davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

charged as cured, who, after spreadin| contagion throughout the community had been returned to the hospital becausI they were not cured?''
 Warden Osborne undertakes to cure nil patients, and, according to all unbiased reports, he is having an amazing measrrl of success The morale of Sing Sing hal never been anything like as high as it il today. There have been fewer escap| than during any similar period of warI denship. There have been fights, bu| none of the general riots which occurred under the old regime. Warden Osborn'l Is based upon an understanding of physi| ologic and psychologist facts He has real ized that If you make prison hell to star| with, you have destroyed all the instru ments of discipline and education. HI has made prison a place in which th| prisoners have something to win and something to lose. Therefore, he retainl the foundations of discipline. By allow ing freedom he retains the coercive powe] to take it away. By making freedom coll lective he creates public opinion in thu prison which is jealous for discipline in stead of hostile to it. Prison becomes no an Interruption of normal life but a spe cial form of 1t, a place of acute mora standards. of quick rewards and punish ments It becomes a stern school of nor ality instead of a degradation We al have to live in the same world as tn, prisoners when they get out of prison and. the question of the desirability O Warden Osborne's system may be put tt every American thus: Whether you would rather live with an ex-convict who has spent his time in solitary confinement un der the persuasion of a club or with tn, same man if he had spent his time re ceiving an education in democracy in tn, Mutual Welfare league?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
Ticket Speculation

It seemed for time that the ticket speculator who had preyed upon New York theatre patrons for years would be so regulated that he would become more of a public convenience and less of nuisance. Recent developments show that the problem is not yet set tied. Theatre managers formed a ticket association and agreed to con- form to number of stipulations re- garding the sale of tickets by agen- cies, but this association has been dis solved.
 Klaw & Erlanger made public a statement last week in which they charged William A. Brady with being insincere in his efforts to cor rect ticket selling evils. The state ment says that one of the important stipulations in the agreement of the managers was that sign be placed pronlinently at each agency where tickets are sold, warning the public that any charge over $2.50 was ex- tortion and forbidden and that those selling tickets were not permitted to Aboost" one attraction at the expense of another. According to Klaw & Err langer an investigation showed that no sign at all was displayed at more than half the agencies and at 80 per
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
PROSPERITY

From the New York Times.
 W stay with us depends upon how we treat him. He went away because ne was fairly ld-shouldered off the prem ises, and there are those whose welcome home would be of a similar nature Ills return is not due to the interstate com merce commission, which last week showed a marble heart toward the ap- peal of the railways for a grant in aid toward the cost of living by a small ad- vance in western freight rates. Very chill also is the welcome at the hands of the legislatures, which this year have passed 23O more statutes of the full
 crew" sort, all in the interest of labor and not one in the interest of the rail- ways. Over 1000 bills of that kind were introduced and that no more were passed was due to energetic opposition. The
 general movement for an eight-hour day
 is no inducement for tho guest to pro-
 long his stay. The list of discourage
 ments might be prolonged, but these will
 suffice to show that he returned as he
 departed, of his own accord. and to the
 surprise of many.
 Take, for example, the case of the rail-
 ways, the industry next to agriculture. One-sixth of 1t is in the hands of re-
 ceivers. Take specific case, that of the
 St. Louis and San Francisco, whose af- fairs are brought into present prominence by the announcement of an assessment
 upon it's owners of half the face of their
 shares. That is 0 fine upon the owners of the property almost equal to the fam ous Standard Oil flne which never was collected. The assessment will be collect ed or the property will be forfeited. No doubt the punishment Is in some degree deserved for the management of the enterprise was blameworthy. This is not in any respect defense of anything con trary to the public interest. but merely suggestion of the other side of the case so far as it bears upon the pro- longaton of prosperity. That the St. Louis and San Francisco contributed to general prosperity at its own cost can
 hardly be denied. Under the Yoakum administration 5000 miles of railway were built in six states, carrying sO,0oO on the pay roll, representing population of nearly five times as many. Where there were only roaming animals and Indians, and it was a score or two of miles be- tween ranch houses, there now are 100, 900 farms. Along the gulf and the Rio Grande the Yoakum lines are the only
 means of transport essential to the na- tional defense. Measured by earnings the
 service to the public of the railway which l is assessing its owners several times the market value of their shares was 1 skiold greater than the return to owners 1 These things are more true than the other things about which the public is hearing something too much. and have ! broader public significance. with i'm mediate bearing upon the permanence of prosperity. The misfortunes of the own
 CTS of railways are affected with pub ] lie interest but they are not of that
 first importance which is given to them
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
THE HOMELAND

From Dana Burnet's Poems" My land was the west land; my home
 was on the hill, I never think of my land but it makes
 my heart to thrill; never smell the west wind that blows
 the golden skies, But old desire is in my feet and dreams
 are in ny eyes. My home crowned the high land: 1t had
 a stately grace. never think Of my land but see my
 mothers face; never smell the west wind that blows
 the silver ships But old delight is in my heart and uairth
 is on my lips. My land was high land, my home waa
 near the skies. l never think of my land but q light
 Is in my eycs never smell the west wind that blows
 the summer rain But I am at my mothers knee a little
 lad again.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
Talk of small Cotton Acreage

"As all the southern counties of Ala hama are badly infested with the boil weevil, the farmers have decided to plant very small acreage in 1916-sinaller than last spring. said J. A. Carr, well-known travelling salesman for big Birmingham house.
 T was in Lowndes county recently and the talk there was all on the line of re- duced acreage. As Q rule, the farmers will cultivate only 10 acres of cotton to the blow, instead of 20 acres, as formerly. They will increase their foodstuff produc- tion.
 ''The farmers of Lowndes and many other cotton belt counties had fine suc- cess last year in their grain crops and in raising hogs and cattle. I never saw such a corn crop. And there was huge po- tato crop, too. But as for cotton, Lowndes did not pick more than third of a crop. The late cotton helped consid- erably, but even with that the boil wee- vii has made the crop amazingly small"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
Atrocities Exaggerated

In his book, "The Log of Noncom- batant," recently issued by the Tough ton, Mifflin Co.,, Horace Green, war correspondent, devotes a chapter to a discussion of atrocities. His conclusion that they have been grossly exagger- ated is one that has already been reached by the more conservative part of the worlds population, who have long since learned that all such stories are to be taken with a grain of salt. A partisan press is rightly held to blame for many of the lies circulated since the war began.
 Mir. Green comedies that the wanton destruction of towns and villages and the vengeance against inanimate ob- fleets shown in the German march through Belgium was barbaric," but he says it was provoked by the organ ized resistance of Belgian francs tireurs, by civilians firing from places of concealment on the German troops and by numerous other attacks made on the troops by civilians. This is the excuse given by the Germans them. selves and while the conduct of neither the Germans nor the Belgians was jus. tified, under the stress of such time both the invaders and the invaded are apt to commit acts they would not be guilty of in cooler moments. MT Green states, however, that the Ger. mans inflicted punishment out of al proportion to the crime.
 As for unprovoked personal atroci ties, MT. Green thinks they have al been "hideously exaggerated" Al though many crimes of this sort hav' been committed, for every real cas, there were hundred fictitious ones Plunder and rapine are to be expected in every war of invasion, but the Ger man private as an individual is n, worse than the French, British or Bel gian soldier. We are getting bette perspective of the war as it goes on and while the Germans have don much that appears indefensible, w have learned to discount atrocities, except in the case of the Turk. Hi character has been truthfully pre- sented.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
Renewed Activity in Road Building

Renewed Activity in Road Building
 While the action of the board of di- rectors of the Jackson Highway asso- citation in postponing it's final decision on the location of the route south of Nashville until October of next year caused disappointment on the part of those contestants who felt that the route they championed would be chosen, the good roads movement is the gainer.
 The pathfinding committee, accom- panied by a government engineer, that made recently thorough in- | spection of the various routes pro- posed, found many stretches of bad roadway in both Mississippi and Ala bama. The roads between Selma and Mobile need great deal of attention, and the same is true of some of the longer links on the proposed Missis- sippi route. After hearing the reports of the pathfinders the board deemed it best to give the sections concerned another year in which to "get ready" The good roads advocates must now bestir themselves once more and there must be no delay about it. Our Missis- sippi friends have already organized for prosecuting the road improvement work in their state. They are de- termined to have model roads from Meridian to the gulf, regardless of what may be the final outcome as to the official Jackson route.
 1 A good roads meeting will be held in Birmingham in December to in- augurate fresh movement for high way construction with view of bring ing the entire mileage along the pro- posed Alabama route up to the re- lquired standard. Although the time is comparatively short for fulfilling the conditions which the Jackson
 Highway association sets forth, yet
 with the cooperation of all the peo-
 pie in the counties affected, spurred on by the enthusiasm of the officials of
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
OVER PARTICULAR
From Case and Comment.

From Case and Comment.
 An aged negro porter. nearly 30 years old, was arrested on some trivial charge for which he was later discharged. l, proved, during the trial, that he had never seen the inside of a court before, and the hustle of events greatly dazed and embarrassed him.
 As he stood up when his name was called the clerk sang forth:
 DO you solemnly swear that the testi- mony you shall give in this case shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
 Mister Briles," he said, for he knew lis honor from boyhood in an unofficial capacityj 'I'se puffectly willin' ter tel de truf. but mus I be all cotched III datter way, i'll case l might want tel git des step or two offin de road? Hi don't give man no leeway, suh!''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
BLADDER GIRLS. JEERED
From the London Observer.

r TOIrI tfrS '7OIfe'oHr o"7oof VT
 It is feared at Nottingham (writes cor respondent there) that the lady window cleaners will be compelled to abandon their trousers. The ladder girls" as about a month ago and. adopting the work as an example of practical patriotism, they donned khaki overalls, with three quarter jackets and trousers. Many lace market firms engaged them. but Mrs
 Grundy was not long in making her dis approbation felt. Hoots and cat-calls pur- sued them from crowds of warehouse girls. but the work has proceeded in face of the opposition. The window cleaning companies say that it is impossible to ob. tain male workers owing to enlistments.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

by those who look more to the stock exchange than to the prairies. The most important thing to the country Is that railways should be built. with whatevel improvement In the method of building conditions permit For four years therd has been practically no railway construct ton in this country. The 30-year average construction is 5000 miles. The country is, therefore. short 24,00O miles of rail- way. Each 100 miles of railway gives em1 ployment to $50 people, representing l population of nearly 5000. Besides, each mile of railway gives new values to all the land through a 20-mile strip and in creases the food supply of the world Abating nothing Of the regret for the un- wise or even wrong things done by any. body, it remains true that tho old pros perity cannot be expected to return, or to stay. unless more appreciation is shown of the service performed by the railways,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

the Alabama Good Roads association, the work can be done.
 When the pathfinders make their next tour of inspection they should find Alabama far in the lead. At any rate the renewed activity in good road making will greatly benefit all the counties which are now backward in improved highway mileage.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
ALABAMA PRESS

Cullman Tribune: The Sheffield Stand ard wants to know what has become of the old-fashioned girl who liked to go to "socials" and candy stretchins" at this season of the year. They are still in the country and as fair as the fairest lily the only difference being the candy stretchins have changed in name to candy breakings."
 Talladega Home: Winston Churchill has gone to the front in France. It's the same old front that was over there last spring.
 Jacksonville Record: Good thing we are not President of the United States. We wouldn't know what to do with the sal- ary kicks.
 Conecuh Record: There are half a dozen candidates for probate judge in El- more county. Must be something in the position besides the honors. Opelika News: The south was for Will son for President four years ago and went for him solidly finally in spite of the very strongest kind of a pool that had been organized to defeat him. Tho same people that stood by him before are for him now, and will be next year. Sheffield Standard. This business man stuff may be alright but when it comes k1 <I4 r%n <npo E,,cf knyx sense politician to give the people the 1 best results. Proof-take the last four | administrations and pick out the one that l left the state in the best shape. Greensboro Watohman: Greene county held an election on the subject
 Of tick eradication last week, and out of a total vote of 36O, only 4S votes were cast against the proposition. We | congratulate Greene county upon the | excellent showing made and also upon ! the progressive step taken. Where the | people are practically unanimous in
 their determination to exterminate the
 cattle tick there will be very little
 trouble in carrying it to successful termination.
 Talladega Home: We are not dis
 turbed about the delegation from Ala bama to the democratic national con.
 vention next year. It will be for MT Wilson. notwithstanding that tliors will be some opposition to him from some sections of the state.
 Prattville Progress: Five or six mil. l lion yards is the estimated amount o1 Osneburg shipped from the Selma | Manufacturing company into thu
 northern markets during the last three
 months. The cloth will go, 1t is said
 for the making of cement bags, as cur. rent rumor has 1t that much of the cloth will go to Europe for manufac. l ture of sandbags.
 i Huntsville Mercury: Some of the
 state papers object because the stats
 will have to pay the cost of holding the Birmingham amendment election
 It Is no fault of Birmingham that she is not allowed to levy tax rate sui
 ficient to pay the expenses of running
 the city. If the state is to hold thu
 reins over the cities she must pay eol
 the privilege.
 T Cleburne News: If Captain Hobsor
 should consent to enter the 1916 pres
 idential contest on Billy Bryant plat
 form of Peace at Any Price," wha ] would become of the captains yellow !. peril scare of 1913?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

l Richard Harding Davis writes to The | Age-Herald that he tore up the ticket en- titling him to a place in a lifeboat. gallant soul to whom a periscope is no more alarming than cork floating on the water,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Jess Willard has made more than $200,- GOO since he put a quietus on Jack John son and he can therefore well afford to pay the $1 recently lost in an Oklahoma damage suit.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
BEGINNING THE DAy-My Fath-

Ter. | thank Thee that Thou under-
 standest the things which csnnot say. thank Thee that Thou scest the inner grace, hidden beneath thc ugly crust. I thank Thee that Ihou nearest the prayer which men tnihh lis never said. thank Thee that ITbou tudgest the heart, and that lTbou xnowest altogether. | give my lseIf to Thy discerning sympathy. lyieId myself to the love that never lfaiIeth. Amen.--H. M. E.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Certain officials of the Hamburg American line who secretly aided German warships say they were not trying to deceive Uncle Sam, but the allies. Cue for Uncle Sam to answer, T never thought of that.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Diplomatic dinners in Washington would not present such a vexatious prob
 lem to the state department if the diplo-
 mats themselves were a trifle more dip- I lOmatic
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Chauncey M Depew says the melting pot is mere fiction. Still, we'll have to make shift to use the melting pot until our present immigration laws are re- yiSed
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

It Is probable that the number of bell hops and office boys in New York whc have mare fortunes out of war stocks has been considerably exaggerated.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

ican. We refuse to speak of him as AL bert Spalding, the American violinist any more than we would speak of Her bert Witherspoon, the American singer. They belong to the whole world of art for they have arrived" as the French love to say''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

According to Petrograd, the Czar is working wonders with the Russian army. Could 1t be possible that Petrograd Is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

If Kitchener's audience with King Con
 stantine of Greece lasted only one hour
 it was either very satisfactory or no at all satisfactory.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Once back in Philadelphia, the grand old Liberty bell should be permitted to stay there. It's too old to go gallivanting
 about over the country.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Holland does not think the time ripe for mediation. Holland is close enough to the war zone to know what she's talk ing about.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
Official Society in Washington

According to the announced pro- gramme of state dinners and other en- tertainments to be given at the White House this winter, Washington official society will be exceptionally gay. but 1t will be generally regretted by the old residents of the capital that the New Years reception will be omitted" said w. s. Larue of the District of Colum- bia.
 January i will find the President and the first lady of the land away on their honeymoon. There was no White House reception last New Years on account or the Presidents bereavement, and from some cause there was none the year be- fore. Although we Washingtonians are getting used to the omission of the New Years reception, the first of the year does not seem the same without the gov ernment officials, the foreign diplomats, the judiciary, the army and navy con tingent and unofficial men and women, that is to say the general public, waiting in line to be presented to the country chief magistrate, while the Marine band played by the hour.
 'The New Years reception at the White House had come to be regarded as an institution It lent color to the brilliant occasion and was in very large sense patriotic as well as social. No matter now cold or how indictment the day, the crowds that gathered were immense The recep- ton usually began at ii a. m.. and 1t was often nighttime before the last per- son in line had the opportunity of shak- ing hands with the nations chief. "Washington is one of the few clties where New Years calling continues in vogue. Hundreds of families receive In formally, It is a pleasant custom and will probably never be allowed to die ou' entirely"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Art treasures are highly desirable in times of peace, but their possession is an added risk in time of war.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

John Temple Graves calls MT. Bryan a "marplot." Everybody seems to misun- derstand the commoner's patriotic mo- lives.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

The Serbs are great believers in the open-door policy. Just now convenient mode of exit is highly important to them.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Mrs. Gait shows a proficiency in shak- ing hands with the honest voter quite be- dent.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22

Secretary Daniels affects the low, turned-down collar. the kind that does not interfere with his speech making
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-22
A SMOOTH PATE
From the New York World.

Colonel Bryan may be. as James M. Beck says. like Absalom, but he is a better insurance risk riding nuleback in a forest.