davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
The Age-HeraId Sporting News

For many years the sport lovers or Alabama have depended upon The Aee-Herald for their reliable and ex- elusive sporting news. They have all ways looked forward to The Sunday Age-Herald for advance news and gossip on sporting events.
 An inspection of yesterdays Age Herald sport pages is evidence of the reason. The spring weather stirs the baseball sap in every true lover of this sport, and, as usual, yes terday's paper was full of exclusive baseball news presented in the form which the fan loves. There were news stories affecting the local team which could be found nowhere else and gossipy baseball articles from all other Southern league cities.
 Like other departments of The Age Herald, it's sporting section is notable for it's reliability and the confidence reposed in it by devotees of various forms of sport. An example of this IS the fact that The Age-HEerald has recently been the direct cause of the resumption of relations between the Birmingham Atletic club and the Young Mems Christian association, something that had been desired by every sportsman in Birmingham.
 The Age-Herald, during the ap- preaching baseball season, will even improve on the high class sporting news service it has maintain in the past.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
SOUTHERN STEEL

Warrior river, and both the Southern and the Louisville and Nashville railroads are extending their lines to connect the city with water traffic. An independent railroad company is seeking to build railroad for the particular purpose of car rying steel and other heavy freight. The Warrior river has been improved by series of locks and dams, and it is now said to be serviceable for freight-carry- ing navigation. By this route steel and steel products should reach tidewater at Mobile, and while that city is somewhat backward and lethargic in the matter of improving it's harbor, the general govern ment could step in and make a deep wa terway out to sea. There Is an abun- dance of necessary ore in Cuba that can be used in the making of steel and this can be brought in direct on marine barges without ever breaking bulk until final destination is reached.
 No higher grade of steel is made any, where in the country than can be made of Southern iron, and the steel rail mill at Birmingham is making rails that stand every possible test in comparison with rails made elsewhere. The open hearth process is best adapted to Alabama iron, and it is found to make better steel than the Bessemer process. The Gulf States Steel company at Gadsden is also mak- ing very high-grade steel, and produc- ing in large quantities finished steel prod ucts of the highest qualities and of wide range. If we are to enter upon a pro- gramme of preparedness we could not do better than by establishing plants in this section, where they would be removed from the guns of hostile warships or in vading armies. Here we can produce at pleasure war munitions of every charac- ter in which steel is used, and in this way the iron and steel industry of the south will be amazingly developed
 American capitalists are giving the matter serious consideration, and we may look for an unprecedented boom in south ern iron and steel production in the near future.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
Charles Phelps Gushing in the Kansas
City Star.

Charles Phelps Cushing in the Kansas
 City Star.
 sns nsass ans oP P'f fn. of mos. n'rassn mpor O tant and most picturesque is Der gen. Norway, a third of which was swept away the other day by 1916's first great confIagration. In nearly 1000 years Bergen had never seen such prosperity as mas come to 1t since the outbreak of the war If lies in north latitude 60 degrees, just above the tip of the British Isles, and is inc closest of all the northern neutral ports of America. In addition to this great advantage a remarkable mountain railway, completed only six years ago. pours freight and passengers into the port from inland Norway. from Sweden, Russia. Denmark and Germany.
 One result of this happy combination of circumstances is that since the war this city of so0OO or 5000 population has gained 26 new millionaires It has the largest merchant fleet in Norway, and stock in some of it's steamship lines has climed from par to 300.
 The recent fire, described as the worst ever recorded in Norway, destroyed the business section, with many food ware houses, several of the largest hotels, the electric plant some banks and news paper buildings and a number of schoois. The loss was estimated at not less than $15, ,00O, ,OOO Bergen is losing no time about rebuilding, and, probably. in few more months will be no worse off for the ex- perience than some of our own cities as Chicago, San Francisco and Baltl- more-have been. Only the tourist will be the loser in the end-for much of the s'old town was destroyed
 There is not much danger, however. that Bergen will cease to be admired for picturesueness. 1t lies at the head of a long fjord. on seven little hills. and back of thees hills loom snow-capped mountains. It is like a bit of green Ire land set down in the bottom of stock ade on high Scotch bens. Bergen itself has the climate of April, but on the bar ren rim of the cup round about the sea son is winter.
 In the streets of the compact little towI, the babble of tongues is something to compare with New YorlS's East Side. Russians Germans, English. Norweg- ians. Swedes Danes and occasionally a Dutchman or Frenchman gather here to buy and sell and ship, the walters in the hotels all speak at least three languages, and in the rooms the rules are posted in four. The little harbor is crowded with ships of all sizes; new ships and new quays are building and vessels change hands every hour like stocks on the ex- change. The sun gets it's first peek into the valley on a winter morning at a little past 10, then glides behind mountain for while before it apepars again. At 8 it is gone for the day, and the car penters and masons work on till supper time under arc lights
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
Domestic Trade Active

The financial and mercantile reports for last week all told of activity in domestic trade. One of the Wall street reviews calls attention to the fact that the bank clearings for the week run fl per cent ahead of 8 year ago, and that in New York city alone the increase was 100 per cent
 Henry Clews, in discussing various problems and influences affecting busi- ness, says: ''The war still plays the most important part in local and inter- national finance. It is estimated that if the struggle continues until the end of 1916, the total cost to all belligerents will approximate $6O,OOO, 100000. They are now spending at the rate of about two and half billions monthly, and enor- nous borrowings must be expected dur ing the balance of the current year. Thus far Germany has been the heaviest bor- rower. Great Britain Is the heaviest spender, but has paid & considerable amount of her war costs out of current expenses, and has borrowed less than Germany. France is estimated to have borrowed about as much as Great Britain, but her expenses are less. Russia seems to have borrowed much less than either,
 while Austria-Hungary has been mod crate borrower, much smaller than Tur-
 key, which has paid more than it's pro- portionate cost in men and money.
 'All the belligerents will be heavy bor-
 rowers during the remainder of the year.
 In Great Britain credit of g, 900, ,0O0, the largest on record, is about to be asked. France is contemplating credit of $1.5oo,OO0ooo. Germany and other coun- tries will also have to make correspond ing issues at stated intervals. Huge as these sums seem, they must soon be repeated if the war continues as ap- pears probable. Its cost for this year alone is estimated at from twenty-five to thirty billions. The collection ana dis tribution of such vast sums inevitably influences all financial operations. Great Britain Is massing it's resources in every direction with a view to a prolonged struggle. The outlook, therefore, is for a continuance of large exports from this side for although the belligerents are less dependent upon the United States for munitions than a year ago, they will still be obliged to place large crders here for munitions, materials and food products which cannot be obtained elsewhere"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
THE CHICAGO POISONING

From the New IOrk Sun.
 The first advocacy of wholesale poisoning for the attainment of politi- cal ends hereabout was that of the Industrial Workers of the World in this city in January, 1913. IThis revolu- tionary organization had induced the servants in a number of hotels and restaurants to strike, and their lead pared for guests as a means of fore ing the employers to grant the de- mands made on them. No case of actual poisoning was then reported; the strike ended without recourse to this instrument of coercion.
 It is safe to say that when the police of Chicago first suggested the possibility that the food served in the Chicago dinner to Archbishop Munde- lein had been deliberately poisoned most persons rejected their theory as fantastic. Ptomaines offered suf- ficient and understandable explanation of the illness to which the guests had fallen victims. and the possibility that any individual or association should endeavor to murder the distinguished men gathered in the club passed the remostest confines of reason. Yet the subsequent revelations made by the police have abundantly supported their original charge, and the accommodating evidence indicates that the immediate agent of this assault worked in CO., operation with q number of equally vicious conspirators.
 Why should it be difficult to believe that anarchists or men protesting the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
Prohihition in Geergin

While Georgia has been in the pro- hibition column for many years, the law was not enfoced; in fact prohi- bition has been farce in that state, but the new statute which goes into effect in May is drastic and will be enforced. I am told" said A. R. Spill man of Philadelphia. Georgia is the only so-called prohibition state where beer has been sold under license.
 T am total abstainer and there fore do not drink beer, but believe it would make for temperance if the prohihitionists and total abstenance societies were to make an exception in faror of malt beverages"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
The Presidentla1 campaiwn

''The republicans will make a desper- ate effort to carry New York in No vember, but I believe President Wilson is stronger in my state than Roosevelt who is to be the republican and pro- gressive candidate" said Charles w. Shirley of the borough of Brooklyn.
 "The campaign promises to be un- commonly exciting. Colonel Roosevelt is an aggressive campaigner and Pres ident Wilson can make the fur fly if necessary. There will be no end of able speakers on both sides, but the dem- ocrats have srong record and they deserve to win. It is too far ahead, however, to make big bet on the re- suit of the election"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21

From the Memphis News-Scimitar.
 n ICHARD H. EDMONDS, editor of TX the Manufacturers Record, has \ A called public attention to situ- ation that is more than ordinarily seri- ous. and which if acted upon will mean a great deal to the manufacturing of steel in the south. Most of the ore out Of which steel is made in the north comes from the Nesaba range of Lake Superior, and it is estimated that 60000,0o0 tons the year pass through the great Soc canal. The lakes are frozen over six the time this source of supply is access sible, and being so close to Canada it might be shut off entirely in case of con flict A few sticks of dyanmite can de- stroy the great Soo canal, and if Ger many should whip England and take Canada as a part of her spells of war, or if we should become engaged in war with England, our steel supply would be at the mercy of foreign nations. In this dilemma we would have to turn to the Tennessee and Alabama ore fields for our
  gests that we take time by the forelock and prepare for eventualities by estab- fishing additional steel plants.
 AS the News-scimitar has pointed out frequently, steel can be produced in the southern fields at from $1 to $d-75 the ton cheaper than in the northern fields. This is because the iron ore the coal and the limestone necessary to Aux the ore are obtainable practically in the same locality, and, as the miners say, they are all above daylight" This means that it is only necessary to dig into the side of the mountains and let the lime stone. ore and coal drift down to the smelters by gravitation. whereas, in other fields the necessary elements are sepa- rated by hundreds of miles, and they are buried far beneath the surface of the ground, which increases the cost of de- livering them.
 Birmingham is only 10 miles from the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
IN BUSY OLD BERGEN

Bergen looks little like Edinburgh and has weather of much the same brand rain one minute, sunshine the next. succeeded, perhaps, by short but fero- cious blizzard For some 300 years the stock joke of the town has been that the horses in Bergen shy if they see man without an umbrella. At midday dinner everyone takes 8 long recess and the band even in winter, marches down the main street and plays for half an hour in the city park. The tradition for this is said to be German. If so, Bergen comes by it honestly, for it was once German city-a regular member in good standing of the Hanseatic league.
 One of the advantages of travel is that if you keep at it long enough you oc- casionally discover some of the things we all want to know. Now, have not yet journeyed far enough to be able to say where the old pins go. but I am in a position to state authoritatively that Bergen is the paradise of the old time hack. Do you remember the hacks that used to stand in front of the old Kansas City Union depot? The hacks that clat- tered frantically past the Junction, with Wide Awake screaming after their drivers to get out of the way of the Ninth street cable cars? Those self-same hacks-or their doubles-are ending their days in Bergen, Norway. Some of them (alasD must have 'perished miserably in the fire.
 Some of the old drivers are in Ber- gen, too, just as red nosed and unshaven and profane, and flourishing the same sort of moth-eaten whips. The rigors of the climate forbid plug hats, so felt or fur is substituted. Otherwise, every thing as Nof yore.
 The rates are lower because the wear and tear on the old shayes is beginning to tell. so the cabs in which the leading citizens of Fredonia were driven by cir cuitous route from the Union depot to the Blossom house at a minimum rate of s1 now transport the Bergen tourist a mile for two jitneys. The above rate, quote from guide book. refers to one horse cabs; for two-horse vehicles the charges are about 33 per cent higher"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
A State for Homeseekers

The railroad companies traversing the south maintain industrial and az ricultural departments, and through these agencies many homeseekers have bought farms in Alabama. With in the last five years one company alone has induced hundreds of north ern families to settle along it's lines in Mississippi and Alabama, and it is said that in nearly every instance these settlers have prospered.
 The United States agricultural de- partment has rendered invaluable service to the country in it's demon stration work and in advancing the greatest of all industries, that ot husbandry. And in few states have the governments soil surveys been more productive of far-reaching re- suits than in Alabama.
 The state department of agriculture has done we'll in promoting scientific farming and the Alabama Polytechnic institute at Auburn has accomplished wonders. Auburn's activities in ag- riculture have been the cause, direct or indirect, of adding millions of dol lars to the wealth of the state.
 But with all the exploitation of Alabama's resources the tide of home seekers has not been as large as con- ditions naturally invite. One reason is the lack of information dissemi- mated in the north regarding the op- portunities here for the small farmer Farmers in all sections know of Ala bama in a general way, but they think of it first as cotton state-the third cotton state in the union. They know little of Alabama's varied soils or of it's adaptability to the cultivation oi grain and alfalfa and the raising of live stock on a scale of exceptional food economy.
 The large investments m~le ir farm lands in Alabama by men of na- tional reputation--the late James B Haggin of Kentucky and New York, Leslie M Shaw of Iowa and Dr. P
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21

A. Baker of Ohio-have stressed ag- ricultural values and agricultural op- portunities of this state. Their ex- ample will be followed by other agriculturists of large means; but what is especially needed now is ex- tensive advertising that will let the homeseekers of limited means know what can be done here in trucking and in the raising of hogs and corn.
 Let the railroads and other organ ized agencies enlarge their efforts in advertising Alabama from the latest and most progressive viewpoints, and great results will follow.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21

the complete rout of its Turkish de- lenders, led by Field Marshal Won der Goltz. According to all accounts, it was an overwhelming victory and is destined to have an important bear
 ing on the future conduct of the war. Not only have the Russians gained base of great strategic value, but the fall of Erzerum has considerably heartened the allies, who have not had many opportunities to celebrate since they have been struggling with the highly efficient and admirably or ganized Teutons.
 Even taking into account the heavy losses they have endured, the Rus sians have done some of the most effective fighting in this war and now, rejuvenated and plentifully sup piled with arms and ammunition, they are again dominant. Incidentally, Grand Duke Nisholas, instead of be- ing "shelved," has again shown him. self Russia's ablest military leader and one who is no doubt destined to play a still more conspicuous role. When the war is over the names of Joffre and Nicholas will be foremost among the allied generals, as they are now, unless some great and unfore seen disaster should undermine their fame, a contingency which does not seem at all probable.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
THE WEEKLY AGE-HERALD

rfoln the baluWln I1neS.
 All the big southern newspapers are seeing the handwriting on the wall with reference to catering to the farmer and the farm school Notably among Ala bama papers to take up this work with a most commendable vim and vigor is the Birmingham Age-Herald, through it's weekly edition This paper, in addition to giving the news of the week. has two full pages of Alabama farm information, written by Alabama people who know Alabama soils and Alabama requirements -agrlcuturally; one page for the women in the home. and the solution of nome one for the children. and near ly every week carries an illustrated page on the country schools. In conversation with N. T. Cobb, who is known as The Age-Herald's '.back yard farmer" it was learned that within the next few weeks, Baldwin connty's schools will receive at tentlon The work undertaken Is d praise worthy one, and one that has the in dorsement of the education extension de- pertinent of the state.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
CURIOUS HABITS OF POLICE

From the Chicago Tribune.
 One of the greatest mysteries of the police department is its astonishing cam dor. There is crime. The criminal es- capes. The police start out after him. But before they start they tell the public what they are going to do.
 If boy is abduced and the police at tempt a capture by some ruse they often announce the ruse in the morning paper. Kid-Blank, alias Mr. K, they make clear is to be inveighed by letter to boarding house at 2O0O Portfolio avenue, there to be met by Detectives Murray and Murphy.
 The officials are always hot on the trail of some one and they give out the news as it is being made. A noted forger turns trick and leaves town. We are immediately told that man of his de- scription left on the Grand Trunk at 9:04 and that detectives are on his track Then they discover and announce that he is in hiding in Minneapolis and that they intend to raid rooming house there, or they make up their minds that he may be found in Little Italy. After all the afternoon papers have acclaimed It In screaming headlines the police drop around to find him.
 The ordinary layman who follows com mon rules of logic cannot understand the police. Do they give out news because they fail to make arrests or do they fail to make arrests because they give out news? Are they simply incurably above board in their actions, entirely open in their purposes? Or is publicity the means of inspiring some tipster to betray the criminal.
 The ways of the police are mysterious and confusing. The laymen cannot un- derstand them. They have many curious habits and their logic is not our logic they are strange beings. We can ex- plain them only on the theory that they had rather provide us with detective storles-which they do-then catch male- factors, which they also do-sometimes.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21

The ancient capital of Bulgaria is Tir-
 ness of the Central Balkan kingdom. The modern capital, Sofia, and in fact all the more important Bulgarian cities, are com
 paratively new. They are promises for
 the future" states the National Geo. graphic society, while Tirnova, perched on mountain side, is an inspiration from the past" The archelogist and historian find many attractions in this remote lit tie city, which is beautifully laid out,
 with series of terraces. climbing the long, sloping hillside. It is situated on cliff 800 feet high. The houses over look each other and the appearance of the city is decidedily mediaeval, oriental and outworn. Tirnova has apparently stood still while in other parts of Bull garia the people have progressed along modern lines. The single modern feature of the town is the railroad station, Tir- nova being located on the Yantra and SofiA-Varna line. It Is about 124 miles northeast of Sofia, among the northern foothills of the Balkan mountains The town contains number of ancient churches. One of these structures has been a church, mosue, a stable, jail and a fortress. The streets are narrow, Turkish arcades and eastern balconies are frequently seen and most of the build ings are of great age. The population Is about 14.OOO. Tirnovas golden age was years it was the Bulgarian capital, being captured by the Turks in 1893. It has lit- tie importance today, save as shrine of Bulgarian patriotism.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
The Greatest of violins.te

Birmingham has been visited by all the famous violinists of recent years ex- cept Kreisler and he comes March l." said John Wiegand.
 From all accounts Kreisler Is the greatest violinst the world has ever heard, and the Jefferson theatre, where his recital will be given. will doubt less be comfortably filled.
 Birmingham leads all other southern cities in its appreciation of high class music, and it is safe to say that no city of approximately it's size in this coun- try can assemble such large audiences for concert music as Birmingham"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-21
THE SHIP

By Wordsworth.
 With ships the sea was sprinkled far
 and nigh, Like stars in heaven and joyously it
 showed: Some lying fast at anchor in the road, Some veering Up and down, one knew
 not why. A goody vessel did I then espy Come like giant from haven broad: And lustily along the bay she strode, Her tackling rich, and of apparel high. This ship was nought to me, nor 1 to
 her, Yet I pursued her with lovers look; This ship to all the rest did l prefer When will she turn. and whither? Shes
 will brook No tarrying; where she comes the winds
 must stir; On went she. and due norts bar tourney
 took.