davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

At the close of this war;" he said, tapping out his propositions with a pencil on the arm Of his easy chair perhaps even before. expect the Uni ted States to come forward with d proposition for the naturalization of the seas. It seems to me such an agree ment between the countries is bound to come. It would solve at one stroke all the complicated and embarrassing and dangerous questions of contra band, Doncontraband and conditional contra band, the rights of search. the indis- criminate placing of mines In neu- tral waters, etc.-questions which con- stantly threaten, in every war, the safety and interest of innocent neu- traIs.
 The proposition of the United States will result in something like this: When neutral ships come within beligerent ter ritorial waters warships may exercise all the recognized rights of search, capture, detention or destruction; to that we can raise no objections. But outside the three mile limit, although belligerent warships may sail the seas, they must leave neutral shipping strictly alone.
 Most of the American discussion on this question of seizure of vessels has been very wide of the mark. Americans do not yet seem to realize their position of helplessness You have had a general idea that the stars and stripes at mast head guaranteed the ship from interfer- ence on the high seas. Actually. neutral shipping has just as many rights on the high seas as the English or German or French courts choose to allow it-and no more. Supposing an American vessel bound for Zanzibar is boarded by a Brit ish sublieutenant outside of New York harbor and the captain told to proceed to Liverpool.
 "'But,' says the furious captain, am cleared for Zanzibar and I have here a certificate carrying the authority of the President of the United States saying that am carrying noncontraband.'
 " T have nothing to do with the Presi- dent of the United States. answers the English sublieutenant, I say you are go- ing to Liverpool and to Liverpool you shall gor
 Now, as matters stand, that sublieu- tenant Is strictly within his rights. The question of whether or not the ship is to be held will be decided by an English prize court. Is she carrying contraband intended for the enemy? Was the ship owned by an enemy at the outbreak of war and sold by it's owner to escape the consequences of war? Does the question Of continuous voyage apply to her cargo? All these questions and many others that may arise are decided, not by a neutral or joint court of inqury. but by an Eng fish prize court. In other words. the Brit ish government, through It's various de- partments. is prosecutor, judge and execu- tor all rolled into one and the United States is absolutely helpless in the mat ter. There is no appeal and no reprieve in the matter.
 Then" he continued. ''as consequence of this war and following 1t. look to see the United States become the pivotal nation in a great movement towards a sane revision of the present day interna- tional code. For there must bo re-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

than any other publication dealing with the war.
 How does the working class stand on this war;" I asked Norman a cou- pie of days ago. He is ideally placed to answer intelligently such a ques- tion. Week in and week out he is ad . dressing labor audiences on this very matter. All over the country meet fngs are being held quietly and the la boring classes kept informed of the real issues of the war. Norman has addressed dozens of these meetings and he points to it as a significant fact that although he has attacked without gloves Grey and Asquith and scored secret diplomacy and the alleged causes of the war, his meetings have always been with him and his marl has never brought him an abusive let ter
 "I'll take the laboring classes in three sections and tell you what I be- lieve to be the situation" he said, in answer to my question. First, there is the independent labor party section, led by Keir Hardie and Ramsay Mac donald. They are from top to bottom opposed to the war. Second, there are the trade unions: Fully 50 per cent of the men belonging to the trade unions of the country are opposed to it. And third, there are the cooperative so- cieties. I should say that a large pro- portion. perhaps one-third of their members, are absolutely opposed to it.'
 It must be realized that these men although opposed to the war; know no short way out. I put the follow ing question to Norman:
 "Supposing in the present circum- stances the issues were left entirely in the hands of this section of the la- boring class, what do you suppose they would do?''
 'sWell, that is a hard question:" he answered. "One thing they would do i'm medately and that would be to. get into touch with Berlin and make known our terms. But one thing the working man would insist upon Is the freeing and compensating of Belgium. think the working man is decided that that is worth fighting for to the end. But. for the rest, he is perfectly satisfied if the status quo existing before the war is re-estab- lished."
 An even more influential voice calling for "a reasonable peace'' is heard in that of Prof. A. c. Pigou, holder of the chair of political economy at Cambridge uni versity and a leading intellectual asset oi the free trade party in England. Pro- lessor Pieou first was heard in the col umns of ''The Nation." but the discussion has spread to the columns of the daily papers. I'll set down some of the more important sections of his original letter:
 "In the present case there are many persons whom, it appears, no concession on the part of Germany would induce to stop the war. They wish to invade German territory, kill, wound and cap ture German soldiers and sailors, de stroy German cities and ruin German civilians. not in order that thereby Ger many may be forced to yield something that she now refuses to yield. but be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

affirmation and a reagreement on all these questions affecting belligerents and neutrals and a more strict and definite understanding of the terms. The United States is, of course, vitally interested in these and is bound to have a large say in the matter.
 Do I expect the United States to take a hand in the settlement of the war? Do l think the various belligerents want to give her say?" Angel repeated the questions after me- "I am inclined to think the English government will do all in Ter power to bring her into the settle ment," he answered. Perhaps only by her democratic and moderating influence will this country be able to prevail against the extreme proposals that are certain to be advanced by some of the allies"
 Speaking of his efforts towards what has become known as "a reasonable peace' as distinguished from what that hothead of the present government, Winston Churchill, calls "the uncondi- tional surrender of Germany" Angell said to me:
 "I and those who arc associated with me are working for settlement that will make a repetition of this war as little likely as possible. Above all we do not want a settlement that is simply re- adjustment of the so-called balance of power or which leaves fostering sores that are bound to lead to future strife. Certainly we shall fight against the plac- ing of sections of real Germany under the control of another nation. That would be perpetuating the very system against which we are supposed to be fighting. We are determined that one series of mis- takes and injustices shall not be suc- ceeded by another
 For that reason and others we be- lieve that the prospects of an early and reasonable peace would be frightened by an immediate and definite statement by the British government that would serve a basis for public discussion of the future settlement. This country does not know what 1t is Germany is fighting for and Germany knows perhaps as lit- tie of it's own or England's intentions. If they are both to remain in ignor- ance. fearing all kinds of extreme ambi- tions or revenges they might go on fight ing almost indefinitely, only to find out when both are exhausted and almost ruined that they might have come to the agreement which both wanted long before.
 ''The German people, as 8 whole. claim and believe, however wrongly. that they are fighting for self-preservation. The English people believe they are fight ing preventive war for self-preserva- tion. The French believe the same and possibly the Russians have some such i6ea in the back of their heads. Well, if all these nations are looking only for some arrangement that will insure their protection although they may differ wide- ly as to the nature of these. arrangements. 1t is tims the public in all countries be- gan to consider what they are prepared to do about it.
 ''Then we are striving to make foreign affairs public instead of secret. The final
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

to the immigrants, but the majority of the great estates are intact.
 As to the government lands, the best of them have gone into the hands of rich Argentinos and foreigners. The total area. of the republic is about 73o,- 000,000 acres, of which perhaps half is fitted for agriculture and grazing. The rest Is mountain and desert, a great deal of which can never be used, and the most of which belongs to the gov ernment The public lands include all told about 20o,000.0o0 acres. or this, three-fourths are in Patagonia They are for the most part arid, but have some rivers running through them that may be used for irrigation. There are also public lands in the north, but they are covered with woods and will have to be cleared before farming. Some of the government land has been sold at q few cents per acre, and many square leagues have been disposed of at as low as 16 cents per acre. Other lands have been granted to colonies and to- day the government is doing all it can to encourage colonization. It grants land to such companies as will under take to bring in settlers and 1t sells grazing lands at low prices in lots to 5000 acres. Government lands may be leased, and there are certain provisions for stocking them.
 As to colonies, there are 8 large number in Argentina, some of which are many years old. The first colony from Europe settled over GO years ago and about 30 years ago there were S5 different colonies which were culti- vating altogether s6000 acres In 1895 the colonies numbered 700. and many are now being established. Therc is one German company which has mill lion acres occupied by 20 colonies, with a white population of 16000. That com pany has.12 towns. There are also Rus sian and Swiss, German and Austrian Italian and Spanish settlements. Some of the large farmers have divided parts of their estates, and are selling the land to colonists The government has established a number of such set dement's. In Chabut there are several Welsh colonies. and Finnish colony There is a colony made up of Boers from South Africa. There are also col onies In the Chaco and Formosa and in nearly all of the provinces.
 Among the most interesting of such set dement's are those belonging to Hebrews. It will be. Remembered that Baron Hirsch set aside $f0.0o0,000 some years ago to as- sst the Jews to leave Russia He sent his agents to Argentina and they bought a tract of good bottom land, comprising about 30,o000o0 acres For this they paid something like s12,OoO or Sl5.000 per square league, and the total sum expended for the land amounted to more than 5000, ,000 The Jewish colonization fund has aided in this work, and there are now something like 4o,o00 Jews in Argentina. Some of them are settled in villages and they own large areas of farming lands nearby They have social communities and go out to work on the farms. Many of them own their lands in severalty, and some of the villages have three or four thousand pop
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

age of the steamers from which they have como.
 The first floor of the hotel is given up to offices. reception and dining rooms, and to the reading room, the bank and the kitchens The second floor has the sleeping rooms and these are so large that they will accommo- date 5000 nightly The beds are mat tresses of canvas, in berths like those of a sleeping car, and they are ar ranged so that they can be cleaned every day. The rooms are so disin fected that they are absolutely free from vermin. There are no smells and all of the arrangements are sanitary.
 During my visit I went through the great dining room. and watched about 800 men and women eat their din ner. The tables for the men were at one end of the room and those for the women at the other. The men kept their hats on at the table and many of the women had clothes wrapped around their heads The dress of both sexes represented the strange costumes of out -of-the-way Europe. Not a few of the people were fine looking. They were all happy, and the food seemed to suit them.
 Leaving the dining room, I was taken to the kitchen. This is about 50 feet wide and 100 feet long. It is walled and floored with tiles. The cooking was done by ma chinery, and much of it in great round soup boilers, each of which holds over 100 gallons. The boilers have nickel plated lids, and they are of snow-white enamel, like that of bathtub. They are kept hot by steam pipes, and are maintained at just the right temperature to make the best soup They have capacity of 1000 quarts of soup. I tasted some of it and liked it.
 Later in the day I attended lecture and moving picture show which yvGs given for the immigrants. The pictures were
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04
Hints to Housewives

From the Indianapolis News.
 Sweep the dirt under the kitchen. cabi- net. The room looks just as clean and it takes less time than to take 1t up in a dustpan
 If ever 1t Is necessary 10 choose be- tween an afternoon at the bridge club and cleaning up the house. always choose the former.
 Buy something from every agent that comes to the house whether you need it or not. It makes business good for tho agent.
 Let the pet dog sleep on the foot of the led on cold nights. It gets the covers full of hair, but the dog likes it
 Put the ashes in the best galvanized tub. The junk men that come thros sh the alleys often have need of a good tub at home.
 Neglect to fix the furnace when going out on a cold day. so that the fire can also go out.
 To make the biscuits into which you have forgotten to put baking powder mora palatable, throw them out and mix an- other batch, adding the baking powder
 Use as many eggs as possible when the price is high. It increases the cost of high living and thus enlivens domestic con- versation.
 Have dinner late the night you are go- ing to the theatre. It adds so much to domestic felicity and the joy or the play when 1t Is necessary to break one's neck to get into ones seat before the play oe- gins.
 Always mop the kitchen just before tha man of the house carries the ashes up out of the cellar It makes work double and enables anyone to tell who Is responsible for the dirty appearance of the kitchen
 Spend two street car tickets whenever possible to go downtown to attend dress goods sale where the total saving is cents.
 In the summer time, when the weather is uncertain, leave all the windows up when you go away for the day. The rain will destroy the finish of the hardwood floors, but the house will be cool when you return.
 The easiest way to prevent the odor of sauerkraut permeating every crack and cranny of the house is not to cook any.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

cause, as they hold, the actual doing of these things is necessary and desirable. To me, that attitude of mind is terrible in the extreme. It is wrong In itself; it is appalling in its consequences.
 There are, so far as opinion Is formu- which would impose upon Germany pen al and err thing peace. and that which would consent to one that she might fair ly regard as honorable.
 '"rhe advocates of penal peace rest their case upon several considerations; but one principal defense far outweighs all the others. It is sincerely believed by many patriotic Engllshmen that only by the destruction of Germany's power, by the curtailment of her frontiers, the surrender of her fleet, possibly even the forcible amendment of her constitutional system. can the speedy recurrence of a European war be prevented. Germany, they hold has sought and still seeks, to dominate the world and it is only by rendering her impotent that she can be held back from further attempts to attain that end. Let us. for the sake of argument, grant, do not myself grant the worst that can be said of the poll icy of the German government. Even so, is 1t not evident that the imposition of a penal peace cannot cure her of the madness by which we suppose her to be
 
 to her knees, it Is inevitable that her whole thought and energy will be con- centrated upon preparations for revenge. We shall be building up in the German people that very win to power which we deplore. and strengthening in the Ger man government that very military party whose policy we suspect. That this, and this alone. can be the result, all history serves to teach. Let but an honorable peace be signed, and the war spirit. ap- palled at the havoc it has wrought may quickly fade. It may even be that the road will become open for the develop ment of a reciprocal organization and the establishment, in some limited sense, of a commonwealth of accordant states.
 .But, if the peace that will content the allies is an honorable and not @ penal peace, one thing clearly follows. It Is their duty to decide upon and to make known, in rough, general outline. the na- ture of their terms Tn the earlier days of the wnr, when Germany was moving victoriously forward, to do this would have been impracticable. It is imprac- ticable no longer. It may be, no doubt that, from the standpoint of bargaining and diplomatic tactics, to show one S hand has disadvantages. But these, what ever they may be, cannot for a moment be weighed against the overwhelming considerations on the other side. There arc some of us who believe that Ger many, 1ike Britain, entered upon this war reluctantly, not as the result of any deep- laid plot. but from the mishandlinE of a difficult diplomatic situation And though many reject this view, yet they also agree that what now unites. the Ger man people-as distinct from the Ger man governmental wholehearted sup- port of the war is the firm belief that 1t is a war of self-defense"
 Yet another prominent fighter for practically the same thing is B. D. Morel. famous for his work of Year1
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

lands. sold at auction. bring as low as r cents per acre: whereas if near streams railroad stations they may sell for sev- erall dollars per acre. There are farm lands near here that are worth s1oo an acre. Many of the great estates are owned by families who are always buying lands and never sell. On the other hand. some of the largest landowners are begin ning to divide up their properties The great colony of Salliquelo is on the land of the Unzuc and Drusdale Brothers. This colony has a colonization scheme that em- braces 5o.d00 acres. It is situated on the boundary between the province of Buenos Aires, and that of the central pampas.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-04

composed of farming scenes, displaying the resources of Argentina, and showing how the various crops are raised. Many different provinces were brought on the screen, and we had views of wine raising in Mendoza, sugar planting in Tucuman and corn growing in Entre Rios. The im- migrants were intensely interested, and the lectures were intended to inform them where they had best make their homes.
 In another place in the hotel I visited a bureau devoted to tho hiring out of im- migrants and to seeing that they are not imposed upon by their employers: They go out upon contracts that fix their wages and terms of service. Any infringement of such contract is prosecuted by tho government without expense to the la borer
 An interesting part of this employ ment bureau is that devoted to the sending out. of women who have come over to act as house servants. When one is in need of a servant she comes to the immigration hotel and looks over the women and girls who are ready to go into service. She picks out those whom she likes, and if they are willing the contract is made out, stipulating the wages and terms of service. A ticket is then given which permits the ser want to leave the building, and she goes with her employer but the con tract is kept at the hotel. and in case of trouble the matter can easily be brought into court. In this same de - partment there are three policemen who are detailed to follow the girls and to inspect the houses to which they are taken. There Is every protection against white slavery, and the government acts, as 1t were, as the parent of its new children.
 Careful statistics are kept of the im- migrants. Their photographs, measure ments and thumb prints are taken, and one copy of each record is kept in the hotel, while another is sent to the police station nearest where the immigrant settles. No one is allowed to land if he is more than 50 years of age and has no relative who will be responsible for his care All immigrants are ex- amined as to possible diseases, and the physically defective are returned to Flu rope. The immigrants have the right to remain five days in the hotel and some of the cities throughout the interior have arrangements for keeping them pending their employment
 Many of the foreigners who come to Argentina have no idea of making this country their permanent home They come to work for a year or so, expecting then to go back with what they have saved. some stay for only q season. This is true Of thousands from northern Italy and northern Spain, countries which have their seasons just the oppostes of those Of the Argentine When it is winter in nc1thJn Italy 1t is summer in Argen- tine, and the men can aid in harvesting tic crops here and go back home for their sI ring blowing. The wages arc so mach higher that they can pay their steamer fares and save money. There are something like 40,0oo or 10000 immigrants who return every year. Some have been here fer two or three years and have