davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13
Londons Most Successful Failure In Recent History

himself to get out of condition. and al
ways has procticed stern self-discipline
Afflicted in his early days with slight
stammer. which even now returns when
he is moved, he read aloud for an hour
every day and gradually conquered the
impediment in his speech. He is prac-
tically a teetotaller and glutton for
work, and it is a world of pities that the
energy he has shown in each of the de-
partments which he has bossed-getting
down earlier and going away later than
most of the clerks-has not had happier
results
AT Cambridge, he was as famous as a
mathematician as he was as an athlete,
carrying off the highest possible honors
in his favorite subject. and as secretary
of the treasury, his first government post,
he literally overwhelmed questioners un-
der an avalanche of figures. Like most
of the members of the Asquth cabinet,
including the premier himself, he is
lawyer by profession, but when once he
had made up his mind to take up poll
tics as a career, he gave up without hesi-
tation a good practice, and thereafter de-
the outset, in 1892, he headed a forlorn
liberal hope against the safe unionist seat
of Clapham and ran a bad second to p.
M. Thornton, a local IDOL but was re-
warded for the plucky fight he made by
being made the official candidate of his
party in North Monmouthshire. which
would elect dog to parliament If only it
We're liberal one.
Once in parliament a member of the
party that then was in opposition, Nc
Kenna soon showed himself an adept at
legislative guerrilla warfare. associating
himself with a little band of experts who
always were on the warpath selling op-
portunities and creating them wherever
possible to attack the government indi-
vidually and in detail. That famous par
liamentary war lord, the late Sir Charles
Dixie. was McKenna's legislative mentor,
and the younger mans devotion to and
admiration for the elder was so marked
that during his first years in parliament
he was known in the house as man
Friday" Meanwhile he became a verit-
able thorn in the side of the Balfour min
istry. With a natural aptitude for seeing
the weak points in an opponents case he
pressed home his criticisms, remorselessly
and continuously, on small matters as
well as great No minister had any rest
so far as McKenna could manage 1t, and
his ultimate reward, when his party
came into power after the liberal land
slide of 1905, was the post of financial
secretary of the treasury in the ministry
of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman. The
holder of this post does not sit in the cab
met, and his chief duty is TO answer
questions in the house of commons, a
duty for which MeKenna was admirably
fitted, just as a former poacher makes a
capable sameheeper. Cieafi-sfiaveTi and
,lA H. - r--,-AV
forward from well-squared shoulders, he
proved. as a minister. courtesy and ur-
banity itself. Questioners and would-be
''hecklers'' invariably got more than they
desired from McKenna but here the tale
OF his success ends-ends definitely,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13

the admiralty yacht Enchantress, on
worrying official visits of inspection, and
the mention of his name all but threw
that doughty sea dog Sir Charles Beres-
ford, into commissions. The course of
cheese-paring economy which McKenna
insisted on, pursued at the behest of the
little navy party, was mainly response
Bile for this aversion, likewise for the
notorious unpreparedness of the fleet for
war when it was touch and go between
Germany and Britain last summer. Ship
after ship was found to be. manned on
paper only, the vessels being equipped
with nucleus" crews, and the revela-
tion of this state of affairs spelled the
inevitable doom of McKenna as fleet lord
Meanwhile controversies without number
had arisen in connection with naval poll
cy, the titular ruler of the Kings navee
showing up worse in each one of them.
while a smashing blow to McKennas 8
fast crumbling reputation was given by
his quibbing in the famous Archer-Shoe
case in which he had to be forced, prac-
tically at the point of the bayonet, to
remedy an act of obvious injustice to a
cadet.
This time it was deemed certain that
McKenna would lose his official head,
but, instead, he was promoted, changing
jobs with Winston Churchill, who then
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13

held the office of home secretary, which,
partly because of it's occupants intimate
relations with the sovereign, is reckoned
one of more distinction than that of first
lord of the admiralty. the home secretary
receiving $4,000 year as compared with
the $22,500 paid to the boss of the navy.
For many years the Cinderella of the
public departments in Great Britain. the
home office. latterly has managed to
shoulder off few of the innumerable
matters oonhded to it's charge upon the
local government board the board of
trade and the board of education and the
division of authority among these de-
partments now has become decidedly COM
plicated. but the home Offices activities
are still multifarious, ranging from the
extension of the royal clemency'' to a
person convicted of murder to the
granting of a license to permit one to
vivisect an animal or to have Colorado
beetle in his possession. The home sec
retary is in absolute control of the police,
and is personally responsible for the su-
preston of riots, he appoints all stipen-
diary magistrates as well as the director
of public prosecutions, and is empowered
with the ultimate supervision of all that
relates to prisons and criminals as well
as to factories, mines. lunatic asylums,
cemeteries and to matters of sanitation
Most striking of all the home secretary's
functions, however, is his extensive con-
troll of the royal prerogative which makes
him the principal channel of communica-
tion between the king and his subjects.
Most of the so-called royal acts, in fact,
are actually the acts of the home sec
retary, to whom all petitions to the SOW
ereign are addressed and who presents
merely those he pleases. In this capacity
be really constitutes the last court of
appeal in the kingdom, condemned GRIM
malls ultimate chance depending largely
on the personality of the man at the
home office. Home Secretary Collins, for
example, had the reputation of changing
everybody" while the Right Hon. Her.
bert Samuel. now postmaster general, as
home secretary, went to the other ex-
treme and commuted death sentences to
ones of Imprisonment for life In more
cases than the public relished
If more hapless man that the Right
Hon. Reginald McKenna ever has occu-
pied this tremendously important post,
there is no record of his administration.
Hardly had he taken 1t over when trouble
broke out in the Industrial world which
it needed big man to handle. The dock
laborers of London, with some real and
many purely imaginary grievances struck
work and during the weeks that inter-
vened before the granting of certain con-
cessions by the port of London author
ity brought the strike to an end were
treated to some. of the most incendiary
speeches by professional agitators In the
history Of English labor. Men who re-
fused TO come OUT were assaulted right
and left, but McKennas only action was
to receive deputations representing both
no 1T fiac md 10 ash x1Jn co t,a
good. He sat supine while heads were
broken and Ben Tillett talked openly Of
taking gun and shooting Lord Daven-
port" the chairman of the port of Lon
don.
McKenna's paltering with the suffrag-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13

r oNDoN. July 12-(special)- )-Ques-
ton: Who is the best abused man
- in Great Britain today?
Answer: TIE Right Hon. Reginald Nc
Kenna.
And there is no doubt about the answer,
either. Lloyd-George isn't in it for
moment with poor NeKenna, for the as
tate Welsh statesman has plenty of peo-
pie to stand up for him, whereas his fell
low cabinet minister hasn't anybody. ex-
cept maybe his chum Asquith.
Nearly everything important and sig
nificant that has happened in England
lately has happened in the department of
the secretary of state for home affairs,
the equivalent to some extent of the
American secretary of the interior. But
whereas Franklin Knight Lane of Cali
fornia started in with a comparatively
clean slate. the McKenna slate is ribaldly
scribbed over by militant suffragettes
with bombs in their skirt pockets; by
railway unions who are again figuring on
schemes for starving London by colossal
railway strikes. and by all sorts of other
victims of and makers of internal troubles
that are too much for McKenna, and
maybe for anybody else.
And the queer thing about 1t is that this
hapless secretary. who has somehow kept
tumbling up from high office to high Of
fice, each more important than the last,
is now being talked of seriously as the
successor to the premiership, Mr.. Asquth
having intimated plainly that he can't
stand the strain much longer. Will Nc
Kenna get it?
Quite lot of people would like to
know the answer TO this question, most
of ALL perhaps, the militant suffra gettes,
whose previous mild contempt for Nc
Kenna has turned to implacable hatred
now that he actually has taken steps to
suppress them, not to mention George
Bernard Shaw, who recently suggested
that the home secretary should be ex-
amined by a commission of medical ex-
perts on the ground that he is laboring
under the delusion that he is the Czar
and Sir Victor Horsley the famous scien-
tist who has just accused McKenna of
first attacking his veracity, and then de-
clining to come into the open and SUBJ
stantiate his charge, and finally of in
triguing against him at TIE Royal Col
lege of Surgeons
Mr.. McKenna's remarkable success as
a failure is the more surprising because.
prior to his admission to the cabinet he
had given every sign of being the pos
SCISSOR of a lot of resolution, If not cour-
age. To begin with he came of stern
stock, his father being one of brilliant
group of brothers of mixed Irish and
English blood each of whom rose from
humble beginnings to a prominent place
in the world of commerce, and his mother
was an English woman of unusual char
acter, In whose veins ran the blood OF
.,f
Martyrs Reginald McKenna, more-
over, in his younger days was a mighty
athlete. who rowed bow In the famous
Cambridge eight of 1887, and won both the
Grand and the Stewards cup at Henley
Dxactly 50 today, he never has allowed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13

At the back. under the coat-of-arms of
Mexico. is the chair of the speaker, and
the seats run in concentric rows, rising
from the floor below the speakers desk,
gradually to the back Around the hall
and looking down into it are galleries,
which during my visit were filled with
spectators who listened to every word
of the speeches, and who. it seemed to
me, were much concerned in the pro-
ceedings.
Each member has his own desk and
chair, and the order in which the desks
are kept is far better than that of our
lower house of Congress. It seemed to
me also that the Mexican statesmen act
better than our congressman do. They
are more polite and there is less talking,
whispering and smoking while the de-
batting goes on.
The house is much smaller than ours.
1t has only 233 members, the representa-
tives being elected for two years. at the
rate of one member for each 10000 in
habitants.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13
Shifting the Responsibility

From Judge.
Miss Rocksey-"Oh. papa. why do you
wish me to marry the kind of man
who can get money out of the other
fellow?"
Old Rocksey-"Because, dear then he
won't be trying to get 1t out of me-"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13
The postoffice building of Mexico City

The p0stoffice building of Mexico City
The Mexican capital is fast becoming a
city of statues, and some of the new pub
lie buildings are fine. [ doubt whether
there is more beautiful postoffice any
where than that of Mexico City. and the
federal capitol. which has been designed
for the Pasco de la Republca, will when
completed be one of the finest structures
in Latin America. So far only the iron
skeleton has been erected. The building
is to cost s1000Oooo. The castle at Chapul-
tepec is also very beautiful.
Financial Mexico
AS far as much-needed funds are con-
cerned, the new loan which Mexico has
recently gotten will put the administra-
tion on easy street for some time to come.
When Huerta came into power the treas
ury was practically empty owing to the
extraordinary expenses of Madero and
the necessities of war. I am told that the
country is in much better condition fnan-
cially than is generally supposed. Mex
has been producing a large quantity of
silver and copper, and her exports for
1912 exceeded those for 1910 and 1911 by
II 100000 pesos During every one of the
past five turbulent years there has been
a surplus of ordinary revenues over the
ordinary disbursements. In 1907 and 1898
this amounted to more than s1S0o0,00O. In
1909. It was more than so,o0o,00o, and in
1911 it exceeded S10,000.000 In 1912 the
revenues We're more than S105,00o,00o.
AS to her national debt. Mexico has not
only been paying the interest every year.
but has been cutting down the principal.
In 1911 and 1912 this cut amounted to al
most Sc, ,ooo,0O0 and that, Notwithstanding
the abnormal conditions which then pre-
vailed. The resources of the country are
such that there Is no doubt but it can re-
deem all its obligations If a stable govern
ment can be secured, and as soon as the
country is quiet the stocks and bonds now
on the market will rise. The total amount
of the foreign debt is something like S315.-
0o0,0o0, and this win probably be added to
by the damage demanded on account of
the outrages of the recent revolutions.
Mexican Trade
had a talk last night with one of the
leading financiers as to Mexican trade
with the United States and its possible in
crease through our tariff reduction. This
man says that the new tariff will send
many Mexican articles which are now
going to Europe to the United States.
Said he:
"Our foreign commerce has been stead
ily increasing, and within 10 years we will
double our exports This is especially so
as to our trade with your country. We
sold you s224000,000 worth of goods in 1912,
and our total exports that year were $685..
10000 So you see you now take the most
of what we sell. You will take even more
in the future"
what are the chances for American
capital?' l asked.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13


the PaseO de la Reforma. Cost twice
as much as Washington monument.
the new labor regulations this tax was
cut to per cent. and at the same time
a proposition was made to increase it to
per cent on all other factories. This
policy will probably be carried out in the
future and the result will be better hours
and higher wages.
The Mexican Congress
During my stay here have spent some
time in the Mexican congress. There
are two houses. the senate and the
chamber of deputies. The senate holds
its sessions in the national palace and
the chamber of deputies has it's own hall
in the business heart of the city.
The building of the chamber is of stone,
with doors of wrought iron. Tt is of the
shape of the Pantheon, the hall being
great circular room upheld by many coll
ums and rooted by DOME An enormous
chandelier of cut glass, as big as a two
ton stack of hay, hanging from the CEN
ter of the dome, and it's many frosted
light bulbs make the hall as bright as
day.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-13

Both senator's and deputies receive
salaries of $4,000 Mexican a year. This
is equal to $l,5Oo gold. 1t is just one
fifth what our high-paid congressman
get. The Mexican congress meets an
nually in two sessions The first is from
April to May 81, and the second is from
September Is to December 10. A perma-
nent committee of both houses sits dur
ing the recess
Patriotism in Mexico
1t seems to me that the Mexicans are
growing more PATRIOTIC. They are great
stump speakers and the recent cam
paigns of the several presidents have
started the heads of the masses TO work.
ing You can now hear much talk about
Mexico for the Mexicans2 and the de-
mand for "a government of the people,
for the people, by the people," On the
Paseo de la Forma now stands the great
monument of independence, which was
completed two years ago. 1t is the finest
of it's kind, and 1t has cost about twice
as much as our monument to George
Washington.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03
1T WAS A GLORIOUS DAY.


Yesterday was known as ground hog
day. or more ancientIy as candlemas.'
And what n glorious day it was. Re
fcrriug to the common saying TO the
effect that the grounding comes ont
OF his winter liberation at noon on
that day and if the sun shows him his
shadow he retires for six weeks, these
six weeks being an addition to the win
ter; but if there is no shadow be stays
out or goes and comes at will, because
in that case the winter is supposed TO
be over, yesterday was n settler.
On this point there was no possibility
Of doubt in this region. No ground
hog that came out could possibly miss
seeing his shadow, and a multitude of
other shadows cast by the goodly sun.
And it looked far more like an immed-
late forerunner of spring than the sign
Of now six weeks winter.
What brilliant day it was. All ma
ture was surface-cieanscd by a light fall
of snow in the night, and the brilliant
whiteness glorifed the world anew. 1t
was day of beauty, fully enjoyed by
everyone of sensibility. The new world
which appeared was a beautiful world.
Those who for any reason failed to en-
Joy il lost one OF tho keepest pleasures
of life
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

increase in population than increase in
food supplies. aud the control Of The
markets by speculative combines, ere
matters of common knowledge. Every.
one can learn The facts that generally
apply, by even n little observation.
The Fisher theory tha; the oVerpro.
iUction of gold is responsible for the
increase ia the price of living has been
abandoned by every iutelligent public
economist who has treated of recent
wears on this question, except few
who are so devoted TO ;hat theory that
th"y can see nothing else in the sItua-
ton.
Professor Fishers view is. besides
being unsound. utterly unfair to the
gold miner. aud it is = pleasure TO
know that the Fisher theories haven I
the slightest chance in the would OF
or any other We may add. also, that
no doubt Professor Fisher is firm op-
ponent of the idea of Cat money.
and vet fat money is exactly what be
proposes in this scheme. He would
make 25.S grain dollar represent q
27. p or 2S grains OF gold, as the case
may be; and on his theory he ought
to make it reprcsent about S3 grains OF
gold. He doesn't have the nerve,
however, to 90 quite so far rs this, so
as TO complete his own theories. And
yet, such would be the necessary logl-
cal result Of them. For j man who
does not want TO have Eiiat money :,
and who wants to do the fair thing by
everybody, Professor Fishers plan is
about the. most unfair, the most un
sound, aud the poorest reasoned Of any
that We have seen.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE MONDAY MORNING FEBRUARY 1913

the Atlantic slope made themselves free
with all OF the natural resources of their
surroundings, the timber, the water
powers, the mines, everything that
would help them in opening the country,
The same was true of the settlers
throu ghout the great Mississippi valley,
and as To this latter the government 5
policy was enlarged so as 70 include free
homesteads for hundreds of thousands
of energetic pioneers and settlers. Bn!
all at once there is now demand TO
have this policy reversed. and 10 have
thc dcyelopmcu; Of the Western and
mountain States held UP for some in
definite rime and for some indetermin-
ate purpose 1t is time that such folly
received check, and that the rights OF
the settlers under the general laws of
the country should be rot only pre-
served but actively maintained, Sena-
tor Borah is doing excellent work every
time that lie objects TO this couserva-
tion faddism which is doing so much
injury 10 tho people Of the West and is
rctardine tho development Of many
States No Que understand the dues-
ton better than he. and no ono is more
competent or in Il better position TO
make the needs and tho rights OF tho
West known, and b1ipg to the attention
Of the country the evils Of this new
sort of conservation which is doing SO
much damage.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

Menean brigands continue their raids
not only unchecked, but in many cases
uDopposed. Isn I it about time that we
sent another uitimatum, this timo with
explosives done up in itl What a pity
It was that when President Taft made
his military mobiiizing on The Mexican
border two years ago, he didn't have
any concert with Dias that the mill
tary forces of Mexico and the United
States would act together. and jointly
put down all revolt!
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

Now that Senator Warren has been
reelected by the Wyoming legislature,
Senator La Toilette Will have chance
20 bring formally before the [. :,
Senate his threatened objections 10
that election. But there doesn't seem
to be any reason 60 expect any adverse
action; for if there had been anything
substantial 10 allege. it would unques-
tionablly have been produced during
the wrangling aud the balloting
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

The superintendent of the Cook conn
~ (Illinois) schools, in holding that
geography can be more effectively
taught through the use OF railroad maps
and pamphlets than with the aid Of the
ordinary school geography, can support
his position by many arguments. And
his position in this is another evidence
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

The Methodist bishop who was sued
for libel and compelled TO pay dollar
damages, can feel with the honest news
paper which may be sued FOR dealing
ont righteous ccnsure and not shirking
its duty. II sometimes costs money to
do what is right and acquit the con.
science OF its obligations.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

The Sultan OF Turkey is reported TO
be an expert pianist. II so, he must be
doing something 10 a piano these days
comparable 10 what Carl Schurz did to
one in Cincinnati when he expressed on
II his rage and sorrow at the nomina-
tion of Greeley in 1872 for the Presi-
dency by the :'Frcform Republican
party. That piano never sang again.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

Today begins the fourth week of the
legislative session, with an accumula.
tion of business which it win take n
good while 10 work of Isu Z it about
time to let the grist begin to grind so
that business shall not clogl And when
measure is disposed of, let the rule be
that the same shall not be brought
before the legislature again at It's pres
ent session.
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

The idea of road to Gettysburg
from Washington being memorial to
Lincoln is absurd Tire road he most
desired TO travel when President was
the road from Washington to Rich
mond. But why roaal
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

The reasoning which goes 20 the
makeup Of The estimate of population
of 115,0o0 for Salt Lake City is good,
and the expectation of population OF
100000 here at no distant day is well
justified
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

Boston Traveller: According TO very
reliable political gossip some of the
wealthy representatives Of the common
people who helped TO finance the
Roosevelt campaign. and who made Viii
sons election possible, are now wonder
ing, even audibly, in view Of Wilson s
utterauces, what they gained by their
revenge on Taft -
The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-03

A board OF army officers at Wash
ington has decided on 4 new style OF
sword for army officers. But why?
What does sword amount 20 in mod
err battle7