davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

everything that was of interest to agri-
culturists. He had good knowledge Of
soil and of seed. There was not an I'M
proved device in farming machines that
he was not conversant with lie knew
land value, too. but more than all, he
knew men.
After he had been assistant cashier a
couple of years he decided to go west He
listened to the call that all men listen
to sooner or later. He went west to
Hastings, Neb.. as one of the officials of
the Western Investment company. He
made some money in Nebraska and
liked it pretty well. but the Guthrie bank
officers missed him so much that within
two years they induced him to return to
Panora, this time as cashier, The bank
flourished while he was cashier and he
made such a reputation that in January,
1893, the cashiership of the Des Moines
National bank was offered to him. Then
came the first real test of his ability
as banker.
The Des Molnes institution was not of
high reputation. There was some dues-
tion as to whether 1t would continue. 1t
had various debts. and its surplus was
very small. only strong man could
make 1t strong. Reynolds took hold of
it, and he injected some of his own
spirit into the other officers. Within six
months he had II started on the up grade.
In 1896 he was made president OF the
bank. 1t was on firm, solid founda-
tion by this time and 1t has grown in
power and prestige ever since. Today It
is one of the soundest and most highly
considered banking houses In the rich
state of Iowa.
Reynolds was beginning to make him
self known. People in Chicago had mo-
liced what he had done, not only In Des
Moines. but in Panora. In the fall OF
1897 the officers Of the Continental Bank
of Chicago induced him TO accept the
oashiership of that bank The Continen-
tai of that time was not like the Con
tnental of today. Ii had only 81, 900 ,00t
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19
THEOLOGY, AND MEDICINE-By George Eaves D. D.

feetions unknown to the modern phar-
macopeia, they had most gracious
heart, most religious motive. and they
paved the way for the modern physl-
clan and the modern nurse.
In the course of events Europe be-
came little better than a social ruin and
wreck, its intellect subordinated TO
political passions and the struggle FOR
national existence, magic and charms and
stolid endurance of pain followed the dis
appearance of the nascent world embrac-
ing love of the early missionaries. Where
the will to heal was still present, the
knowledge had disappeared. But it was
the Semitic again who saved the situation.
Arabian and Jew, bearing the scattered
brands of tho Greek Intellectual fires,
lndistinguishable now forever, reconciled
ever. in the suspicious priesthood confi-
dence in demonstrable facts, and modern
science was born. Ever since those days
the arts of healing have been dlfferen-
tiated from the world of the theolosian,
and the heresy has spread from the
new gnosticism that physical facts are
unspirltual and almost obscene.
This, however, is a mere eddy in the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

clan of to-day Even today in many lands
witchcraft exceeds in popular approval
all the arts of life. is the most august,
the most necessary. Anyone who Will
may still hear the incantations and the
noisy dances and chants' of professional
exorcists. Whenever there is ignorance
of natural processes the populace harks
back to mysticism and the medicine man
with his charms usurps the place from
which science thrust him when she made
way for the medical man. But Eleusi-
rian mysteries, Bacchic ceremonial, the
social impulse which draws men to feast
ing or to conferring, together, are them
selves all rooted deep in the religious
nature. they have all been utilized for re-
liaious ends. In truth it would be hard
TO find anything that mankind does to-
gother, as a community or as guild
Which is not rooted in religion. This
says only in other words that religion
is coterminous with life, and that though
men run away to escape it, behold re-
ligion waits for them on the horizon.
Men who meet in Pat 1saacson's saloon
and get busy together, do not remember
how their ancestors reckoned the busi-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

stream of human progress. The main
current blends religion and medicine -
truly now as in the old time. The pnysi-
clan knows that the limitations OF ex-
act knowledge are very severe. The ths-
olcgian dares to affirm that the powers
of the God-inspred man are illfmitaois.
These two are counterparts of each other
the scientific caution, the spirituh
daring of a love lndomitable and serene.
But neither must usurp the functions
of the other. AS an old English BALLAD
has 1t:
"The tother young maid loolst sly at ma
And from her seat she risen:
Let thee and | go our own way
And we'll let she go she sn."
The ultimate of theology IL the inspis
alton of the souls OF men. The ultimats
of medicine Is the emancipation OF the
human body.
The two will unite I'm the great act
OF the drama of history, its grand climac-
tric, when the whole body OF mankind
shall be united In conduering It's chains
whether of the body or the soul on e~sry
individual human.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

| of the snob in his makeup once said
''The Lord must love the common peo-
Pile; he made so many of them
| On it's face that appears a witticism
Look deeper and you may see in it a
profound philosophy.
| That which is most common Is most
universal. and that which is most uni
versal is most divine
| Think it over.
| Not only so, but that which is inost
common is often most beautiful.
| What is more lovely than the rose,
the grass, the trees. the sky, the sea OF
the stars?
They are all common.
Poe once said that the greatest poems
are those built about the homely emo
tions-the love of man and maid OF
mother and child, of country, of God,
| of home. Yet these emotions are COM
mon.
Some one else has said that genius
consists In the ability TO express what
everybody else feels. This is but glv-
ing voice to what is common to all men.
The greatest things in me are not my
peculiarites, but the things | have in
common with my fellows. the fullness
with I give utterance to these things.
the points of contact I have with all
manner and conditions of men.
Benjamin Franklin was at home in
the farmers cabin, the scientists labora-
tory, the legislative hall and the king 8
palace. He had points of contact with
all
The greatest men are so. They pos
sess common faculties raised to the nth
power. This is genius.
The highest kind of sense is common
sense. 1t is the essence of the expert
ence and wisdom of all ages.
The man who behods the divinity of
common life suddenly sees the miracle
and beauty of Gods good green world.
There is a characteristic incident Of
President Lincoln told by a gentlemen
who attended one of his receptions. This
occurred, l think IN 1864; at any. rate.
after the issuance of the emanci ton
proclamation
While the senators. generals and 9TH
er white folks of quality passed in many
negroes hung about outside the White
House watching the spectacle
1t was not until the long line was near
ly at an end that they timidly began to
edge toward the door. They were
dressed in all sorts of outlandish cos
tunes. some In rags. others In bright
colors
Lincoln was tired from the long ordeal
of handshaking but his face Immediately
lighted up on seeing his motley admirers
still hanging back as though uncertain OF
their reception.
His hearty greetings dispelled all doubts
and then ensued a scene battling de-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

ness of a sort of divine afflatus, proyoea-
tive of brotherhood, nor do they know
that the oaths stimulated by Pats
whisky are all that is left OF ancient lit
urgles Yet 1t is even so.
Much more evident is 1t that the
whole art of healing must have been
at the first a monopoly of the priests
and adopts. Certainly 1t fell on evil
days and became function of bar
bers who are related to the physicians
of today in social evolutionary pro-
cesses much as the quadrumana are
related to man in the process of phys
ical evolution. These are all Cousins
german of the other, not in the direct
line of inheritance The BARRIERS pole
Is said to have its gaudy color and its
point simply as reminder and re-
mainder of the proud DAYS when the
barber was called "the leech,' and car
ried a lancet as the chief weapon of
the healers art that he might "let
blood" alike from gouty squire OF
plethorie priest, or dying and anaemic
child. Behold the exaggerated lancet
in the gided pole which indicates tho
modern shaving parlor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

reveals that four to five houses were oe-
enpied where is now one. There were
full churches. schools of 80 to 70. bees, de-
batting societies, pionics singing schools
parties, quiltings. military drills, big hunts
and fishes. shooting matches, fife and
drum corps sugar making and two goose
feather beds for every bride. however
poor
Then came gradually the. bad times.
Leaders gone, young folks leaving,
schools almost closed. various neighbor-
hood organizations closing one after an
other. and the farmers wondering and
waiting-and scarce a game of dominos or
quoits to be had. Wide spread economic
causes can be laid thereto. But noC all
like neighborhoods sank so far. Records
are of many that braced, thought, took
community action-saved part of the
old good and prepared for its grating on
the new.
Well. we are on the upgrade again.
But there's long way to go-years long.
But it is not yet assured that this our
community will rise to another class A
little betterment is often half failure But
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

TIME west has its Morgan as we'll as
east but the ways of the Morgan
of the west differ from those OF
the man of Broad and Wall streets.
The Morgan of the west is George M.
Reynolds of Chicago. He never had a
hand in the merging of railroad systems
never risked a dollar in a Wall street
undertaking, his name is not on the di-
Iectorate of the United States Steel COR
poration or any other gigantic industrial
body, and he practically is unknown to
that band of promoters and operators
whose slirmshes and battles are matters
for daily record by the ticker taps.
He is not the Morgan of the Stock ex-
change and of international finance but
the Morgan of the cornfields and the
Morgan of the crops. He came from a
middle west farm, and he has kept close
ly in touch with the farmer all his lie.
Today he is Americas greatest CONNER
cial banker. He is president of three
great banks in Chicago with deposits OF
between S240,G0o,O0O and $250,Mo,VSo
There is not one big individual deposit in
any of these banks, but Reynolds has
the accounts of 5000 country banks ind is
The advisor and confidant of more mer-
chants and more small bankers than ary
other man in America. No man In the
middle west is better informed as 10
what is going on in the srain-produeing
states. No man has a closer touch on the
pulse of the people.
He is the protege of no one, has had
nothing but native ability to help him. yet
in 20 years he has climbed from the
cashiership of a small country bank TO
the headship of the most powerful bank
in the west and has had the secretaryship
of the treasury offered to him. He has
one peculiarly. a remarkable one Tor a
great banker He is a glutton for reading
ana his favorite reading is the country
newspaper He goes through scores Of
country newspapers every day. They keep
him in touch with his people. lie al
ways has liked the country newspaper
and he likes them now better than he
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

Brush

never yet in this country fessened ths
work product of community-has
rather always increased and bettered
it. Business men are providing for 1t
in their plants.
Sanltation-The villages and the
farms are now acknowledged to be be-
hind in sanitation. Surely little can be
accomplished in this line save through
wide cooperative effort Your neign-
Dor. who refuses modern treatment OF
diphtheria and sends ABROAD germ
carrier, kills your child or your young
husband miles away, almost like MUIR
derer with gun.
The rest of rural America Is advanc-
ing rapidly: it Is not enough to advancs
a little here. The task which faces us
here is the patient years-long upbulld-
ing of the community; one that shaa
not only educate the children, but bo
so fun of the best things In American
life that many of them will stay or
come back and taking our thinning
hands say: "Tve heen around and seen
and III live here-alongside o you
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

pressed by their own Importance that
they want to keep all other men at q
distance Mr.. Reynolds Is only the cash-
Ter of. the Panora bank grown up. He
has managed somehow TO make that Chi>
cago bank bear a good deal of the rela-
ton to the middle west that the ordinary
country bank bears to the territory about
1t.
But while he has become a country
banker on a large scale. he has become
national too, in his scope. He has been
very active in the work of the Ameri-
can Bankers association. For six years
he was treasurer of that body and later
served as president for three years. He
has become the great authority of the
west on finances and writer and .
speaker on financial subjects has at
ira Cted wide attention.
To market the crops of the grain
belt requires many hundreds of milions
of dollars. Probably no bank In the
land does more toward financing the
| movement of the wheat, the corn. the
| oats, the barley and the other grains
| from the farms to the mills or to the
| sea than does tho one that is ruled over
| by the farmer from Iowa. In the placing
| of the loans there is good profit, but the
| greatest profit comes in the other and
| larger business that is natural result
| of the intimate relationship that close
financial dealings bring.
| Most big bankers have come to success
| by getting in touch with the men OF
great wealth. Reynolds has not. His
strength has been almost wholly In his
knowledge of and acquaintance with the
! farmer. the merchant and the average
man of general trade big business
never has sought him and he never ha
! tried to attract it. In New York hs
would not have fitted In so wei las I'M
Chicago, for New York has not the'
great agricultural population to draw
| upon that Is tributary to Chi
| cago. And, probably, a banker of New
York with his intense provincialism
would not find the country papers such
entertaining and profitable reading as
does the cornfeld banker who Is the
Morgan of the middle west.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

scription. They crowded about him like
children. shouting blessings on his name
in very abandon of religious fervor
Among the CALCULATIONS could be disting-
uished over and over again the cry oi
God bless Massa Linkum" or God bless
Abraham Linkum.
AS the gentleman left the White House
he said he heard fast young men cursine
the President for receiving these people
but In his own heart echoed and re-echo-
ed their cry Of God bless Abraham Lin
kum''
Can you read of this incident with dry
eyes? If not you are my friend.
1t is well TO take in all the picture, the
shadows along with the high lights-the
fast young men, for example.
God save us from snobbery
The most charitable thing to be said
is that they were young. Possibly they
gained wisdom insight and heart in the
years that followed
The parallel comes unbidden to ones
mind of the thoughtless rabble crying
Cruelty him. Cruelty him. about Pi-
late's palace in Jerusalem.
LAS ye do unto the least Of these
The man who is blessed by the poor.
who is loved by the unfortunate, is more
to be regarded than him who stands for
kings.
For he has rendered service where he
could expect no return
God bless Abraham Lincoln.'
David Jayne Hill. former American am
bassador to Germany, recently spoke to
the Franco merican committee in Paris.
In the address he described the average
American.
The description was so pat that it was
cabled to the American papers
Some of the qualities ascribed p this
average American by Mr.. Hill were prac-
tical religion. generosity, love OF home
and industry. He Is neither rich nor poor.
has opinions of his own and means what
he says when he talks business. He be-
lieves in the substantial good at the heart
Of the universe. He gives to the unfortu-
nate both good advice and bread. He
honors his wife and Is ambitions for his
children. He goes straight to the point.
He judges men more by character than
by intellectual endowments.
Perhaps Mr. Hills best characterization
of the average American occurred In these
words.
'He has a large fund of self re-
lance, and If defeated In his efforts or
disappointed in his hopes today. he
expects to succeed tomorrow
There are several volumes of history
in that one sentence-the history of
democracy
The school of equal opportunity has
turned out race of optimists who be-
liexe in each other and In themselves.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

the stream and then our carriers would
get quite excited. The natives were very
fond of monkey flesh. As we approached
the animals they would ship their pad
dies and sit quiet, while the best marks
man would hold gun SO that he could
bring down one of the monkeys with a
bring down on eof the monkeys with
screech.
II am convinced that most OF tless
men knew the monkey language, If there
is such thing for their conduct proved
il, More than once | have seen q CIR.
rler and companion go off into the
bush carrying gun and walking uni
they We're within sight of some of the
animals. Then one. would sit down on
his launches and put his fingers 20 his
lips and nose and make cries we had
heard from the forest. In a little while
one or two monkeys would come hopping
along toward the spot, also calling. ana
when near enough the carrier who had
the gun would fire. and another monkey
would be added to the larder."
More than once the party were saged
from death by the natives. who always
kept a sharp lookout for snakes. Most
of these are poisonous and on one occa-
sion a snake was found coiled up IN olle
OF the camp beds just before .he owner
retired for the night A native carrier
who entered the hut behind the eN-
plorer pulled the latter back as he was
about to sit down on the bed. and, ssiz'
ing gun. killed the reptile with blow
from the butt end. After that no one
slept before the tent had been thorough
ly searched.
But If there were plenty OF danger TO
be met with there was also times when
there was plenty of fun. At one village
the explorers met a local chief who re-
fused at first to them. The inter-
prefer explained that the chief had re-
tired to his hut 10 make himself pre-
sentabe to the great white men.
After waiting nearly half an hour the
party met the worthy dusky native. Hs
was attired in pair of corsets. linen
collar. which had once been white, lied
round his neck with fibre. a loln cloth,
the remains of a soft felt hat. and
large smile. He explained that he bad
desired to welcome the white men In
their own costume.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

II \ the money trust investigation Mr..
+. X. sturgis, former president of
a the New York stock exchange,
was on the stand. He was questioned
as TO "washed sales" and matched
orders"
II may be briefly explained that
these are Wall street terms deserip-
tive of crooked practices used to ere
ate a fictitious activity in certain
stocks The object is to make the dear
puhlic-the 'lambs'-buy
When asked as to whether or not
he approved these practices Mr.. Stur-
gis replied
Il approve of transactions that pay
their proper commissions and are prop
erly transacted. You are asking me
a moral question, and l am giving you
a stock exchange answer
Frank. to say the least!
Also cynical.
By implication it admits that morals
have nothing 10 do with the stock ex
change.
Some of us suspected as much be-
fore. Now we have it from one on the
inside
This should be a warning TO every
one who harbors even a dream of ever
gambling in stocks.
Avoid it as you would any other
shell game or confidence bunko.
In the expressive language of the
street. it is not on the level.
Wall street only thrives on the poor
innocents of whom ii is said that ~one
is born every minute"
The whole play is to fleece the
lambs
Don't be one of the fleeced.
The cynical answer of this former
stock exchange head reveals much. 1t
is easy to imagine brokers imbued
by the same spirit taking the money
of poor dupes and then laughing in
their sleeves at the number of suckers
in the world.
There are several ways to stop stock
gambling 1t should be done by law.
But in the absence of law there is
another way:
That is for the public to stop patron
zing IL.
Don't play another mans game. es-
pecially If you have good reason to be-
lieve that he uses crooked methods.
Not only are the chances all against
you. but 1t is a moral certainty that
YOU will be beaten in the end.
Stock gambling is a flame, and the
people that hutter about 1t are moths
that get their wings siEged.
Don't be moth
There are various kinds of snobbery.
out one of the worst Is that which af
fects to despise common things.
Ahrah ham Lincoln. who had not Z nhred
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

Conversation to be worth anything
should have some snap sparkle and orig
inaity.
bs for topics the world is full of them
Talk about the latest book, something
good you have seen in the papers, church.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

(At the picnic of the Home and and In
vited Oranges at Hickory Grove, Pa
last summer, DR.. Brush delivered to his
old neighbors an address of unusual feel
ing and suggestiveness in its treatment
OF grave rural problems. The recon-
mendations he made for rebuilding coin
munity life in this Pennsylvania town
are equally applicable in almost any farm
ing district and are presented in this
article which omits the personal refer
ences in his speech.)
Exclusive Service the Survey Press
Bureau)
X 4 subject is all in the word here.
MI | would have you consider with
me today this place-not WASH
irgton or Binghamton. but Hickory Grove
and few miles around.
Let us at once come at the main things.
First, this is one of the best places
on earth to spend life In. Second. this
was, up to about 1880 IS, a first-olass
rural community. Third, 1t is now rec
ond-class rural community. is it desir-
able to go back to first ranking, and
how?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19
An Explanation

From Harpers Weekly.
The two friends were exchanging con-
fdences.
What ever induced you TO accept
Toady Johnson. Mabel? said Annette.
"Oh-why-- said Ma bel, you see.
Toady put hls-his arm around my waist,
and. to tell the truth. I yielded under
PRESSURE
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

high prices, the trusts, woman suffrage.
rev thought, the crops, the way to boom
your town or neighborhod, evolution. the
pranks you played in your childhood. the
latest big news event in your neck OF the
woods-anything except the four deadly
DIS and the wddther
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-19

There are various kinds of snobbery.
out one of the worst Is that which af-
fects to despise common things.
Abraham Lincoln, who had not Ahreo