The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-04-30
By DOLLY DALRyMPLE
C0TlHE ephemeral life of some wa
 and customs is curious: the pr

l 0T1HE ephemeral life of some wayi and customs is curious; the pro S longed life of others esquaily so
 mankind in an emergency, crystalliz'
 into a-tradition.
 l Alexander sthe Great is said to be re sponsibTe for men shaving; when hi' phalsnx swept into Asia the boards oi | his soldiers were found to be source ol danger to themselves; in hand-to-hano encounters with the enemy the latter
 were found to possess too great an ad' vantage in being able to grasp the beard
 so as matter of military necessity, Al exander ordered all his men to shave. Today in the trenches of war-swept Europe the soldiers are permitting thelr boards to grow as a protection against the cold (again a necessity of war1, and doubtless the wearing of boards will be generally revived in consequence. If this ha opens to be the case, it will be some what after >the manner of the nursery rhyme-man, who being
 "Wondrous wise
 Jumped into a bramble bush
 And scratched out both his eyes.
 Then when he found his eyes were out
 With all his might and main
 He jumped into another bush
 And scratched them in again.
 Another ancient and honrable fashion which originated in military circles is the Pittsburs district or to the contem- plated town of Gary. This was accom- plshed at a cost of only 90 cents ton' 10 cents of which were expended at the mines. 10 cents being the cost of fake tfansporttaion and 10 cents being the cost of unloading at the Pittsburg dis trict pr at Gary.
 In these figures are to be discovered one of the reasons why this corporation has been able to spend many millions oi money which it earned in improvements and in the acquisition of properties, and furthermore, to increase, from time to time, wages while at the same time re- ducing the cost of production so that it was possible to standardize prices Tn the iron and steel markets And not steadily to advance prices to consumers That was something of which CharlSs M. Schwab spoke in high praise when testifying in the proceedings brought by the United States against the Steel as it was also something to which independent steel manufactur- CTS willingly testified.
 MT. Rockefeller, when he is informed, as he undoubtedly has already been, that the state of Minnesota has appraised these ore properties at several hundred million dollars for taxation purposes is likely to reflect that however good bargain he made he might have made better one had he waited for while.
 GENERAL WOOD IN FRANCE
 A day or two ago Gen. Leonard Wood was able to say to his friends that ne began to notice that the numb sensa- tion which since he was wounded in France had caused the fingers Of one hand to be practically useless, was pass ing away, for he observed that feeling was beginning to be restored, although slightly, to his fingers. He has been wearing a glove since his return to the United States, thereby better to protect the hand and fingers, but if improve ment continues he may be able to give up the use of the glove in short time Friends who have met General Wood re- gently in private say that the public has little idea of how narrow his escape from death was at the time of the acct- dent in France. He related to these friends the nature of the wound. The piece of shrapnel or iron which struck him tore the flesh from his shoulder to his elbow and the apprehension was that it had also torn the muscles. Treatment in the hospital and further treatment since he arrived in the United States has resulted in an excellent healing of the flesh wound but it is likely that always there may be more or less stiffness in the arm With General Wood at the time of the accident were two French officers and six French soldiers, so that there were nine in all gathered together at the moment of the explosion.
 Of these nine, every one excepting General Wood was killed. And he was so severely wounded that for time at least there was some apprehension that he might be permanently incapacitated. He stood alone in the center of group of eight soldiers who a few seconds before had been full of life and energy. but who had in an instant's time passed on. He, though wounded, was safe.
 THE ENGLISH RESERVES
 A few days ago the statement was made, according to reports from Lon don, that the English army in France has been strengthened since the besin- ming of the German offensive so that now the reserves number a million men, and will be steadily increased. At the beginning of the offensive these soldiers were in England, and it was imperative that they be transported as speedily as possible to France. But with the utmost energy and utilization of all available vessels it was found impossible to trans