davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12
Eaves, D. D.

of religion is that of society," he says. Ut is not to perpetuate, nor to devise. any particular theory of property. but 10 realize the free man. For the development of a free and moral person. ality We must have Tixity. Freedom. and Property. And these the proletariat does not have under present conditions, while those who do have them are dependent on the proletariat for their possession. .' The demand for living wage, says pr. Forsyth, lis an assertion of the Christian principle of the supreme worth of the soul, and the supreme worth of the soul translated into social practice, means the first claim on industry of the moral per- sonality."
 If this Is true. the first claim on the coal mined In Alabama is not profits financial, however necessary. but profits spiritual The question:" says Dr. Forsyth, 'is not whether a man can live on s5 a week. but whether present society has any right to re- quire that he shall. If the clergy of the great communions were 10 real ize and teach that moral and social translation of their central belief in the soul which some of their leaders have well Prasped the change in eco- homie conditions would he both swift and safe"
 And finally: Ut should be added. in fairness. that if the worker is reward
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

ed on principles of the soul he must put his soul into his work. If he is rec oenized AS a moral personality he must act as such"
 The great Catholic priest. Dr. Hugh Benson, says that the nation must re- gard itself as a home. even the "din- giest" of it's citizens feeling that fact. Speaking from the English point of view. he denies that the people live in plenty. The truth is that we are in state of unrest which among less stolid citizens would long ago have led tc bloody revolutions; and that this state. though no doubt famed as well as voiced by agitators. arises almost entirely from a conviction among the employed that they do not receive enough money to live decently. If the new principle fthe minimum wage law) is unsound can 1t possibly he more so than our present conditions7 An open boat may be less secure than a liner; but it Is certainly more secure than a sinking ship. however large and imposng"
 But this frank challenge of modern civilization as "a sinking ship" and that by an eminent churehman should prove how close Is the connection between tho spiritual and the economic world It Is a confession that justice alone can endure and that present conditions" in England are not just,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

quibble and technicality A new set of rules was promulgated by the supreme court which. it was hoped would ex- pedite business and insure the prompt punishment of the guilty and the early acquittal of the innocent. Yet a week or so ago the Alabama supreme court reversed the verdict of jury which had convicted prisoner, passing the grounds for the reversal solely on the
 fact that the defendants name had been wrongly spelled in the indlct- ment. There was no contention that the man convicted was not the man who had committed the crime.
 Our judiciary system Is chaotic. Some judges are overworked, while others have not enough to keep them busy a
 third of the time. In the larger coun- ties the court dockets are often clogged With trivial cases. while causes of im- portance are compelled to wait. New
 Y orlS Harry lay In jail here for months and months and months while the pros ecution piddled and shuffled around.
 Hundreds of cases sometimes are nolle pressed during session.
 In Jefferson county a huge per cent an alarmingly huge per eent--oi
 murderers are never brought to trial
 And a fact equally deplorable Is that the number of convictions is lament ably low. Thieves and thugs roam the streets armed with revolvers and au- tomatics. Conditions are awful and they will not grow better until public senti-
 ment is aroused. The city police force is not adequate in numbers and 1t has failed utterly to cope with the situa- tion Examples of It's Incompetence come readily to mind.
 prominent woman was run over and nearly killed in broad daylight upon street practically downtown The police worked for weeks in an en-
 deavor to learn whom the car be- longed to and who was driving It. The officers confessed themselves baffled Then the public learned who was re- sponsible for the affair by reading 1T the papers of the filing of civil sui for damages
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

TVHE English. are undoubtedly a very
 great nation. In nothing is their
 - greatness more evident than in their manner of fervently relating Christianity with political questions. For many years they have had as a mort extraordinary na- ticnal asset a substance which used to be greatly sneered at. known as the
 Nonconformist Conscience" We may describe that substance as the religious expression of Christian democracy. It came into existence through the pressure of an established, national church, al lied with established orders of aristoc- racy and wealth, identified with army and university and navy and breweries rhd dlstilleries and the monopoly of land, with infinite social elegance eliciting n- finite social obsequiousness. An, the mo bility and gentryl" The mobility, gen try and cleryl' What a triad for mod ern Aryanoi
 But the Steadfast rise of industrial la- Dor, the vast expansion of commerce the growth Of Britain beyond the seas, the n,ultiplicatjons of emigrants and the inn pact of colonial freedom upon the insular pride of John Bull at home, with a thou sand like forces of the same general effect, created broader visions than had been Inherited iron, the ancient days of feudal farming. National glory seemed no
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

with the office in that state, said. No. suh."
 'I yield to none in my abhorrenee of the vile crime of Kidnapping said the governor of Mississippi. 'I know that it is the tearing of the heartstrngs for a mother to be bereft of her boy. A mothers love is the most beautiful, the most holy thing upon this earth. Oh, my countrymen, how my heart bleeds in this emergency. But I have conscience. Not a dog shall be surrendered. during my administration, by the state of Mis- sissipp unless assurance is given that he shall have a fair and impartial trial before a jury of his peers' And much more to the same general effect. But of course Walters was finally surrendered
 The alleged kidnaper not so long ago was placed on trial at Opelousas. He contended stoutly that tie boys real name was Bruce Anderson, and Julia Anderson testified that the child was her son. But the jury believed MT. and Mrs
 Dunbar and the witnesses they brought, and returned a verdict of guilty with out capital punishment" a Is the form of sent tence of life imprisonment in Louisiana. Now comes the supreme court which declares that a sapicnt legislature, In trying to make more severe the pun ishment for the offense of naping, had
 so badly niommuxed things up as to rem der Kidnapping strictly legal
 "A bag of molasses it's speetaces took To examine a Junebug that wanted to preach"
 The certainty of swift punishment would be the greatest deterrent to crime. In Birmingham murder is common Some times the murderer Is caught and pun ished, but this not the usual thing. Of- ten no arrest is made. And. furthermore.
 the law is so full of blow-holes that a man with money need have small fear of
 being compelled to suffer for his sin.
 This is frightful condition of affairs, hut I see no reason why the good people should not face the facts squarely A short while ago one of Birmingham S
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12
RITUAL LIFE AND ECONOMICS-By George

longer bound up wholly with military power. The bombast of Palmerston was sheady offensive in the first half of the nineteenth century. Lord Shaftes- bury, the tory philanthrc pist, was all ready growing conscious of the rights of toilers and their children two generations ago. And the Noneonformist Conscience has gone on justifying itself. year after year, insisting that war and peace di- plcmacy and home legislation, all alike are the proper field for a statesmanship pre- emnently Christian.
 What is going on today in England is the result of many bleak years. while 1t seemed that the welfare of the whole nation, and the sdbordnation of govern n ent to conscience were ideals utterly far off unattairable and Ultima Thule.
 l am led to make these observations by new proof that Ultima Thule is not rnattainable. Side by side in an Ameri- can review I find two ecclesa sites dis oussing the religious aspect of the pro- posals for a Minimum Wage Law, one of them a leader of Protestant noncon- fCrmists, the other an eminent priest of the Roman communion, whom we may fairly call Catholic nonconformist For conformity means adherence to the doc Urine of the Thirty nine Articles, printed in the Prayer Book of the Anglican Church. It is a striking and instructive spectacle to see in the London Chronicle
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

But good conscience means more than benevolent intentions. No doubt, MT. John b. Rockefeller, Jr., has excellent intentions, deeply and sincerely benevo- lent. Other pirates have astonished man kind with the same phenomenon. What interests us is that MT RoclSefeller's con- science can never grow good" until he learns about the homes. the children, the iarder, the sicknesses, of those miners families who have depended upon him for d square deal and have not had 1t.
 But if the truth holds from Colorado to New York, it certainly holds in Birming ham.
 What are the spiritually minded people of Birmingham caring about the homes of the working people of this community? In his beautiful exposition of the 23d psalm this morning will my dear friend. the Rev. pr. Blank. cast so much an eye upon the people whose earthly lot is not in green pastures or beside still waters? Will he ask the sumptuously dressed ladies and gentlemen of his con gregation to become rod and staff to com fort the lost sheep of the house of Israel" so many of them, alas, poor black sheep! So that these can some day use the same psalm and identify that shepherds crook, Thy rod and Thy staff they did comfort me?'
 Dr. Forsyth's plea is that personality is more sacred than property. "The problem
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

| method? Is 1t rational to strive 10 | educate the child and the whole citi- | zenship, through the real life into the
 ideal life. or through the ideal into the real? Birmingham, Englands great
 university has sounded the keynote and
 caught the spirit of it's people. and the
 composite citizenship is in the process
 of solving it's highest destiny. attain
 ing it's noblest goal.
 Educating the Citizen in His Voca-
 ton-IIere we are witnessing the effort
 of a great university to bring the best known facts and theories in each vo- cation to the practical worker in that vocation It is an appeal, an effort to evoke human natures noblest endow- ments, Illustrating the value. the na- ture and the goal of the community life, when rationally interpreted and
 supplied in educational methods. In
 sho ort. the university has adapted her
 schools for the education of her citizens
 in the highest degree for her trades,
 for her vacations, for her practical call
 ngs. The university says to her citi-
 zens, young and old: We open wide
 the doors to all that Is known in your NaTlOuS NOCatlOns. we HOlu boine Ol
 the secrets for success in the mastery of your daily callings come and enter
 and We will aid you The wisest teach CTS to be had. are here to instruct ex-
 plain, encourage, inspire. The best thought the world knows Is to be had. the experimental stage has been passed in laboratory and out of 1t. We are
 abreast of the times and will gladly post you in your chosen callings.
 The marvellous readiness with which l the people come and enter and study and master the arts, the sciences, the | facts and theories of their respective vacations, Is the mystery of individual
 success, prosperity and happiness of the 1 citizen, in the solving of the question of right living In conquested centers. Birmingham Must Have a Great Uni | versity.--This great university can and | should be secured for Birmingham, Ala. | Her possibilities are even greater than | those of her great namesake. Birming-
 ham, England, from the fact, that as | heretofore stated, her natural resources | are more abundant in the elements for
 iron and steel making. Besides. she has | In addition, cotton with all it's by-pro- | ducts to engage the skill of her citizen
 ship. who. If shown the way. the ad- vantages will eagerly avail themselves of the training offered by such an in- stitution of learning, to train and edu- cate themselves, their children and their I children's in the best methods of utilizing | this raw material and their cruder pro- | ducts at our very doors. A great uni versity with scores of technical schools | to invite. to instruct and to insupire our citizens In the mastery of their life call ings. will revolutionize this community | as has Birmingham. England's, hers in thought and feeling and daily conduct.
 The banker, the bootblack, the black
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

In short, Birmingham Englan's artZa ns nave become so skilled that more of the finer metals-brass, silver and gold-are worked into articles for use and orna- ments, than in any city in the world Her skilled artizans have made Birming gha m, England, the metallic toy shop for all nations Shiploads of metal images have been sent to Asia for the Chinese to wor- ship. Africa and all parts of the orient send their ivory, their metals, and their precious stones to Birmingham England. to be formed and fashioned into articles of merchandise and trades. Diamonds by the millions are chiselled into prisms by her expert lopidaries. The more skilled the hand of the individual the greater the mastery of the arts of his trade; the more educated the head the greater his capacity as a bread winner; the more evoked the spiritual forces of his heart, the greater his desire to make happy his home: with all his attributes developed ratonally, the citizen becomes naturally greater moral factor in the community life. In thus educating you ienovate the whole man. You make him conscious of his powers and of his possi- bilites. He lices in a healthful. hopeful, inspiring state of mind; as he enriches himself, he enriches his city. His breadth of views, his financial resources his spir- itual culture make hi ma willing work man in the social, economic and spiritual life of the community. He is ever ready to help the church. the state and his fellow man. He sees his life and the life of others from the community view point, more less free from self.
 Democracy in Evolutio-The whole itual culture make him a willing work mingham England. is democracy in evo- lution. Society knows cast save cul- ture, no elect save the elite, in good morals and in good manners. Her. schools, through her great university, organized by the genius of her Joseph Chamberlain, have taken bold stand for the rational education of citizens for good citizen- ship. There is the process of a happy solution of the problem of community betterment and of municipal welfare in opera tion. The scholastic theories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of educating the few to care for the many. of the education of hteclasses to preserve the masses, have been relegated to the past The Christ idea of the value of each. individual human soul not only in the kingdom of heaven in the great here after, but the value of each human soul in the now, in the living, stirring. active rresent-is the life problem, the com munity problem, the city problem for the upife of the race.
 This process in education Is watched with keenest interest by some of our great universities in America. Cincin- natl. Michigan and Wisconsin universi- ties are pattering after 1t in part. There are many doubting Thomases. asking the questions Can community lifa reach it's highest goal through such a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12
June Customs
n Pearson's Week.

FrOm Pearson Weekly.
 one of the most extraordinary cus- toms in June was that of the 18th, St. yitus' Day.
 St Vitus was a Sicilian martyr who was generally deemed responsible for the we'll known nervous affection of the limbs. In order to gain his good graces, visit was made at sunset on his eve to pool of spring water.
 Forming a circle round the pool. the visitors danced round and round, sing ing:
 "St. Vitus of Sicily, nearest thou mes had nothing to do with torturinx
 thee"
 After keeping this up for five or six minutes. they solemrly walked into the water. If from the time of their en- tering the pool till their arrival homo they did not shiver, their prayer was heard. If they as much as shivered once St. Vitus would be sure some day to punish them.
 Another custom observed during this month was that of midsummer eve.
 From sunset to midnight the citizens paraded the streets of the town then assembled at the bonfires lit in ths market square, and leaped through tho flames, crying:
 Future future. open they grey door. Tell me what's to happen, l implore. If the leap was accomplished without any scorching. the Jumper was sup- posed to see. on setting his feet on tho ground, a vision of what would hap> pen to him during the coming year.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

" HE Alabama supreme court has
 decided that Erwin Pope must
 ! die August 21. But having a day Set for his death Is nothing new to Erwin. He is thoroughly used to it. It has happened to him many times in the past and may happen to him many times In the future To Erwin it is Tot at all alarming to have the sedate and solemn courts declare that he must die. He isn't dead yet.
 Five Calhoun county juries have tried Erwin Pope for the murder of James McClurkin. Each of the juries held the defendant guilty and fixed his punish ment at death. After each verdict an appeal was taken. Sometimes the su- preme court would reverse the opinion of the lower tribunal and sometimes it would affirm it. But heretofore when- ever the higher body would decide that the lower body was right, it would turn right around and reverse itself and grant the prisoner a new trial
 Such may again be the procedure. There is no way of telling. The Erwin Pope case is one of the ridiculosities of Alabama criminal practice. 1t is enough to make horse laugh but tic aver HoiSc may bt more uSc- fully employed with other matters.
 And listen to the delicious irony in the courts latest promulg gation:
 We can find no reason why we should change our announcement made upon the first appeal that in our opin- ion under all the evidence the ques- ton whether the defendant is or is not guilty of murder in the first degree Is a question of fact for determination of jury and not a question of law for determination of a court"
 Louisiana has just given a notable example of the height of absurdity to which the law may climb The Walters Kidnapping case has come to an end. The Louisiana supreme court has held that the law under which the old tin ker was tried is "unconstitutional" be- cause of it's phraseology. The legisla- ture tried to amend statute so it
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

preaching of Whiteheid. the crowds in Wesley's chapel were small. on the other hand while Wesley's chapel waxed strong CT. the tabernacle waned and crumbled- As master organizer Wesley welded his force, while without the quality of an or ganizer, the throng that waited on White field depended wholly on his personal presence. Wesley could come to Amer ica, and remain for months. and return to find his machinery stlll In operation. but when Whiteheld would go off on an evangelistic tour he would return and find his crowd had vanished and he would have to work it up again. White field was a preacher. and nothing else; Wesley was both a preacher and a peer less organizer.
 Hearing of the Calvnistie views of Whitefeld. the old Scotch seeeders. the Erskines. sent for him to come To Scot land. He went. was welcomed and preached, but his views did not suit Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, He was too
The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-12

elf-sactificing spirit in the community
 life by opening wide the doors to ev-
 cry man, woman and child, for training
 in some trade or vocation, through which
 or by means of which such as were strug- gling to live, could make buckle and
 tongue meet, Such was a constant spir-
 itual awakening in the citizen in com-
 mrnity welfare, the strong being in con- stant sympathetic readiness to help the
 helpless to help themselves. keeping civic
 pride aglow. A chance for each was a
 blessing for all.
 The Educational Ladder.-The lowest
 rc und in her educational ladder rested in
 the gutter. the highest in her great uni
 versity, as said by another Her boys
 and girls taught to climb, to aspire, from infancy to old age. The citizens is regarded a student capable of culture from the cradle to the grave. The kin
 dergarten of Froebel and the Casa die
 Bambana of Montessoi, wing with each other in educating. (educo) drawing out
 the latent powers of the child, giving an
 opportunity to the rich and to the poor alike.
 No mute in glorious Milton will die neglected therel The invintive genius of
 Watts or a Stevenson will not now struggle long years in dire distress for want of appreciation. Opportunity is open for all.
 The charm and beauty of her civic so- cial ard econo nic life comes through the influence of her great university. Lessons In the Art of Mastery.-Bir- mingham, Englands, great school says in so many words to her ctizens The hand, the head and the heart are God s great gifts to humanity. Teach humanity the lalent forces in each of these di- vine gifts, then man will find new fields
 of labor, lovelier paths for pleasure, and srblimer heights for happiness. The art of mastery and the art in achievement come, says her university, through the training of these gifts. She has thus revolutionized the thought, the life, the habits of her citizens. She has stirred their inventive working and amalgamat- l ing methods. She has quickened inquiry !, into the secrets of nature. through the | laboratory. All branches of industry and commerce have taken on new life. The | fields of science and art have widened I through the practical turn given to her citizens, young and old, by her great univ ersity.
 Over Ten Thousand Workmen. Stu l dents.--It is said there are over 10000 1 workmen engaged in her industries. who
 are actual students in her schools. Her night schools and her day schools are
 largely attended by her working class
 seeking knowledge, strive for skill, and | deftness of hand, in their callings. l Skilled Artizans Command Finer Metals Her sons begin in skill where the father | en6s, as the generations go by. Her ar tizans convert her iron and steel into al I grades of metllic products. They make | from the mogul engine to the steel hail spring of watch, from 8 90-pound stee
 rail to cambric needle.