davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
A WAITER WITH GRIT.

| A waiter was a star witness on the first day of the trial of Charles Becker. former police lieutenant in New York. It is worth while to remember that pre- vious to testifying the waiter was cara fully guarded and was no doubt in dan- ger of being ''settled' by vigilant gum man before he could give his damaging testimony against Becker and his tools. To go through an ordeal like that with out losing his nerve in itself required a! high order of courage. On the witness stand counsel for the defense spent two hours vainly trying to break down the walters evidence. An extract from the Associated Press report follows:
 Do you remember saying to Henry Shea, special officer that you did not see single person who did the murder?" asked MT. Mcintyre.
 'I did not.'
 You say you saw three men whom you thought did the shooting" No, three men who did the shooting" corrected the witness.
 When you say you saw these three men in the group about the touring car" thundered the lawyer, don't you know that you are committing deliberata per- jury?"
 T do not rejoined the waiter Admirable! If all walters were as daunt- less as this one seems to be. we would never. never. begrudge them the an- tomobiles and country estates they are supposed ito maintain with the tips ex- tracted from indulgent patrons. PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Anger is like
Railway and Trade Development

The Mobile Register sees great en- commencement in the activity of the llli- nois Central railroad which is said to be preparing to build a line from Jackson, Miss, direct to Birmingham. All roads just naturally lead to Bir- mingham now days, because the greater tonnage is to be found there.
 In reporting the arrival in its city of the Illinois Central engineers the Tuscaloosa News says: "They have just completed tour in automobiles of the entire survey of the Illinois Gen. trail line from here to Jackson, Miss. It was reported that the survey was entirely satisfactory to Chief Engineer Baldwin, who was here to pass on the route for President Markham and from unofficial information gathered it is understood that there is no long CT any doubt that the line will be con- structed. All the surveys have been agreed on and the surveying parties will all be disbanded in short time. No time was suggested by the officials for beginning work on the road, but it was gathered that they expect it to go forward without any great delay"
 A direct line to Jackson would tap the main line of the big system and it would give Birmingham additional facilities for reaching New Orleans and through New Orleans the trade that will use the Panama canal as we'll as the trade Hong the east coast of the Americas to the south of us. Birmingham should begin to shape its trade to international conditions, for in time the outlying trade will exceed the domestic trade, even if Colonel Goethals is a partizan of West Vir- ginia coal.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
srEvENsoN's BIRTHDAY

By Katherine Miller. How I should like a birthday" said the
 child,
 q have so few, and they so far apart . She spoke to Stevenson-the Master
 smiled Mine is today-and I would with all
 my heart That it were yours; too many years
 have I! Too swift they come, and all too swiftly
 fly" So by formal deed he there conveyed All right and title in his natal day, To have and hold, to sell or give away Then signed. and gave it to the little
 maid. Joyful, yet fearing to believe too much. She took the deed, but scarcely dared
 unfold. An. liberal Genius! at whose potent
 touch
 All common things shine with trans
 muted gold! A day of Stevenson's will prove to be Not part of Time. but Immortality.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12

tion has been satisfactorily cleared up California alone excepted. In Califor. nia the Taft voters will be put te great inconvenience in order to escape disfranchisement.
 The electoral troubles in IA states plainly call for a revision of an an tiquated electoral system. The re- public cannot afford to daily with this repudiated relic any longer.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
TRUTH ABOUT STEEL EXPORTS

Unfair in his selection of statistics, Mr. Brandeis Is unhappy in his selection of authorities, for he quotes the words of T. Good as an authority: From the mo- ment that the Steel trust got to work the American iron and steel industry was di- verted from natural to unnatural develop ments. Costs and prices of raw material were inflated; progress toward economy was arrested; retrogression set in. and Americas rosy chances of annexing the worlds export trade were shattered' Mr. Good is not an authority upon Amer ican iron and steel conditions. and Mir
 Brandeis has certainly placed himself in an awkward position by recognizing him as such, for it is not so long ago that MT. Good published a somewhat violent article holding that the profits of the United States Steel corporation have been miserably small Can MT. Brandeis find any place in his writings for quoting that conclusion of his expert with approval?
 Having undertaken to show, by figures not fairly selected. that our tonnage iron and steel exports have not greatly in- creased, Mir. Brandeis passes on to explain that the large value of our iron and steel exports at present is due, not to the ton mage items constituting the trade in which the Steel corporation predominates, but to highly manufactured products, like tools and machinery. His remarks on this head are wholly misleading for an ade- quate study of this feature points to a conclusion diametrically opposite to his main contention. As with the other stat istics, he uses unfairly complete presen- tation of these statistics show sthat the proportion of tonnage iron and steel ex- ports. relative to exports of tools, machin- cry, etc., has increased very substantially since the Steel corporation was formed Although tools, machinery. etc, do consti- tute a large percentage of our total iron . and steel exports, they do not constitute as large percentage as formerly. They have shown an absolute increase, but a relative decrease, and this relative de- crease is because they have not been able to keep pace with the rapid increase in the tonnage exports due to the success of the Steel corporation's export opera tions. In the Iron Age of July 25, 1912, under the caption. Our Exports of Iron and Steel Manufactures" we presented a compilation for the years 1904 to 1911 in- elusive, splitting the iron and steel exports into those for which the tonnage is re- ported and those for which it is not, and showing the proportion which the tonnage value constituted of the total value for each year. We now reproduce that table, carried back to the year 1898. These stat istics clearly show that the value of ton- mage exports-those in which the Steel corporation predominates-has increaseG greatly since the Steel corporation was formed. though both classes have in- creased. In the three years preceding the birth of the Steel corporation the pro- portion was 26 per cent, while in 1911 it was s5 per cent, and 1t may be added that this year the proportion Is running still higher.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Electoral Muddle Cleared Up

By appeals to the honor of men the state electoral controversies have been adjusted in all of the states except California. In California the names of the Roosevelt electors will appear on the official ballot, and the sup porters of Taft will be compelled to write the names of the Taft electors on their ballots. The state will un- doubtedly elect Wilson electors if late information be trustworthy, and thus there will be no chance to taint the election as a whole.
 In the other states all electoral con. troversies have been adjusted. IT 7 Louisiana the names of three electors were not filed as soon as they should have been and John M. Parker, the progressive leader, says his party vii not take advantage of irregularities 1T the filing of lists of presidential cleo tors by either the democrats or th' Taft republicans. In South Dekota thu Taft electors will be named by peti uon. and in 12 other states the situa
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
From the Iron Age.


 lN ONE glaring illustrations of the misuse of statistics occur in the A article of Louis D. Brandeis in Col Hers Weekly of September 2s, the second in series undertaking to deal with the platforms of the three political parties with respect to the trust issue. As we do not deal with purely political matters, we werely mention the fact that MT. Bran- deis undertakes to defend the position that the two old parties present a. good and the new party a bad method of dealing with the trust question. We are direct ly interested in his specific deductions drawn from an alleged survey of our iron and steel export history, because they are not fairly founded upon fact, and the iron and steel public is entitled to an honest and correct presentation.
 MT. Brandeis undertakes to show that the United States Steel corporation has not been a distinct force toward the up- building of an iron and steel export trade and would have his readers believe that this trade would now be larger had not the Steel corporation been formed This is a weird undertaking, from the view point of those familiar with the iron and steel industry.
 MT. Brandeis cites as the basis of his argument. the fact that the total tonnage exports of the United States increased from 1,154o00 tons in 1900 to 1,53S,00O tons in 1910. In doing so he places himself in the position either of having been very careless in selecting his facts or of hav- ing purposely selected figures which would best suit his precorceived conclusion. The citation of 1,154,000 tons exported in 1900 as a fair basis for comparison is en- tirely unfair for two reasons. In the first place, those exports were exception ally heavy. comparing with less than a million tons in any preceding year, and with S72oOo tons in 1902, the year before the one in which the United States Steel corporation organized it's export subsidiary and instituted a comprehensive campaign for the building up of an export trade. Tn the second place, the tonnage of 1900 was composed very largely of the cruder ma terials, particularly pig iron, billets, sheet bars and rails. In recent years the pro- portion of these cruder products has been much smaller. and the proportion of moro finished products has been correspondingly larger Thus the selection of 1900 as the year for starting the comparison is un- fair and the basing of the comparison upon the mere matter of tons is likewise unfair.
 The citation of the year 1910 as the sec ond for the comparison is not illuminat- ing or fair. In asking his readers to ac- cept his arguments MT. BrandeIs Is under the obligation which any fair minded writer assumes, of endeavoring to give his readers the latest pertinent facts. The 1,533, 900 tons exported in 1910 is not the latest pertinent fact. The exports in 1911 were 2,1sS000 tons, and in recent months the exports have been at the rate of more than 100000 tons.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Foreign Born White Males

The census of 1910 shows that out of 6,646,S17 of foreign born white males of voting age on the mainland only 3,034,117 had been naturalized, or 45.6 per cent.
 The south had in the census year 57,S54 of these foreign born males, and only 42,S per cent had been atur- alized. The new conner from Ger many, Scandinavia and Great Britain is more inclined to become a citizen than are those who come from Italy, Russia or Hungary. There are two voters from northern Europe where there is one from the southern and eastern divisions of that continent. The Germans seek naturalization to the extent of 69 per cent, thus outrank- ing even the people from Wales Many new corners from Poland, Italy and Hungary have not had time per- haps in which to become naturalized but still naturalization seems to be more freely accepted by the groups from northwest Europe.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Home Rule in Ireland

After a recess of two months the British parliament is again in session It has an important programme before it and tradition will be disregarded ir carrying it out as it was disregarded when the old age and insurance bills were forced through the now shackled house of lords.
 The home rule bill will take pre- cedence in this session of the com mons, and Premier Asquith is confi- dent it can be passed before the Christmas holidays. The unionists will oppose the bill and the cloture will be freely applied no doubt and other dila- tory tactics to cut off debate.
 Much will be heard of the opposition to the bill in the next months of Uls- ter, province in the northeastern part of Ireland, centered by Belfast, Derry and Armagh. The province consists of nine counties, and five of those counties containing 5091 square miles of territory have Catholic ma jorities, leaving only four counties containing 3496 square miles that are controlled by Protestants. The prov ince as whole contains 690, ,129 Cath olics and 888, 8,433 non-C Catholics. Not a few of the Protestants are nationalists and Belfast itself sends a nationalist to parliament. Of the 33 members of parliament that represent Ulster 16 are home rulers and IT are Orange men.
 It will thus be seen that Ulster will by no means vote solidly against home rule. It is about half f-and-half, the only difference being that the Orange men make the more noise and are supported by the tories in parliament. Outside of Belfast the Orange influ- ence in Ulster is not controlling. It is met at every step by nationalists. When it is remembered that the home rule movement was organized by a Presbyterian, and that MT. Parnell was an Episcopalian, it is seen at once that Belfast and Derry and Armagh are fighting against real majority even, it is believed, in Ulster.
 MT. Asquith will not strike out of the home rule bill four or five Ulster counties, nor will he listen to MT. Churchill, who wants one parliament to sit in Dublin and another in Bel fast. The original bill will be ad- hered to, and in the end no doubt il will become law, and the people of Ireland will secure home rule, just as the people of Canada and Australia and New Zealand have.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Well Dressed Foreigners

The largest photographic group l have ever seen is that taken in Boston-the delegates to the Fifth International CoE- gress of Chambers of Commerce and Commercial associations, to which I was a delegate from the Birmingham Cham Der of Commerce" said Leo K. Steiner. T have just received a copy of the photo graph with the countless individual faces Hundreds and hundreds of them. Each face is a good likeness. Every one in Birmingham will recognize MT. Sbley, president of our Chamber of Commerce, who attended the international congress I got acquainted with a number of for eigners and I recognized all their faces in this picture. It was a very interest ing meeting and the discussions were able and Illuminating.
 T was struck with the fact that the foreign delegates were dressed with bet ter taste than the Americans. I remem- Der the vice president of the Boston Cham Der of Commerce-a very influential man, of course, and one of the leading citi- zens of Boston. He wore a gray suit Most of the Americans had a negligee appearance. Nearly every European on the other hand wore a black cutaway coat and white vest and looked dressy not to say aristrocratic. I have never paid any great attention to mems ap- parel, but I could not help noticing the difference between the Americans and the foreigners in the matter of dress. The Germans and Belgians were particularly we'll groomed-not overdressed in the least, but dressed just right from the viewpoint of taste"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Comparing Farm Land Prices

"On a recent visit to St. Louis I took pains to inquire about agricultural con- ditions and the price of farm land In that section of Missouri" said w. N. Malone. T met a farmer who told me about his big crops. I asked him about the value of farm land in his neighbor- hood. He told me that he would not take s250 an acre for his farm. That, he said, would be considered fair price by those trading in agricultural lands not far from St Louis.
 we have just as good farm land in Alabama that might be bought for $15 or $20 an acre. I believe some very good farms within 40 miles of Birmingham could be bought for s2O or s25 an acre. Alabama as an agricultural state has never been well understood by outside homeseekers until of very recent years. It Is being advertised now and in the course of time thousands of truck farm CTS will be found tilling land in the Bir- mingham district. Farm land values hereabouts will soon begin to rise rap idly, and while they may never get up to the prices obtaining near St. Louis, there is no reason why truck farms and larger farms should not be bringing prices several times higher than prices quoted today"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
DIRTY CARDBOARD A BOON

From the Survey.
 With the beginning of the use of soft coal as a fuel, arose the problem or how to get rid of disagreeable smoke. The question has grown more serious yearly in every growing city where bituminous coal is burned. The dwell
 of the smoke nuisance, and 1t has be-
 come a matter of real importance to every large community to rid itself as
 far as possible of this evil.
 In Chicago an estimate by the smoke inspector shows that smoke, besides being a nuisance, causes loss to the citizens of s21. .S3O,O00 annually. or about s10 per capita. The laundries, clothing merchants, dyers. house renovators, painters and operators of vacuum cleaning machines are reaping har- vest In St. Louis 500 pupils in one of the public schools had to be dis missed at II o'clock on one of the
 darkest days, while at other schools within the. smoke belt the children were entertained with stories by their teach CTS during the time it was too dark to study.
 A manufacturing concern which makes highly finished cardboard prod ucts recently moved from the center of a large city to its outskirts, stating as one reason for the change that the smoke atmosphere they had had to con- tend with caused great damage to the goods. Yet the effect of the same at mosphere on human lungs seemed to have been scarcely thought of, and 1t was merely one of the fortunate coin cidencss of Providence that what was good for keeping stock clean happened also to be good for the health of peo- r,Ie
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
viewpoint of attendance. if it did not ae.

viewpoint of attendance. if it did not ae- tually lead all the rest.
 An interesting feature to me has been
 the spirit of cooperation and the interest and pride shown by various Alabama counties I was down in Shelby county
 this Friday morning and heard numbers i of expressions among the people there over what a fine exhibit that county had
 at the fair and what fine fair 1t was, anyhow. In our city, Columbus, we VIII hold the Georgia-A Alabama fair tho latter part of November, and our secretary was over a few days ago to get some pointers from the Alabama state fair and incidentally to sign up with some of your best attractions, and he returned home very enthusiastic over what he found in Birmingham.
 "The Alabama good roads convention has been another significant and impor- tant event." continued MT. Woodall. People in the state do not really realize what reputation Alabama is getting as road building state. More road con- struction contracts are being let in Ala bama this year than in any other southern state I know of. In the legal advertise ments in the leading newspapers or the state and In the Proposals Wanted de- partment of trade papers, the number or advertisements inviting bids for roae work in Alabama is enough to impress even the most casual reader. It is fine thing for a state to get a reputation as being a road builder-and still better thing to sustain it. The people through the country districts of Alabam are very much interested in this subject. Down in Shelby county reference was made, with pride, to the fact that one ssooo con- tract for road work had recently been let in that county. This will be link in tho Birmingham Montgomery highway.
 Another important event in Alabama this fall is the Alabama Land congress- to be held in Mobile next month. This should prove a distinct stimulus to the agricultural development of the state, ai- ready very rapid. Incidentally, it will prove a good advertisement of Alabama lands, and should result in still greater influx of settlers from the north and northwest. Already there is steady stream of new people from the central west to south Alabama, and in time ali sections of the state will get their share of immigrants. It is interesting in thls connection to note that Birmingham en- terprise is conspicuous in this land devei- opment propaganda"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
orts. tonnage and non-tonnage:

Having shown a decided lack of dili- gence in consulting the statistics actually available, and having discussed unfairly those actually selected for citation. Mir
 Brandeis does not create surprise in dis closing lamentable ignorance in discussing what are more directly plain business questions. He says that America has today, in all lines of competitive business, concerns large enough to be the most ef-
 ficient instruments of commerce. be 1t foreign or domestic" That is obviously untrue. The independent steel producers of today cannot conduct an export trade as conveniently and economically as the steel corporation is doing; nor could the fragments of the corporation. if 1t were dissolved, as MT. Brandeis appears to ad-
 vocats. The magnitude of the Steel cor
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Returned From Virginia

T returned this week from a three weeks vacation spent in Virginia" said Henry R. Howze, the well known lawyer. Most of the time I was the guest of my brother-in-law in Louisa county, not far from the town of Louisa, formerly known as Louisa Courthouse. I was about 40 miles from Richmond, and while monion's capital.
 ''Richmond is evidently growing very fast. It seems to be much larger than 1t was the last time I was there on a visit. In the last census it had a popu- lation of 127,000. It is a very rich city. as everyone knows, but it does not seem to be as busy place as Birmingham
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
Proportion
 Af kN.

poration's operations in the export trade are undoubtedly a great economy. and it is idle to assume otherwise.
 An equal amount of ignorance is shown in the effort to attribute to the Steel cor. poration the rise in the cost of production since 1t was formed. This increase has been practically universal throughout American industries .and similar rise has occurred in the cost of steel manufac- ture abroad. The bald fact is that iron and steel prices in the United States and abroad are not greatly 1issimilar. Prices in the American market are lower today, relative to prices abroad. than they vera in the year in which the United States corporation was formed. Can MT. Bran- deis harmonixs that bare fact with what hs has printed h his magazine articles?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-12
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Democratic Campaign Fund

Alabama democrats have contributed thus far about s1o000 to the national dem- ocratic campaign fund. but that amount should be doubled" said former Gov. w D. Jelks, who represents Alabama on the national democratic committee.
 q have forwarded s7500 and contribu- tions made direct or through other sources amount to something like s2Soo. The time is growing short, but I have no doubt but that several liberal contri- buttons will be made between now and November. The national finance corn- mittee will need every dollar that is sent to it."