davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
Strengthening the Army

Lindley M. Garrison IS recoeiiiAeu "s one of the strongest men in Pres ,ident Wilson's Cabinet. Few secre- taries of war have measured up to him in statesmanship, and with the exception of Elihu Root, who was both a statesman and man to master de- tails, there has been no such construc- tive head of the war department, per haps, in the past half century, and his recommendations to Congress should there have great weight.
 Army officers naturally believe in a large standing army-larger than that which Congress ever provides for No matter how small or how large, army officers always recommend a considerable increase. War secre- taries are usually influenced by their army advisers. This, of course, is natural; but it takes a broad man of affairs to grasp the situation and see from the viewpoint of patriotic civilian about what is needed in the way of regular establishment.
 Secretary Garrison finds that our coast defenses are not adequately equipped. He calls for at least 10,- 900 more men to properly man the Qualifications. The United States should unquestionably have some what larger army than 1t has for the sake of promoting our military eff ciency if nothing more. With outly- ing possessions large percentage of the army is stationed far from the mainland. Something like one-fourth of the army strength of today is found in the Philippines. While the people of this country are not in favor of maintaining an army such as the dis tinctly military powers maintain and they should not be-it is mat ter of prudence and economy to have a highly efficient army, and the regu- lars cannot be at their best unless certain branches of the service have greater numerical strength.
 Secretary Garrison is firm be- liever in the national guard and he is desirous of doubling it, or more, in numbers. Ten years ago the guard comprised more men than it does now, but in discipline it was weak. To- day the national guard with it's 110,- 900 men is closely related to the reg ular army and is admirably disci- plined. The national guard is being more and more appreciated by the government. Instead of 100000 there should be 300,000 guardsmen and Sec retary Garrison will do everything reasonable to increase the militia or ganization.
 With such conservative and such an able man in charge of the war de- partment, the committee on military affairs in the House which studies the army situation and which is chiefly responsible for the appropration for our military forces, it will do well to accept MT. Garrison's ideas and act favorably upon This general war pol icy"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
DESTINY

Percy MacKaye, in s:se Boston Tran script. We are what we imagine. and our deeds Are born of dreaming. Europe acts to-
 day
 Epics that little children in their play Conjured, and statesmen murmured in their creeds; In barrack, court and school were sown
 those seeds, Like dragons teeth, which ripen to
 affray
 Their sewers. Dreams of slaughter
 rise to slay, And fate itself is stun that fancy
 breeds. Mock. then, no more at dreaming, lest
 our own Create for us like reality Let not imagination's soil be sown With armed men, but justice. 50 that May for world to tyranny atone ! And dream from that despair--demoe-
 racy.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
WAR PUZZLES CHILDREN

Edna Lake in the London Chronicle.
 (<OHALL we tell our children about
 the warp This is question that
 o is often on our lips in these days, when war is in all our thoughts, and to so great an extent controls our ey cry action. We glance at our girls and boys, and, if we are teachers, we look around our classes, and wonder whether it is right to bring the horror into these happy lives to cloud the vision of the child with the mlsts of human hate and cruelty. We argue. perhaps, and argue rightly, that, for the child, life should be always thing of beauty. We do not show our children ugly pictures and tell them that they are great master pieces and that therefore they ought to appreciates them. We know that this would be impossible. The child loves beauty quite naturally, without being cor rscious of the fact, and he hates ugli- ness with all his soul
 War is not a thing of beauty. We find 1t hard to justify it, even to ourselves, and 1t is still harder to make it appear right to the child. with his clear reason
 
 Yet there is, of course, another side to the question. We agree that war is dread ful and ugly and perhaps degrading to our civilization, but it is nevertheless one of the outstanding facts of life, And, this being so, we can scarcely hope to keep 1t from the children
 Where are the soldiers going, mother?'
 ITO the war, dear"
 'Why are they going to the war?' ITO fight for our country
 why are they fighting?"
 So the questioning goes on until the child has wormed out the secret from those of us who have guarded it most jealously. He learns that the brave sol- diers are going out to kill or to wound other men, and that by doing this we shall be kept safe at home. The child has been taught that it Is wrong to fight. When he and his older brother had that difference of opinion about the rocking horse the other day, they took to settling the matter with their fists. and when nurse discovered them they were both sent to bed, though 1t was only afternoon. And they had to say that they were sorry, too. It is something in the nature of a surprise to the child to discover that grown-up men have very much the same way of settling their disputes, though he is not quite certain if they are made to say they are sorry when It is all over.
 When we have explained the war to our children we shall be asked questions that 1t win prove difficult to anuwer. Ws
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
DOLL FACES MADE OVER
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger

from the Pn1lauelpnla Publ1c Ledger
 Is the doll face done for? Not on ladies' of course-that were too much to hope but at any rate on dolls. God has given you one face,'' says Hamlet to the dol designers. "and you make yourselves am other.' The simpering. pudgy sweetness of fat cheeks and fat foreheads and teeth like q picket fence has~been thrust upon children year after year as model of feminine perfection. until one can hard ly blame the way young ladies have taken to initiating it, between IS and 22
 But that is over now. Realism has in- vaded the pursery. The toy shops are full of real baby dolls. They have jolly sort of every day kiddishness about them. Rolypoly and a bit gawlxy, they look very much like an infant at its most investi- gating age, and with subtle insight into the wishywaslly frame of mind behind the baby-doll face, the makers call them Character" babies. Hooray for charac. ter!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
Bu.iness In the New Year

"I believe that great improvement in business will come with the next year." said Robert Jemison, Jr.
 'I am by nature an optimist, and l am certainly an optimist in locking forward to 1915. We have had rnush to encourage us recently. and indications unquestionably point to a high state os prosperity in the near future. I believe that by the middle of January all branches of trade and industrial opera tions~will be advanced to a high level In my judgment 1915 is going to be one of the greatest years for business that we have had in the Birmingham dis trict
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
BUSINESS IMPROVING
From the Boston Herald.

Y IoiH tHe 6OSlon Herald.
 Evidence abounds that with the new year general business will be decidedly better in the United States. Orders for the European belligerents are already gearing the wheels of our factories. Al the largest neutral power on earth q, good deal of work falls to us to do that never came our way before. And the shut ting off of supplies by the war is neces- sitating new lines of production here. to which our people are now becoming ac- customed The General Electric company a. Lynn has posted notices inviting it's entire force of 15,000 employees to report on tuil time schedule next Monday This IS In part due to South American orders From many quarters similar reports are coming. The gradual opening of the stock market will help. The new federal re- serve law has strengthened the founda- tions Of business, and altogether we may well look for decidedly improved condi- tions.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
James G. Huncker in P,

James G. Huncker in Puck.
 OE was chiefly a drunkard to his
 contemporaries; the gentle Elm ~ erson, our one great philosopher, was abused for his candor; Walt Whit man was howled down, and our one genius as painter, Whistler, lived abroad his life long. Thoreau was con- sidered as no great shakes" and Henry James is a dweller under foreign tents.
 Germany, too, has little list: Goethe, who was early damned an immoral and an epicurean when his land was oc- cupied by Napoleon (the Little Corporal knew better; "voila un homme!" he ex- claimed). Heine died in exile as M. Henri Heine, poet ct raconteur," at Paris. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche abused their native country in language that still glitters with irony and hatred. Richard Wagner had no reason to love Germany, and there Is Beethoven, who lived and died in Vienna; Handel, an Englishman by adoption; Schumann, and many others, who suffered from neglect. In our own days Richard Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg are victims.
 In France the number disconcerts. Rabelais, Pascal, Rousseau (Montaigne was too sensible, Voltaire too pugna- cious to be erushed), Victor Hugo, Bau- delaire, Flaubert (the two last named were publicly prosecuted for obscene" writtings--stupendou Berlioz (ad- judged a madman), Balzac, Pasteur, varlaine. Manet, Monet--how many more? Mind you, don't say that these men were all model citizens; but they were men of genius (Claude Monet still lives, honored in his old age), and were persecuted, Edouard Monet as bitterly as was Richard Wagner.
 Italy: Dante, august name, mighty roet, solitary pacer of the shore"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

are in danger of contradicting ourselves when we attempt to justify war to the child. He will remind us that it is
 wicked to fight and our own words will appear as witnesses against us. We put the child off. perhaps, by saying that he will understand It when he has got as big as daddy, and there the matter will rest. at least for the time But we can all show the children the brighter side-o warfare. We can point out the un- seihshness of those who are working for us, and laying down their lives that we may be kept safe. Without saving anv- thing that Is likely to terrify the nervous or the timid, we may point out that 1t is our duty to do all that we can to help these men who are doing so much to help us
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

had been raised in the cotton sections during many years past
 Alabama is so favored in both soils and climate that everything that can be raised anywhere can be produced with profit here"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

According to an entomologist, a wood beetle less than two inches long can pull load equal to 90 times it's weight. By extra exertion it can even pull a load 10 times its weight for short distance
 as shown by experiments When the strength of this little insect was tested by meter it exerted a power equal to that a man would exert who weighed 250 pounds and lifted ton A Hercules beetle. three inches long, easily carried 20 times it's weight and walked away with five pounds on its back. If man tried to carry a proportionate weight he would be crushed to death. When a mousse fly was held by its wings and brought close to a match 1t lifted the match with it's feet proportionate test of mans strength would mean lifting beam 26 feet long and IS inches thick No man has ever yet been able to jump over the Eiffel tower, yet A flea can jump POO times its own height. If horse could pull 300 beams equal to it's own weight it would be as strong pro- portionately as the earwig which is able to pull little wagon loaded with eight matches.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

BEGINNING THE DAy-O Thou God of the high and the wonderful, show me the mountain tops and the sky and the far-faring lanes of light. Then bring me back and send me, with their gleam and their glory, to transform dusty labor, valleys or humiliation, sIoughs of despond. For Christ's sake. Amen.-H. M. E'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

The pesky cigarette has been almost inn mortalized by the war in Europe ant even the most militant reformers now hes itate to say word against It.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

Whats become of the fashioned hu- morous artist who used to draw a spin ster with cockscrew curs waiting hope fully under the mistletoe?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

| "Tipperary' has rival in the trenches, where the soldiers of the allies are talk ing up a new song. The life of pop ular song is not much longer than that of house fly.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

While the vote on prohibition was being taken In the house number of bibulous persons held their breaths. Thus the att mosphere in their vicinity was consider ably purified.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

England managed to enjoy Christmas fairly well, although there were probably a few late revelers who thought they saw the sky full of zeppelt
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

An Illinois convict has developed into a good short-story writer. If a long time man he will have ample opportunities. no doubt. for secluded literary work.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

Defeated generals in the present wal seem to be past masters of the explana- tior that does not explain.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

l Representative Gardner is believed to
 be enjoying the holiday season, despite the | nations inadequate defense
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
THE PENALTY OF cAaELEssNpss

---S OF CAHElESSkESS from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 New York is enforcing the rule that owners of buildings must pay tha ex- penses of extinguishing fires that are caused by their own negligence.
 Boston has adopted the same<rrle.
 No doubt building owners will be good deal more careful about ac- cumulated rubbish and other forms of carelessness when they are handed such bills as this:
 To services of four fire steamers and supplies. nine hours at $15 per hour: $135
 To service of one hook and ladder truck, two hours at s20 per hour: $40.
 To two chiefs and chauffeurs, with wear and tear of auto apparatus, $40.
 To one busted tire, sS2
 -To one ditto hydrant, $26.
 To one ditte coupling. $11
 To scorched sundries, $7.50.
 To department surgeon, for colds, S5.
 There you are. That's the penalty of carelessness. Nearly $500.
 Next town.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
WAR ECHOES.

Roland c. Usher in the Atlantic Month ly: The department of agriculture has been so successful that there can be lit- tie doubt that the productivity of land in Germany is approximately greater for the labor and capital invested than in any other country in the world. and so far reaching have been it's operations that the imperial government claims that more than 90 per cent of the land in Germany is productive.
 The definiteness with which the Ger mans have catalogued the land, located the areas on which grain can be grown and computed the maximum product from those varied areas, equals the ex- acttude with which they have tabulated the army We should, indeed, be guilty of stupidity if we supposed that the men directing the destinies of Germany had omitted from their elaborate calculations provision for so elemental necessity as an entirely adequate supply of food
 They knew on August 1 precisely how much food they had on hand, and pre- cisely where the new supplies were com ing from. Not improbably they could have furnished a list of the men and women who would SOW and reap the fu- ture harvests.
 Ohio State Journal It was thought by Alfred Nobel, the originator of the Nobel peace prize, that if war was made shock ingly destructive it might arouse the world against it. And so, it is said, he dis covered dynamite and sought by that to make war deplorably cruel, and, there fore, unpopular. This is what the papers say, and they say further that Mir. Nobel IS interested in several factories that pro- duce terrible explosives and that the money paid for peace trumphs comes from the manufacture of explosives. And 1t is further said that the dynamite ven- ture inspired Baroness von Suttner to Write her book, Lay Down Your Arms" which inspired the Car of Russia to call the first Hague conference.
 How all these strange events hang to- gether One can hardly believe the re- port. And yet if one could trace all the good that evil encourages he would be astonished Religion, charity. art, pub lie advancement, receive much of their support from vice, intemperance and crime. It would be fine sociological problem to find out how much of the good of this world is done by the evil Let some one solve the problem and see how much the right depends upon the wrong-how much war is discouraged by making explosives profitable.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

Living in trench has it's inconveniancas put a person there is at least safe from bill collectors.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

A pugilst's idea of merry Christmas Is knocking out another pugilist for a large consideration.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

Charity was rampant in Boston on Christmas, showing that people may be fussy about the spli. inhnitive and still have kind hearts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

Santa Claus is now presumably resting after his exertions, but as matter of fact he is working harder than ever to pay the Christmas bills.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

An eastern judge says a wife has a flsht to her savings. If she would only let the savings of her husband alonel
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28

A New Jersey man who Is 102 years ole has doubtless in his time slain many mo Suuitos
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
sUNkEN GALLEoNs

Henry James Forman in Golfers Weekly.
 oh every coast, in every land, are leg ends of hidden treasure. Not a bay or inlet of the sea but some sunken gaIIeon. some long-lost treasure ship is molderine upon the bottom with golden doubloons and yellow ingots pouring from her ribs. But the sea has no monoply of hidden wealth. Write a tale of buried riches. a
 Gold Bug" or Treasure Island''' and the popular fancy rises to 1t as to an alluring bait. Scarce grange or farm stead, scarce a thorp or village. but a rumor of buried gold has touched it with romance. Truly, the tradition of hidden riches is part of the consciousness of all the races of men and, could we but trace It out, no people would be found devoid of IL But deeper still in the human soul, al the very center of our being beyond the minds material pictures of wealth, the heart contains and cherishes a less tan- gible. more spiritual form of the same belief. The golden doubloons become the wealth of the soul, the Jewels and the ingots are the rich human qualities that transcend poverty that transcend success. without them evolution from the bea st had been impossible. That is the inner kingdom of heaven that founders of re- iision proclaim; that is the treasure of the heart compared with which all others are worthless. From every soul there shines, bright or dim, the gold among the wreckage. And the business of right living is in reality kind of great salvage enterprise. Send your will down like a diver to the foundered galleon and if It be but strong enough, it will return laden with the wealth of the Indies. Send It. and never will it return quite empty
 handed. And-greater salvage-still-send the diver into other hearts! Always be- meath the hulk of the galleon. however deep. however covered with the weeds ana oarnacles, the gold lies gleaming TOT the seeker; and if you find one his treasure you make him rich indeed-and you are sharer in his riches And sureiy this Is a truth: If you will raise TOT everyone at least fragment of his deep incrusted, sand-bespattered gold. VIII you not people the earth about you With the grateful ones you have enriched from their own treasures?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
Diversifying the Crop.

"It means much for the future prog ress of Alabama that the farmers are thoroughly aroused to the imporsanca of crop diversification," said Ezra M Leffingwell of St. Louis.
 And this remark applies, indeed, to the entire south as far as I can learn and my interests are largely depen- dent upon southern prosperity. There will be a greatly reduced cotton acre. age next spring and greatly increased acreage of other crops. I am told that the oats production in Alabama has been increasing steadily for several years past and that very large winr ter crop has been sown for next years harvest As for winter wheat the acre age is not as large as that sown in oats; but 1t Is surprisingly large con sidering the fact that not much wheat
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
Concerning Presidents Veto Power

Congressional action on Hobsons nation- wide prohibition resolution has raised the old question as to> whether the President could veto measure proposing an amend ment to the constitution, such measure having been carried in both houses by the required two-thirds majority. But this question, it seems, can be no longer q contention, for 1t was settled by the United States supreme court long years ago. Nathan l.. Miller, lawyer and stu dent of interpretations when asked apout the matter a few days ago, said
 Early in the history of the govern ment, viz: in 179s. in the case of Hollings- worth vs. Virginia, reported in Third Dallas (U. s., page S7S, and also in Vol ume l, Lawyers edition, page 645, the question was there raised and decided.
 Tt was contended that the eleventh amendment to the constitution had not been proposed in the form prescribed by the constitution. That article l. section r, requires approval or disapproval of the President of every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary and as to this contention, Chief Justice Chase replied: There can surely be no necessity to answer that ar gument. The negative of the President applies only to the ordinary cases of leg islation. He has nothing to do with the proposition or adoption of amendments to the constitution.
 This decision stands unreversed by the supreme court, and has become the fixed construction and policy of our federal constitution
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-12-28
Probable Duration of the War

Ihe consensus of opinion among well informed and thoughtful men seems to be that the war in Europe will be ended within the next six monthsP said J. s. Wallerstein of New York city
 "Very recently I have heard it said that the war would be ended by the early spring. But many men whose judgment is worth something say that it will be next summer before reace negotiations are well under way. Those of us who have been thinking that Lord Kitchener had it right when he predicted that the war would last three years or more feel relieved to hear so many sensible men predicting that the conflict will not last six months longer. was born and reared in this country. but am of German parentage. My sym pathies are naturally with Germany, but that fact does not warp my Judg- ment. Germany has made a splendid fight. That country did not bring on the war, although some i'll informed or prejudiced people seem to have blamed Germany The fatherland is not going to be wiped off the map but in my opinion England, as the leader of the allies, will be the dominant in- f1uence in the peace settlement