The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-13
THE BIRMINGHAM AGEHERALD, SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 1921

old rates, which made our railroads great, they could ship to other points they are now shut off, and the carrier must be- content with the short-haul business.
 The same thing is true down in my old home county of Sumter No longer can beans, peas and "spuds' be shipped be- yond Cincinnati because the rate prac- tically eats up the commodity. Right now potato growers in Wisconsin are getting 30 cents a bushel for Irish pota- toes, so my broker friends tell me, while we pay tidy sum for what we eat Can the producer live on 30-cent potatoes? Will not these same rates kill the goose that lays the golden egg? Is not busl- ness tagging now because it costs so much to ship? Take lumber-the old rate to Chicago territory was "A cents now it is 42 cents, or a difference of D to $7 per thousand feet Now, either the millman must lose that much or the man who builds his home in Chicago territory pay that much more. Now, who gets that? Will some ''vacationist," or traffic manager, come out and tell us poor, benighted mortals who cannot sec all the why's and wherefores?
 AMUSING AND PATHETIC
 Every strike has it's amusing as well as pathetic side. Near the depot here is cafe that will not serve you unless YOU have a union card. When the va cation began this cafe also went on Va cation and announced that when the sea son of rest was over business would pc resumed at the same old stand. Suppose that millionaire engineers grow aS fast in the next week as they have tnls week where will that fellow be? 1 have met four of these millionaire engineers today, and it seems to me that they can run an engine as well as tue grandpa" of them all.
 Not far from this cafe is another, eVi- dently run on the open shop plan, be- cause when I went in for cup of coIiee they did not ask for my credentials, put really seemed glad to serve me Tor the price was paying. Seated at the coin- ter was one of those kindly women that abound in Iineville. She had just learned that the section foreman, who was on 'vacation" had received notice to va cate the premises so the new foreman could move in
 why" said she, MT. w. will have to get another job won't he?"
 When I answered in the affirmative, she said
 But he can't find one that will pay him $9S per month with house, water garden and wood free.P
 l LOlu Ter lndl IOi tiualOiy oiiO "SN behind the times now, for the American standard of living had grown since her youth. and that what seemed opulence to her then was mere pittance now, and that the foreman could not rear hts family, or at least must have thought he could not, when he went on vaca- ticn." Bless her good old heart. l lett her grieving over the loss of quarters by the foreman, who is not related to her in any way, but merely her neighbor' That same spirit of neighborly interest runs through this whole section.
 NEW FORMS OF SPORT
 They have a new form of sport in this territory. Rick ought to try it out. They actually hunt rattlesnakes and have dogs that can tree them just about like Towser "treed' rabbits when we were boys. In Talladega county these snakes infest the mountains, and when ' ou go squirrel hunting you get some rat tiers on the side. The dogs trail them until they curl up and get ready to strike and then wait for you to come up ana shoot their heads off. Your true sports man clips off the rattles to bring hone to show what a great hunter can do. They also have wildcats of more than one variety, and that, too, is great sport, | Wild turkeys also strut around on the mountain crags and invite you to take a shot at them These valleys are shaped | like A bowl. and in the center of them | you may find a small lake or big spring hat actually is limitles in depth. By | strange coincidence these springs some .tmes get muddy in the summer for no { apparent cause, and at intervals certain lat fish are found in them which later f disappear.
 Speaking of wildcats" they tell a story ,f a revenue officer who actually got over some of these roads and got m near Cragford, where he found stiii making some four Cs The moonshn- ITS got the drop on the officer, took him | 10 a vat and half drowned him in beer, liter which they chucked him into the ,reek and told him to Eight shuck, t is said that he lit" That however, vas some years back before 'Pussyfoot Johnson became celebrity, and in the ,ood old days when knighthood was in lower and we had dreams of So-called personal liberty.
 I like these folks over here; some Of hem have money, but they have not raveled so far away from the. soil that hey put on airs. ran across brother f Fl. J. Willingham, erstwhile superln- endent of education, who has been most ind He has Cadillac, but does not ut on style, nor do any of them That e, together with all Clay, Talladega nd Randolph. may live long and pros- CT is the wish of BILL SYKES.