davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
Great Future of Agriculture

Within the last five years Alabama has made marked progress in agri- culture, as it has in other material things, but more rapid will be the progress from now on. Few states in the union are so prolific in agricul- tural resources as this and the time will soon come when its farmers will average high in worldly riches.
 Up to this time the advance in ag- riculture has been mainly the result of farm demonstration work. The United States government, our state government and the department of agricultural chemistry at the poly technic institute at Auburn have CO., operated actively in practical ways to demonstrate how the profits of hus- bandry can be increased and how di- versification is one of the means by which the farmer promotes his con- mercial independence.
 In the northern counties of the state diversification has been prac- ticed for sometime past and as con- sequence there was no depression among the farmers or merchants in those counties last fall when a great deal of cotton in middle and southern Alabama was sold at 6 cents But the state, as a whole, is now aroused to the importance of crop diversifica- tion.
 The diversification campaign in- augurated early in the year was ad- mirably managed. The farmers in every county responded with enthu- siasm and the county mass meetings under the auspices of the campaign organization were largely attended. And an encouraging thing is that the, enthusiasm is unabated. The diversi- fication idea is being well carried out. There will be much to show for it next fall, and still more in the next year or two
 Agriculture in Alabama has a great future indeed When this state pro- duces enough of grain, forage and live stock to feed itself, and have va- rious farm products to sell, cotton will be simply the surplus crop. And certain it is that day is not far off.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
WHEN COWBOYS SING

Joseph E,. Wing in the Breeders Ga
 zette.
 "HROUGH dry and barren canyons
 the cowboys follow the herd. At
 A the end of the canyon the trail leads u pthe mountain side. The way is steep and the trail rocky. narrow and danger ous. Afoot they work all the long hours of an endless afternoon, coaxing weary, thirsty and reluctant cattle up trail, to them unknown. Just before sundown the leaders reach the summit; they press on and the cheering news is in some myste- rious mannes> telegraphed down the long line of cattle; they all hasten now and quickly scramble up the last steeps Of the clmb. They come out on green, meadowy mountain top, beset with little groves of aspen trees, an unbelievaply sweet, cool and grassy paradise where COW kind can graze and stand under the aspens, and graze again.
 With the last stragglers on top, the cowboys mount and ride down the mesa trail, till set with spruce and pine and us DOltOHl anu SidSS SOf VI S>A' spring of icy water wells out from beneath great rock. They make camp. and the aspen poles crackle in the campfire. They wash in the cold stream and drink and drink again. Soon is the bake oven on the coals. the coffee pot steams and fresh venison is frying in the pan.
 Then is the burro unpacked and supper quickly prepared over the coals. The cow boys recline upon the ground. smoking and saying little for the way has been long and the day hot. The horse wrangler night Each rider selects one from his string and saddles it. Now two of them go to round the cattle up fo rthe night bedding down. They mount their fresh horses.
 i The feel of a fresh horse under one is almost enough to make a weary man feel rested. The cattle have scattered far, grazing as they go. They turn at our approach: easily they draw again to- ward a common center. We decide upon the place where they are to be herded for l the night. It is a smooth place where we may ride around them and find no pitt
 
 l the horses. Two of us then take shift; the others go back to camp and are soon wrapped in blankets and in the dreamless slumber of the cowboy.
 The stars have come out now. How brilliant they are in the heavens. The moon rises over the distant hills. flooding the plain with the light that never was on land nor sea. Long shadows oui horses cast. The cattle are unouiet; they do not lie down; we must sing to lull them to sleep. We strike up then the old fa- miliar ditties of the cowboys; we tell those cattle of Sweet Betsy From Pike and of how ''Once in our saddle we used tc go dashing, Once in our saddle we used te be free" We resurrect old forgotten camr meeting songs and sing these.
 Endless.y we ride and endlessly sing occasionally shouting across at each other
 for It is not noise but silence that cat. tie on the plains will fear. At last M have our reward; the steers be9in to lis down. ono bx one; then vq eoe then neeris
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
The Ledger's Splendid Enterprise

The Birmingham Evening Ledger is to be heartily congratulated on it's great waterways edition yesterday. It was a splendid example of newspaper enterprise.
 The full page map of Alabama in bright red lines with the names of the cities and towns in black is as artistic as it is instructive.
 Had the Ledger done nothing more than print this map it would have rem dered valuable service, but the en- tire edition is full of interest. All the special articles are not only well written, but present fresh and desir- able information about the potentiali. ties of mineral Alabama and the principal rivers of the state. Such an edition as the Evening Ledger's reflects high credit upon Birmingham and all persons who ad- mire fine achievement and who ap- preciate informative data should not fail to procure copy of the Ledger and preserve it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
BILLY SUNDAYS TACT

John Reed in the May Metropolitan.
 Hcw is 1t that Billy Sunday, who pledged 10000 men to vote against liquor in the next election, can receive a eulogy from Walter H. Finley, the Camden sa- loonkeeper and vice president. of the New Jersey Liquor Dealers association? Why is it that the members of the Penrose machine, who are tied up with the liquor interests of the state of Pennsylvania. support Billy Sunday when he breaches his blasting sermon on "Booze?" Too many men in Congress owe their election to the liquor interests" cries Billy 'Wher- ever ] can I shall fight every man who wears the brewery collar"
 But Billy Sunday is tactful. When he breaches against booze, he breaches against drinking. and not against politi- cians. He advises the people to vote for local option which is just what the Pen rose machine advises them to do When ne inveighs against graft corruption and the evils of enormous wealth. he nullifies the lesson by something like this:
 T have nothing to say against the rich man. solomon was worth $3OO6,OO0 900 1T you Teckon his wealth according to our standard of gold and silver. He could have hired Andrew Carnegie to black his boots. or Rockefeller to hitch up his horses, or J. Pierpont Morgan to dust his clothes and cut the lawn
 But there's lot of good-for-nothinR Holsters think they are called by God to go up and down the country harping' for A limitation of wealth and cussing and damning the rich man for every dollar he has, while they sit around and cuss and damn and never work
 If you want to use your genius and ability to get all you can, and use the surpius over your own needs for the good of humanity. I hope you all will be mil lionaires."
 Tn the same breath he curses child labor and striking workingmen, the greed or rich men and the envy of poor men. But he mentions no names
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
Incre.se Real Estate Values

This is an excellent time for the man with capital to operate on the real es- tate market" said a dealer.
 Industrial and commercial conditions in the Birmingham district have greatly inn proved in the past few months, but there gains in unimproved property scattered throughout the outskirts of the city. Bare lots often prove an incumbrance to the owner who holds them as a speculation, for there are assessments to be met, and the money invested is not bringing re- turn. But just as soon as houses are erected this property is transformed into a revenue-bearing estate.
 Many people who own vacant lots fall to realize how much they are losing each year by carrying real estate investments which until improved can hardly be ex- pected to bring any return. Building ma- terials are exceedingly cheap at the pres ent time, and aside from enhancing land values houses built now cannot fail to be paying proposition within themselves The man who builds judicously on va cani property at the present time is almost certain of rich returns on his investment Indeed, I would advise many people who hold vacant property within the city lm- Its to borrow money at a reasonable in- terest rate in order to make desired im- provements."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
A Long Search Ended

Diogenes can put up his flashlight the age-long hunt for the honest man is ended
 The honest man lives in Wichita, Kan, that state of many surprises.
 County Assessor c. F. Coleman plays the role of Diogenes, but mod estly refuses to take any credit for the discovery.
 According to Assessor Coleman, a man walked into his office the other day, saying:
 1.-The deputy assessor must have missed me in making his rounds, so came up here to give in my property .'
 He then declared personal property to the value of $500O, upon which he will now have to pay tax of ap- proximately $100. Mr. Coleman says this tax would not have been ob- tained by the county if the honest mar had not voluntarily assessed himself
 So we have another piece of Wi dence that modern extravagan3e. have not wiped out the real brand yt Aonesty-the kind of honesty whly deals fairly not only with family friend and business acquaintance, bl4 1nae00nizes a nersona1 ohliUatiop "A the state, the protection of which ren. ders accumulation of property pos. aible.
 If this same brand of honesty were more generally distributed the burder Of taxation would be lightly carried Tax evasion by big interests, biz property owners and corporatfQn'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
The Iusitanin Horror

'"rhe argument put forward by Ger many that citizens of the United States had fair warning of the impending fate of the Lusitania is begging the question, ' said citizen.
 sGranting for the sake of getting the question presented in of all of its bear ings, that the advertisements published at an expense of $25,ooO by the German emba ssy that the ship was doomed, what about those citizens of other neutral countries, many of them from the hum be walks Of life, some of whom most probably couldn't read any language, in- cluding many women and babes, who were cruelty slaughtered by the destruc- tion of the Lusitania?
 There Is not spar that Germany may cling to of the holocaust and wreck her submarine wrought off the Irish coast last week; or any justification for Germany s devlish inhumanity: great government boastlng of her 'kultur' guilty of un- paralleled act of inhumanity that has made not only countless thousands mourn, but nations stand shocked beyond the point of forbearance."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
"Moyie" Opportunities

Not only are moving picture ac- tors. some of whom were nonentlties on the stage and others without any previous experience before they took up this work, drawing fabulous sal aries, and not only are thousands of other people waxing opulent from the proceeds of moving picture shows, but the sharp demand for scenarios has opened a profitable field for writers. So great is the desire of managers for ideas and suggestions to be worked up as photodramas, that correct grammar, orthography and style have little weight. If person has an idea worth while he or she can scrawl it down with a pencil without regard for any laws of composition and be well paid for the trouble. In scenario con- tests conducted by moving picture concerns, it is expressly stated that no literary ability is required.
 Roy L. McCardell, an Alabamian who formerly did newspaper work in Birmingham, was recently awarded S10,0OO for scenario suggestion. Mr. McCardell has written many moving picture scenarios and his success in 4. this instance is not so surprising, but a young woman who was working as a stenographer in St. Louis, and had never written line for publication before won a prize of $10,000 for pro- viding the last situation in serial picture. Of course, such large re- wards are not offered every day, but any suggestion that embodies an original idea can be sold.
 It is small wonder that the writing of moving picture scenarios is being undertaken everywhere. Experienced playwrights have little advantage over the novice and person who has never written anything before will find that no handicap, if he has the ideas. Ninety per cent of the scena- rios, except those adapted from stage plays, are said to be the work of men and women who have never written play to be spoken. Emmett Camp bell Hall, who receives a princely sal ary from the Lubin company, sold 98 out of the first 100 scenarios he wrote.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
IF YOU WE'RE CALLED

Ny Trumbull Stickney. Were you called home and I but left
 to grief
 I'd not go down disconsolste to shs
 shore
 And breeding mix my language in
 the roar Of waves in spasm upon the tortured
 reef; e.,4 Nor climb the lonely mouptaIn whs Q
 the leaf
 Sings it's wide whisper and
 ravens soar
 From shadows of unholy ellebore Lovedly the ,owlets. blind and dull and
 deaf. should not loudly mourn and vex the
 earth M With strewinKs of my ashes; t.ha
 should find Es My reft souls sorrow in the gushins
 dye. But my dull world would be world of
 Hearth. - cheerAss the sunrise, the sweet sky llnkfnd. Ana q nor gray. ny heart not ak- s..4 x -4,s {yy.z z. s-44e q. Mi . . W
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
LUKE Nd'LUKE SAYS

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
 A man never forgets a kindness done when he does it himself.
 The Lord hasn't much use for the cheerful giver who gives nothing but advice.
 woman thinks that a woman cor respondent is hiding something from her if there isn't & postscript at the end of the letter
 A man starts toward happiness or st souble the day he is married. And it doesn't take him long to find out which way he is headed.
 When she is 19 she makes up her mind to cop out an Andonis with curly hair and dimples. When she is 29 she
 is willing to compromise on male ant nal who runs to dandruff and pimples,
 The fact that a man is wearing a hero medal doesn't do him any good when he happens to step on a wooden collar button with his bare feet.
 Life with some men is simply a se- ries of waits between one pay day and the next
 The fellow who has to catch up m the time he spent loafing is always loudest in his protest that he is over worked.
 When a woman spends half her time overworking her wishbone and the ether half overworking her jawbone some divorce lawyer is going to get the price of new set of tires for his roadster.
 What has become of the old-fasn- toned parent who used to take his son out to the woodshed and inform hiin that the whipping about to be admin istered hurt the father more than 1t would the son? When mother is mad at father she cften tells him that she merely puts up with him for the sake of the chill dren. But the truth of the matter is that she merely puts up with him be- cause he is her meal ticket After man has felt the buzz saw two or three times 1t doesn't humiliate him as much to take . dare as 1t used to.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

merely shifts the burden onto the smaller fellows.
 If the great ones of the financial world would follow the example of the Kansas man
 But this is the twenty-first cen tury, and Diogenes has been search ing 2000 years.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
City of BeautifuI Home.

was delighted with Birmingham when was here for the first time last fall, and on this present visit I am still more deeply impressed" said Everett E. Ris- ley of New York, who represented the National Bank of Commerce at the Ala bama Bankers convention.
 Birmingham has the most beautiful residential sections of any city in this country, so far as my observation goes. Birmingham has rare natural scenery, and the landscape architect has heightened the effect by his artistic treatment We New Workers are proud of our Morning side drive, but we have nothing to com pare with the scenic entertainment of Bir- mingham.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

all sleeping upon the ground, and are glad. Still We ride, still we sing, still the cool air of the desert plain refreshes us and still the silvery moon floods the world with it's unreal light. On the distant hills the coyote embittered of life, gives voice to his accumulated woes. What relief to ride to camp. our long days work cnd- ed n lasti
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
WAR ECHOES

Louisville Herald: The course that the United States should pursue must, first of all, be one upon which she enters right eously and soberly and In the maturity of her best judgment. It must be one that where if may.
 We have said. and we repeat what, as It seems to us, has been somewhat widely oyerlooked-the United States-in what ever representations it may make at Der lin in whatever suggestions 1t may offer;
 in whatever action it may eventually de- termine on. speaks, not along for itself. It has so far been able to hold peculiarly aioof II is not embarrassed by proximity cated by an inter- border traffic.
 And, therfore, if for no better reasons.
 it is enabled to speak for all neutrals to voice, not only an universal dispIeasure, but an universal anxiety.
 American boats, American cargoes, American nationals have been sent to the bottom. No less is true of Holland, of Norway, of Denmark, of Sweden, even of Spain. There has been consideration shown only for Italy-and Italy is armed to the teeth and holds back an excited people with difficulty. Her preparedness commands respect
 Why would 1t not consort with our dig nifty, and with the needs of the case for the United States to call a conference of these neutrals, and of those others in South America who may be affected next ? Why not joint representations and joint action?
 Whenever and wherever terms of peace are discussed these neutrals will have to be heard-Why not nowg
 Pittsburg Sun: The presence in the United States of George w. Guthrie, ann bassador to Japan from this country, would indicate one of two things, either that the relations between the two coun- tries were strained or else they were never in such satisfactory shape as now, when In ordinary circumstances his presence in Tokyo would seem necessary. MT. Guth- rie, who is at his home in this city, has refrained from talking about his return, but insists that it is private business and not affairs of state that brought him home The same statement in substance has been madein Washington. MT. Guth- rie will leave for the capital some time next week, and naturally the subject of oriental diplomacy and politics will be considered by the department of state and the President. But nothing serious Is brewing, that seems quite certain.
 MT. Guthrie says that the attitude of the Japanese is most friendly to this country and that the feeling extends to the com mon people in all parts of the empire that he has visited. That is doubtless true, but the oriental mind is something too deep for the ordinary occidental mentality to grasp. and outward manifestations of good will may mean nothing except an abundance of oriental guile. The ambas- sador has been in Japan for a long time and has worked hard, as has every one of our diplomatic representatives, all of whom have assumed to look after the af- fairs of Germany and Austria, in addition to their own. Mir. Guthrie purposes re- maining in the United States for two months. In the meantime Japan will have started digesting China.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
THE HELPERS.

T believe that humanity is born with the desire to improve itself" said the al- truist.
 T don't know about all humanity" said the cynical person. but I'm convinced that half humanity is born with a desire to improve the other half, regardless of consequences"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
ALABAMA PRESS


 Gadsden Evening Journal: The question of spelling it ''Mussel or Muscle" Shoals may become as live a one as that which resulted in the change from "k'' to ''c'' in Tuscaloosa.
 Talladega Daily Home: Birmingham should have no trouble in settling it's financial affairs with the states bankers in town.
 Troy Herald There is talk of the legis- lature splitting the remaining 30 days into two sessions, or 15 days each. Let us hope that it will not be done. for the sooner it adjourns the better off the state will be. With the legislature in session the state receives a great deal of advertising, which is anything but laudatory or compliment tary.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
New orlcnnn pro.perou.

Business conditions in Louisiana and throughout the south, I believe, are im- proving steadily" said c. owen Vincent, vice president and ashier of the Commer- eiai=Germania Trust and Savings bank of NeW Orleans, who attended the Alabama Bankers convention "Our city is en- loving substantial prosperity and the fu- ture looks extremely bright
 have been greatly impressed with Birmingham's progress. It is handsome city from every point of view. and is a most pleasant city to visit
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

A specially equipped refrigerator car is being sent out over the country by the de- pertinent of agriculture to show the proper method of handling eggs and poul- try. The car carries a gasoline engine to operate the cooling apparatus and furnish an electric current for lighting and other purposes. It Is divided into two compart- ments. the first being slightly below nor maj temperature for the purpose of cool ing shipments gradually before storing
 The other room is for cold storage Pro- duce that is brought suddenly from a warm temperature into cold one de- |teriorates and on this account the first fan which forces air through false walls
 supplied with dampers. The air Is passed through bunkers of ice and salt which reduce it's temperature to 32 degrees in 90 minutes. Eggs are chilled 40 degrees in q hours. Operators accompanying the car will also demonstrate the scientific can ding of eggs and the proper way to pack them for shipment. They will use eggs furnished by local dealers in the towns visited. After the demonstrations the eggs thus treated will be shipped to cus- toners. Refrigerator cars are now in uni versal use. but cold storage often results in deterioration, perhaps more noticeable in eggs than in any other commodity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

Five thousand eonvalescent soldiers in Paris are entertained at matiness by great dramatic artists. These soldiers would probably vote that war is not always all that sherman claimed for it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

Texas man told the judge he had a right to Tick" his wife, but proba bly, on account of inequality in weight the judge
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

John D. Rockefeller, Jr, Is merely a fgurehead, according to Frank P Walsh, on industrial relations. Maybe John D., sr., keeps him busy figuring up the pen- nies as they arc dropped into the savings hank
The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13

An American oil tank steamer Is re- ported to have been torpedoed off Scilly That Is taking this country's policy of pouring oil on the troubled waters bit too literally.