face so absurd when one recalls that dur
 ing the period of the applicants unds-
 putcd residence in this country MT. Will
 liam J. Bryan has been emitting the usual
 penetrating noises, has moved the office
 poet to administer the following reproof:
 Say that you walked along the shore And never heard the oceans thunder, | That you were near to Pelees roar | And never even paused to wonder; That you once saw Niagara's | Immense majestic water column, | And never noticed that there was | A sound 10 break the silence solemn Say that in battle when the shot Were dealing far and wide destruction, | Amid it all you noticed not l The slightest sound of any ruction;
 That when n powder mill was wrecked | With detonations loud successive, | Not only you did not suspect, | Rut sound the silence most oppressive | Say that within a boiler plant You found it most uncommon quiet, And thaI upon the Fourth you can't Distinguish sounds CT noise and riot; Say that the drummer with his drum, However great his animation, Does not provoke your tympanum
 To venture on ,he least vibraton- And we may take you at your word;
 But when you come and make a state ,nent
 So very patiently absurd Without. mark ye, the least abatement When you declare that you have been Within this country for a season And never heard fhc Bryan din That travels every passing breeze on, We do not hesitate to state We put no trust i'll your reVealings, And though, upon the whole. we hate To go and hurt a persons feelings, Our duty to the public and The circumstances all require
 That we should state you are bland, A double-dyed and lovely har!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
WINTER

By William Cowper . Winter. ruler of the inverted year. Thy scattered hair with sleet like ashes
 filed ~ ,,s Thy breath ccngealed upon thy lips
 thy cheeks ,... Fringed with card made white "itn
 other snows Thar those Of age, thy forenead "rapp q A reafless branch thy scepter. and thy
 throne
 :. s,id.nr car. Inceited to no wheels. p,,, urged by storms along it's slippery
 way:
 love thee. all unlovely as thou seem st, And dreaded as thou art. Thou hold'st the
 sun
 prisoner in the yet undawning east, shortening his jouney between morn and
 noon,
 And hurrying him. impatient of his stay, Down to the rosy west; but kindly still Conlpensating his loss with added hours Of social converse and instructive ease And gathering. at short notice, in one
 group { The family dispersed. and fixing thought Not less dispersed by daylight and isv
 ceres 3I I crown thee King of intimate delights Preside ensoyments. home born hapr
 ness.
 And all the comforts that the lowly ro() Of undisturbed retirement, and the hour1 Of long uninterrupted evening know.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
u.,rJNc SIGNS OF DISTRESS. 1.

From the New York Telegram.
 Thanks to the courtesy of the Kansas City Star, we are enabled to give travel CTS who may possibly strike the prohibi- ton belt the following signs, guaranteed to relieve the drouth.
 Two fingers up, with hand turned in, bottle of heer
 Left arm outstretched, thumb down, drink of whisky.
 Twirling thumbs with fingers folded, two bottles of beer.
 Holding fingers in ear as if aching highbal
 Pulling lobe of right ear, gin rickey4 Holding hand over the heart, whisky and lemon
 Crossing leg below the knee, brandy
 Holding finger at tip of the nose, mint julep.
 Hands clasped behind the back, Dutch soda.
 Shaking hands with oneself, champagne
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
Birmingham's Civil Conscience

Almost numberless articles have been written about Birmingham, mostly fulsome and intended, as a rule, to promote the popularity of the writer himself, and when students and social workers came along to pre- sent sincere stories of the local sit uation, there arises sense of 1nJus- tice and wrong inflicted on an earnest new city. But the writers in the Survey bear no malice to Birmingham any more than they do to Washing ton or Pittsburg, the two other cities they have looked into. They are sent out by the Russell Sage Foundation to discover the deficiencies of city and to indicate wherein and whereby it can be made more wholesome to all directly concerned.
 This is not saying that they may not have fallen into some errors of judgment. Few men in this world are infallible. Up to this writing no infallible man has appeared in this country. The Survey writers perhaps unduly dwelt on cotton operatives in studying this city. There is but one cotton mill here, and the spinning of cotton although a valued industry here, is not a prominent feature of the local industrial situation and, relatively speaking, probably never will be.
 The errors of the Survey are, how ever, minor errors. The articles make for the city's betterment. The writers are earnest, sincere and faith ful. They had no axe to grind. They were not sent here to bespatter any body. They were sent here by honest and high minded people to secure the truth for the city's use and general good.
 The articles should be read impar- tially with a mind open to conviction. While errors will be discovered these errors vii lbe of the head, not of the heart, and those errors will probably be small, not affecting the scope and object of the effort or any general plan to make local conditions cleaner and more wholesome.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
Whats the Matter With Kansas?

Last summer Alexander c. Mitchell, the republican representative from the Second Kansas district, died, and Joseph A. Taggart, democrat, was elected to fill his place. Later in the year Edmond II. Madison, the insur- gent leader, died in the Seventh dis trict, and George A. Medley, a demo- crat, was promptly elected to fill the seat. Madison's majority was 4SOO, and II months later Medley secured a majority of 1900.
 William Allen White says in ex- blaming these changes, "It's Roose- welt or bust" He says this is what ails Kansas. This is but a part of the truth, however. We are living in an age of political and social discon- tent and party ties in the contested states rest lightly on all. In the one party states the color line holds voters together, but in the contested states the color line is unknown and powerless, and voters are simply "tied loose." They are demanding a change in the conduct of affairs, much more they are demanding Roosevelt. A great many people neither trust nor admire the impulsive, if not ec- centric, sage of Oyster Bay, but many of these people want relief from pro- lection from profits and all other forms of standpattism. It is really a popular revolution against standpat rule and standpat plutocratic methods and this revolution is not confined to Kansas. It extends across the coun- try, and it will be heard from net November.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
GUERRILLA JAHs

rs,hei z Rarrows in The Survey.
 Iai,s and lockups are prisons. The men ona won,cn confined in them have broken ,,a ,aws of the state. Nothing seems more ,o,ical than that the state should be re- .nonsjlle for their imprlsonnleht' these smaller prisons are left to me va r,ous counties and municipalities In New York. for instance. though the state nrisou commission may inspect them' ana nub;ish it's findings. the state has neither the authority nor the responsibility to in- sist on reforms in construction or ad- rinistration Whatever may have been necessary in the days when Amster- dam. New York, was far away from Albany, so far as communieatlon was concerned, that day has long since passed
 Why then should such mediaval r,ethod still prevail as exists in the Elm pire state? Here is what a Poughkeepsie
 paper says:
 4qThe state ci New York is publishing
 reports, made Dy the state prison com r.ission covering inspections of jails. vil-
 lage lockups. county rrisons and those
 devoted to the reform stion of boys and girls
 X tremendous Improvement in 1911 is noted in several cities. a. compared with conditions in 19le.
 "One exception is noted. The city of Amsterday Is obdurate It was advised 70 put a few windows in it's dungeon, so that prisoners could have light and air, to burn up the hammocks which are doing duty instead of beds or cots. and to f, ,eshen up things eenei ally. It has not done so Amsterdam seems determined to hark back to the middle ages, when prisoners were simply thrown into dark
 subterranean keeps, and left to rot and
 starve."
 is there any one-excep' a county com missioner can tell why Amsterdam or any other place within the state shouid secure in that sum of ''obdurateness II 1 the state had the authority to see that all prisons. large and small, were de-
 cert habitatiors for human beings It
 would not have 10 wait on the good na-
 ture of Amsicrdain, or any other town, | to do away with conditions that would have been disgrace in Rip Van Wrinkles ! day. What sort of equality before the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
Russian Musicians

'The Russian trio, composed of the brothers Bernstein-Eugene, Michel and Arthur-will give concert at the Jeff ferson theatre next Sunday afternoon. and all music lovers will be delighted with the programme which I read in Sundays Age-Herald," said musician who heard the trio in the east.
 T have been in close touch with sym phony orchestras and chamber music or- ganizations for many years, and l do not hesitate to say that the best players come from Russia, In the matter of violin playing the Slavs of Bohemia excel in some particulars, perhaps, but taken al- together, the Russians are even better in ensemble work. They are thoroughly at home in the old classic music, and in the nature of things they are true interpre- ters of Tschaikowsky, Arensly and other Russian masters. Anyone who fails to hear the Bernsteins Sunday will miss 8 delightful treat indeed"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
".yIM, RIiEy's CHRISTMAS

Indianapolis Dispatch in New York Trio-
 uue.
 Tv elve hurdred letters of Christmas greetings and sympathy came today to James WEitcomb Riley, the Iioosier poet, who has been ill for several months.
 q can't answer them," said MT. Riley with a rueful glance at his right arm' of which he has lost the use. T can't hold pencil. wish I could. But l am not so downcast as many of my friends seem to think. How could I be, when l have so many well wishers, from the At lantic to the Pacific, whom have never even seem This is a merry Christmas for me, and. I hope for all my unknown friends"
 Some ot the letters are in verse. One adnlirer aGvlsed that the poet learn to write with his. left hand. Tt is pos sible I shall try this" said MT. Riley. s'but. I fear it will be tedious task
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
ITraternal Orders

'In the list of fraternal organizations in this country the Independent Order of Odd Fellows reports for the year just ended 1,52O, ,6SS members, including branches in Canada" said man who takes interest in fraternal statistics With this large total the Odd Fellows head the list. Next come the Free Ma sons with 1,493,5SS. The only other or der in the 1,000,0 900 class is that of the Modern Woodmen of America with 1,129,S05 members. In 1910 the Odd All, 403; the Masons, 1,3S9,317, and the Modern Woodmen of America 1,O45, Ss9 The Knights of Pythias had gain last year of 4459 the 1911 membership being stated at ,3S1. The Woodmen of the World with the prefix Modern left off have membership in round num- bers of 5O0.0O0. Next comes the fm- proved Order of Red Men, one of the older of American fraternities, with a lively initiatorY ceremony, reporting 4S0,574 members. Ranking next to the Red Men in numerical strength are the Elks with 331, 2sS members.
 ''The other well known fraternal or ganizations report memberships IS fol- lows: Eagles, s06,000; Ancient Order of Hibernians. 250,000; Knights of Co- lumbus, 250,000; Royal Arcanum, 245,- 610, Junion Order of American Me chanics, 21O,00o; Tribe of Ben Hur 110,S60; Brotherhood of American Yeo- men, i'll, $50; Improved Order of Hepta- sophs, 7f656; Sons of Temperance, 34,' S7g, and Druids, 30,529. The Interna- tional Order of Good Templars, popu- lar temperance society with life pledge, does not report it's American membership. Its total membership foi the world, including juvenile branches was, according to last years statistics 649 00O
 "Ishave given the statistics of only the more generally known orders America is the greatest secret society country in the world. In Great Britain the Masons, Foresters and one or two other orders flourish, but in the United
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
ohio's Constitutional Convention

The present constitution of Ohio was made in 1851, and it is sadly out of date. Written constitutions gen. orally are out of date, and this is why England does not set her constitution down in precise and formal sentences. Ohio has, however, written con- stitution, and it is unsatisfactory, and 119 men are now sitting in Ohio's capitol engaged in rewriting the states fundamental law. t.iIf.
 The convention is dominated by the progressives, and large majority are pledged to the initiative, referendum and the recall. Many other questions will be considered, including "votes for women," home rule for cites, pris- on contract labor, abolition of the governors veto power, slx-year term for the governor, the use of vot- ing machines, and compulsory arbi- tration in all industrial troubles.
 The instrument to be submitted to the people will not be bit reaction ary, and some fear is expressed that it will be too progressive to secure the approval of the voters next No vember. The liquor question will be dealt with, and this alone may lead to negative vote that would upset the work of the convention. At pres. est Ohio is a dry state-that is to say, she does not grant state licenses and there is a constant turmoil over the present county option.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
Taft Strong in the East

''I am a democrat but within the past two weeks I have come more in contact with republicans than with men of my party, and 1t looks to me as if President Taft would be nominated by the Chicago convention said John l.. Partlow of Pennsylvania. 'I find that MT Taft is very strong in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. I hear some Roosevelt talk but more that is favorable to Taft.
 q am not prepared to make a guess as to what the democratic convention will do. Woodrow Wilson has substantial following but he will probably fail to get tho necessary two thirds. My preference had been Harmon, but I do not see how he can expect to get two thirds. Should Underwood be the nominee I will be glad to vote for him. but Pennsylvania viii be as overwhelmingly republican in November as usual"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
THE PORT OF VOORHEES, MEN ,

William Seymour Edwards in Through
 Scandinavia to Moscow
 One morning we passed through great square in Moscow containing nothing but n--wild-eyed. long-haired, long-beard- ed men; men in rags. most of them, and all of them compelled to come there and wait to be hired to work. To that square must all working men go who seek work. The city feeds them while they wait, a single small piece of black bread each day. Some never leave that square, but wait there their lifetime through. They gazed upon our handsome landau with hungry and wolfish eyes. I never before beheld so frightful, unkempt a company of hopeless, hapless, hungry human slaves as these Russian working men who waited for a job
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
National Drainage Congress

All states that have undrained lands are invited to send delegates to the national drainage congress which is to meet in New Orleans on April To- 13 next. This will be the second an- nual meeting, and the importance of the subject calls for large atten- dance of representative men at the forthcoming congress.
 No less than 75,000,000 acres in this country lie useless and idle be- cause they are too wet for cultivation and twice as many acres more could be improved by better drainage. New Orleans is an excellent place in which to hold drainage congr7 heeau1e a good part of the cultivafea arms If Louisiana are rendered aipaA.e bg drainage. All states hay SCI Hs
 however. Alabama has ai9uei s make several counties wre the5 sH brought together. Coul 7e fet
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-16
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 long sermon makes short impress sion.
 A woman likes to do a thing and make up her mind ahous it afterward.
 The place for the man who thinks the world is a fool is in an asylum
 Ii takes aa awful long time for a man to put on q woman's rubber, unless she's his grandmother.
 When a young woman isn't afraid to climb a fence you could understand the reason, too, if you saw it.