davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
A Novelist and Farmer

To the average person in this coun- try H. Rider Haggard is known only as novelist, a weaver of highly imaginative and fascinating romances the sort of books that are apt to make reader forget his dinner hour, particularly if he is enjoying for the first time ''King Solomon's Mines," "She" or "Allan Quartermain." It is far cry, apparently, from such wonder-tales to dry agricultural statistics and the fine points of farm ing, but Sir Rider has come into great prominence among Englishmen as an agricultural expert. In fact, his Rural England" will, it is predicted, become in after years his most inn portant contribution to literature.
 Although Sir Rider is the author of between thirty and forty romances and has kept up his fiction work from year to year, he has been secretary to the African commission, commissioner to inspect the Salvation Army settle ments in America, adviser to the Brit ish government on coast erosion, master of the Transvaal high court and has held other positions.
 More recently he has been ap- pointed to visit the British colonies and study the possibilities of employ ing former soldiers on the land after the war is over. His knowledge of agricultural conditions at home and abroad makes him singularly well fitted for this work which he will perform with his accustomed energy and enthusiasm. My idea," he says, lis that henceforth every possible British-born man, woman and child should be the support of the empire, to build it up, to strengthen it and to enable it in the future to resist, as an absolutely united body, all attacks that may be made upon us."
 A fine and laudable ambition, but let us hope that the author of so many entertaining stories will continue to find time to write of love and ad- venture in the worlds little known places.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
To Improve Business Methods

When the Sixty-third Congress created the federal trade commission and about the same time an indus trial relations commission-the for mer a permanent institution and the latter for a specified object, and for a limited period-the public often got the two confused.
 Manufacturers and large business interests generally were afraid that both of the commissions would probe and harass, and while making no end of trouble would accomplish no good. The industrial relations investigations had the effect of disturbing business, and the fact that no two members of the commission could agree on re- port to Congress, without much wrangling, was pretty good evidence that it's findings were of little or no practical benefit.
 Very different has been the work of the federal trade commission, and the attitude of the public toward it. If it was looked upon with suspicion at the start it is now regarded as helpful and beneficient in singular degree. Un- like many probe committees, there IS no tinge of demagogy about it. It is the friend of "business," big or little, and it's labors are constructive and en- couraging.
 Chairman Joseph k. Davies is in high favor with all legitimate inter- ests and Vice Chairman Edward N. Hurley is exceptionally popular in the business world, personally and off cially. Being a good speaker as well as a practical accountant he is in constant demand by commercial and industrial organizations, and his ad- vice is readily accepted and acted upon.
 In recent survey of the manufac- turing concerns of the country MT. Hurley found that less than half of them had been operated at a net profit through period of years and only a small percentage earned large divi- dends. He attributes the poor show ing to the absence of a correct system of bookkeeping. Even in New Eng land, where the value of scientific economy has long been appreciated, many manufacturers were unable to tell accurately how much it cost to produce their wares.
 Among the several methods by which the federal trade commission can be of constructive help to Amer ican business," MT. Hurley says, 'sthere are two of particular impor- tance. One of these is to aid the business men of the country in obtain ing the additional credits to which their business operations may entitle
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
SOME HISTORICAL MYTHS

T TOil <AuSWefS, ILOnUOn.
 Wars are fruitful breeders of legends,
 and always have been. Nor is the pres
 ent war any exception to the rule.
 Everybody, to cite but two instances,
 will be able to recall the story of the
 Mons angels and that other one about
 the Russian soldiers who came through
 England from Archangel
 Possibly these yarns, and other similar ones, will be incorporated in the history books of the future. It is fact that stories equally without foundation are taught in our schools today. Take, for example. the one about the Black Hole of Calcutta. Every school boy and nearly every grown up person | is familiar with the details of that ehastly story. It relates how the Nabob
 Suraja Dowiah shut up 146 Britons, cap-
 tured by him in Calcutta fort. in small, unventilated dungeon. and how. after a night of agony from heat, thirst. and
 lack of air, only 23 were found alive next morning.
 For more than 150 years the story has been implicitly believed. Yet now along comes MT. Little, and proves, in his Ben gal, Past and Present." not only that it is not true. but that 1t could not pos sibly be true.
 Nine persons only were, it appears
 from contemporary records, confined in the ''black hole,' which was really the common prison, and none of these suf- fered any very great inconvenience. The remainder of the garrison. numbering some 120, were either killed or wounded l in the fighting, and the latter were treat ed by their conquerors with every con- sideration.
 | Similarly, Wellington never said, "Up Guards, and at 'em!' at Waterloo nor
 did Butcher exclaim. on first seeing Lon-
 don, What a place to sack!" While the phrase, Providence favors the big bat : stalions," which is usually attributed to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
Augusta Make. Visitors Sad

Augusta presents pathetic spec tacle to one who knew and loved the city in the days before it was visited by the recent terrible fire, said c. T. Lundgren of Spartanburg. s. C., who was in the city yesterday.
 Mrs Lundgren and I spent Tuesday in Augusta and it was a day of sad ness for both of us. It is almost like going into a gigantic cemetery-for even the voices seem to be hushed when speak ing of the disaster.
 Friends of former years when I re- sided in Augusta told so many pathetic incidents of losses that I came away de- cidedly blue. It is not the money losses that hurt so badly as the loss of price, less old homes, furniture, heirlooms, jew els-things that money can never re- place
 Insurance men all remark on how in- adequately much of the property was in- sured. As I recall the insurance carried was only about $2OOO.00O and the actual monetary property loss was between S. .000,0O0 and $6,000,00O.
 But the spirit of the people is mag nificent. They will rebuild and will over- come their misfortunes Many of them see the humorous side of things now and are trying to forget the tragedy. For instance, one man bought piano the day before the fire. When endan- gered he had some negroes move it out on the sidewalk. When he saw it was doomed he asked one of the negroes if he could play. On being told he could the man said to get busy, quick. as he had never heard the tone of it and he wanted at least that satisfaction. The negro rat tied off The Memphis Blues before the flames drove them away"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
Lawrence Gilman, in the North America,

Lawrence Gilman, Tn the North American
 Review.
 H INGS is kings, and you're got to N make allowances, said Huclleberry \ A Finn but some have had no cause to make these allowances; some have dwelt happily, without need for reserva- ton or excuse, in the benign effulgence of royal favor. Of such is Miss Ger aldine Farrar. It has ever, of course, been one of the perquistes of prima donnas to enjoy the friendship of sov- ereigns, nobles and the lesser great of earth; but Miss Farrar was born and reared in parts remote from the domains of royalty; and therefore we are entitled to be more than usually dazzled, from our provincial standpoint, by considera- tion of her case. So we shall make no concealment of the bourgeois thrill which awoke in us when, at the close of the ninth chapter of Miss Farrar's autobog- raphy, we found her observing, in her ir- resistible American way: What a perfect darling old King Oscar was.' When Miss Farrar sang at Stockholm, King Oscar never missed a performance; and when her farewell was celebrated, his majesty not only decorated her with the gold cross of the Order of Merit, but gave her complete set of Swedish stamps for her friend Caruso-who, we are edifed to learn, is a postage-stamp fan"
 And then, of course, there was Miss Farrars good friend, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and the crown prince. In a chapter entitled, Imperial Encourage ment,' Miss Farrar writes with unm- peachable candor of these exalted friends This was in the days before Teutonic
 'frightfulness'' had reared it's head and yet you gasp little when Miss Farrar tells you how she defied the order of the German court to wear either lavender or black, with gloves and no jewelry, at the command performance to which the Kaiser had summoned her. Miss Farrar was sorry. but neither black nor lay- ender became her, and she never wore gloves while singing; it was her custom to wear what she chose when she sang, and she chose white. The court-need we say y?-capitulated. Miss Farrar wore white.
 This was the forerunner of many pleas ant social gatherings at the palace, when Miss Farrar (and her mother) were "hon- ored guests" It was at one of these gath erings that Miss Farrar met the crown prince Miss Farrar was naturally inter- ested in the personality of the heir to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Napoleon, is found in the writings of Cicero.
 There never was a person named Will liam Tell. and consequently he never shot an apple from his sons head at the bidding of the Austrian tyranr, oessler.
 At Waterloo the commander of Ma poleon's Old Guard is said to have re- piled to the challenge of surrender pomp- ously: "The Old Guard dies, but it does rot surrender!' Tn the French army, however, it is a tradition that his answer consisted of but one word. not at all fitted for ears polite.
 Similarly, the Girondins had no last supper together. Columbus could not have foretold an eclipse of the moon in order to frighten the natives of Jamaica into submission, as has been asserted. for the simple reason that the moon was not in eclipse during the time the fa- nous explorer was on that island
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
The Present Small Army

When the United States army is recruited to it's maximum enlisted strength of 100000 men under the present law, which provides that the total shall not at any time exceed that number, it will still be, compara-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
.JockeI fin City

A. V. Jockel of New York, vice presi- dent of the Ruy Lopez Cigar company, is in Birmingham, the guest of W. G. Pat terson. He will remain over today
 MT. Jockel is simply making an inspec- ticn trip through the south and while here is visiting MT. Paterson, who is Bir- mingham representative of the company.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
SPRING.

SPRlNG. Springs on the way, Arise to greet Ter; Last night we heard A alarmed mosquito. @s Macon Telegraph. Springs on the way All chic and cheery; Our wife Is talking Millinery.
 Walton Tribune. Springs on the way, With lengthening stride; We hear 'em say: Slide, bonehead. slide!'
 Columbia State. Springs on the way, As you can see; We had today Some sass'fras tea.
 Savannah Press. Springs on the way, And this is why: 'Tis time to slay The filthy fly.
 Birmingham Age-Herald. Springs on the way, Well, I'll be blowed! Get out your sleigh Today it showed.
 New York Herald. Springs on the way. But in no rush, Or we'd not have This slush, slush slush.
 Baltimore News.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
SPEAKING PLAINLY.

SPEAKING PLAINLY. T have here," said the poet, "a few piscatorial verses"
 Hum" replied the editor. And writ ten on some of our office stationery, I sec"
 "Yes. J just dashed them off down. stairs. Now, if you had my gift for poesy-'
 .Umph! It isn't your gift for poesy admire. It's your nerve"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
GIVING THEM A CHANGE.

GIVING THEM A CHANGE. I'm thinking of hiring an efficiency expert to reorganize my business" That's a good idea. Where do you ex- pect him to start?"
 q guess I'll let him begin on the of flee boy. That will serve as a sort of warning to the heads of departments to speed LID a little"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

General Polivanof, the Russian minister of war, is said to be Kitchener and a Lloyd-George combined. When he was appointed to his present office last June the Russian armies were in retreat, due chiefly to a lack of ammunition. In fact the capture of Warsaw by the Germans is said to have been the result entirely of a lack of ammunition among the Russians, who had no cartridges for their rifles and no shells for their big guns. Now the munitions crisis in Russia is thing of the past and the Czar's armies are hold agreements. Practically all the credit for this improvement is given to General Polivanoff, who is a man of tireless en- ergy and has an astonishing knowledge of the details of making ammunition. He travelled from one end of the Russian empire to the other investigating plants, encouraging workmen and putting in oper- ation plans for supplying the troops with
 
 unlimited ammunition, practically build ing up new industry in Russia, as most of the machinery and material for muni- tiors making formerly came from Ger many. General Polivanoff has just passed his sixteth birthday. He was assistant minister of war from 1906 to 1912, and helped to reorganize the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish war and was se- verely wounded. He commanded a de- tachment of a few hundred men who fought against overwhelming odds for four days. When the detachment was finally relieved there were only IS men rot wounded.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
IDEAL PLAN.

"Asphodelia Twobble belongs to more than a dozen clubs.'
 T don't see how she manages to at tend all the meetings"
 That's easily arranged. Asphodelia serves the most elaborate luncheon and they all meet at her house.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

lively speaking, very small force flor mobilization or war purposes.
 Nearly half the army is on duty in our outlying possessions and after deducting the noncombatants-the men in the hospital service and the engineer corps-scarcely 50,000 would be available as fighters in continental America.
 If Congress increases the regular establishment to 100000 there would then be less than 150,000 available for mobilization in this country. Whatever Congress does along the line of army expansion will have to suf- flee for a time. A total of 100000 should be adequate, however, until America is threatened with conflict with one or more of the strong powers, but under the terms and conditions of enlistment now in effect-and the same are embodied in the pending military measures-a good sized re- serve force will be created within four or five years.
 Yet for the United States to be any, thing like prepared in a military way friends of the administration should make an effort to have the volunteer army feature of the Senate bill re- tained, to say nothing about the Ma tional Guard. If it is found that the guard can be brought under the con- trol of the war department without constitutional amendment, well and good. But volunteer contingent, in- dependent of the National Guard, would help materially to meet the situation. If both are brought into the preparedness scheme, Uncle Sam would, in few years, have trained military force of more than 100000
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

MT. Bud" Fisher is treating the Czar of Russia rather unl1indly in some of his recent cartoons. Is MT. Fisher leaning toward the central powers?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

A Chicago beauty committed suicide shortly after marrying a writer of popu- lar songs. Evidently she couldn't stand a syncopated existence.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

The Krupp factories can deliver the guns, but will the Teuton stork con- tinue to supply "cannon fodder in suf- ficient quantities.?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Certain parts of Mexico are attractive to tourists, but the territory at present covered by American troops is not even fit for a prairie dog town.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Dave Francis will find the amba ssa- dorship to Russia an easy job compared to the presidency of a worlds fair.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

The major league teams have started out after first division honors and the man who knows all about the war will have to take a back seat
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

BEGINNING THE DAY-''LOve xour enemies and pray for them which persecute you.o One appli- cation of this law of Christ is to- ward the states prisoners. Prison systems are not for the punishment of criminals. The are TOT the temporary protection of society nS the detention of criminals, and for the permanent protection or so- ciety by the reform of criminals HI. NJ. E.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

If it were not for the censor, some of those "unsung heroes" down in Mexico would not be denied a song or two
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

The Teut undersea boats are piling up a batting average that Home Rum Ba- ker can never hope to equal.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

If Heurta had lived while longer he would have been vastly entertained by the predicament in which the United States government now finds itself
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

According to some of the traffic cops, every street in Birmingham is speed way.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

The woman whose soul Is Starved should lose no time in becoming a war nurse That beats the affinity business.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

China has negotiated paltry loan of s2O. OOO,0OO in the United States. Hardly worth noticing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Mr. Jess Willard has a fine little son, who may some day become minister of the gospel.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
FoRETHoUGHT.

FORETHoUGHT. Let's have a few more drinks before we go," said MT. Dubwaite. Aren't you drinking more than usual?' asked his friend, solicitously. .Yes, I am, but Mrs. Dubwaite has an attack of nerves today and I want to fortify myself for 8 trying evening at home.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

In 20 years MT. Bryan says he has trav- eled 5O0,Oo0 miles. And he is just about as far away from the White House as ever
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

If Villa is really dead, there isn't a pacifist in the country who won't say, Peace to his ashes.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

English newspapers speak of George as a kindly King. There is no disposition in Great Britain to blame him for the war.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
INEVITABLE.

Who would not sing a song of spring When comes the vernal season? The lambkins have their little fling, 'Thout either rhyme or reason. Therefore the bards, in frolic mood, Are led to picture gaily The joyousness of mead and wood Which they're observing daily. What though their verse has little
 worth
 And critics jeer and jape it, When ApriFs blossoms strew the earth, By love, you can't escape it!
 GENIUS GOES UNIFIED. "Do you see that seedy looking man over there with the preoccupied air?" "Oh, yes"
 "wen, he's statistician. He can tell you how many toothpicks, laid end to end it would take to reach from New York to San Francisco"
 "Marvelousl"
 "Yes, but he can't tell you where his next meal is coming from"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Corfu would doubtless prefer the allies to an epidemic of cholera.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Birmingham may some day have ice skating. but it won't be an outdoor sport.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13

Gadsden Times-News: Transcontinental telephone communication is a good step for preparedness.
 Eufaula Citizen: Evidence of the fact that the farmers of Barbour are be- coming wiser than their generation is shown by the fact that many of them are securing fine cattle and planting crops on which to feed them. Cotton is being used by many of them only as a money crop.
 Mobile Register: over in Tuscaloosa county, almost under the very caves of the State university, a lot of fellows who do not believe in the eradication of the cattle tick have dynamited a dipping vat Montgomery Times. Why drag in the university? The dynamiters were never intellectually within 1000 miles of that in- stitution.
 Tuscaloosa News: The statement of the Carranza official that America would not tolerate indefinitely Canadian force in this country is not at all to the point. Circumstances could not arise, except un- der actual conditions of war, that would demand the sending of Canadian troops into this country. Carranza and his fol- lowers have shown themselves unable to cope with the lawlessness south of the Rio Grande that was continually threat ening this country, and our troops are not going to be recalled until they have finished the work which they were sent to do.
 Selma Times: Sunday, April g, wit messed in Selma a remarkable outburst of interest in church-going and Sunday school attendance. It was a feat dis tinctly creditable to the aggressive young men who conceived the plan and did the preliminary work More than 50 per cent of 'Selma's male citizens occupied seats in the various Protestant churches for the Sunday school services. Men whc had not seen inside of a church in 10 years were on hand and became interested listeners As some one expressed 1t, it was a mngling of the sheep and goats on a big scale
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
A SUBSTITUTE.

 Doctor, my wife will be in to see you today. She wants you to suggest a change of climate" Just so.' "But I can't afford to pay for an ex- pensive trip. Can't you recommend a travelogue instead?'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-13
ALABAMA PRESS

Gadsden Times-News: Transcontinental telephone communication is good step for preparedness.
Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-04-19
ASIA EARNS big
MONEY FOR HER
KOBE OWNERS

Only $4,000 month is being earned
by the tramp steamer Asia Maru for
her owners, the Iwaka Company of
Kobe. The Asia arrived about
o'clock this morning, docking at Pier
10, and her master. Capt. Y. Nishi,
told the reporters the rate at which
she has been chartered by her owners
to a Chinese shipping firm is $4,000
yen month, or $4,000 gold.
After taking on 100 tons of bunker
coal from the Inter-Island and some
fresh water, the freighter was due to
leave at 2 o'clock this afternoon for
San Francisco. She is taking 1890
tons of rice to San Francisco, 300
from Kobe and 1900 from Hongkong,
She left Yokohama April 2. There
are 40 Asiatics in the crew.
The China Mail Steamship Com
pany's offices in the Orient have been
handling the steamers business, and
Hackfeld & Company took care of her
business in this port today. The cap
tain denied, however, that the China
Mail has chartered the steamer.