davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04
ADRIFT WITH THE TIMES
CAN'T DO WITHOUT THEM

CAN'T DO WITHOUT THEM ''we are here today and gone tomor- row." said the philosopher. True enough" replied the cynic Maybe that's why so many self-impor- tant people think the world is going to tho demnition bow-wows tomorrow"
 THE ANCIENT REvELER Go into a cabaret,
 See the people gathered there. Who is celebrating most,
 With truly reckless air? Some old chap of eighty years,
 Who, forsooth, should be in bed; Yet he drinks the champagne down. Trips 1t with a boyish tread.
 WASTING HIS TIME T have here." said the shabby caller, "a book containing 1000 money-makins secrets.~
 "what is the pricer'
 "Twenty-five cents."
 "How many sales have you made, to- day?' Q  "only three or four'
 "Umph! If that book contains as many money-making secrets as you say 1t does why don't you take day off and read |it"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04
FUTILITY

FvUTILITY
 Greatly uplifted,
 Singing a song,
 See the good brother
 Plodding along.
 Rocking but little
 What is in store,
 Merely assuming Deeds done before.
 Will be repeated
 Time without end.
 Sure, he Is happy,
 Yet, who would spend
 All of a lifetime
 Free from dull care,
 Smiling namely
 And getting nowhere?
 WE'LL SERVED "I don't see how our candidate can be defeated.' ''Why so optimistic?' 'He has idealists to write his speeches for him and practical politicians to di- rect his campaign"
 EXTRAORDINARY You look Mustered" "And so I am," replied the motorist ''By love, I never expected to find . man with grand opera temperament running garage" "what happened?" why, as mere matter of course, I be- gan to kick about my bill and Pm blest if the fellow didn't get mad
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04

Construe the times to their necessi- ties, Henry W.
 x
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04

to please man before she marries him is because it is going to be so hard for her to please him after she marries hiu.
 Remember that while 1t takes only IS minutes to write her love letter before you get her, it Is going to take you 15 years to explain the letter after you get her.
 Money may look large to you. But how woull you like to be the wife of an ornery man and have to touch him for every cent you needed?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04
7,eJd3,aea

JUST A HABIT The high cost of living
 Some people lament; If eggs were a penny,
 Would they be content? We answer, Well, hardly
 They'd surely get sick Without any reason To grumble and kick
 FAUX PAS I've lost confidence in that fortune teller" why so?' "she said was going to inherit money" Maybe you will some day. But after I had paid her fee, she for got that she had already told me my name was Jones and called me MT. Green.'"
 MUCH WORSE ''once let man with . thimbleful of brains get the idea that hs has an analy- tioal mind and he is the greatest bore on earth.' T know greater bore than that" Name him." 'The fellow without even thimblefur of brains who thinks he has an analytical mind" PAUL COOK.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04

aM@ It's NaYe@G W0TE
 "we have a loan fund of $500 which has been loaned IT times during the year. Prom the an- nual report of Neighborhood House.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04

TELEPHONE Bell (private exchange connecting all aepartments) Main 490O.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-04

Entered at the Birmingham, Ala postoffice as second class matter un- der act of Congress. March 8. 1879.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

and unpatriotic talk he causes other
lives to be lost, he has no reason to
plead the martyr racket because he
suffers. No he is not a martyr, he is
merely mistaken, and in war 1t lie
likely that a lot of people will suffer
before it is over. And we do not BRO
pose in this country, to tax advice
as to what is Americanism and wha
is not, even from DIR. Steiner. whose
associates according to his own story.
are kings as well as the steerage pas
sengers.
He has done a lot of great things,
and Grinnell college thinks he is a
great and good man. but the world
will go on and America win still be
America, even IL he ome the mock
heroic stuff about III that be treason
make the most Of it." The people Will
make the most OF 1t, and the less ne
discusses it the better II will be for
him.
And the immigrants for whom he
is now 80 solicitous, we say II they do
not like their treatment in America,
tlet them stay where they belong.
America will get along without them.
DR.. Steiner is not going to pull any
sob stuff. not with our boys going to
the trenches.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
Mr.. BAKERS MILLENNIUM.

Minneapolis journal: 1t has been
pretty thoroughly demonstrated hat
America cannot spring to arms over
night, or over several nights for that
matter. We have been springing for
more than eight months now, and we
have still a long way to go. Even
the childlike confidence OF William
j. Bryan that in case of need the
springers would be both myriad num-
bered and deadly armed, must have
been shaken.
And yet now comes Secretary OF
War Baker saying in. his annual re-
port that he does not favor universal
military training legislation, chiefly
for the reason that the formation OF
la permanent military policy will In
evitaby be affected BIZ the arrange
ment consequent upon the termina.
ton of the present war Civilized
men," he goes on. must hope thai
the future has in store a relief from
the burden OF armament and the de.
struction and waste of war"
Now the chief virtue OF universal
military training is that 1t trans.
forms the able bodied youth Of the
nation into potential soldiers, ready
TO spring to arms at a moments no
tice, but meanwhile pursuing Their
ordinary voeations as citizens. After
they have had the training. and have
acquired the ability to become sol
diers, along with the physical bless
ings of the process, they are absorb
ed into civil life.
II any one lesson has been borne
in upon the American people by its
disheartening experiences with un
preparedness, it is that there ian be
no successful national army which
hoes not rest upon the broad base OF
universal training.
What Mr.. Baker must mean. then
is that there is a chance we shall
not need an army after the war is
over. Before making the present
environments a permanent institution
he wants to wait and see whether by
some wondrous magic we shall no,
have abolished war from the face OF
the earth for good and all. He must
believe that the millennium may be
ushered in when peace is made.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

understand the blindness to world conditions
that allows officials to know Of such a condition
as we are enduring and leave a suffering peo-
pie in ignorance of it.
Is it not realized that the whole object of the
submarine campaign, for freedom to exercise
which Germany accepted the penalty OF our
hostility, was to strike such a blow at the NOR
ale of the English and French civilian popula-
tons as has been struck here without its cost
ing the kaiser a thought or a penny or a blue
jacket?
What does it mean? The people have a
right to know. They will bear sacrifice; they
have leaped forward at the call of their country
to sacrifice in every direction. If, in fact, there
is a sugar crop shortage, let it be proven; let
the Spreckels charge be met fairly, adequately,
Iconvincingly. If, in fact, it is necessary for US
to deny ourselves coal that the nations on the
firing line may have the full Of their need, tell
the American people; they are not nigsards
when the need is there.
The people have given the government plen-
airy power to wiz the war. They have placed
life and death in the hands of the food admins
traitor and the fuel administrator for one pur-
pose only, to one end only, and they have a
right to know, to know with sharp and clear
definition and with no vagueness whatsoever,
what brains and energy and devotion to the one
cause they have at heart operate in the admins
%istratlon OF these departments.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
CHARLESTON.
- -

Remember the Red Cross package
sale and oyster supper given Satur
day evening, December 20, at the
Baptist church. Each package VIII
contain some article worth fifteen
cents. Any one wishing to bring q
package, can do so. Il
Mrs. Addie Bassett was a keokuk
caller Thursday.
Albert Pezley and wife of FIT. Mad
ison spent Sunday with relatives.
James Barnes and family spent
Sunday in Athens, Mo.
DR.. A. ]. Davis and Carl Mcclure
were Keokuk callers Monday.
Charles Derr and family Of FIT. Mad
ison, are visiting relatives here.
Dewey Kerns of Fit. Madison, spent
Sunday at home.
Trueman Wahrer of Quincy, is
visiting home folks.
Carl and Elizabeth Trump were
Donnellson callers Sunday.
The G. q. Sunday school gave their
Christmas tree Sunday evening. They
had a fine program and the house
was crowded.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
SMOKING IRIGOYEN OUT

Sioux City Journal: After all, the
reason we are at war with Germany
is because we have found the Ger
mans out. And the more we learn
the gladder we are that wal does ex-
list. Thanks to Count Won Luxburg.
to the Washington state department,
and in some measure to officials Of
the Argentine government, our educa-
ton is proceeding apace.
A long list Of messages hat passed
between Luxburg and Berlin last sum
mer has been published. It is an
nouncad that publication was agreed
upon by Washington and Buenos
Aires. The news dispatches dealing
with the revelations express a belief
that at last Argentina will be swept
into val with Germany. There is al
parent a desire to eXonerate certain
Argentine officials. including Presi-
dent Irigoyen. from the conviction OF
duplicity and pro-Germanism, or at
least to give them an opportunity to
exonerate themselves by their en-
suing actions. But one Is justified in
suspecting that the publication of the
messages at this time was much less
desired by Irigoyen and his ministers
than by the United States: that the
cJSSI Wao p1lludliS W hlIOCh III IiC
head the "thinly veneered" neutrality
conference that Irigoyen had called
to e in Buenos Aires. and that the
American government has resolved to
make that slick statesman come out
in the open as wolf or sheep. 1t is
indeed time.
1T should not be forgotten that the
new revelations followed almost i'm
mediately the unceremonious depart
ure of Luis Cabrera, Carranza's dip
lomatic agent, to attend the much
talked Of and often postponed con-
ference of neutrals in Argentina. The
Luxburg messages themselves indi-
cate that Washington had previously
protested to Irigoyen against the
conference plan, regarding it plainly
as an anti-American maneuver. In
one of them Luxburg states explicitly
to his government that President
Irigoyen had resolved to form a Sc
cret league of as many South Ameri-
can states as he could interest in
hostility to North America. Carranza
apparently was approached. Chile
and Bolivia were to be included. And
throughout the whole long list OF
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
The roses Of pleasure seldom last long
enough to adorn the brow of him who plucks
them.-Hannah More.
LET THE PUBLIC KNOW.

Presumably the senate committed inquiry
is not designed to fill the public mind with a
suspicion to which it has been unduly sensitized
by severe and inexplicable deprivation of sup
plies that go to the very sustenance of life.
Yet, an inconclusive investigation, vaporiz-
ing into vague expressions of senatorial s~atisfac-
ton with this or that undisclosed condition,
will have lust such a result and can have no
other.
We all realize that a battle between rival in
terests Of great financial strength in the sugar
industry has brought to a head certain rumors
which are circulated as the explanation of a
mysterious situation.
The motive of Mr. Spreckels, to which Food
Administrator Hoover has referred disparag-
ingly, is not at all material. The truth or
falsity Of the charge he made that there is this
year a surplus instead of such a deficiency in
the sugar crop as Mr.. Hoover said there was;
of the further charge that the sugar shortage
was artificially created because Of financial
considerations-these are the sole questions in
which the public is interested.
If Mr.. Spreckels has made a false charge,
he has done a very dangerous and unpatriotic
thing. If he has not made a false charge there
is short, sharp and decisive work for congress
to do in order to restore public confidence.
And the coal situation calls for immediate in
vestigation. If there is an explanation of the
cataclvsan in production and distribution that
has followed the assumption Of control of the
coal industry by Mr.. Garfield, the public should
have it in most convincing form. We cannot
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
M.
-

The officers of Oak Leaf chapter
O. e. S., for the ensuing year: Mrs
O. H. Tyner, w. NJ; G.. ID. Raw
houser, w. p; Mrs. w. II. Johnson,
A. NJ; Mrs. Art Lyon. conductor;
Mrs. Leon Smith, assistant conduc,
tor; Mrs. J. H. Collatt, secretary,
Mrs. c. H. Cook, treasurer.
officers chosen for the Missionary
society of the Congregational church
President, Mrs. Grettie Gray; vice
president, Mrs. Rose Pitman; secre
tary, Mrs. Mertie Evans; treasurer
Mrs. Lizzie Pierce, secretary of liter
ature, Mrs. Victorine Cook.
Warren Leslie, son of Mr.. and Mrs
Leslie Nation, born Saturday, Dec
Is, 1917.
Miss Agnes Reeves came from
Keokuk Saturday to visit her cousin
Miss Miriam Cook.
Mrs. Will Spray and baby Maurice
of Renwick, are visiting Mrs. Sprays
parents, Iar. and Mrs. j.. o. McMas.
tiers.
Mrs. Hester Joy and Mrs. Martha
Edwards have returned from a visit
with relatives at Hays City, Kansas
Mrs. G. A. LOOMS is enjoying a
visit with her brother H. w. Harris
from Nevada.
Mr.. and Mrs. Stephen Hockett OF
Earlam, are guests of relatives il
this vicinity.
Mrs. A. J.. Denny Of Danville visit.
ed her parents Mr.. and Mrs. William
Collins, Monday.
Dates for Salem short course are
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

messages there runs the implication
of double dealing On Irigoyen's part,
even to the extent of deceiving his
own people as to the Surrender" in
volved in the diplomatic settlement
of Argentina's complaint about U,
boats, In a telegram to Santiago.
Chile, presumably to the German min
lister there, LuNburg said that "as
long as Chile is neutral Germany will
be able after the war to carry out
her South American policy. The
president (of Argentina) has the
firm intention Of setting the council
OF ministers against North America"
II is to be recalled also that when
both houses of the Argentine congress
had voted overwhelmingly to break
with Germany, President Irigoyen re-
fused to act accordingly and kept
his country at peace.
Besides its major importance as
showing the connection Of Irigoyen
with German intrigue to array the
South American states against theif
northern protector. for Germany's
fiendish purposes, the Luxburg mes
sages contain the usual number of IL
Illuminating and cynical passegs. Ber-
lin instructs Luxburg officially to lie
W. thC OChOLiI VI III AiCutia Clio -
connection with the settlement of the
Toro submarine question. He is told
to advise the president that while
Germany will try not to sink Argen-
tine ships. he must expect that "ac.
.cidents" may take place, owing to
technical reasons and that in such
circumstances Germany will be pre-
pared to adopt the most concilatory
attitude" And other hypocrisy with
out end.
But the vital thing is the complete
exposure Of the part played by Pres
ident Irigoyen and his minister,
Saguier, in endeavoring to form an
anti-American secret alliance in the
western hemisphere. 1t is not pos.
sible that Irigoyen welcomed such an
exposure. The effect of 1t on the
pro-American masses OF Argentina
can only be guessed at. OF course,
the president and those implicated
with him have the opportunity to
deny and to make their denial good
by actions that correspond. But at
any rate the prospects OF the Irigoy.
en- neutrality conference" would
seem to have been effectually blight
eu.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
DR.. STEINER A

Washington. Ia. Democrat: If we
We're in DR.. S%teiner's place. we do not
believe We would stir UP anything
about the patriotic business. He
comes back at his critics In a letter to
the Dies Moines Register, pleading
his u valiantly. but according to
Ii mode of thinking jumping out of
the frying pan into the fire.
He avs many Of the foreigners
coming to this country, do not know
what America is. That is precisely
the complaint we make. A lot of them
do not NOW and apparently do not
want to know. DIR. Steiner has writ.
ten wonderful books, but how much do
they affect a lot of the foreigners who
come to this country, and who never
see them. The trouble with his books
is, that they are read by people who do
not need them, for entertainment and
Tor study rather than for educational
benefits. The kind Of immigrants who
need the advice of men like Steiner
are not the ones who ever see the in
sid of a book. Therefore, a lot of
his writing is mere waste Of time, as
far as they are concerned.
Nobody wishes to drive Steiner out
OF Iowa, but the state would go on If
a thousand Steiners left it. He says
that got can moi make good Americans
with a club. There are some to whom
no other argument appeals. And we
also want to ask him what kind Of
treatment they got in the countries
they came from, If it wasn't argument
with a club. And, anyhow. our trouble
is not with them. but with him. And
he need not talk about the distress
1t is causing him. His kind of ques-
tionable %utterances will cause the I'M
necessary loss of the lives OF a lot of
sons of mothers and others who will
also be distressed. The mother Of
Marie Hay is likely also distressed.
and unfit for her work. So he is not
alone suffering and if by his unwise
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
ToDAY's BIT OF vERsE

JIM-DoG.
He wasn't, well, a fancy kind O dog
Not Jim!
But, oh, 1 sorter couldn't seem ter help
Alovin' him.
He always seemed ter understand,
He'd rub his nose against my hand
II pfuc Ur-Ddu1
Or If my thoughts was pretty bad:
AN how he'd bark an frisk an play
When / was gay!
I wonder why my Jim-dog had ter die!
He was friend ter folks; he didn't bite;
He never snapped at no one in tn night;
He didn't hate a soul; an he was game!
An, yet > . = a spark O light, a dartin' flame
Across tn dark, a sneaky bit O. lead,
An he was = dead!
They say there amt no heaven-land for him,
Cause dogs is dogs, an haven't any right;
But let me tell yer this: Without my jim
TIL very shinin' streets would seem less bright
An somehow I'm a thinkin' that if he
Could come at that last stirrin' bugle call
Up to the gates o gold aside Of me,
Where God stands smilin' welcome to us all,
An I said, Father, here's my dog . {" " here's jim
They'd find some corner, touched with love, for him!
Margaret E. Sangster. in Christian Herald.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
IOWA PRESS COMM EMIT

Cedar Rapids Republican: National
prohibition would be possible by the
'enactments of ~thirty-six states con
tanning forty-one millions OF people,
but the other twelve states contain
over fifty-one million people. The peo-
pie of New York are insisting that
they ought to have something to say
about how they are to be governed.
Sioux City journal: What profits
1t the grocer to buy his sugar from the
wholesaler at a fixed and lower price
IL the wholesaler gets around the regu-
iatton by charging him 80 cents for
the sack it comes in?
Marshalltown Times-Republican:
Kenyon's proposition to get back to
the $1,000 a yea salary doesn't appeal
to congress like a proposition to make
it $40 900 because Of the increased
cost of living"
Sioux City Journal: And If one of
those preparedness parades could just
be held now!
Humboldt Republican: 1t is better
to knit than to white.
Grundy Democrat: "Unrestrained
~seltishness" may be the polite way of
describing war proiteers, but wouldn't
just plain thieves do better?
Pella Chronicle: We hope congress
Will realize that it IL going to take
more than Investigations to win this
war.
Hampton Chronicle: Some years
ago there was a campaign to educate
the people to the advantages OF the
cheaper cuts of meat, and where in the
dickens are those cheaper cuts today?
Colfax Tribune: The suggestion
has been made that when the leGis-
lature ~convenes, steps be taken to have
The election and primary deferred TWO
years. 1t is a wise suggestion.
= Manchester Democrat: The Ameri-
can people are not fighting the German
people az 9 people, but the ruler of the
German people.
Sac Sun: The Sun refuses to call
any periodical democratic simply De-
cause it fails to take orders from party
bosses.
Cedar Rapids Republican,: The Bos-
ton congressman who fired that first
American shot across the Piave, in u
opinion, ought not TO have done it. He
merely pulled the string and he did it
upon the permission of the officers who
were going to fire the gun themselves.
so that it made no real difference.
But a man who is not enlisted as n
soldier has no right to fire a u OF
any kind at an army of any kind, I'M
less she should do it in necessary self
defense. That congressman was tech
nically a murderer, if that shot fired
killed any me-. II he wants to go
shooting let him put on the uniform
of his country and take the oath as a
soldier. His single shot is an embar-
rassment to the whole nation, for our
enemy nations will make the most of
it.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

When the fire whistle
blows, don't try to ask
Information" Where's
the fire 1t may delay a
call from a fireman or
other urgent messages.
Seconds in the fire de
partment getting to the
blaze may mean the saw.
ing of property and per-
haps a human life.
Do you know people who
get peeyish when they
cannot get the operator al
the time OF a fire?
They are probably only
one Of several hundred
who are calling by the
same time.
No operator can answer
hundreds of calls at once.
Do your part in the city
protection by refrainins
from ASKING the location
of the fire.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

When people grow UP to look at life in a certain way,
from a certain viewpoint, It is difficult, almost impossible
TO change them. lists their religion. They are con-
WINGED that If the world doesn't go on in their way, ae
cordlng to their principles, everything will be destroyed.
They aren't inhuman. Within limits everybody Is more
than willing to help the world along, If only they can be
ston Churchill.
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26
A Reconstructed Cabinet.

Kansas City Times: Nobody ex
cept politicians has any particular
reason to be interested in Washing
ton discussion of a coalition cabinet
If coalition" is held to mea the in
clusion Of republicans asfrepublicans
in the cabinet. But the whole coun
try is interested if a coalition cabinet
is a cabinet made up of the ablest
available men without regard to pol
itics. The public doesn't care wheth
er a democrat or republican Is secre
tary OF war. 1t does care that the
war department be managed by the
biggest executive who can. be found
The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-12-26

Multiplication of "republics'' in Russia
would be a great thing for Germany if the cen
trail empires could win the war. It would per
nit the kaiser to absorb them piecemeal at his
leisure.