davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
THE JAPANESE .coMIcn

From Cartoons Magazine.
 After scanning a Japanese comic for a few minutes one might conclude that the mystic Jap hasn't a greatly different viewpoint than other folks when his thoughts are immersed in the lighter things of life, Even the time honored hoary jests of the papa COW and his ever readiness to resent encrcachments upon his fenced domain or peace of mind find places in the funny pages of Japan s publications, as they still do in -ours. Quite a typical example of Japanese comic-page material, and one which uses this very theme, is represented in a strip that appeared not long ago in Osaka Puck. Two characters are used; one a fellow of the "Opie Dilldocl' type. and the other an ordinary, everyday bull. The former finds it necessary to cross a bridgeess stream. Summoning his wits to his aid, he seizes rock and hurls it at the others head. Then, grabbing a plank and placing it across that part of his anatomy most logically open to at tack, he faces the stream and awaits the impact. Te force imparted by the en- ragged bull lifts him to the opposite bank in the twinkling of an eye. The line beneath the picture reads: .'Now see that necessity makes invention"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04

issue of $500, ,OO0 will enable the city to erect and operate it's own electric light plant.
 If the bond election were held to- day many citizens might be disposed to vote mo" on ali three of the propo- sitions submitted by the commission, but with a we'll organized campaign of education, pushed with energy, be- tween now and June 5, decisive ma jorities will be the result.
 Now is the time for spirited team work; the biggest sort of team work. Take no chances on the bonds vote. Three million dollars expended by the city on new construction within the next F months would mean a mighty stride and would start the building trades on a solid boom.
 Can Birmingham afford to spend $2,000,000 for school purposes Can it afford to build vast auditorium ? some people will ask. It cannot af- ford to do otherwise. The fact is that it would pay to issue $10,000,000 of bonds within the next two or three years for city improvements. With broad policy like that Birmingham would go forward by leaps and bounds and would get into the census of 1920 with population of close to 100000.
 But reverting to the pending propo- sitions: the people should lose no time in getting together and pulling to- gether with all their might and with all that old-time enthusiasm.
 Let's make civic Progress, with big "P," the slogan.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
A Chance to Come Back.

I Time was when an ex-convict who
 wanted to reform and lead an honest
 life had a rather hard time of it, but a
 more enlightened public sentiment has
 made it comparatively easy for unfor-
 tunates of that sort to "come back" after serving prison term. The old nemesis which pursued them in the form of overzealous detectives and enemies who watched for an opportu- nity to ruin them, has been negatived to a great extent, while the efforts of broad-minded citizens who are anx- ious to give the ex-convict a helping
 hand, when he deserves it, have made possible some remarkable examples of men who have lived down a criminal past.
 It used to be said that the prison pallor would soon disappear, but the prison taint would cling to man for the rest of his life. That is no longer
 true. In fact, the ex-convict who
 wants to reform and bury his past is sometimes coddled more than is wise
 by people whose intentions are the
 best in the world
 After serving 19 years in prison a
 man recently published an advertise ment in a Chicago paper asking for work and stating that he was for mer convict. He got so many answers Tn the course of one day that it was not easy to decide which offer he would accept. Instead of being "man without chance" he was
 swamped with chances. A railroad official located in Indiana called over the long distance. telephone to offer the ex-convict railroad job. Other
 employers, both men and women, seemed anxious to help this man,
 whose name they did not know, nor the crime he had committed.
 Instances of this kind show that after all, human nature can be de- pended on to do the right thing. It is true that hundreds of other men, equally deserving, might have adver- 1 tised for work and failed to get them selves written up in the newspapers
 and to arouse sentimental interest in
 their plight simply because they were
 not ex-convicts, but the plea of man
 who is down seldom goes unheeded nowadays, if he really wants to re- habilitate himself.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
Speedway Is PopuIar

"A record breaking crowd is expect ed to be on hand in Indianapolis on May 30 when the seventh information al motor speedway race is started 9 said E. M Hutchins of Indianapolis, who is registered at the Tutwiler. q am glad to see speedway being built here. The people of Birming- ham will be benefited greatly by this project and it will be the means of bringing more persons to Birmingham than any other thing that could be put on foot
 "The merchants of Indianapolis would not have the speedway to stop giving annual races for anything in the world. For weeks before the races are pulled off thousands of people from all sections of the United States pour into Indianapolis and it is conservatively estimated that several million dollars is annually brought into the city by speedway fans.
 q have been told quite a number of Birmingham people patronize these races each year and no doubt the usual number will be on hand this year. By November the local speed way will be in operation and indica- tions point to crowd that will rival that of Indianapolis will be on hand. I expect to be one of the number my self"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
Praises work of Citizen.

The Louisville Courier-Journal in a recent issue printed the photographs of w. c. Radcliffe, general manager of the Chamber of Commerce; R. A. Brown. president of the Business Mems league and chairman of the reunion committee of the Chamber of Com merce, and Mrs. J. B. Reid, who will be official hostess at the Confederate camp at the fairgrounds during the re- union.
 MT. Radcliffe is referred to in the story as the man who went to Rich mond, Va, last year with the determi- nation to get the Confederate reunion for Birmingham in 1916, and was sue cessful." MT. Brown Is referred to as the man who. as chairman of the fi- nance committed directed the cam paign to raise money to give the boys in gray royal reunion" Mrs. Reid is referred to as one of the best known journalists in the south
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
Large Sum From Sale of Buttons

In 1915 goodly sum was realized from the sale of illiteracy buttons for carrying on the teaching work among the ignorant in the rural districts, but a much larger sum was raised by the sale of buttons throughout the state last month.
 In the first campaign only few of the more populous communities were organized, but in this years cam paign the organization, under the auspices of the department of educa- tion and the Alabama illiteracy com mission, was general and thorough. In the small towns as well as in the cities great deal of enthusiasm was aroused and as a result thousands of individuals, by the purchase of but ton, contributed each 10 cents to the cause of education who otherwise would not have given penny. While the total amount received by the il- literacy committees has not yet been reported it is believed that it did not fall below $1O,O0O It shows what or ganization and publicity can accom- plish in collecting large fund even when no one is expected to give more than a dime.
 The members of the Alabama Hitter acy commission serve without pay and all the money they have at their dis posal is raised by voluntary offerings such as come from the sale of buttons The state department of education, the illiteracy commission and the Ala bama Educational association are co operating earnestly to remove il literacy from this state and they are making good progress toward that end.
 Alabama has been among the few
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
A Bumptious Senior Class

President Denny of the state uni versity is to be congratulated on the firmness with which he met the de- mands of a disgruntled senior class. Everyone who has ever seen to col lege knows that a senior is inclined to take himself seriously. In the present case an attempt was made to drag in a technicality regarding two suspended students who are also in- structors, but even under the system of government in force at the university among the students, mat ters of discipline being left to an ex- ecutive committee, the authority of President Denny is paramount.
 The state university would doubt less survive if there were no gradu- ating class this year. If the young men who threatened to strike" had more experience of life they would know that such attempts usually prove abortive.
 Although hazing was thought to have been stopped at the university, the fact that large number of se- niors pleaded guilty to taking part in an inspection" shows that the prac- tice continues. According to reports reaching Birmingham, some forms of it are brutal. It is rather unprece- dented for seniors to be active in haz- ing at the state university. The peo- pie of the state will heartily indorse any steps the authorities may take to abolish this form of student hooligan- icy,a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
A PLENTY OF HOPS

do not insist, by majority vote on going dry and remaining dry. No. on the contrary. we have our
 own hops for beverage and mcdica- tion. and plenty of them and to spare.
 River, with their fine, silken texture
 and their bright golden color, are just about as-good for our purposes as the English Farnhams. the Bohemian Saazer or the Bavarian Spalter | We can produce hops enough to sup ply the whole worlds demands for them if we only incline that way. As lit is now we probably produce more than any other one country. and that
 in~merely four of our states. Last years report showed our production to r be 42,0OO, 900 pounds. of which Oregon grew 1S.000, 900, California 13,0O0, 900 New York 9.000,000 and Washington | 4,00O, ,000.
 ! We have always been a hop produc- ing country since the original Dutch introduced the vine into. the New Meth
 erlands in 1925. Virginia followed with hops in 1648 In the first half of the
 nineteenth century Vermont led our
 states in this agriculture. producing l seven -eights of the crop, and Massa- chusetts, Maine and New York the
 other eighth. Those were the days of
 ales and common beers in the United
 States and the Canadas. The lagerinr
 of beer came later. and with that more
 demand for hops. and after a long time
 there was discovered that the climate of our Pacific coast was better for the
 vine and its fruit than that east of the
 Rockies.
 l Not allow us importation? Why.
 when these wars shall end we will bs
 baling hops for all the world!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
Methodists to Unite

The Methodist Episcopal church, now holding it's quadrennial general conference at Saratoga, has formally gone on record as favoring organlc union of the three great branches of Methodism in this country the Methodist Episcopal church, south, the Methodist Protestant church and the largest of them all. the one now declaring itself as be- ing ready and eager for the merger. Action on the part of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, had already been taken by the southern general conference, which met in Oklahoma Tn 1914, making 'lnion of north and south effective whenever the northern gen. eral conference might agree to the conditions set forth by the southern body.
 The Methodists separated in 1845 on the slavery question and have been apart ever since. During the Civil war the feeling of Southern Method ists against Northern Methodists, and vice versa, was very bitter, but in these recent years the relations have been most cordial.
 The Methodist Protestant church, comparatively small in numbers about 185, ,OO0-had it's beginning in 1928, but after this long separation from the larger bodies, it is ready for union.
 The Northern Methodists have a communicant membership of about $500, ,000 and the Southern 100000 in round numbers.
 When nearly 6,OOO,OOO Christians of one school or denomination get to- gether they should be able, as mat ter of course, to accomplish more for religion than when they were organic \ ally asunder.
 A The Northern and Southern Presby- Sterians have been talking reunion for quarter of a century or more, and it will not be surprising to see them following the example of their Meth odist neighbors before many more years pass.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
A. Mans Political Grouth

The growth of a man, politically, is an interesting thing to watch,' said Henry B. Gray yesterday q have ham for 29 years,' continued MT. Gray, and during this time have seen nobody run for office who had made as much growth in the same length Of time as Horace NJ. Archibald, who is running for board of revenue.
 MT. Archibald has lived in Brming- ham for 50 years was connected with the Berney National bank for several Years and for the past % years has been in charge of the office of Louis V. Clark & Co.,, doing a general insurance busi- ness. He is strong, honest, capable, conscientious man. During all of these years he has made many friends He has not, however, ever been active in politics, and his entrance into the race for board of revenue came rather as surprise to his friends. However, it became noised around that he was the right sort. an expert accountant and splendid business man. comfortable in the worlds goods, having acquired all that he has by hard work and frugal habits; that he was the kind of man that would mako a good member of the board.
 "A strong Presbyterian, but not hide. bound, he has made splendid impression and when the time to count the votes comes next Tuesday, Archibald will be found one of the winners in the race for board of revenue. At all events, his growth in popularity in the present race has been remarkable''-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
HOTEL LOBBIES
John Q. LurL RerninIng strenrth

John c. Lusk, vice president of the Jemison Real Estate and Insurance company, who is on his farm near Cleveland, Tenn. recuperating from a recent illness, Is fast regaining his strength and former good health, and hopes to be back in Birmingham in the near future with his health fully re- stored. This his Birmingham friends will be glad to know.
 Mir Lusk writes to member of The Age-Herald staff that prospects in Tennessee for good crops and larger crops this year than formerly are ex- cellent. More good cattle and hogs are being raised each succeeding year. he says. Tennessee cattle are free from ticks and bring top notch prices on all markets
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
A pENNsYLYANIA POET

From the Philadelphia Public Leoger
 Pennsylvania is rich in poets-so rich that it Is able to send one to Washington. It was a rare treat for the House when "Hampy" Moore burst forth in verse With peculiar fitness he undertook the role of lyric defend CT of our waterways. These have long been dear to his heart, and he could not sit in silence when a member from Nebraska sneered at appropriations for gargling the mouth of the Della ware" His reply was somewhat inapt- ly described by himself as "embalm- ing his Nebraska friend in verse" There is no mortuary suggestion in his lines They glow with beauty, with human feeling, with a lyric rapture which even the poet could hardly re- capture "This verse that gives inn mortal youth to mortal maids,' and this verse will make MT. Moores col league, if not ''Hampy" himself, inn mortal Man is bubble" as the Greek proverb has it, and so are many speeches But the words from the Me- braskan mouth should float in rides cent colors so long as the mouth of the Delaware itself endures La poezia non muore."
 MT Moore's poem Is rich in felicit- ous touches of characterization: He's a scholar on bugology, agron-
 omy and grain,
 And he studied navigation on local
 railroad train"
 So the father of the lovely girls who captured the hearts of the Pirates of Penzance. admitting his ignorance of strategy, could truthfully say: But still in matters vegetable, ami
 mai and mineral
 am the very model of modern ma
 jor general"
 One never has to know subject in order to talk about it. John P. Rob- inson held to the belief that "they didn't know everything down in Ju- dee," and even in Nebraska there are lapses into the darkness of ignorance The mouth of the Delaware is a mere abstraction where "the waves roll up like thunder along the roaring Platte.' and the former Boy Orator has held aloft the Fiery Cross of eloquence un- contaminated with information; vague as an allegory on the banks of the Nile:
 'Talk about your ships and harbors
 that's an old New England fake; What we want is prairie schooners like
 our Henry Ford can make"
 It is for the sake of local color, doubtless. that MT. Moore drops into this unwarranted use of the word like" Surely he would not conscious ly mar the beauty of classic by such inelegance of dictioni
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
Would Change Hardening Power

T do not believe the governor of any state should have the power of pardoning." said Walter s. Brewer, as- sistant county solicitor. T think the supreme court, which is impartial and does not play to politics, should pass on every pardon and parole granted.
 Cases that have come under my personal notice, and of which the trials were perfectly fair. tried by a just judge and an impartial jury, convicted and the decision upheld by the su- preme court. have been pardoned. In many of these cases the pardons, ac- cording to my belief, were granted purely from political reasons. Tn other words. many of the governors play to the galleries. instead of the justice of the case.
 There are cases where pardons and paroles are perfectly justifiable, but to imprison the poor, ignorant negro or white man and pardon someone else fairly convicted for the same crime Is unjust. There should be no distinc- tion in the laws, and I am in favor of stripping the governor of that power"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
LISTERS INSPIRATION.

Oh, we shall weep when T. R. dies And Brother Bryan Is no more. How many timess in duips and rhymes, Their caperings nave helped us oer The dull. dark days when pounding out Our stuff was rafther hard to do, Our sluggish brain woke up again At thought of them, and strove anew.
 A POPULAR YOUNGSTER. What do the Dubsons want now?'' "They would like to borrow our baby for a while"
 ''Ten them it's spoken for today by the Jimpsons. but we have tomorrow after noon still open"
 NOT ALL WASTED ENERGY. Your candidate seems to be making great deal of nose."
 Yes"
 Do you think he will be elected?7 That is rather hard to say, but he'll probably attract enough attention to get few chautauqua engagements.
 FORGOT HIMSELF. Mrs. Twobble went to the baseball game with MT. Twobble yesterday and says she was never so humiliated before in her life"
 What happened?"
 T haven't heard all the details, but suspect Mir. Twobble put up fine exhi- bition of good, old-fashioned roofing when the game was tied in the ninth in- ming"
 WE SHOULD SAY TROUSERS.
 A care-free life
 Leads William Pants,
 Who says his wife
 Can press his pants.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
NOVELS, MOVIES AND PRESS

prospering. Many of the magazines have the movement of the public back to the oid-line periodicals The Atlantic Month ly's circulation statement shows very flattering increase in late years, which is a wholesome symptom of the times The Saturday Evening Post seems to know what people want better than most any other magazine; it prints the best pcrular fiction of the day, and it's special articles are interesting and valuable. Its circulation is now 100000. Almost no ma agazine is now engaged in so-called "muck-raking." There Is decided mod eration of tone in the material of the Golfers which a few years ago were un- sparing in their attacks upon public men and upon what they chose to regard as conditions The people don't want undertaking any more.
 The short story has the attention of the public to the exclusion of that un- mitigated nuisance, the serial. The tech- nical and trade jourials are prospering more than most any other class of period icals, showing that the people want to be instructed along definite lines. People won't read war fiction. They want to read the daily papers for war news; they want to read an occasional special article in sound magazine on phases of the war, but war fiction has fallen flat, to the pain of many enterprisng magazines.
 To recapitulate and venture prophecy: There are too many magazines in Amer ica. They will bethinned out in the next D years and periodicals of a higher av- craze will remain to reap the fortunes ahead; they will print sounder literature and less trash. The novel has not gone from among us to stay. but the novel of the future must come as literature worthy of few hours of time from busy, dis eliminating readers. There are too many moving picture producers who are paying fortunes to performers and s20 week to scenario writer's The manufacturers have got to pay more for writers, even if they are forced to cut the incomes of some of their star performers The pub lie has long since wearied of slap stick The public holds that D. W. Griffith,
  who created the Birth of a Nation,'' set standard which writers of the fu- ture must aspire to reach. The manufac- turers are mistaken if they assume that the average person who goes to the movies Is ''rummy'' without discrimina- ton. He has learned just how the villain should be disposed of, and just how the old man should discover the conspiracy to steal his daughters. The public wants the movies to give dimes worth at every performance.
 Also there are entirely too many daily newspapers In some of the more populous centers of the country, but that, too, is another story
 There will be a shaking up. a readjust- ment in the business of literature and amusement in future. The readjustment is now manifesting itself in number of ways. The trend is gratifying We look for wholesome and pleasant results
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-04
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
conditions growing out of Euro
 pean affairs will once in a while


 pean affairs will once in while provoke one to wonder why. and in the same line of thought. to speculate upon the extent of our liabilities and responsibilities. We have mad all sorts of annoyances, some of considerable importance and some merely petty. A few of the latter we may have taken too seriously, as that, for instance, of hops. Germany is willing and ready to sell us of her best hops. but the British refuse us the right to bring them over To use one of the vernacu- la arisms of the latter this might be justly called small beer" on their part.
 But why should we take on this matter of hops in a serious way? We have just passed through our annual enjoyment of the deliciouc book of Cin- cinnati. the Ohio valley and other cities and sections of our country and we con tinue. at least in the wet districts, to enjoy the rich amber of our lager, thanks to the bountiful production of our breweries. As we rationally sip our beer and note the creamy ridges along the glass, measuring each pleas urable gulp, our nostrils still tell us of good flavor of hops therein. We do rot appear to be suffering for hops. the British embargo Great Britain cannot say to us that there shall be no more cakes and ale In those portions of our country that