The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-03

 soldier, or what is left of him, will be entitled to much of the credit.
 The Russian government has inti- mated that after the conflict is ended a mild beverage, limited to 2 per cent of alcohol, will be licensed for sale to everybody. But the first thing that Russia should do would be to double the pay of the private soldier; this as a matter of sentiment-a token of appreciation.
 NOC COOK, the irrepressible, an- U nounces that he will revisit the north pole, his old stamping ground, in an aeroplane. He plans to set forth in July or August of next year, and told some Denver newspaper men that the venture would be financed by friends of his in the Chicago Aero club.
 The doctor points out that ships can now go within seven hundred miles
 of the pole and Doc Cook Plans the remaining North Polar Flight distance could
 easily be cov- cred by an aeroplane in ten hours. Land extends to within four hundred miles of the pole and then comes a sea of floating ice, which he thinks would afford landing places for an aeroplane and would even permit the establishment of supply bases.
 It is quite probable that some ad- venturous flyer will soon reach the north pole by the air route. In fact, with the perfection of the modern aeroplane, there is nothing to make the feat more hazardous than some that have already been successfully 
 Doc Cook has submitted to great deal of ridicule with more or less patience and his claim to have dis covered the north pole has never been disproved. In fact, he still has a great many friends throughout the country who are quite as willing to believe his story as Peary's. A successful air flight to the pole might, paradoxically enough, put him on his feet again. GENERAL FUNSTON, in lvl command of the troops on the Mexican border, does not often com- plain of newspaper correspondents. He was once a newspaper man him. self. But it seems that most of the correspondents attached to the Ma tional Guard camps have been send
 ing out reports Funston and concerning mlll- the Correspondents tary conditions
 that mislead the public, to say the least.
 General Funston finds that some of the reporters are well poised and painstaking, and this class he well comes. But the majority seem to have little regard for the truth and are indifferent to the evil consequences of fabricated "stories" of the yellow sort. Such men General Funston wwell characterizes as pests" Whatever foundation they may have for the tales they turn in as "copy" is made up of interviews with what the gen. eral calls mollycoddles or sissies.
 The political opponents of the Will son administration are making capi- tai of these yellow reports. The guardsmen, as a rule, are good sol diers and are not complaining of their lot. Th.re is indeed nothing to justify complaint. They are we'll fed and as we'll cared for in every way as any soldiers could be who. are n, n,obilized for active service. But :he few unsoldierly guardsnen who keep the correspondents supplied with points" are numerous enough to cause trouble. General Funston is right in the stand he has taken. These yellow" correspondents will have either to amend their methods or leave camp.
 Safety first" say the commissioners o Jersey City, but it required terrific ex' plosion to wake them up.