davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
THE NEWS SCENT
From Sangree.

From Sangree.
 At o'clock one spring morning the blotier at police headquarters reported "a triaing fire on the East Side. News Icing Gull, Richard Harding Davis was sent to cover it. He found a rickety ten enent house in which fire had little more had left, a few ashes were smolderng, and the insurance adjusters were exam ming the place.
 Nothing here, H said the policeman on watch. .'only $500 damage and a bum lodeer asphyxiated. He's in that room. .
 The other reporters peeped. saw the blackened face and rigid form. a man unnamed and forgotten-and wrote par agraph. The Evening Sun reporter. in housing about. saw an alarm clock by the dead mans side. with the hand point irg to o'clock
 What time did you break in here?'' he asked.
 "Let me sec yawned the bluecoat; ''7 o'clock 1t was. I remember, because that alarm was going off just as I got inside"
 That's my story" said Davis, and he began his account, touching and vivid, simply with: ''The man died at 6:30. The alarm went off at o'clock. It was just half an hour too late.''
 What impressed me- said Davis, dis cussing the story subsequently, was that inpotent alarm clock dangling away when the owner was dead. A mans existencse had been cut of because that 50 cent clock could not give it's alarm a few min utes earlier"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Col. pubose,s Article.

If any readers of The Age-Herald, young or old, have failed to read Col John Witherspoon DuBose's articles on reconstruction days-Ten Years of Ala bama'-they have missed not only treat, but historic information of high value. v said a Confederate veteran.
 These articles are numbered Nos. IS and 10 were especially interesting to me, but all from 1 to 19 inclusive have been of absorbing interest It will we'll repay anybody who has failed to read these papers to look them up.
 Those of us who lived through the terriIle period of reconstruction read Du- Boscs articles with avidity, and those of younger generation should read them by all means for enlightenment. They are thrilling and most important, they are accurate in statement. Those who have read Colonel DuBose's Life and Times of Yancey,' and his Gen. Joseph Wheeler and the Army of Tennessee' know how painstaking and philosophical he is in as semblng facts, and Alabama has few men whose literary style is so fine as his. Colonel DuBose's freshness and glow are charming, and his manner of express sion is always convincing. These articles are being widely discussed and all must agree that they are valuable contribu- tions to history"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15

recognize the new republic. There is really no reason why this republic should not help the republic of China get on good footing. Dr. Eliot comes back saying that all foreigners in the large cities of China regard the republic as permanency. Recog- milton would be an aid to permanency, and President Taft should act on this matter regardless of the prejudices of Philander Knox
 Whether MT. Knox will be able to ascertain what Japan's real intentions are in Manchuria and in the rest of China is uncertain. The Japanese are secretive when such course suits them, and MT. Knox may come back no wiser than he was when he went away.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Tax Inequality-a Campaign

A committee of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, appointed some weeks ago to consider the tax increases in this county, has bought space in the newspapers for the pur- pose of conducting a campaign of education in the approved modern way. The first article appears in to- days Age-Herald. It stresses the serious nature of the tax burden which many of the people of Jeffer- son county are made to bear, and it points out as a general proposition the inequality of the present taxing policy.
 In the main this is an old story. Jefferson county, with about one tenth of the taxable values of Ala bama, is made to pay one-fifth Of the states taxes. It is a grievous burden to some, indeed, and an in- jury more or less to all. The remedy will come after a fair and vigorous discussion.
 No one would have the right to ob- ject to moderate tax raises" from time to time as values increase in trinsically, but such radical increases as have been made recently have a far-reaching effect in retarding the districts progress.
 The tendency of politicians in diff ferent parts of the state to bounce on Jefferson because it is prosperous and is increasing in wealth, is most harm ful. The Chamber of Commerce com mittee promises to conduct its cam paign of education on high plane. There is no call for personalities, but there is great need for enlightenment. When the people become thoroughly aroused to the importance of this great question remedial legislation will follow.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Formulation of Cities

Based on the school census just com pleted, Birmingham shows wonderfully large growth since 191o.. said well-in formed man. At the lowest calculation we have population of 152,0oo. but be- lieve 16o,o00 would be nearer the mark.
 '''rhe World Almanac devotes two pages to the statistics of cities in the United States Cities whose population in the last federal census reached 9 GOO are ar ranged alphabetically in the table referred to. In the 1912 Almanac, Birmingham is credited with an estimated population of 15o.0o0. In next years Almanac those fig ures should be changed to 100000.
 "Atlanta. which was credited in the census of 1910 with l54,S39. has probably today 1G0,o00 but it appears in the World Almanac with an estimated population of 165,Oo0 I always did think some stretch Ing had to be done to get Atlantas 1910 population over l50,0oo With its 165,000 estimate now Atlanta will probably jump to 175ooo in the next almanac tabulation But Atlanta's exaggeration in population figures at this time does not equal the exaggeration of Memphis, which appears in the 1912 almanac with 175.ooo, while the census bureau credited it with only 13l,- 105 as of 1910.
 Richmond. which came next to Mem phis in population two years ago, is ex- tremely modest in it's estimate for the World Almanac. The census bureau gave l 1t 127,62S, and 1t estimates it's population now at 1300oo. I believe in boosting and can tolerate some exaggeration, but it is poor policy to pad population figures, or 1 to overstate totals.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
HINTS FOR LADIES
Bar Harbor Correspondence New Yol Times.

Bar Harbor Correspondence New York Times.
 Evidently thinking that life at a modern summer resort is too frivolous, some person has been posting warn ings to society, written in a struggling hand on note paper. They were found yesterday conspicuously posted on tele- graph poles and at other points of vantage near the Swimming club. where. society gathers. and near the postoffice. The posters read:
 HINTS FOR LADIES.
 1. Wear stockings heavier than gauge.
 ?. Wear skirts more than one-half yard around.
 3. Don't wear French heels.
 4. Don't stare.
 5. Don't go to church to see the style.
 6. Wear cloors that harmonize.
 Many believe the posters to be the work of practical joker, but others who read and laughed have the idea that something more serious Is meant.
 They caused more or less indignation in certain circles, and were promptly pulled down when discovered.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Each ad lh. II lbs

Heretofore the express combine has succeeded in preventing the organiza- ton of a parcels post in this country, although all progressive countries have long used the system.
 On small articles the pending bill, if passed, would cheapen individual expenses especially in the rural dis tricts, for under it farmer can send package to be delivered perhaps to another farmer on another rural route. It's greatest benefits will come in the carrying small parcels short dis tances. At the most it is but be- ginning. Once started on broad scale it can be readily modified from time to time.
 The conferees should turn deaf ear to the express combine. They are earning immense profits drawn from consumers and householders. The consumers are entitled to the relief asked, and the chances are that the zone plan will greatly promote the income of the postal system.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Parcels Post by Zones

The Senate added to the annual postoffice appropriation bill scheme for a general parcels post. The House proposed to confine a parcels post to the rural free delivery routes, but the Senate has widened it until it covers the country.
 The plan adopted in the Senate calls for varying rates for varying dis tances-the zone plan as it is called. By some it is known as modified Bourne plan. We give below the rates of this plan:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Secretary knox's Eastern Mission

Secretary Knox is about to sail away on the last junket of junket- ing administration. He is going away to represent the United States at the funeral of the late emperor in September No doubt this act will be appreciated by the Japanese, and it may lead to good results. It will be an evidence of American friendliness and that is something in these jingo days.
 It is plain that Mir. Knox will not cross over into China, for it is he more than any one else who has kept off recognition of the republic of China. The other nations would fol low suit were the United States to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
THE WOODS AND HILLsv
From the Los Angeles Evening Herald. Ever hear of the tree cure"?

From the Los Angeles Evening Herald.
 Ever hear of the tree cure"?
 It's quite the latest in the way of fash ionable cures, and many Los Angeles so- ciety folk are taking it.
 Miss Ruth Gartland one of Its most ardent advocates, who admits that she is "of the woods woodsy," says she has been taking the tree cure' for some years-that it's not new at all. but is as old as her Norwegian ancestry from whom she inherits her love of trees and tree lore, and her knowledge of the marvellous healing secrets of the forests.
 Miss Garland says she learned when she was little girl and used to fly into tantrums that the trees could manage and quiet her as no mere mortal could. She believes now as she did then in elves and wood spirits--that trees possess 8 that:
 In the friendship of the trees
 Dwell the sweet serenities.
 Miss Gartland has been flashing her tree-generated magnetism over the foot lights as Mrs. Aspinwall in "The Great Name" She will spend several weeks at her country home in San Mateo, Cal, taking the tree cure,' so that she will be, as she expresses it, in 'hne fettle' when she starts for New York in Sep tember to create the ingenue role in the new farce comedy, e. o. D.. under the management of John Cort.
 q do not believe that there is a single ill that flesh is heir to that cannot be cured by the trees, if one will only yield with conscious intelligence and complete confidence to their friendly arms,' says this pretty little sister of the trees
 At my home, where I go every sum- mer Ike the tree cure.' there is a fine ,fove of cedars where I swing my hammock, and, oh, the raptures of rest and healing that I do enjoyl No ples. They are the places for the big souls to worship. Heresy in the open and among the trees Is morally impos- sible The incense of the forests stirs deeper devotion in a normally devel- oped man or woman than can possibly be reused in any other way. Longfellow recognized his brotherhod with the trees, and wise was his admonition;
 If thou wouldst learn a lesson that will
 keep
 Thy heart from fainting and thy soul
 from sleep,
 Go to the woods and hills
 q believe that as restorers of boise and sanity and vital energy and as beau ty builders the trees have mysterious virtues which. if understood by society women and others who wish to keep themselves in the pink of condition phys ically, would put all other kinds of heal CTS out of commission.
 "Of this l am sure. that the forests hold in their keeping enough healing elxirs nectars and balms to make the whole world healthy and happy when it once learns the wisdom of going back to the woods. .
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
EUROPEAN TRAIN SPEED
m the Scientific American.

From the Scientific American.
 Express speed in Great Britain and on the continent is high. In Great Britain tl,ere are Il daily express trains making runs of from 60 to 1lsss miles without a stop, whose average speed is from 51 to Js.? miles an hour. The fastest and longest nonstop run is 225S4 miles, from Faddington to-Plymouth, made at 54.s miles an hour. France has seven daily expresses that run from 77s4 to 1471s miles without stcp. at speeds of from 5l.1 to G1 miles an hour, and there are nine Trench trains that run rom lO2 to 147s4 niles without stop, at speeds of from 5o.l to 59.3 mhes an hour.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
Business Activity

Tt is safe to say that the payrolls in the Birmingham district were never so large as now" said a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and every branch of business is being benefited by the great amount of money in circula- ton.
 "fhe coal business has been brisk for year past, and it will remain brisk for some time to come. The iron market is strong, and furnace companies can now make iron at a fair profit.
 There has been healthy demand for Ensley steel rails all this year, and, all in all, the general prospect hereabouts was never brighter than now But as active as business is today, it will be even more active after Congress ad- journs; certainly after the presidential election.
 T have no inside information. but be- lieve the great wire mill at Corey will be completed and put in operation within the next few months
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
MIR. RoosEvELT's HAY
rom Harper's Magazine.

From Harpers Magazine.
 James Hamilton Lewis of Chicago and elsewhere relates this story as a true one:
 "A delegation from Kansas once visited Theodore Roosevelt at oyster Bay when he was President The President met them. His coat and collar were off, and he was mopping his brow.
 'Ah, gentlemen he said, delighted to see you. Dee-lighted But I'm very busy putting in my hay just now Come down to the barn and we'll talk things over while I work
 Down to the barn hustled the Presi- dent and the delegation. But where was the hay?
 James" shouted the President. James! where's all the hay? ." I'm sorry, sir called James from up ih the loft. but I ain't had time to throw it back since you threw it up for yesterdays delegation {"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
The Beauty of Kansas City

"In taking a trip recently to Colorado, stopped over in several cities including Kansas aCity." said M. E. Linnehan.
 "The last named city makes a fine inn pression on a stranger Notwithstanding the fact that I only spent Sunday there, Kansas City was the livest town I saw until I got back to Birmingham. It is a city of beautiful parks and terraces. went out to the zoo which Is a great thing in itself The zoo is in large pleasure ground tract-about 15e0 acres. The Sunday. I was in Kansas City, thous- ands of families were plcnicking on those wide spreading grounds
 MT Linnehan attended the national meeting of the Lawyers League in Col orado Springs. He is not member of the bar, but is manager of a collecting agency and these agencies are members of the league
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
The Education of stenosrnphers

We have too many young stenogra- phers who are woefully lacking in ordi- nary education" said a prominent man in public life who was once a stenogra- pher himself.
 Ii use several stenographers in my of- fee. They arc young ladies and are 'gi ieduates,' but only one of them is well equipped. The others are poorly quali- fed, indeed After years service with me one of these stenographers is still very deficient in spelling. grammar and vocabulary.
 Ten years ago when I started out made a good living with my shorthand. but I had academic training. If I had heeh like some of the stenographers with whom I come in contact l would have been slovenly through life, but I had ann hition I made up my mind to be first class stenographer. 1 worked hard and after a years experience in taking dicta- ton I practced on court work. After that I applied myself to pulpit and plat form oratosy reporting. I took one of William Jennings Bryan's speeches in full, and when I turned it Into the news paper not a word was changed.
 Tn very poor families it is all right for he children to help out, but le-year- old stenographer--koy or girl--will be very unsatisfactory to any employer of average Intelligence or education. The trouble with large percentage of the grown ups is lacl. of industry and ambition.
 "Stenography is a high class profession and should be followed only by those men and women who are willing to study and strive to perfect themselves"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
THE SUMMER CAMP

From the Washington Star. sCol Clifford Hurry, commissary of the National Guard of New York, was con- dcmning an officer who, on an annual encampment. has fussed too much over his men.
 "A famous editor.'' he said, watched this officer one night during the last en- campment as he showed the boys how to fold their clothes. now to spread their bedding, how to wrap themselves in their blankets, how to drape their mosquito netting and so forth, and finally when the officer took leave. the editor called after him:
 Hey, you've forgotten something
 What have I forgotten?'
 You haven't heard 'em say their prayers and kissed 'em all good night. "
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15

Sign of St. Paul'sn Indeed, it leaves larger gap than will perhaps be im- mediately appreciated. Ours is an epoch of solemn and insane trifiing: such atmospheres generally underrate
 the cheerful and well-balanced trifier- especially when he Isn't really triher. Andrew Lang suffered from three great disadvantages in the disputes of to- day: he was universal. he was anus ing, and he was lucid. For the first point, the universality. it certainly confused the minds of his critics and gave them an impression of being played with That a man should write about Homer and blue crockery, about cricket and Joan of Arc, about spirit rapping and the Stuarts, about folk lore and about fishing, this was dis
 tracing to anyone anxious to define his achievements as one places an ordi- nary authority on Greek or golf; espe- cially as he did not touch these things as we all do, as mere topics of con- versation, but always at least with some little accumulation of special in formation or training. Such men were understood in the Elizabethan age. There is now not enough concern about the universe as whole to per- init people to see the connection.
 It would be useless, I suppose to tell the modern critics that a man cannot really be interested in Homer without being little interested in Chinese tea pots. It would be called paradoxical to say that every man who really thinks about the Stuarts must sometimes think about spiritualism. You cannot really like cricket without liking some thing in the clean striving of the young; and you cannot like that with out liking Joan of Arc. Folklore and fishing are really very near each oth- CT, both in the deeper mysteries of na- ture and the superficial developments Of lying. For a man really living, the hardest task of life Is not to be ln- terested in everything in it. Nor is the judgment really impaired by such errant investigations; not at least. so much as it is by the blinking concen- tration of specialists A man may find many things In Papuan mythology that may prevent his going mad about Scotch history. It is in the small sub jects that a man loses himself; not In the large ones.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
THE AGE OF CONCRETE


 From the National Magazine.
 At present comparatively new ma- tcral is pushing its way into popularity cnd that for an infnitude of uses. Port land cement as 1t was first called, was first made known to the world about 1924 at Portland, England. where it was first manufactured. and came into favor able notice In connection with submarine construction where ordinary stone work had utterly failed. It was not until 1895 however, that it was manufactured in the United States, and it was only with in the last decade that it has begun to suprlant brick and stone as a building material. Made by the caicination of mari. clay, slag and other materials, if absorbs water freely and is mixed with sand and broken rock in varying propor- tions, the strongest being one part of ce- ment to two of sand and four of "aggre- gate" It sets almost as soon as mixed continues to absorb water and to harden for many days. and gains strength for mary years.
 Millions of bags have been used in con- st,ucting the Panama canal; no fortinca- tion is considered complete without t' great hulISs and lighters are built Of steei skeletons coated with concrete. and the belief is very common that it must soon replace both wood and brick in house construction. Indeed. the high price or lumber, the greater cost of brick owing to higher fuel and wages. with the re- sultant use of inferior lumber and orlck weakened by modern processes which hasten the burning but leave the product much more porous and softer than those made in the Old way. must tend to in- crease the use of concrete for dwellings, ard small buildings of all kinds. Immense areas of sidewalk and pavement are laid ,eerly and swiftly increasing, and in the s.uuendous tunnels. sewers. bridges dams. sea walls and other public struc- tires. concrete has largely replaced brick and stone
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15

 leader said to a New York reporter the other day:
 "Anti-suffragists fear that all kinds of abuses will come in with the universal ballot. There's a story illustrative of their point of view.
 Its story about a woman's club. The club telephone bell rang and the porter answered 1t.
 'Hello? he said. Who's there?
 This is MT. Hattie Smith Williams male voice replied. Is my wife, Mrs. Hattie Smith Williams, thereg
 '' Mo- goodby.' was the prompt and curt reply.
 But how do you know?' protested Mir. Smith Williams. You haven't had the time to make a search.
 No need to make a search, sir said the porter Nobody's wife is ever hsx~ Rule of the club.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-15
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

From the New York Press.
 A woman is so innocent that if she makes up her complexion she never dreams it.
 It's better for girl to kiss a man against her will rnan for him never to have kissed her at all.
 The strongest thing in an argument is to let the other fellow prove your case by talking against it.
 History tells us what foolish things all people once did. not what foolish things we are all going to do.
 The devil Is silent partner willing to do most of the work while all the rest of she firm is out having gay time.