davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
Iron and Steel Duties

The House sends to the Senate Mr. Underwood's sensible steel bill a bill that affords a great deal of in cidental protection while it will pro- duce a considerable revenue. This bill affords more protection than Mr. Carnegie says the iron and steel in- dustries need, but Mr. Underwood is preparing tariff bills with an eye to revenue only.
 The republicans either in the Sen ate or the White House can ill afford to oppose so reasonable bill on the ground that five appointees of MT. Taft have not rendered report on the differences in the cost of metal production at home and abroad. They have reported but one schedule in two years, and at this rate 29 years would be consumed in reporting the various schedules of the present tariff. And the metal schedule might be the last one of the lot.s
 The constitution says that the House shall originate revenue bills, and Congress as whole is the tariff making body of the constitution. Now comes along MT. Taft and the stand patters who say that neither the House nor the entire Congress shall move a hand in this matter until tariff board has first field report.
 Public sentiment will Hot sustain a proposition that overrides the consti- tuition. It will not sustain the party that made rates for profits and re- fuses to reduce them. It will not favor protective tariff covering prof it's as well as cost of production in the metal schedule when men like MT. Carnegie say no protection is needed.
 Chairman Underwood has put through the House a metal schedule for revenue purposes only-one that confessedly will not injure the iron or steel industries-a if the republi cans oppose it on the ground that a tariff board with a string tied to it has not reported they must accept the consequences at the polls next Novem- ber. The protectionists or standpat- ters will stand alone when they op- pose reasonable and moderate bill affording much incidental protection and yet affording a revenue much needed by the government. The Un- derwood schedule is wholly reasonable and the people will say so next Mo- vember.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
CoIombia's Claim to Indemnity

While the claim of Colombia rests uninvestigated and unsatisfied a strain necessarily rests on the canal zone and the canal. Colonel Roosevelt said q took the canal" So he did, and the manner of the taking has never been fully told. It should be, or else the claim should be referred to The Hague tribunal for settlement and adjudication.
 A very disreputable story is behind the Roosevelt seizure. A Panama revolution was no doubt financed and organized in New York city, and the part that the Roosevelt administra- tion had in it should be looked into and made known even if it prove a national scandal, as doubtless it would.
 The manner in which the Roose- welt administration conducted the Panama secession from the United States of Colombia is the only blot on our dealings with our South Amer ican neighbors. At present we need all the facts, and then we will be iu
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30

Washington Correspondence New 1ofh
 World.
 Ollie James, Senator-eect from Ken lucky, is a big man-bg all over, begin ming with his feet and ending with his read excepting his supply of hair, which e nil. A conservative estimate of MT James weight by a thin man would be SO0 and by a fat man at a trifle more than 375.
 After the Kentucky legislature elected Mir James to the Senate few weeks ago.. he hurried back to Washington, where he is now serving as a representative from the blue grass country. He bought his railroad ticket and delayed the purchase os a sleeping car berth until he got on the train.
 The conductor gave him a shock by showing him the diagram with only ona empty berth, and that an upper. MT James is not built on architectural lines adaptable to an upper berth, and even in a lower hc holds an overflow meeting in the aisle. lie took the upper and worked on the sympathies of the conductor and porter by the most expeditions means. They canvassed the car and could find no man agreeable to switch from lower to an upper. MT. James took up the quest himself an1 in the smoking compartment offered $5 for lower. No takers.
 When bedtime came MT. James walked slowly into the car and sat down in his section, dlsconsolate ,A dapper little man, weight about 115. took a seat oppo- site him. He was the owner of the lower berth in that section.
 The porte' came to make up the berths. When he lowered the top shelf Ollie test ed the chain with his hands and sounded the platform. He shook his head doubt fully.
 Hope she holds" he soliloquized. 'The last time i got into one of these darned upppers she fell through with me and broke a mans leg in the berth below
 Ollie got the lower.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
Real Estate Values

Many fortunes have been made in real estate speeulations, and some have been lost,' said an old citizen who has pros pered materially.
 Investments that are made in real es- tate in growing cities usually turn out well, provided the prices paid were not inflated. Money lost in real estate is usually because boom prices prevailed.
 T think realty values are conservative in Birmingham now. Almost any well situated property will be worth more five years hence than it is today. A friend tells me that he let the matter of $4OO in price keep him out of trade F years ago that would have made him many thousands of dollars richer if he had acquired the real estate and held on to it until now. It was a corner lot on Fifth avenue between the Terminal station and The Age-Herald building. He offered $2250 for 1t, but the owner want ed $265O.
 "The peal estate market has been very quiet for some months past, but I am expecting to see great activity in the early spring. Birmingham is growing steadily in population, and many hand- some improvements will be made within the next two or three years. The gov ernment has bought it's postoffice site Fifth avenue and Nineteenth street-and while the appropriation for the edifice is yet to be made, it is safe to say that ground will be broken for S1,0oO,00 building by the summer of 1914.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
The Cotton situation

Henry Cews in his last weekly review of the cotton situation says in part:
 "The extraordinary export movement continues unabated, shipments to date ap- proximate 6.5000O0 bales-a total so far l. 225 GOO bales greater than at this time last year. and indications now point more strongly than ever to fultillment of our prediction made some time ago that the outward movement this year would reach the unprecedented total of 10,0o0,o00 bales.
 ",rhere is a good deal of speculation re- garding next seasons acreage and be- cause of this considerable attention Is being given to the sales of fertilizer Current reports are to the effect that farmers are buying only half the quantity purchased a year ago and that in conse- auence prices on the average are sl.50
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
1000 MILES A SECOND

MT. Arthur Gleason in the Worlds Work for February tells this story to il lustrate the perfection of the present ca ble service
 The people of the Argentine Republic were so interested in the launching of their great battleship Moreno, at the yards of the New York ship Building company in Camden, N. J., on Saturday, September 2s, 1911, that the Central and South American Telegraph company asked the Western Union to arrange a special wire to flash the announcement The Moreno glided into the water at 2:3S D. m: instantly Camden flashed 2:Ss' to New York, New York cabled to Colon in thc same instant, Colon flashed it to Valparaiso and Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires acknowledged it's re- ceipt and lultetined the information at 2:33 D. m. In other words, the news ar rived in Bunos Aires in the fraction of a minute. even before the nipples caused by the battleships entrance into the water had subsided.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
The Contract Defeated

Yesterdays referendum vote on the Birmingham Railway, Light and Power eompany's lighting contract with the city was cast overwhelmingly in the negative. A comparatively small vote was boiled but the people had an op- portunity of saying whether or not they. approved the contract agreed to by a majority of the city commis- sioners, and the negative ballots out numbered those cast in the affirma- tive more than two for one. It is needless to analyze the reasons that might have prompted those who voted against the contract. It is safe to say that had it been for five years instead of ten the opposition would have been less in evidence.
 The commission will now proceed to formulate another contract, or an ordinance which, it is believed, will be accepted by the Birmingham Rail- way, Light and Power company with out protest, and be satisfactory to the people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
Vacant House Thieves

The ransacking of vacant houses seems to be this winter leading fea- ture of the pilfering trade. Gangs go about ready to carry away hot wa ter boilers and all the lead pipe they can find, and in Atlanta they carry away bath tubs. No article of plumb ing that can be sold escapes these thieves, who work leisurely and with out fear.
 If the police would pay more atten- tion to vacant houses the gangs that plunder them would perhaps turn their hands to some other branch of the art. As things stand a vacant house invites thieves and they speed fly work the opportunity for all it is worth.
 Owners of houses that are vacant may expect to have their property pill laged to the extent of the plumbing at any rate, and perhaps the gangs of thieves that ransaek vacant houses will soon begin to carry off mantel pieces and the like. The presumption is that they go we'll equipped with means of transportation, for no one would care to be caught carrying by hand a bath tub or hot water boiler An arrest or two of the vacant house plunderers is greatly needed in this
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
GENIUS AND INDUSTRY

From the Kansas City Times,
 That Francis Bacon did not write Shakespeare's plays and revise the King James Bible rests on surer grounds than that he would not have had time to ac- eomplish so much in addition to what he is known to have accomplished. Some men get 1nore time cut of year than other men get out Of lifetime. There is no stan lard by which to judge the max ,imum capacity of a mans work.
 As to volume of writing done. all of Bacons works, all of Shakespeare's and the literary establishment of the Bible probably do not together constitute near ly the bulk that is massed in the writ ings of Voltaire. Nor in range of subject and method do these combined English works go beyond those of the prodigiously fertile Frenchman. Philosophy, poetry plays, essays, histories, political science and legal treatises, pamphlets and let- ters came streaming from the Voltairean source Activities other than these, in philanthropy, political and social intrigue, in travel and court service, made up the life of this extraordinary man. True, his life was much longer than Bacon's life: hut even relatively his achievements prove that the Englishman might have done all that he is fancifully credited with, and more. That Is, if only quantity and time were to be considered.
 There is no measure of mental capacity mo one standard of the ability to get things done. Even the average man has moments when the road of his expression lies clear before him. What if always the way was as free and his industry as well wheeled? What might not Voltaire aud Bacon, Charles Dickens and Balzac have achieved if they had never idled, if their minds had never been obscured!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
YELLOW MAN WILL CONQUER

Lincoln Colcord in the American Nigga
 zine.
 Oh for riches-uncounted milllonsl would use, say, a couple of thousand dol lars of em in a trip to China. I should be there-should be living there. Now, particularly. The most wonderful trans formation in the world is going on there. l want to more than see it; I want to be part of 1t.
 China will not take up with the west as Japan has done. The problem for China is deeper one She needs immense changes three centuries of Manchu rule have well nigh crippled her. It begins to look as if the Manchu dynasty were to be saved-in name, at least. 1 suppose it's necessary. for the present. The great thing is to choke off these devilish Chris ton nations. Yuan is a wonderful man; the future will show how sincere he is. Is he the sage, too, wonder, that China needs more than the administrator? Is he a superior man, according to Confucius? Will he be the prophet of China, as well as her savior-the Chinese Charlemagne2 Such a man, with powers, in reign of % or 40 years could accomplish the trans formation of quarter of the population of the world!
 The task calls for wisdom-above all things. It is not a question of remolding a people to a known standard, as with the Japanese; it is a question of drawing out the latent strength of people mar veously sound and able, but, as you might say, -cowedC bound, crushed. It is a question of what to take up and what not to take up; not a question of how best to take up everything. The stamp ing out of the opium evil in space of five years-an economic as well as moral problem. and a thing practically accomp- lished-is proof enough, and to spare, of the power of the Chinese people.
 They await the man. Lacking him, the process will take more time. The result, 1 think and have always thought, is in- evitable the supremacy of the yellow man over the white. Such a statement sounus incredible; but stranger shifts of power have taken place in history.
 Imagine yourself for a moment the edi- tor of a Roman magazine and myself struggling author in the palmy days of Rome. These Goths, these Teutonic tribes T write you from a northern province they must be reckoned with. And you, perhaps, lean back sdmptuously in your eGitorium. and smile as your eye follows the line of skyscrapers along the Tiber. Well, it won't happen in the old way, surely; the time of fighting, raging, burn ing has gone by. But if the yellow race is superior to the white race. it will happen perhaps in a way so new that it has never ye. been seen.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
Summer and Fall Music

1T expect to have more concert busi- ness than usual during next summer and fall" said signor Nappi, the well known band master.
 q understand that my band will be engaged by the Underwood forces to go to Baltimore in June, and l am hoping to get the contract for open air con certs in Birmingham during July and August. The outlook for good contracts for furnishing music for the fairs next fall is most encouraging. From the way things look now l think my, mu- scans will be busy practically every day from June until November
 "The band was made up of 20 pieces last summer, but I am in hopes the open air music fund will be sufficient to em- ploy band of 30 for the coming summer. In band of 2S or 30 there would be room for French horns and large reed section, including an oboe and bas- soon"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Under.yood's Popularity

While I was in the east recently found that Oscar Underwood had a good deal of strength in Governor Wil- sons own state.P said ". A. Cheno- weth. "The Alabama democracy is practically a unit for Underwood He is probably the only democratic states man spoken of in connection with the presidency who is not opposed by men at home.
 "Underwoods strength has incfeased rapidly Of the southern states with which I am in touch Georgia. Tennes- see and North Carolina can easily be carried for Underwood in the national convention if any organized effort is put forth. Underwood's chances for the nomination look brighter and brighter
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
THE SIMPLE REASON WHY

From the New York Sun.
 If six governors of states of the Union, or 16, or for that matter 60, supposing there were so many, should go in process sion to MT. Roosevelt and formally re- quest him to announce his willingness to be a candidate for President for a third term his answer would be ready for the occasion. framed beforehand in emphatic phraseology.
 "The wise custom,' MT. Roosevelt might be expected to say to the governors. ss he said to the people of the United States on the nigh. of November s. 1904, which
 limits the President to two terms regards the substance and not the form, and under no circumstances will be a candidate for or accept another nomina- tIon"
 This patriotic declaration was not in- tended for 1908 only. but for 1912 and all years. It was not the expression of momentary attitude under conditions sub jcct to change; it was the unqualified recognition of a general principle, as last ing as the republic itself. It was not the utterance of political expediency. for President Roosevelt reserved it for the hour when the election returns had as. | sured to him a second and final term in i the White House, It was a pledge to the people, voluntarily rendered and with no string to it, no lurking place behind the lines for a disguised or postponed ambi- | ticn. Under no circumstances, said President Roosevelt Twill I be a candi- date for or accept another nomination." The Sun believes and has always believed that the given word was given by him in absolute sincerity.
 Under no circumstances" will he ac- cept another nomination, unless in the almost inconceivable event that he be-
 comes wiling to let the broken pledge stand derisively against his good name and good faith in history for all time 10 come. rUnder no circumstan is as broad ana tight a barrier as he could possibly have raised against future temp tation It covers every possible circum- stance that might be urged to induce him tc violate the promise. It covers every
 lhing popular demand. the activities ot interested promoters. the blind devotion. of real friends, starnpeded conventions Abernathy kids, genuine willingness cn | the part Of needless admirers to sacri- | fee for the sake of their hero even the | essential principle which he himself so forcibIy enupciated on his own patriotic 1 impulse. Under no circumstances will
 be candidate for or accept another nom-
 nation
 The statement is positive, while Colo ] rel Rooscselt's present silence on the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30

a position to pay just and accepta-
 ble indemnity. We paid $50,000,0 for the canal rights we secured, but no one knows who got the money. The light should be let in on this entire transaction. Colombia got none of the S50,000, ,O00, and she lost a valua- ble province. An investigation would bring the notorious. lawer Cromwell into the limelight, and so it would the but nevertheless this chapter in our history should De fully exposed and, if possible, fully made good in some way.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
A DIPLOMAT
From Lippincott's.

From Lipplncotts-
 And what is your opinion of Am ica?" they asked the distinguished visit
 Tt is undoubtedly the leader of civiIl tion," he earnestly replied. "Your ted ing cities, the great sweep of the we ern prairies. the grandeur of her mol tains, and the prosperity of her citizd immeasurably astonish me. We sho be envious of her advancement did not know her as our friend"
 And the women of America?"
 He smiled, with half closed eyes. 'R| ishingl Such wit' His eyes glowed. "S| good breeding. So superbly gowned. IT have no equal anywhere!"
 With nasty thanks the reporters cld bered down to their tug and raced off catch the extra editions, leaving famous guest to prepare for his il glimpse of our glorious country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
THE TERROR OF THE MOOR

the creature gave hideous howl, whit showed that one at least had hit him. I did not pause, however, but bounded O wards. Far away on the path we ga Sir Henry looking back, his face whi in the moonlight, his hands raised
 horror. glaring helplessly at the frigf ful thing which was hunting him down
 But that cry of pain from the houi had blown all our fears to the winds.
 If he was vulnerable he was mort and If we could wound him we could k him. Never have I seen a man run Holmes ran that night. I am reckon fleet of foot, but he- outpaced me
 much as | outpaced the little professid al. In front of us as we flew up t track we heard scream after scream frd Sir Henry and the deep roar of the hou- [ was in time to see the beast spri upon its victim, hurl him to the groui and worry at his throat. But the next stant Holmes had emptied five barrels his revolver into the creature's nal With last howl of agony and a vicid snap in the air, 1t rolled upon it's bad four feet paving furicusly, and then i limp upon it's side. l stopped, panth| and pressed my pistol to the dreadl shimmerins head, but it was useless pull the trigger. The giant hound VI dead.
 h mere size and strength it was a Il rible creature which was lying stretch before us. It was not pure bloodhoul and it was not a pure mastiff; but it s| peared to be a combination of the tw gaunt, savage, and as large as a sn lioness. Even now, in the stiffness death. the huge jaws seemed to be dr | r.ing with bluish flame and the sm deepset, cruel eyes were ringed with f placed my hand upon the glowing m gle, and as held them up my own fin smoldered and gleamed in the darkne
 "PhosphoTus,' l said.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30

a ton lower The natural deduction from this is that acreage reduction, at least in the southwest, is certain, although 1t is only fair to say that this cannot be taken as a criterion for the entire belt. Still, unless there should be a material advance in quotations during the next oo days, 1t can be safely assumed that there will be a reduction generally from last years record acreage.
 While the tendency of the market Is still upward 1t is realized that the re- covery during the last several weeks has been rather substantial, therefore or dinary setbacks should be attended with little risk as the spot situation is steadily undergoing improvement"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30

subject is negative and no evidence change in his deliberately announced l olution. He may be immensely pleased any man might well be, by the multifc signs of popular admiration and inter in his personality and even of desire
 his return to executive office; but VI his word is good and his pledge unbrol it is an insult to his integrity, as Se1 tor Norris Brown remarked night Def last to the Indiana editors, to entert the thought that he says one thing ab the third term and means another.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-30
A. Conan Doyle, in "The Hound of u

A. Conan Doyle, in "The Hound of the
 Baskervilles."
 A SOUND of quick steps broke the
 "A silence of the moor. Crouching A among the stones, We stared in- tently at the silver tipped bank in front Of us. The steps grew louder, and through the fog, as through a curtain, there stepped the man whom we were awaiting. He looked round him in sur prise as he emerged into the clear starlit light. Then he came swiftly along the path, passed close to where we lay, and went on up the long slope behind us As he walked he glanced continually over either shoulder, like man who is ill at ease.
 "HistP' cried Holmes, and I heard tho sharp click of cooking pistol. Look out It's coming!"
 There was a thin, crisp. continuous pat ter from somewhere in the heart of that crawling bank. The cloud was within 50 yards O. where we lay and we glared at 1t, all three, uncertain what horror was about to break from the heart of it hound 1t was, an enormous coal black hound, but not such q hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from it's open mouth. it's eyes glowed with a smol- oering glare, it's muzze and haclxles anI dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disor- 6ered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage faco which broke upon us out of the wall of fog.
 With long bounds the huge black crea- ture was leaping down the track, follow ing hard upon the footsteps, of our friend. So paralyzed were we by the ap- partition that we allowed him to pass be- fore we had recovered our nerve. Then Holmes and I both fired together, and