davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Memorial to Phillips

"A splendid memorial statue of the late Dr. J. H. Phillips could be made and erected in Woodrow Wilson park in quite simple manner and one that would embrace the masses" sai6 Sam Mayer. Tt would be for every man and woman, who has ever been in the schools of Birmingham to contribute a dime to this end and for each child in the public schools this year to do likewise. Where former pupil of means feels like giv- ing more, he could do so
 There are more than 100000 per sons who have been in the public schools during the regime of Dr. Phillips. Just how many it is difs flcult to estimate. At a dime apiece we would have soon fund of $12,00o to $15,000 with which to build a suit able monument in his memory. It seems to me quite feasible to do so and l believe the movement would prove a popular One."-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL

By Science Service.
 The heaviest rainfall ever recorded was during the night of November 29 1911, at Porto Bello, Panama, when PAY inches of rain fell in three minutes. exceeding by 100 per cent says B. c. Kadel of the United states weather bureau the rate measured at Curtea de Arges, Rumania, on July, 1882. and heretofore held to be the worlds record.
 So great was the Panama rainfall that all the conditions under which it was measured were carefully sx- amined in order that there might be no question as to the accuracy of the record. It was found that the cir cumstances corroborated the testi nrony Of the recording instruments. The rain gauge was in the hands of careful observers, and it had been emptied at n. m, preceding the tain No foreign substance was found In the gauge after the rain, which could have closged the open ing temporarily. Low-lying land was covered with several inches of water, the drain pipes not being capable tf carrying away the water. large boulders were washed loose, and the town reservoir overflowed.
 It was suggested that someone with a peculiar sense of humor might have poured water into the gauge, but this was dismissed on the ground that it was hardly conceivable that a person could derive sufficient amuse- ment from climbing a steep bank of wet clay at ? a. m, with bucket of water. to make such an exploit worth while.
 When it is remembered that in the United States, 0.25 inch of rain in five minutes is considered excessive, the magnitude of the Porto Bello downpour can be well imagined.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
SAM BROWNE AND HIS BELT

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 The sam Browne belt worn for the first time by American army off cers on duty in France during the World war, promises to become a part of the regular officers equip ment, now that General Pershing has succeeded General March as chief of staff. The reason for it's adoption abroad was to place American army officers in the same class as the of- ficers of the other allied armies some of whom could be distinguished from the non-c commissioned officers only by the belts they wore.
 Who Sam Browne was and how the belt came to be named after him were questions often asked and seldom an swered One of the army publica- tions now comes to the rescue with the announcement that Sam Drowne was a distinguished English cavalry officer who fought in India IS early as 1858. In the course of one of hiS hand to- hand engagements he is said to have lost an arm. Thereafter he devised the famous belt thatfnes since borne his name in order to be pres ent at parade without having his saber drag on the ground.
 Although a memorial tablet has been erected for this famous fighter in St. Pauls cathedral, London, and while his military exploits are said 10 be known to the youth of England as are those of Washington and Grant in this country, he will be known to some millions of Ameri- cans only as the man who made type of belt coveted by all, but worn by few.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Acccptirg Situation

T just ran up for day or two 10 get in touch with the Baptists of the Birmingham district" says D. F. Green, the secretary y-treasurer of the work of the Baptists in Alabama. While crop conditions are not as satisfactory in our section as they might be and business in many lines is lagsing, yet as l go up and down the state l find that many have &C., cepted the status without complaint ing and are bravely at work trying to bring back things to normalcy.
 "I feel that Alabama is great state and that it's citizens have many things to be thankful for. If man, cannot make living here I do not know where he can"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Cavalry Troop In .
 Need of Housing

@1 OMETHING should be done at 8) once to house the horses and equipment of the cavalry troop re- cently organized in Birmingham. Rae present lack of quarters and 5otection from the clements is such
 at unless steps are taken to bet ter care for the government prop aty worth $4o,0oO invested in euipment of the troop, Birming- nam will lose it. That is not to be fought of by discerning citizens
 70 appreciate what the national
 ard means in emergencies.
 The troop now has four new com has wagons, new Liberty truck, Hev escort wagon and two motor
 les with no place for their pro-
 tion. The present temporary rters for the horses at the fair rounds are reported to be falling aa decay, while the troop has no
 rance of permanent barns.
 aptain Carter, troop command
 outlines the immediate needs of 
 troop as follows: Supply room, stalls covered, managers built, fence for corral, fire extinguishers and funds for carpenters hire. The total cost will not be over $1,200.
 These necessities must be pro- vided or the federal inspector will take due cognizance of the physi- cal situation of government prop erty, the men will lose interest and the troop will gradually deterio- rate. If it is .disbanded, its need will be felt too late.
 The matter is one affecting the good of the community, the preser- vation of it's peace and dignity and it's safety from violence in times of unwonted excitement. It is a mat ter that should be attended to now
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
GERMAN-MADE FILMS
William c. Shepherd, in Leslies.

William c. Shepherd, in Leslie's. RRWS7 2 HAT does America want?"
 MW is quetsion that every German producer of films and every German movie star asks of every American he meets. The dream of being a great popular sue cess in America, of having the fans of America waiting for every new film in which you appear, of being Charlie Chaplin or a Douglas Fair banks and having Americans scan ming the Atlantic horizon for a sign of the ship that is bringing in your latest reels from Germany, anxious to pay out their good gold money for the privilege of viewing them--this ir the dream of every German star.
 Low prices for films is one of the seeking to capture our attention, but, in addition to this bait, many other temptations are being arranged in Berlin and Munich to land us. There iS lO SdNtilitC tOO 6 Soe tO ihNT TNS 'AA the effort to capture our attention, our sympathy and our silver quar- ters
 But American ideas and German ideas are so far. apart that the aver age German film which is being pro- duced today would clear out the av- craze American movie house in five minutes if it didn't drive the audi ence into throwing bricks.
 A movie hero in Germany these days must be tall and slender, and have great. rolling eyes. In Ameri- can parlance he must be a sissy" the plot must give him s-lot to suffer over and he must be an A-number- one sufferer, ready to display various kinds of mental agony at the drop of the hat. His fingers must be long and slender. and he must suffer with them. too; if he can pinch his own cheeks in his distress and tear his hair with graceful movements of his hands. he's got everything in hissbag of tricks that German audience de- mands.
 Our heroine, with her boudoir lan- guor and her plump arms always reaching ~out hungrily toward the face of some hero or villain for a kiss which is to be placed somewhere between her wrist and her knuckles, | is necessary to the success of a film ir Germany, but would bring only det rision in America. But there are other reasons why American movie fans need entertain mo fear of having German made filmA palmed off on them by misrepresen- tation. One>of the chief of these Is tlat the American movie fan de- mands that heroines shall always be young and pretty.
 In Germany the heroines are never lyoung-and rarely pretty. as they appear on the screen. The average American audience would gaze with
 stcnishment and then. perhaps. with
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Imnresscd With Ad

T was very much impressed with the display advertisement of the Bank of Ensley in the Herald Friday morning. said John J. Walk CT, the weh-known real estate man of Ensley The title of the ad was- He profits most who serves best and l can say that the Bank of Ems ley has served most and certainly served best in its work of develop ing this section of Greater Birming- ham.
 T am unaware of any community that has such an institution as the Bank of Ensley to stand by in case of trouble or momentary economic disturbance. l have been here a long time, and have been through some rather wrathy times, but the offi- cials,o the Bank of Ensley have al- ways guided intelligently and ,.pti- mistically, and the ship has always come in.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Tear gas to break up mobs will b'

Tear gas to break up mobs will be more effective than clubs and less harmful to the citizenry. Anybody would rather cry a little than nurse sore head.
 Due to his close association with a prominent American who has re- tired to private life. Colonel House is still being invited out abroad.
 | < # When needy people won't work for reduced wages there Is nothing to do but give them further time for reflection Postponing the disarmament con- ference would be sure to create an unfavorable impression on the tax payers.
 Displaying about the average craftsmanship a New York police man shot 8 mad dog, himself and bcy. Bergdoll's brother probably didn't realize that it is extra hazardous to call gentleman from Kentucky liar
 # < * Another "Follies" girl is figuring in a divorce scandal. It's a waste of money for Zicgfeld to hire a press agent.
 # # The many Birmingham citizens who want to be city commissioners evil dently don't mind being under fire.
 *N t # President Harding didn't have to sleep in a tent to discover that mo- squitoes are no respecters of persons.
 # < # Following the example of other en- frightened communities, masked men whipped Birmingham woman.
 # # x Bloody but unbowed, Len Small of Illinois stands squarely upon his con stitutional rights.
 + < # Whisky smuggling along the At lantic coast has risen to the dignity of "big business"
 x # < It is feared that the maternity bill" will provide too many govern ment jobs for spinsters.
 4. # + While business is dull there is no reason why everybody shouldn't learn how to swim
 # N < Hereafter law enforcement officers are going to think twice before in- vading private residence.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25

1 laughter. at some of the most cele- brated of the German heroines.
 Your German director always seeks out star who is experienced in the drama. He trusts her. cut of her rich stage experience, to do all the acting that is necessary. Necessarily, she must be well along in years to have gained the experience that is needed; and only too often age is coincidental with obesity.
 Experiments have been made in Germany in turning pretty and un- trained girls into film actresses, but without success.
 But, in truth, there are other diff faculties. The chief of these is the German standard of film morals Ger man producers are constantly irri- tated by Americans who appear in their exhibition rooms. Of half hundred film plots which I studied either in film or manuscript form. only three stories--and these were historical-would have been ac- ceptable in the United States. One gets the impression in Germany that the German movie fan demands tre- mendous thrill or shock. To make light of matrimony, of the home, and even of common decency, seems to Do the German film mode.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
# # < All Must Share In Lower Price Process

@ UMMING up the rise and fall I0 of living costs since 1914, the National Industrial Conference board finds that reductions from the peak prices up to July 1, show liv- ing costs to be still S61 per cent higher than on the same date in 1914.
 Decrease in living costs during the year ending July l amount to 21 per cent, but fluctuations in the past month have been only frac- tional, food going down three-tenths of one per cent, clothing advancing nine-tenths of one per cent and oth- CT articles remaining stationary.
 With the slashes that have been made in iron and steel products their average decline from the highest price has been tremendous, that of pig iron being more than 50 per cent, bringing it to price that was frequently paid before the war.
 It would not be unprofitable for the American citizen to put on his thinking cap and ask himself how much further he wants prices to fall. How much does he wish to pare his own income? He cannot but participate in the national pro- cess. He might consider whether he desires to stop not far from the point to which we have receded or participate in still further decline.
 Going about and declaring that the other fellow charges more than he should for what the critic pur- chases is not improving the situa- tion. Every man sells as well as buys. Let none forget that.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
WHERE RAILROADS OUTLAWED

I With an area of 245,000 square miles, Afghanistan is, next to Tibet the largest country in the world that is practically closed to the citizens of other nations. But political life at wary, alert Kabul is in sharp con- trast to- the meditative seclusion and classic aloofness of the pious lamas at 1+hasa, Amir Tmanullan Khan. through his agents in India and else- where, Is in close touch with the worlds current. events; and, as the last remaining independent ruler of Moslem country, now that the DOW CT of the Saliph at Stamboul is broken, he yields far-reaching in- l fluence throughout the Mohammedan world; also, because his land happens to lie just as it does on the map of the world, it is plain that for a long time to come he will be an active force in the political destines of mid dle Asia. Like Menelik of Abyssinia, Queen Lii of the Hawaiian Islands, or ! the last of the Fiji kings, this Amir, remote and obscure as his Kingdom is, stands out in his time as pie turesquc world figure.
 From the Persians the Afghans got the idea of marrying more than one wife; but, like the Persians too, they have found, to their dismay, that<polygamy-is nowadays more ex- DensiVe than excitinos'
 sometimes, when the Amir wants to favor his faithful officials with presents, or perhaps to play practical 1ckes In certain cases, he distributes women among them; but these gifts often prove so troublesome that no great degree of gratitude is apparent among the recipients.
 Amir Habibullah Khan, who was assassinated in 1919, had & harem of over 10o women, and among these, strangely enough, were few Euro- peans. The present Amir, AmanuHah Khan. has but one wife.
 "The women of Afghanistan are kept in more rigid seclusion and are more closely yelled than the women of any other Moslem land.
 Like the Arab, the Afghan consid- CTS it unnecessary and even unwise that women should learn to read or write. No girls are admitted to the hazar schools and no muIlahs are en- ployed to teach them, and Afghanis- tan knows nothing of women teach CTS.
 "The trade of Afghanstan is moved entirely by caravans, and is largely in the hands of Hindus and Tadjike There is not mile Of railroad in the kingdom, the Amir fearing that steel highways would make isolation inn possible.
 Apart from rugs, q few Xylo- graphs, some crude adornments for women, little silk and felt, and a few simple woven tissues, no prod ,ucts of native skilled labor are on tho market. And even much of what is produced in these few lines is mere ly an imitation of western and east ern art. Small industries supply only the most urgent needs of the lower classes. The rich people buy their luxuries from abroad. and the poer make shabby shift with the cheaper fabrics.
 "The Amir keeps sat Peshaw,ar political agent, who occa casionally pays visit to the Viceroy of India; and, since Afghanstan's formal inde- pendence of 1919. envoys have been sent to Persia and one is perhaps now in soviet Russia"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
which have been closed for six

which have been closed for six months.
 Birmingham iron masters who have just returned from Chicago re- port orders for shop resumption by all the leading western roads. There is a new atmosphere in railroad cir cles. The trunk lines sense a turn for the better that is going to call for more cars and locomotives in good condition and for more new cars to haul freight.
 The railroads look for early pay ment of their claims by the federal government. That stimulates them, but there is more than this behind the increase in shop activity. It is a realization of the small available equipment with which to do a nor maj transportation business, which is incapable of handling a bumper business.
 The chief executives of the trunk lines are watchful of general condi- tions and quick to feel the pulse, of commerce. They would not be resuming at their shops if they were discouraged as to the early future,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25

N ~ " sHoAAA-N1 I OANf ACs N-ss oNAt WW Special )-The arrival in
 Washington of an envoy from Afghanistsn, now perhaps the most mysterious country in, the world seeking the recognition of his home land and the establishment of olplomatic relations withsthe United States, seems to indicate that the policy of absolute isolation from the rest Of the world long followed by this Moslem Kingdom, is to be modi- fled. Light on conditions in this lit- tle-known region is thrown by the following communicat tion to the Ma tional Geographic society from Fred erick Simpich and Haji Mirza> Hus- sein:
 The buffer state of Afehanistan. historic shock -absorber between Rus sia and Great Britain in middle Asia. years ago put a Keep Out sign. a This Means You warning, to all white men and Christians. The land is 'posted'--to use a poacher's phrase posted against trade and concession hunters, against missionaries, and against all military and political hunters in particular.
 And the Keep Out sign is still up. Today the foreigner is no more welcome in Afghanistan than he was 100 years ago. Forbidden Lhasa itself Is no more exclusive than breeding, suspicious kabul, the capital of this tsloate, unfriendly realm of fanatic tribes, of rocks, deserts, irrigated valleys and towering unsurveyed ranges. ~
 For reasons of foreign policy, the Amir has long felt the necessity of secluding his little- known land to the greatest possible extent from the out side world. Only a few Europeans, mostly British. but occasionally also an American, and now andNthen a few Russians or Germans, have had per- mission to come into this country and to sojourn for a while in it's curious capital. But even on such rare oc- casions as when foreign engineer, or doctor whose services are badly needed, is admitter by the grace of. the Amir, the visitor is subject to a surveillance that amounts almost to imprisonment
 No ambassadors or ministers, not even missionaries, are permitted to reside in this forbidden Meslem land. Splendid isolation is sort of Af- ghan tradition, conviction that the ccming of the foreigner will spell the end of the Amir and his unique, absolute rule.
 To-day no other monarch anywhere wields such undisputed authority or is in closer touch with the every day life of his subjects. He per- sonally runs his country's religion, its foreign affairs, and he even su- pervises much of it's commerce.. He also owns and censors the only news paper printed in all Afghanistan. In- cidentally he keeps 5S automobiles,
 
 palace to another, he goes by motor over short pieces of road built es- pecially for his pleasure.
 From the World war though he took no active part in it, the Amir emerged with singular profits. His old and once rival neighbors, Great Britain and Russia drawn together as allies in the world conflict, left him a free hand and in 1919 Great Britain officially recognized the po- litical independence of this much buffeted buffer state, to whose rulers she had so long paid a fat annuity
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-25
Shall Ocean Be Wet?

Whether the prohibition forces, aid ee by the volstead enforcement law, will be able to make old ocean sit up and look sober, so far as American passenger liners are concerned, re- mains to be seen. So far the law has not bounced upon the owners of for eign-going passenger ships to any extent. In fact, no definite and de- cisive ruling as to the laws appli- cation in that particular has been forthcoming.
 Ut will be suicide to enforce pro- hibition on American passenger ships" Such was the statement of a prominent shipping man to the writer of this article.
 We can get along very well with prohibition shlps-the law must be enforced" was the statement of Sem ator Jones, head of the committee on commerce of the United States Senate, which has been charged with the upbulding of the American r1er- chant marine.
 The veteran shipping man is count ing the cost to American commerce and commercial prestige, while the prohibitionist says in effect that the sea must be dry at any cost"
 Those who want to keep the ocean wet have the solidest arguments, they deNere, upon which to base their claims. Their fight was begun in Washington before the old ad- ministration went out of office, when a committee of five leading steam rotary of the Treasury and the At torney General, in order to place their case on record.
 MT Munson illustrated the case in regard to two of the Munson line ships which are now on the run to Bunos Ayres via Rio de Janeiro. These are the Huron and the Martha Washington. They are fine vessels, capable of carrying many passengers and are chartered to the Munson line by the shipping board. Thus they are under government control As a result the liquor laws of the country, as now construed, are held to be ef- fectlve on these boats wherever they may be.
 It appears that when these vessels were first placed in the River Plate service, which naturally necessitates carrying many passengers of Spanish nativity and descent, the question of ceep-sea prohibition had not come up and wine was served as on vessels of competing lines. The Huron and Martha Washington did a thriving business.
 Then came the edict ruling that nothing above the legal half of I per cent" was to be served aboard shipping board steameres and the of passengers quickly dropped 30 per cent or more. A large of those who had been patrons of the Munson liners flocked to other ships.
 Men in the passenger department of the International Mercantile Ma rine company say: People purchas- ing tickets usually ask us for frank statement as to whether drinks will be served on the American ships dur ing a voyage. If the reply is it the negative they quickly decide to use a foreign line.' Nothing stronger than, g per cent" beer has been served on the passenger ships of the line since the Norwegian prohibition edicts went into effect. As a result the Scandi- American line, Danish com pany on whose vessels liquor is served, has reaped the benefit of very large part of the passenger pa tronage that formerly fell to the Nor wcgan ships.