davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Victims of Mexican Atrocities

The murder in Mexico of 19 Ameri- cans by Villas bandits stirs this coun-
 try to high pitch of wrath. The re-
 ports of the atrocities are most har- rowing and the Washington govern
 ment can be depended upon to spare no effort to have the murderers ap- prehended and when caught promptly executed.
 1 The Carranza government must be 1 held responsible for it's failure to pro- tect the lives of unoffending foreign CTS and must be required to pay heavy i, damages to the families of Americans murdered in cold blood on Mexican soil.
 Some hot-headed jingoes and yellow journals will probably insist that it is the duty of President Wilson to dis patch troops to Mexico and take pos session of the government by way of averaging the brutal treatment of those ill-fated citizens of the United States. But, of course, no such senti- ments will be entertained by thought ful Americans.
 There was time when the Wilson administration would have been just flied in sending an army into Mexico for the purpose of setting up stable government for turbulent and blood thirsty people. But the President held out in his "watchful waiting" policy, and having recognized Carranza as the first chief" whatever is done in the present circumstances must be through the department of state.
 Patriotic Americans have shown their abiding confidence in the Pres ident in his handling of trying foreign questions. And they will continue to do so.
 Modification in Mexico will be of slow process. But as Carranza's gov ernment has been recognized, the Washington government will accord it the usual opportunity of fighting the wrongs inflicted upon Americans so- journing in the unhappy republic.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Continuing Prosperity.

According to the annual report of
 John Skelton Williams, comptroller of
 the currency, the development and
 growth of the national banks under the
 federal reserve system have never
 been paralleled 'in the history of any
 country
 The net resources of the banks dur ing the period from October, 1914, to November, 1915, increased $1,743,S7S,- GAS. the deposits increased $2,0S1 ,530,- 164, and loans and discounts increased
 $917, 7,45O,5O2.
 The reserves held by the national
 banks November 10, 1915, exceeded by
 $5S7, ,0O0,000 the greatest reserves ever held at any time prior to the passage
 of the federal reserve act, says the re-
 port
 Surely these figures may be taken
 as dependable barometer of business conditions, and along with many other evidences of prosperity they more than justify the feeling of optimism prevail ing in all sections of the United States. The reports from the twelve federal
 reserve districts to the reserve board at Washington, published recently, showed that business in general had
 reached a high level of activity and that manufacturing and mercantile in- terests in certain centers were break ing past records. There was scarcely
 note of hesitation anywhere in pros. perity's march.
 | The lull that always comes with the | New Year will soon be followed by re- | newed activity and many vast schemes
 of industrial development will soon l take shape,
 1 And there is reason to believe that ] this new era of good times has come 1 to stay. Four or five months ago,
 when the pay rolls in iron and steel | districts began to increase rapidly, the | question was asked Is this returning l prosperity on permanent basis, or is ! it only temporary? A few business
 men were skeptical, but he must be a
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
From the New Orleans Times -Picayune. MY HAT is to be the future of the
 AAk speaking stage in Anglo-Saxon

F1Onl the NeW OTl6dllS IlllSS-IlCdy uIlG.
 "7H HAT is to be the future of the
 \Ak speaking stage in Ango-Saxon
 W countries, where the state-sub-
 sidized theatre is and will probably long
 remain the vaguest of possibilities? This all-important question began to be acute
 years before the cinematograph drew
 the masses away from the older form or
 play. But the cinematograph, more and
 more highly developed today attracts
 thousands, while the best speaking
 actors see their incomes vanish and ac-
 cordingIy betake themselves to the
 movies" At the present rate there will
 soon be no speaking stage at all and
 the scenario will usurp the dramas s
 place.
 No wise critic attempts to belittle the
 moving pictures scope and influence, since it may teach lessons which the best
 speaking actors could not hope to en-
 force, by the utmost exercise of their art
 And, again, the price of admission is as
 a rule, far below the minimum which
 theatres of the old type could charge without inviting bankruptcy. Thus mil lions enjoy the movies who never saw
 the inside of theatre when the booths
 and the Davenports trod the boards. Yet, with all allowances made on this score the disappearance of the speaking stage would be a public calamity
 For we must remember, first of all that the speaking stage is the most potent of all agencies in teaching a people the re- A or a Davenport never mspronounces, slurs or swallows a word. Such an artist scorns delights and lives laborious days, in the effort to accord each syllable it's precise value and reveal the exact mean
 ing of each phrase. The Athenan pro- letariat had little book learning, but constant familiarity with supreme artists in speech enabled the hublest Athenian to hoot false quantity, or sonorous soecism, which must have escaped less sensitive ears. And so it happened that home, deliberately mispronounced it, whereupon the entire audience shouted the word back, :. correctly pronounced, Would the trick be likely to succeed with an Anglo-Saxon audience at this hour? And what will be the prospects of sue cess 20 years hence if pantomime and clothes become the be-all and the end all' of scenic endeavor, as they threaten to do? We shall still have the King James Version as the consllmmate model of English style, but comparatively few clergymen read as well as the least fin ished actor and most churches complain of empty pews.
 If mere pantomime and clothes had sat isfied Elizabethan England, Shakespeare would not have been lured to portray Hamlet and the Moor Lear and Macbeth, Perdita and lmogen and the rest of his immortals The soul that is instinct with the divine fire does not seek expression in a book drama like Byron's "Sarda- napalus, Shelleys "Prometheus Un- bound.' The Shakespearian master pieces. being written for the man in the street. limned human nature with infal-
 lible touch and, as human nature is all
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
THE UNBELIEVABLE CITY

Joseph Pennell, in Scribners Magazine
 New York, as the incoming foreigner, full of prejudice, or doubt, or hope, and the returning American, crammed with guidebook and catalogue culture, see it., or might see it, rises a vision, a mirage of the lower bay, the color by day more shim- mering than Venice, by night more mag ical than London.
 in the morning the mountains of build-
 ngs hide themselves, to reveal themselves in the rosy steam clouds that chase each other across their Hanks. When evening
 fades they are mighty cliffs glimmering
 with glistening lights in the magic ant mystery of the night. As the steamer moves up the bay on the left the Grea1 Goddess greets you, composition in colol and form with the city beyond finer thar any in any world that ever existed. finel than Claude ever imagined, or Turner ever dreamed Why did not Whistler see it?
 1 Filing up higher and higher right before you is New York. And what does it re-
 mind you of? San Gimignano of the beau | tiful towers away off in Tuscany, only here are not eleven, but eleven time. eleven; not low, mean brick piles, but mo- ble palaces crowned with gold, with green with rose; and over them the waving | f1uttering plume of steam, the emblem o- | New York. To the right, filmy and lace like by day, are the great bridges: bI night pattern of stars that Hiroshigt never knew.
 i You land in streets that are Florence gloriied. You emerge in squares more
 noble than Seville. Golden statues art
 about you, triumphal arches make splen did frames for endless vistas; and it is al
 new and untouched, all to be done, anC save for the work of a few of us, ant we are Americans, all undone The Unbelievable City, the city that ha,
 been built since I grew up, the city beau
 tlful, built by men I know, built for peo
 pie l know. The city that inspires me
 that love. And all America is like this
 and-all-or nearly all, unseen, unknown 1 untouched.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13

Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great when that military genius was at
 the zenith of his fame, is one of the great prizes for which the armies of
 the east are now contending, along with Constantinople and a few other cities. Alexandria was founded by the Macedon- ian conqueror in 332 B. C., upon the ruins of an Egyptian town called Rhacotis. It is now more than POGO years old and typi- fies the life of Egypt is its largest sea- port, one of the busiest ports on the Medi- terranean and an important world city
 Modern Alexandria is divided into two a maze of narrow oriental streets and shabby buildings, and the other the Eu- ropean quarter, which resembles in many respects a modern European or American metropolis. The Rosetta mouth of the Nile is more than 30 miles to the east Cairo, the interior metropolis of Egypt is 129 miles by rail to the southeast of Alex andria and the Suez canal is more than 40 miles to the east A network of rail- ways and telegraph lines connect the city with other towns of Egypt. A bulletin of the National Geographic society calls Alexandria the counting house and com. mission office of the Nile valley" The British Chamber of Commerce has head quarters there, also many of the largest commercial organiza tions of the near east. The harbor is visited annually by, about 5000 vessels. Grain, cotton, beans, sugar and rice are exported in large ouan- titles. The business is largely in the hands of Europeans who number about 50,G00. The total population is 400, GOO. Alexandria was laid out by Cinocrates of Rhodes, architect and friend of the Mace donan leader. 1t has been the center of many battles. The destruction of the famous AleXandrian library is regarded as a tremendous loss to world civiliza- ton. English control of the city dates from 1882
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Making It Easier for Democracy

The national committee of the pro- gressives in deciding to maintain the party organization and nominate a presidential ticket makes democratic victory next fall all the easier.
 The republicans and the progress sives will hold conventions concur rently in Chicago and each will choose . candidate for President and a can didate for Vice President If the two parties nominate the same ticket with which to oppose the democrats it would then be a question of polling the combined strength of the stand patters and the followers of Colone Roosevelt.
 The colonel is the only man who will be acceptable to the progressives and they are determined that he shal be their standard bearer. That was made plain by Charles Sumner Bird; letter to Chairman George w. Per kins, written and published for tht purpose of forecasting the progres sive programme. It is the colonel ol nobody.
 The standpat republicans would be willing to support any candidate gather than Roosevelt. But if by any
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
THE STAGE AND THE PUBLIC

ways the same, the dramas will survive when the English language is dead as the Latin. Shakespeare was an incomparable poet, but he was a money maker, too, and consequently had the "box office" in mind while he wrote. Would a poet of the same genius invade the dramatic field in these times when dumb show and
 clothes suffice to gorge the box offices till? The law of supply and demand may be hard doctrine in matters of art, but no inartistic race has ever begotten great artists, or duly recognized those who chanced to come from abroad.
 The countries of continental Europe subsidizing the articulate stage may note the swiftly increasing vogue of the
 moves, without the slightest alarm With us Anglo-Saxons, however, the case is dstressingly different. We need the movies" but we need the articulate stage also and must satisfy both wants at once, or lose a priceless part of our culture. From this point of view cham pions of the state-subsdized theatre are
 not selfish dreamers, but democracy's S truest prophets and friends.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13

hook or crook the republicans should be induced to nominate the strenuous gentleman of Oyster Bay the defec- tion in the standpat ranks would make it impossible for the two organ izations combined to rally anything like the normal strength of the re- publican party as it stood prior to 1912.
 Better from republican point of view would it be for the old organi- zatlon to nominate strong dark horse who had never been actively identified with the standpat machine which forced Taft's nomination four years ago. Were such course pur- sued thousands of progressives might be induced to return to their former party allegiance.
 But the game of politics has it's peculiarities and there is no telling just what may happen in Chicago when the two conventions-republi can and progressive-meet. It will be seen then to what extent each side had been bluffing.
 In the meantime the democratic outlook is exceptionally bright. It used to be that no matter how much republicans might quarrel among themselves they got together before election and marched in solid pha- lanx to the polls. A few times they have failed to agree upon a leader and in November next they will fail again, if signs count for anything.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
MONEY IN CHINA

Homer Croy, in Leslie's.
 l A dollar of our money in Chinese cash
 weighs IS pounds.
 l In Chente Flu, which is a small village where white people seldom go, I was going along with my guide when I saw a small peddler beside the street with some fine Peking pears. I bought six of them for 21a cents, and in payment gave the street peddler 20-cent piece. He | turned it over and over, and tested it with his thumb nail which was surely made for the purpose The peddler gave l back the coin and said that he would not take it. The guide asked him why and he explained that he had never seen any such money and that it might be bad. So I had to dig up some coppers. In all his life the pedder had never seen a piece of silver money. There are thousands and thousands of people in China whose financial dealings never silver; who are born, grow old and pass to their reward without ever having seen a piece of silver.
 All China is suspicious about money. Every time you put down a dime or a piece of silver the other person tests it before he will take it, ringing it on the counter or on the pavement. You can't give merchant the right amount of change and walk off; he won't let you
 leave until he has tested every piece
 and he always gives back one or two
 pieces. He wouldn't think very much of
 himself as merchant if he didn't refuse
 some of your money.
 If you buy something in one part of
 a store, get your change and walk to
 another counter and buy something else
 and give the change that has just been
 given you, the second clerk on general
 principles will refuse part of it.
 Before you buy anything your money
 has to have the once over. Sometimes
 1t is maddening to have to wait while
 your money is tested. One day I rushed
 'p to catch a train, with just a minute
 to spare, one of my dollars was bad and
 before change could be made the train
 had rumbled off into the silent night
 without me. But in a few minutes the
 silence was broken-broken beyond re- pair-by an impulsive young man 6O00 miles from home who put his whole soul into one mighty Missouri effort
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Japanese Munitions Plants

War, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. Japan, which fought one of the bloodiest wars in history wltf Russia, comparatively a short time ago, has become the chief factor II the renewed activity of her former enemy in the eastern theatre of wal by supplying the Russians with badly needed guns and ammunition.
 There is good reason to believe that the disastrous defeats suffered by the Russians, who seemed at one time launched on an irresistible career of conquest against the Germans and Austrians, were due more than any thing else to a shortage of munitions. Incredible stories are told of men with rifles that were practically useless and shells provided by army grafters that would not explode. There must 
 have been some basis of truth for these reports, since the Russians had things all their own way until driven back by the superior artillery of the Germans.
 However, Japan has been supplying enormous quantities of munitions and the recent offensive of the Russians is believed to be due to the new equipment received from the Jap anese. The Japanese Magazine of Tokio says: "Every facility in Japan for the turning out of munitions of war is being put to it's utmost en- deavor in supplying Russia with arms, ammunition and clothing for soldiers, to say nothing of filling inn portant orders for war supplies from England and France"
 The shrewd Japanese have learned the lesson taught them by such wealthy countries as England and France, which have been unable to supply enough ammunition for their guns. Japanese arsenals are being en- larged and the present facilities will be increased to such an extent that they will be able to meet any require ments that may be made of them in the future. Japan realizes what pre- paredness has done for Germany. War orders from her allies will help considerably to pay for the enlarge ment of her arsenals and munitions plants, so that there will be hardly any expense to Japan's tax-ridden people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Ernest HutchesOn Tonight

As Birmingham has a great number of music lovers a large audience may be expected a the Jefferson theatre tonight when Ernest Hutcheson, the world re- owned pianist, will be presented by the Music Study club.
 MT. Hutcheson was heard here several years ago in Sunday afternoon recital. He was a fine artist then but now he is broader and more authoritative in his interpretation of the master com pcsers And the best of it is. MT. Hutch eson appeals not only to people musically educated but to the average audience as well. A rare treat is in store for all.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
--------------ses-- POE. UNIVERSAL
. Pittsburg Dispatch

From the Pittsburg Dispa tch.
 It was quite a day after the affair to
 invite discussion in regard to the birth
 place of Edgar Allan Poe. but it came,
 was discussed, and apparently has been
 finally decided by Col. Richard H. Spen-
 cer, corresponding secretary of the Mary
 land Historical society, who, at risk of
 being disloyal to his town of Baltimore,
 which has always claimed the honor of
 being the birthplace of the poet, shows conclusvely that the progenitor of the Sherlock Holmes "deductive" stories was
 born in Boston. The Sun of Baltimore is ungenerous to say that we hate to have to admit that he was born in Bos- ton and not in Baltimore" though his last resting place, "after lire's fitful fever is in a cozy corner of an old churchyard on Baltimore street.
 No matter where a man is born, it is what he does that counts; and no mat. ter what the habits of Poe might have
 been, the quantity and quality of his prose and poetic product Is an exhibit oi enormous industry as well as of match less imagination. No continuously bibu- lous man, even a phenomenal genius, could have created the marvellous tales and poems which are immortal and which ! have had a vital influence on the litera ture of the whole world.
 Shakespeare Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Beaumont and Fletcher "OlG Sam Johnson, philosopher and prose poel who asks where any of these great ones were born, though in the case of Shake speare his native village of Stratford has been made a holy show? It's not birth place but accomplishment that counts. As
 Poe was born in Boston, let the modern Athens erect to him a grand memorial 1 if the matter of local nativity be of i'm portance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
From the Trenches

MT. w. J. Rushton of this city is in receipt of a unique New Years greeting, said John Sparrow. Tt is from Colonel Gouault, an officer in the staff of Gen. eral Roch's, and was written from the trenches Somewhere in France
 Colonel Gouault was a visitor in the United States during the meeting of the International Association of Refrigera- ton some two years ago, and became very rnuch attached to MT. Rushton. It is needless to say that the latter highly appreciates this message of friendship, written amid the booming of cannon and clash of arms.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13

From Pearsons Weekly King Victor Emmanuel has increased his popularity, enormously since the war, for he has been absolutely fearless while with his troops at the front, and on more than one occasion he narrowly escaped death.
 King Victor has always been noted for his thoroughness, and his subjects are which has leaked out in spite of official secrecy.
 A certain government department at
 Rome was becoming notorious for it's slackness in conducting state business. The King determined to find out the req son for this himself, so one morning very early he repaired to the office and await 1 ed the arrival of the head of the depart
 ment The first of the subordinates did
 not arrive until nearly Il o'clock, and the chief made his appearance about an hour later. What was the latters astonishment
 when he entered his office to see a
 strange man sitting at his desk working
 busily on some papers.
 What is the meaning of this intru- sion?" inquired the government official angrily.
 The stranger looked up and said: "The meaning is that l have done your work for you, as it was necessary in the pubis interest that it should be done.'
 l Then it was that the dismayed official recognized his sovereign, and the only course open for him was to tender his 1 resignation, which the King immediately accepted. But. after that, there was no more late corners to that particular de-
 partmeut
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
MOTHER

Denis A. Mccarthy, in Londonderry Qreland) exchange.
 After the battle, that day, you couldn't hear yourselves talk any more in the trenches for the cries of the wounded. It was like one great, uninterrupted vail. Then little by little silence came, as a good many of them died. What we heard sound longest on the battlefield, from one end to the other-the word. ''Mother!' It is always those who are dying who call like that; we know that now.-Letter from War Nurse. "Mother!" they cry, in anguish, at the
 last, These strong young soldiers stricken 'Mother.' All sweet with mem'ries of
 the past M That name, they gasp it forth with
 failing breath. But woe for them! No mothers hand
 may now, N< Howeer so fain, the earthen pillow
 smooth
 No mothers soft caress can reach the
 brow,
 No mothers voice the suff'ring spirit
 soothe. E So here they lie in battles dread abyss, These youthful victims of the nations
 wrath;
 And each one, dying, craves his mothers
 kiss,
 And, friend or foe ono longing each
 one hath. Mother. of God, although their lips may
 frame No prayer to thee, no tribute to thy
 power,
 When each, poor lad invokes his mothers
 name, Be thou his mother in that last dark
 hour!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-13
Stability of Business

We hear much talk of nationwide prosperity and such we have. but busi- ness stability is in exceptionally strong evidence in the cities within 200 miles of Chicago" said Paul J. Dinneen of Mil waUkee. 'I find business humming all through our section, and as far as Chi cago. l have never seen it better.
 '1n some parts of the country business may be spotty,' but I think it safe to say that the country, taken as whole, is headed for the greatest boom in our history"