davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
PrOhibitionists in Congress

A "dry" District of Columbia has long been dream of the prohibition ists, and in recent years dry nation has seemed to them possible.
 As Congress has jurisdiction over the district it is quite thinkable that Washington will wake up some day and find itself in prohibition terri tory.
 The national capital is noted for the strictness of it's saloon regula- tions. While much liquor is consumed in the city there is said to be less abuse of it than in almost any other city where the saloon is licensed. But all liquor houses look alike to the prohibition politician in Congress. Statesmen who represent prohibition constituencies will be very active in support of any measure seeking to prohibit the sale of alcoholic bever- n,oes in the district.
 .-. "dry" bill should get through the House it will hardly get through the Senate but the anti-saloon forces will keep on trying.
 As to nationwide prohibition there will be no such thing in this century; hardly in any other century Even if the leaders of the nationwide cause were to get bill through Con gress submitting to the states pro hibition amendment for ratification it would require a two-thirds vote il each House-twelve or more state! would vote against 1t. There can bt no amendment to the constitution un til three -fourths of the states hay given their approval, either by leg islative vote or state convention vote
 But if the Anti-Saloon leagu should ever prevail upon Congress t make the District of Columbia 'dry,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
The Reunion Edition

Announcement has already been made of The Age-Herald's big re- union edition, which will be issued May Is to commemorate the annual reunion of the United Confederate Veterans, held this year in Birming- ham. This special edition will be dis tributed at reunion headquarters to all veterans free of cost. A corps of expert men are already hard at work on the paper, which will be one of the most comprehensive ever published in the south.
 It will of course be of exceptional interest to the veterans themselves. All the information they will require for sightseeing, complete pro- gramme of all events scheduled dur ing the reunion and a great deal of other timely matter Will be contained in this edition.
 The front page will be done in col ors. There will be numerous illus trations of subjects of an historical and mi-historical nature. There will be special signed articles by many prominent veterans and special writer's An interesting feature will be many photographs of noted veterans,
 The reunion edition is being gotten up under the supervision of K. A. Chappelle, whose work in this field has made him widely known. He has already issued several compilations for The Age-Herald which were high ly successful, but his present under taking is the most ambitious he has yet undertaken for this paper.
 The Age-Herald is the only Bir- ningham newspaper which will issue 2 special reunion edition.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
HOLLANDS SOUND POLICY

From The Progress of the World,' in
 the American Review of Reviews for
 February.
 Holland holds Java and her other outly- ing possessions, and maintains an impor- tant overseas trade, with navy of very moderate dimensions that ranks perhaps twelfth among the ations. She has some submarines, and will increase the num- Der of her destroyers and smaller pro tective craft She has also an efficient army, based upon the principle of con- scription or compulsory service. The or dinary field force of the Netherlands army amounts to about 10000 men, while in the various reserves there are perhaps 800, 600 more Holland has 6,OO0,0OO people, as against our 1O0,OO0,000, and is not a warlike or militarized nation. But she could put 100000 men into active service more readily than we could mobilize one- i fourth as many, utilizing our National Guard and other possible sources Of SUD- ply. If we were as well prepared rela- lively as Switzerland or Holland to de- fend our homes-while continuing to stand with them, as we now do, for the princi- ples of justice, honor, and civilization in the word-we should have at least 5000, GOO men trained and equipped for mili- tary duty.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
HARVEST TIME IN GALICIA
aur Ruhl in Golfers Weekly.

Arthur Ruhl in Golfers Weekly.
 The Austrian infantry trenches along the Bug river, cut in the clean sand and neatly timbered and loopholed, were like model trenches on some exposition of which a soldier stood sighting along his rife, one could see the Russian trenches, perhaps mile away, and in be- tween the peasant women, bright red and white splashes in the yellow wheat, were calmly going ahead with their harvest. All along the Galician front we saw peas ants working thus and regarding this elaborate game of war very much appar- ently as busy farmers regard a drag hunt or a party of city fishermen. At one point we had to come out in the open and cross footbridge.
 Please, lieutenant" one of the soldiers protested as the officer with us stepped out, standing erect "it is not safe!" The officer crouched and hurried across and so did we, but just before we did so, up out of the field where they had been moving, straight through this gap came a little company of bare-footed peasant
 Woi.leH Witl lHtlI DuilulSS Ol BledlllIlSS OIi
 their heads and, talking in that sing song monotone of theirs, a detached al so may birds, they went pat-patting across the bridge. If one of these women could but write her impressions of war!
 They had done their part, these peasant women and old men and children left be- hind. All over Galicia, round the burned villages, right through barbed wire en- tanglements up to the very trenches, stretched the yellow wheat. Somehow they had ploughed and sowed and brought it to harvest and now with scythes, with knives even sometimes, they were getting it under cover.
 At home we know gleaners generally only in rather sentimental pictures; here we saw them day after day, bare footed women and children going over the stub- ble and picking up the forgotten wheat heads and arranging them in one hand
 as if they were bouquet. There will be no wheat wasted this year.
 And with them everywhere were the Russian prisoners swinging scythes
 binding grain, sometimes coming down the road, without even a guard,
 sprawled in the sun on a load of straw It would be hard to find a place where war seemed more vast theatricalism than in some of these Hungarian and Galician neighborhoods
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
WHAT SEA POWER HAS DONE

been absolute. Germany has made con quests on land, she has most of Belgium, a corner of France much of Russia, and (with her ally) Servia and Montenegro. But Germany has lost the sea. Not a German ship can put to sea, and Ger many cannot return to the ordinary busi- ness of life until she can again begin to ship her manufactures by water and draw her raw materials by the same route.
 Thus, in effect, Germany has occupied Warsaw, Lille, and Belgrade, only to lose Hamburg and Bremen which are to all intents and purposes in British hands, since they cannot be used by Germany. After Is months Germany has captured nothing that can give her a basis for bar gain. with Britain. And what Britain holds makes all of Germany's conquests of little value. She is, as I have said be- fore, in the position of burglar, who has entered house and collected the sil- yer but cannot get out to dispose of it.
 Now. unless Germany can out.ast Britain, or find some way to exercise com pulsion upon Britain, she must ultimately go to London and ask for peace, be- cause she must ultimately resume her sea commerce, she must ultimately use the oceans. Nothing is more idle than to suppose that there is a market or a fu- ture for Germany as self-contained empire, even if that empire extends from Hamburg to Bagdad The very charac- ter of German industry makes the sea the necessary way of transport, and it is from her trade beyond the frontiers of her al- lies that she draws the revenue which keeps her great population living in a re- stricted area.
 Aside from this question of the futuxe, there is, too, the question of the present. the problem of food and munitions for q war of exhaustion.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
FREEDOM IS AN ARMED MAN

By William Cullen Bryant.
 Freedom! thou art not, as poets dream. A fair young girl, with light and delicate
 limbs,
 And wavy tresses gushing from the cap With which the Roman master crowned his slave When he took off the gyves A bearded Armed to the teeth, art thou; one mailed Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy brow,
 Glorious in beauty though it be, is scared With tokens of old wars thy massive limbs Are strong with struggling. Power at thee has launched His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee;
 They could not quench the life thou hast i from heaven? | Merciless power has dug thy dungeon deep. < forged thy chain; yet, while he deems thee bound, The prison walls Fall outward; terribly thou springest forth And shoutest to the nations, who return
 Thy shoutings, while the pale oppressor fees.
 Thy birthright was net given by human l hands, Thou were twin born with man. 1 Tyranny himself. Thy enemy, although of reverend look,
 IIoary with many years. and far obeyed
 Is later born than thou E |" Oh not yet l Mayst thou unbrace thy corslet nor lay | by
 Thy sword: nor yet, O Freedom! close l thy lids
 i In slumber; for thine enemy never sleeps And thou must watch and combat till tho
 day
 Of the new earth and heaven sss
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
Dr. Denny Sustained

A university that is not storm center now and then is scarcely en- titled to be classed with institutions of the higher learning.
 Friction in faculties has always been more or less common. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia, among the older institutions, and Cornell, the University of Chicago and the Leland Stanford, among the younger, have had faculty squabbles and clashes between trustees and the teaching body which looked serious for a time, but turned out to be of little consequence.
 The University of Alabama has had venerable career, and in it's long history the trustees have been called upon frequently to act firmly in mat ters of administrative policy or com pose differences in the faculty for the sake of discipline.
 The recent friction between one of the professors and President George H. Denny has naturally attracted statewide attention, but it was case of tempest in a teapot"
 The trustees, after an ample hear ing, dismissed the charges against Dr, Denny as frivolous, and by unanimous vote renewed their expression of con- fidence in him; also by unanimous vote dismissed the professor bringing the charges.
 Dr. Denny, as president of the uni versity, has gained the esteem of the whole state. He is not only gentle man of fine scholarship, but he is an educator of rare gifts and a born leader. He is popular with the stu dents, which is essential to his use fitness, but he is at the same time an admirable disciplinarian. Under his administration the university has prospered greatly and it will con- tinue to prosper. It is fortunate that the trustees have the respect of the entire state as men of ability and courage, and these trustees are to be commended on their prompt and de- cisive action of yesterday.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01

From the Minneapolis Journal.
 Want an overcoat that will shut out the chill better than fur or chinchilla? Ther get draped in a suit of ice. It's the latest winter apparel and is worn at ccnfiagration functions by members of the Minneapolis fire department.
 The wearer may look like an Arctic explorer who has been blown in a foe, but he will be as warm and snug ss a person in a cabinet bath.
 People who see the firemen with their clothing incrusted with ice are moved to sympathy for the cold they believe the firemen are suffering said Arthur C.. Price, fire marshal. "As a matter of fact, the ice is the best protection against frig- idity that the firemen have. It shuts out the air and dramatically seals in the bodys warmth.
 Tt is practically impossible to keep from getting coated with ice at winter fire Even if fireman doesn't get in range of the nozzle or a broken hose, he is certain to get soaked with fine spray that fills the air. Once this freezes, he looks like an icicle, and is almost as warm as a stove poker.
 '"The only disadvantage is the weight He feels about as sprightly as deep sea diver. Sometimes the ice on his hat will be an inch thick or more.
 Occasionally, where firemen have to remain stationary for sometime while water pools about their feet, they get frezen in and have to be chopped out with axes. Do they feel cold? Not bit of it.. The ice keeps them warm.
 Tt is a common thing for firemen to selves so crusted that they can't loosen their spanner belts or unbutton their coats. In such cases other firemen beat them with the flat parts of axes"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
The Cotton situation

Henry Clews, in his last weeks review, says In part:
 Shipping facilities for cotton are al most unprocurable, and daily exports have dwindled to insignificant proportions. There is apparently, however, no discour- agement in the ranks of the spotholders. and evidently they are still firmly of the opinion that eventually England must re- lieve the situation by providing ocean bot toms ,or else run the risk of crippling be- yond repair her great textile industry That we are coming nearer and nearer to a time when some government action will have to be taken is evidenced by the diminishing supply of cotton at English points of accumulation. An evidence of this is the reported stocks of American cotton in English ports, or afioat for England. These now total only S0O,0N bales against 1,1O0O00 bales at the corre- spending period last year.
 "So far as acreage is concerned, it is as yet much too early to give the matter serious consideration but an indication o1 the attitude of the south may be inferred from letter from a South Carolina plant er who says: The outlook toward SC curing the necessary fertilizers for oul lands in South Carolina is discouraging nitrate of soda is quoted at something like $75 a ton, while potash is unobtain able at any price. Our soil is such tha it requires a certain amount of comner cial fertilizer and I am afraid that thu outlook for the 1916 crop in this sectiol is anything but bright It may be tha the option market will be compelled tt absorb furlber liquidation on the par
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
CHAPLIN COINS CAUSE TROUBLE

From the New York Times.
 Charlie Chaplin coins tumbling by thou
 sands into the slots have aroused owners
 of vending machines to form a defensive
 league against everything not real money The telephone company, which has had some trouble lately about the populace getting talk too cheap, has joined forces in this war on slugs, blanks and beer checks
 They have found a coin named for the comedian of the films a source of con tnual fmfiam. It was sold in cigar stores and such places for a cent. On one side is the familiar face cast in lead and surrounded by stars, and on the ob- verse a laurel wreath. TNough a hole punched in the rim of the disk passes an elastic cord. One end of the cord is an chored on the wrist When the natural born humorist offers this shining token to someone he suddenly lets go of it and it flies up into his cuff That was about all there was to The Disk of Jest" until same size and the same weight as nickel and slipped them into the vending ma chimes in moving picture theatres and got scent packages of sweets.
 The New York branch of the secret ser 1 vice has confiscated and destroyed the dies from which the Chaplin medal was made and has warned the makers to sel | no more. The coin with it's wreath an6 | stars resembled all too closely the old 1 time 5-cent piece, although 1t was moi cla ssified as a counterfeit.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
PERFUMING A COUNT

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 fragrant count made fragrant with perfume bath, in lieu of the regular sort which he steadfastly refused to take everybody breathed freer on reading that refreshing bit of testimony from Tuesdays divorce proceedings. (Mr. Chubb may have turned up his nose at the published item, but most people were as much regaled by it as the count must have been by the contents of the perfume bottle which the fair plaintiff dumped on him while he slept-it reads like Charlie Chaplin film, vulgar but amusing, to those whose sense of humor is as keen as their sense of smell. or who carry their smelling salts with them to the show.)
 To anoint count with expensive per- fume may be temporary public service, but in the long run it seems great waste of good material. For all the perfumes of Araby cannot disguise the essential and ultimate nature of the little black and white felines of the genus mephitis who manage sometimes to get under the back porch of society. Instead of wasting the essence of sweet violets, lilacs and lilies of the valley on them, it is better to smoke 'em out with sulphur.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01

From Sea Power and the War;" by
 Frank H. Simonds in the American
 Review of Reviews for February.
 WAKING the existing situation, 1t will be recognized that up to the l. present British sea power has accomplished all that Nelson accom- plished for his country and a little more, that is to say, it has es- tablished the British supremacy on water beyond question, it has abolished the German commerce from the sea, it has destroyed the German warships and undersea boats that have ventured with in reach it has given to British commerce and to British transport the safe use or the sea. Despite the sensational details of the sinking of a few great liners, it is well to remember that the actual percent age of loss of British shipping from Ger man activities is far smaller than that inflicted by French privateers in the Ma poleonic time and never did the British l in the earlier wars with the French suc- | ceed in paralyzing so completely an en- emy commerce as they have now.
  i ish sea power has made it possible for British expeditions ro operate in Europe 1 and outside of it. In Europe British ar mics have rendered great help in France and contributed to abolish all prospect l that the Germans can win a decision In | the west. They have permitted the Brit fish to undertake a campaign in Gallipoll, | which has failed as did the several cam paigns undertaken against Napoleon De- I fore the great campaign of Wellington ! in Spain In the same way sea power | has permitted the concentration of troops
 at Saloniki and in Egypt, thus blocking Turkish thrust upon Suez.
 1 Outside the European and Mediterran-
 can field sea power has enabled the BTU
 ish to gather up all but one of the Ger
 man colonies; with French and Japanese
 help, the remaining colony, too German
 East Africa lies within the grasp of the British whenever they choose to seize it.
 The Great Britain of Asquith has dealt with Germany as the Britain of the Pitts dealt with France, both Of the monarchy and the empire. It has abolished German commerce appropriated German colonies. sealed up German harbors to trade, and | it has prevented the Germans from in-
 ficting any material loss upon the British in their own kingdom and from effec- lively interfering with their trade or their transport.
 Today Britain is giving financial aid to Russia and to Italy, she is giving mili- tary aid to France and she is engaging iGermany's Turkish ally. Her troops her money, her fleet are all available for use wherever German activity calls for allied effort. By no means all of her ventures have been successful, but in the Napo- leonc war there were several Gallipolis Inotably on the Island of Walcheren and
 in the case of Sweden. Even the Span. ish affair was for long such a failure as almost to lead to it's abandonment.
 The real obstacle to peace at the pres ent moment lies in the fact that Great Britain has so far been the sole natior
 to profit by the war, and her profits have
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
New Pastors Initial Sermon

T heard the initial sermon preached here by the Rev. Albert Sidney Johnson, the new pastor of the South Highlands Presbyterian church, on Sunday morn ing" said Frank V. Evans and I was deeply impressed by the personal ap- pearance of the young minister, by the delivery and the logic of his discourse, by his evident conservation to the ser vice of his Master, and by his command ing demeanor as a leader
 His large congregation, which near ly filled the capacity of the church. gave evidence of thorough absorption and Endorsement of his sermon, which was surcharged with eloquence, logic and vigor
 "The consensus of opinion by those who heard Dr. Johnson is that he is going to prove strong addition to the religious forces of Birmingham and that the South Highland Presbyterian church has resumed it's position as one of the leading churches of the Presby- terian faith in Alabama"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
GOOD ROADS POPULAR
From the Florence Herald.

From the Florence Herald.
 The United States Good Roads associa- ton at its recent annual meeting in Bir- mingham elected p prominent citizens of different sections of our country life members of the organizat ation. The spirit of building good roads is becoming uni versal and it is only a question of very short time when the federal government will see the necessity of approprating money to build good roads. Such a course would be worth more to our country than extensive preparedness for war All peo- pie would be benefited by good roads. War benefits no country people. It de- stroys lives, business homes and brutal iZes people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
Liquor Inspection Fee

The citizen living in that part of Birmingham known as Avondale who wrote a letter to the city commission and suggested an inspection fee on all packages of liquor received here under statutory prohibition has dis tinguished himself, and is really en- titled to a place in Birmingham's hall of fame.
 It was good, common sense sug-
 gestion and has been incorporated into an ordinance which will come up 1 for adoption at today's session of the commission.
 This new license should be fair revenue producer, and John Barley corn will not mind it enough to speak of. Cities and towns throughout the state will follow Birmingham's ex- ample and adopt a similar system. In fact, one enterprising town has al- ready acted.
 While our city commission was hav- ing the constitutionality of the pro- posed measure carefully looked into, | the Roanoke council met and passed liquor inspection ordinance just like l the one to be adopted here. The joke of it is Roanoke, in forestalling Bir- mingham's action, is already collect l ing fees for liquor inspection. Whether or not as large percent age of Roanoke's population receives alcoholic drinkables by express as is the case in Birmingham, the thriving mercantile center of Randolph county
 will keep its treasury well filled as a
 result of the new system.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-01
Business Improvement

T find that a considerable impetus to business in most lines has been given by the stanch financial condition of all sections in the United States, according to recent report in the Wall Street Jour- nal," said Hollis Armstrong. Business in this district has improved more during the past 90 days than it has in many months before.
 Most of the people are well satisfied and busily engaged in making money or trying to make it. The Birmingham dis trict employs more men at a better wage scale than any other city in the south. When all these mechanics are working, and they are at present nothing can keep Birmingham from prospering. Old bills are being paid, new accounts opened, and business in general is booming"