davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
POINTED PARAGRAPHS

From the Chicago News.
Sometimes word to the wise Is too
much.
When we sing our own praise we
must supply the encore.
How dreary yesterday was and how
bright tomorrow promises to be!
Optimism teaches US to let the other
fellow worry about what we owe.
He is a smart man who makes mis-
takes only at the other fellows expense.
A fool may be as happy In his folly
as wise man is lonely in his wisdom
Many a man has about as much use
for his neighbors as he has for his
wife's folks.
The bath tub has cut more of figure
| In the onward march of civilization
than the sword.
Most people are of forgiving ma
ture; at least they are always ready tc
| forgive themselves.
| AS a rule. it takes less time to refrain
from telling a man just what you think
of him than 1t does to recover from
| the effects thereof.
| Young people used to set out for q
| lifes journey on the sea OF matrimony
| now. many OF them are satisfied Will
a short excursion trip.
! We are told that one good turn de-
serves another, but when one good turn
Iactually begets another perpetual mo-
| tion VIII be an established fact. Also
khe millennium
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

| vH7ASHINGToN. August sl.-(spe-
| M cial.)-Among the recent dis
w patches from Mexico City was
an item TO the effect that one of the
greatest orators, who was also a member
| of the Mexican congress, had been shot
| in the suburbs. According TO the dis
patch this noted disciple of Demosthenes
was shot because of the fact that he was
an orator.
| After all, our boasted progressiveness in
this country and our superior airs over
| the rest of the nations of the earth, 1t
would appear from this that We are not
| keeping abreast with the times. There is
| yet something that we can learn-even
from Mexico There are many rash steps
considering orators that have been con-
| templated in this country, but so far we
| have refrained from shooting any of
them, either in the suburbs or anywhere
else. Here we have sent them to the leg
islature and to Congress and wished them
on tho people, through the medium Of
the chautauqua circuit; sometimes the
people have become peevish and pelted
them with eggs of ancient variety, or veg
SeetDiCSs but tH6 litliOQ ol puttl1S tHtHi
permanently out OF business with soft
nosed bullet does not appear to have
suggested itself to the people of the United
States.
If few orators could be conducted out
to some lonesome spot and shot at sum
rise as an example, to the clan it might
have a very discouraging effect on ora
tory in this country, and would fill long
felt want. Still, we admit that these
methods appear harsh and even drastic. If
a movement OF this kind is inaugurated
1t might be we'll to have graduated
scale of punishment. A rule might be ap-
piled that would let the punishment fit the
crime, SO to speak. Those who had Of
Tended to the greatest degree should re-
ceive the greatest punishment. and be
shot with Gatling gun, while those not
quite so bad could be shot with an or
binary horse pistol
The political orator who gets up and
commences his address with "This is alb
solutely the happiest moment of my life
to have the honor to visit your beautiful
and progressive city and gather inspira-
tion from this large audience of beauti-
ful women and gallant men," etc, should
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
The Candidacy of Diaz

Gen. Felix Diaz, who is on his
way from Mexico City to Japan by
way of San Francisco and London,
says 81 am now definitely candidate
for the office of President of Mexico. y
His political fortunes are "in the hands
of his friends" in accord with whose
solicitations" he has Consented to
make the race"
Further, Senor Diaz declares that
the report that the contention that
Victoriano Huerta's candidacy for the
presidency is debarred by provision
of the Mexican constitution is quite
correct.
Does this mean that Diaz and
Huerta have parted political COM
pany? Or does it indicate that Huerta
has come to a realization that Wood
row Wilson means what he says and
has decided to support his fellow
conspirator for the office he will be
compelled to relinquish?
The latter hypothesis more prob
ably is the correct one. The hands
of Diaz are as deeply stained with
the blood of Madero and Suarez as
are the hands of Huerta. 1t would bs
most interesting to know just how
Washington looks upon Senior Diaz's
ambitions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
LIVING ENGLISH POETS"

r. A. Scott-James in the September
Number of the North American Review.
A FEW years ago it was the fashion
~ in England to lament the death
= of promising authors, especially
poets. But since then English people
have assured themselves that they are
still, after all. poetical people. The re-
proach against the age was taken as
challenge by dozens of young adventurers,
who resolved to prove In their own per-
sons that the twentieth century was net
without poets. Tiny. volumes of verse
futtered forth from the press. Poetry So
cieties were started, and poetry reviews,
and men and women met in darkened
hall to hear Mr.. Surge Moore declaim So
norous verses. Publishers began to ad-
vertise new genius, and reviewers began
to attend to poetry as il it were really
a serious business. The opening pages
of The English Review We're devoted to
poems which seemed to be appreciated in
proportion to their ever increasing length.
Mr.. John Masefield had a success such as
had been attained by no poet since
Stephen Phillips in his prime. 1t is true
that w. II. Davies might have starved if
he had not received a government PEN
sion; that Mr.. Yeats-I believe am right
never entertained the idea of support
ing himself by poetry; that Mr. Doughty
has not SO much as been heard of by
one Englishman in a thousand Never
theless, poetry has now become men,
tionable subject In decent society; and It
is no longer synonymous with Tennyson
or even Kipling. 1t has become modern
thing, lending itself to new experiments.
a possible vehicle for new ideas. means
even of becoming notorious on grand
scale.
Mr.. Masefield was-and is-a lyrical
poet, fitted to express the personal emo
tons which lyrical poetry can support.
But he became obSessed with the convic-
ton that poetry ought to be made to do
something else than suggest feelings and
ideas in a beautiful way; that 1t ought
to serve social purpose: that it ought
to become a direct contributory force to
the social morality of the time: that IT
ought to concern itself with practical
modern questions In a practical way: that
lit ought to present actual life, realistic-
lally. The same feeling affected, a lesser
lpoet. Mr. Wilfrid Wilson Gibson. who
| being q storyteller in verse. and a moral.
1T. na5 been acclaimed as powerful poet
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
Labor Day Observance

This is Labor Day. 1t is legal hol-
iday in Alabama, and in all the other
states. Few holidays in this country
are SO generally observed. With the
public at large it ranks next, perhaps,
to Christmas and the Fourth of July.
Not only do wage workers celebrate
the occasion by taking day off, but
all right-minded employers feel a
sympathetic interest in it.
The first Monday in September was
well chosen for Labor Day. While it
begins autumn, according to the al
manac, it is still summer and good
outing weather in every section of the
country.
The Birmingham district has a
splendid body of workingmen and all
these toilers-those who come under
the head of organized labor and those
who do not-will have the good wishes
of various classes and conditions of
society on this annual holiday.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
MAKING HISTORY

From the Cincinnati Enquirer,
Napoleon and his legions galloped vi
and stood in front of the Sphinx. The
hot Egyptian sun burned on the desert
sands.
Napoleon raised his hand cor4mand-
ingly.-
Forty centuries look down upon
YOU announced Napoleon. An i'm
pressive silence followed.
II told you to quit smokin then
cigarettes inside that SPHINX" yelled
the director to gang of worlxmen hid.
den from view. do yuh want to SCI
fire to it?'
And then. the film being completed
the Goldberg = silverson Moving Pic.
ture cast moved on to where the tai
|tenements Of Hackensack. N. J.. showed
In the distance
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
CLEANING UP AMERICAN CITI

quasiled, the contract system of ca -.
the poor was abandoned and a nd y
house built A tuberculosis safiDu &
rose at Paducah, Ky. and at Valley city,
N. D., a beautiful new infirmary replaces
the old poorhouse. At Albert Lea, Mimi,
the citizens boast a new municipal hos
pital; at Big Rapids. Mich, a fine new
abattoir. At Rochester, Minn the father
of a child in one of the public schools
altered whole class room to demonstrate
Mrs. Cranes system of scientific light
ing, while at Mankato Mimi. the bak-
cries and market places went, through a
thorough cleaning and securing to get
upon the white list suggested by Mrs
Crane.
"of equal il not greater value are the
general results. In some 20 cities which
Mrs. Crane has surveyed permanent civic
leagues have been begun, under various
names. to work at various tasks. During
the year after survey of Kentucky
that state secul bore advanced health
legislation thanW all it's past history.
including an appropriation of $4,000 an
nualy for a state meteorological lab
oratory. an annual school for county and
city health officials. and a law forbid
ding the Importation of any but tubercu-
lin tested cattle Her Minnesota report,
volume of 240 pages. is being used by
women's clubs as a hand book on sani-
tation. Health officers and faithful Of
.ficials have found their first public recog-
ntioa through her keen eyed vigilance,
and have gone to work with renewed
courage. while careless officials have
been awakened to some sense of their
grave responsibility.
Long after she has left them, her
cities, as she calls them. write to her for
advice and help. On her desk appears
daily a pile of letters from individuals.
from officials, from organizations. in
which one question is repeated over and
over: When are you coming again?'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

IN both England and America.
But | am very far from suggesting that
the effort made by Mr.. Gibson and Mr..
Masefield to bring poetry into touch with
modern life Is without significance. 1t
represented reaction against the queru-
icusness, the vagueness, the mere oret-
tiness which have so often resulted in
hauseous verse. 1t had it's source in the
same impulse which led j. M. Synge to
create his finest imaginative effects by
means OF severely realistic method. And
sun carrier Mr.. Doughty, who holds
solltary position in modern poetry. had
expressed himself in the only way that
was natural to him. through an archaic
language, the language in which he
thought, which lent itself to the hard.
Vivld' and superbly brutal images be-
longing to his primitive barbarian. ana
as 1t were primeval theme.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
POOR PITTsRIrRc

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
rlttspurg, too, is annoyed by lack
OF sidewalk etiquette. and the Pitts
purg Dispatch editorially inveighs
against one special nuisance:
"rhis is the habit of women shoppers
holding, reunions right in the middle Of
'ne most congested footwalks M on the
most crowded corners. Whether It is
one woman meeting a friend or a family
party meeting another, it seems to be
all the same. They stop dead in their
tracks and. wholly regardless of the
thousands of would-be passersby they
are obstructing and inconvenjencing
stoiidiy maintain their post until the
last inquiry about the most distant
relative or the very latest ward OF
gossip has been exchanged
Pittsburg eSss'P "a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Somebody in Birmingham must be SELL
ing a particularly mean brand of booze.
Every day men are noticed on the streets
that lead from the business part of town
to the Terminal station in condition of
beastly intoxication
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
Alabama's Cotton Crop Percentag'


The First National banks report on
the crops of Alabama, which appeared
in Yesterdays Age Herald, was full of
Interest. Especially important was
the estimate of this states cotton
crop and the statistics covering the
acreage, yield per acre and the per-
centage of the Alabama crop for the
last six years to the total crop of the
United States.
According to the First National
banks estimate of Alabama cotton,
this years production will be 1,350,60O
bales. A few weeks ago the weather
conditions were highly favorable and
it looked as if this state would pro-
duce fully 100000. But there has
4 been deterioration in the past two
weeks; not as much, however, as cer-
tain market interests have announced.
If this states crop turns out to be as
much as 1,350,600 bales it will bring
more money than any former crop,
even the record crop of two years
ago.
1t is a noteworthy fact that Ala
bama's production varies slightly from
10 per cent of the entire crop. Thus,
according to the government figures
as presented by the First National
bank, the percentages We're 81 in
1912, 1913 per cent in 1911, 1912 per
cent in 1910, 1912 per cent in 1909,
10.1 per cent in 1908 and 10 per cent
in 1907, or an average of 10.1 per
cent for six years. Going back 10
years the average is practically the
same. "Should this ratio hold good
for another season. said the First
National bank report, "the Alabama
I crop will become an important factor
In estimating the total American
drop"
81 There are physical reasons why this
state is a cotton barometer, so to
Ispeak. 1t forms the center of the cot
ton belt. It's soil and climatic condi-
lions are singularly varied as regards
edaptation to cotton culture noun
\Rin, black belt and wire grass. The
nited States governments agricul-
raj department would do well, there
he, to concentrate it's cotton forecast
york on Alabama, because this states S
Estimated crop about this time of the
year multiplied by 10 gives in round
numbers the cotton production of the
whole south.
When the boil weevil began en-
croaching on Alabama it was general
ly predicted that the time would come
when practically no cotton would be
raised in this section; but our farm
ers are resourceful. They are bring
Ing science to bear more and more
on their work and they have become
more and more business-like. While
we still make great cotton crop in
this state more corn and more hay
are being raised and more of every
thing else that grows in this part of
the country. All in all 1918 will be a
great year for the farmers of Ala
bama.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
"wHY SHOULD WE Toll, ~

BY Alfred Lord Tennyson.
why are we weighed upon with heavi-
ness,
ana utterly consumed with sharp dis
tress,
While all things else have rest from,
weariness? oA''
we only toll who are the first of things
And make perpetual moan.
thrown ''ea
NOR ever fold our wings.
ana cease our wanderings.
NOT steep our brows in slumbers ho,,,
balm; noly
.sUr ..,rh ma narken what the inner spirit sings.
mere is no joy but calm,o -
""s should we only toll. the roof and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
The Speeders

II think that the city is securing a
strangle hold on the automobile speed
ers and that it will be but few more
weeks until accidents and collisions be-
come very scarce says Commissioner
Lane.
The victims in the meanwhile will
AVE the happy consolation of know
ing that they are sacrifices upon the
ltar of tardy justice.
Mr.. Moore suggests the shotgun
1hod of protection. His concern is
~ with the pedestrians. He thinks
riding an inalienable right, and if
10y rider chooses to endanger
it's his business. Yet Mr..
ould try to prevent persons
q poison or slashing his
y presence. The remedy is
kly comprehensive. The
10 must be saved from
believes in larger
vince" he urges.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

AFFINITY" Earle. genuinely grieved be-
cause his third wife is seeking a divorce,
acknowledges that his trouble is due to
the fact that he used to harbor some fool
IDEAS It is gratifying to learn that he
has come to his senses at last.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

No state of the union of the popula-
tion of Kansas has third as many au-
tomobies. The JayhawlSers may be crazy
in their political gyrations, but when it
comes to the knaclx of nabbing the dollar
they have 1t on most of the rest of their
fellow countrymen.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
DISPOSING OF ORATORS
BY BILL VINES

be shown no quarter, and should be unan-
imously shot on the spot, or in the su-
burbs or any other place that was handy.
Still, it is quite certain that it will
take the people of this country long
time to get educated UP to the point or
disposng of their orators in this way
There seems to be prejudice in favor OF
orators in the United States. Many of
our most famous men have become SO
through their ability to hand out a line of
conversation on the stump and from the
chautauqua platform to the listening and
perspiring multitude that makes said null
titude rise right straight up and roar
William j. Bryan car walk out on a plat
form before a large audience of ivory
headed, free born American citizens, who
wouldn't vote for him for coroner, and in
five minutes he'll have them standing in
their seats and barking like a band or
wild Indians. At Baltimore, to begin
with, the democratic convention was hos
tile to Bryan, but after lie got in one
or two speeches he could at any time come
right to that platform and play on them
like a trombone. After he got in q few
observations concerning the predatory
interests" and the undue and baleful in
fluence that could be eXerted by any
sinister person with as much as $265 in
his jeans toward the betrayal of the,
people, the convention fell for the magic
of his oratory and wolld whoor 'em up
Liza Jane every time they could catch
the sight of the smooth and shiney dome
Of thought. Mr.. Bryan Is some orator--
probably our most noted orator-yet so
different are we from the Mexican people
that we venture the assertion, that II it
were put to a vote of the people that
they would vote down overwhelmingly any
suggestion that Mr.. Bryan be shot. The
vote might be close in some sections, but
when the rural beats begin to roll up their
majorities, for one time Mr.. Bryan would
get the big end of the popular vote.
While undoubtedly Mexico's alleged
method of disposing of her orators. 1aap
it's advantages, we do not wish
record of advocating 1t in this 10f
Great reforms of this nature con-
Fifteen years ago direct electiol N
people of United States senator
impossible. But look at the situat
It's most impossible to elect one
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
MOVIES NOT DESTROYING THEATRE

MOVIES NOT DESTROYING THEATRE
From THE Menace of the Movies" by
Walter Pritchard Eaton. in the Amer
ican Magazine.
| During the same decade which has wit
messed the rise of the movies the num-
Der of new first class theatres in our
cities has in some cases more than
doubled. keeping far ahead of the growth
of population, and at the same time has
arisen the new interest in serious drama,
focused in the Drama League of Amer
lea with it's $1,000 members, the courses
in dramatic composition and study in our
colleges, the sudden new demands for
RAYS in printed form. and finally the
growth OF native drama. Even as the
| movies were coming on like a Kansas
cyclone, then, the true playhouse was
burgeoning with new life.
IN order to anticipate the obvious OBJ
| jectiop here. let us hasten to say that 1t
is perfectly true that the great number of
new conventional playhouses was in con-
siderable measure due to artificial causes
that is, rather to the rivalry between
the syndicate a7d the Independent group
of managers than to legitimate demand.
One of the interesting items of the spring
news was the announcement that Lee
s'hubert had gone to Abe Erlanger with a
white flag. or vice versa, and the compet-
! ing camps had agreed to stop the ruinous
competition, to turn some of their the
atres over to vaudeville or motion pic
| lures, ard to supply only so mach first
class drama" as the demand warranted.
Two theatres were thus eliminated in
Chicago, for instance. But still Chicago
was left with several more theatres thar
it had 20 years ago. Boston was left with
~ as against six at the beginning of the
century, and so on, New York still
has, of course, double the number OF
play houses it had decade ago.
Where the chief elimination has come is
in the smaller towns which are not and
never were, large enough to support two
first class theatres. 1t is, in al, such
towns far better to have one prosperous
house than two failures The one house
will get all the good plays. in some sort
of reasonable time sequence, and eac.,
house will not be trying. as of old. to
hurt the other by playing Maude Adams
against Sothern and Marlowe on the same
night. This new alliance of the syndicate
and independents, then, does not mean a
triumph for the movies at all. 1t merely
means that a halt has been called to ar
tifcia1 overproduction of playhouses. We
are still left with many more first class
theatres than we had a decade or two
ego, and are producing double the num-
ber of new plays.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

There's not a bit of use in lambasting
Governor Colquitt. Why should he have
gone to Colorado Springs if he was not
to have an opportunity of getting his
name in the papers?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
ambitionl

A London physician says frequent cut
ting causes badness. He is referring to
hair cutting. Of course, but what most
people want to know is what will increase
the crop.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

The Imperator is conceded to be a pay
ing investment and several larger ships
are to be built by Germans But for a
certain iceberg, the Titanic would doubt
less have been paving dividends now.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Americans in Mexico who are disposed
to censure President Wilson for warning
them to leave should not overlook the
fact that he thought he was acting for
their best interests
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01
ST. PETER MAY FORGET.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
When the average man gets to the
gate ST. Peter will have so many more
important things to ask him that he
will never get around to the question of
whether he ever went to baseball
gamo on Sunday.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Japan announces officially that she will
exhibit at San Francisco, just to get the
chance of smuggling in few thousand
soldiers and planting a carload or so
of dynamite.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

The Boston Globe sapiently observes
that this is not the time for Mr.. Roose-
welt TO start something When the
psychological moment" arrives he will
be heard from.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

After a careful reading of Secretary
Garrison's recent speeches, we come to
the conclusion that all the army needs
is officers, privates, guns, ammunition
and other equipment.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

A Boston millionaire is being sued for
breach of promise by lady whom he
never kissed or caressed. It's too late
now for him to get his money's worth.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Birmingham mas acquired a reputation
as a joy riding center that she wouldn't
mind losing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Don't marry a nobleman," says Mar
chesa San Germano-nee Hoge of Louis
ville-to American girls. Well, most of
them won't, but it win be due more to
lack of opportunity than anything else.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

DR.. Len G. Broughton says no woman
who wears a slit skirt in this world will
go to heaven. Angels are usually pic
tured as attired only in thin cloud and
a pair Of wings.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Whitman has accepted the Tammany
nomination for district attorney, and
Colonel Roosevelt is busily engaged in
throwing fits.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

The next time Ambassador Walter
Hines Page gives reception, it's safe
bet he'll be on the door himself when
Consuelo comes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Brother Bryan lectured on 1.-THE Signs
of the Times" at a chautauqua the other
day without referring, we believe, to the
high cost of living.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-01

Mrs. Hetty Green, the dispatches say
is spending a brief vacation and nothing
more at Bellows Falls.