davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1921-05-20

We reckon that Charlie Chap
lin took two or three of his ia
nous steps when he lost his
famous patched pants. Aside
from his shoes, the loss of said
pants will prove a much more
lasting injury than the burns on
his shins.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
a request that port conditions at Mobile be ameliorated.

request CHdt pOII COiulIlOHS at Mobile be ameliorated.
 Frederic I. Thompson, Alabama member of the shipping board, has transmitted the facts to Alabamians. It is highly important that they con- slider their bearings on the future of the port and of the state at large. Wharfage charges constitute one of the most important features of the business of shipping and they can either make or unmake a port.
 As MT. Thompson points out, "Where a port is under private con- trol the government will interpret the improvement of the channel as being public appropriation for private benefit"
 There is only one answer to the problem at the port of Mobile. It is  the answer which the people of Louis jana gave to the needs of New Or leans. The port of Mobile is the port of all Alabama. It is just as im- portant to Jackson county cotton as it is to the cotton of Escambia and Conecuh, because it is the gateway for all Alabama cotton. It is likewise the gateway for all other Alabama products seeking markets abroad.
 It is an Alabama problem and the state must work it out with Alabama funds.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
VANITY A CENTURY AGO

From the Montgomery Advertiser
 The Atlanta Journal discovers this sentence in a Disraeli book published 1ol years ago: The girls are continu- ally plucking their eyebrows that they may be thin and long," Disraen was writing of barbaric customs of Chinese women. Tn the same breath with eye- brow pluckfng in China" says the Journal, he described how the women of Greenland colored their faces blue and yellow; how the grand danes of India applied red paint to the cheeks, and how the Persian debutante broke her nose in order to give 1t the proper aquiline contour" And to think-the women did all this merely to please men!
 Moreover. they are practicing all of these things except nose breaking in the twentieth century, and We suspect they are still doing 1t t6 please mere men. After all, we men should be grateful for the pains the ladies take to please us, even though we may be- lieve they are mistaken in assuming that we like them to remove their eye brows and to cake their faces with Iunhygienic cosmetics
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
ALL ROADS LIE OPEN
the Florida Metropolis.

From the Florida Metropolis.
 Greenville Tenn. has main street two miles long. At one end. over a little one-story frame house. is sigr reading. "A. Johnson, Tailor"
 At the other end of the street is a marble monument bearing the inscrip- tion, "A. Johnson.> President"
 "A. Johnson" was the Andrew John who became President when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
 The two signs in Greenville. Tenn. again bring home the fact that Amer ice is a land of equal opportunity While chance may play big part in your life, a humble beginning does not bar you from the White House ,r any other top notch leadership-political scientific. industrial or financial.
 We make tailors Into Presidents ir this country, and poor bookkeepers into John D. Rockefellers-becaus we have no caste system
 If you have the goods in you, you can become a leader.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07

From the a-Tragedy of the Jungle
 Folk, by Charles Mayer, in Asia
 Magazine for May.
 C1N HE orang -outangs, high up in
 Jl the tree, were huddled together,
 swaying back and forth. Dense clouds of smoke rolled up from the smudges. enveloping the tree com- pletely and hiding the beasts, who perched aloft, screaming and cough ing. I could get occasional glimpses of them, as they sat there, hugging each other.
 The big rattan nets were in place, with the men holding them ready to cast when the tree came down. Other stood behind, to pin the beasts down if the nets did not fall in the proper position. At last messenger came with the word that the tree was ready me, told the men to be on the alert and sent him back with instructions to let the tree fall. Through the din of tomtoms and shouts we could hear chopping; the tree swayed for a moment, the orang -outangs screamed with terror and the men with the nets crouched, ready to spring. Slowly the tree toppled and came down, gather ing speed as 1t fell.
 The orang- -outangs abruptly stopped their outcry. As they hit the ground, they were paralyzed with fright. A net went sailing over them. In an in stant they came to their senses and began fighting. With long, black, powerful arms they dashed at the rat tan; they leaped and struggled. biting the ropes and tearing great gashes in their bodies. They screamed and chat tered furiously. One of them reached
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07

out and grabbed a native by the throat whipping him through the air and breaking his neck. The native struck the ground several yards away blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
 Our material had been put to the greatest test and would hold the anl-> mals. I knew. So, because I wanted them to have room to become thor- oughly tangled in the nets, ordered the ropes slackened a trifle.
 Just then, while I was standing near the nets, experimenting the work of making them fast, a huge paw shot out and grabbed my ankle. I was ierked off the ground and, as fell. my hands caught the limb of tree. I clung to it with all my strength. feeling my fingers weaken and slip while the brute pulled. The joints at my hip and knee pained me for an in- stant; then my leg became numb. The men stood terrified and I could not yell at them; I felt myself growing dizzy. Then omar grapDeu clup dHu oiahS arm; the pulling stopped. and real ized that I was being draggc- away from the nets. For several minutes was too groggy to know what was happening, but the idea that the na- tives might kill the orang-outangs while I was disabled made me sit up.
 While I sat on the ground directing the work, the men gathered the outs side meshes of the nets and ran rope through them.sT Then, as the other ropes were 1oosened, they pulled the moose close, and the two brutes were in sack. For the first time. had an opportunity to examine our catch; they were the two biggest orang-outangs ever captured in Borneo.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
LUKE M,LUKE SAYS

Those kneeless stockings may be all right sin clean anthracite towns. But in sooty, soft coal towns the girls are gonna have hard time keeping theil knees so they'll look white.
 Our idea of henpecked husband is one ywhQ. has to walk the floor with friend wife's poodle every night unti dear Fido goes to sleep.
 A man never realizes what good weight the ice man gives him until ht has to empty the pan under the ice box at night.
 The bow-legged girl wouldn't think of letting you see her in a. bathing suit. Yet she will wear a skirt that is so short that it doesn't cover hei panteHa.
 Why doesn't Edison invent a rubber flask for the hip pocket? Booze is too expensive to be carried around fir anything as fragile as glass.
 When husband starts in proving that he wasn't there before he is ac- cused of being there. his wife knows where he was all night.
 Copyright. 1s2l.l
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
FLORENCE, CITY OF WEALTH

, fact that 1t was the fountainhead of the renaissance, for the city probably contains more art treasures than can be found in any similar area. Among the masters who worked In Florence many of them born and reared there were Michaelangelo, Raphael. Leon- ardo da Vinci, Giotti, Luca della Robia, Donatello, Fra Filippo Lippi. Botticelli and Andrea del Sarto. besides a host of lesser painters, sculptors and archi- tects. Dante and Boccaccio, among the greatest literary lights of the renais- sance, were F1orentines as vera Calico. philosopher, and Machiavelli. statesman.
 Numerous palaces, bridges, towers and sacred structures show the genius of Florentine architects. Among the latter is the cathedral, the world- famed Duomo. Observers have com-
 pared the feeling of vastness which one has on viewing the mighty dome of this edifice to that which come s from contemplating the pyramids Nowhere else in the world has man built g roof which encloses so great pillarless void. He who ventures up the many stairs that furnish . way to the top between the double skins of
 the dome. feels like tiny fly scaling a gigantic pumpkin.
 The old market place of Florence the Mercato vecchio O. and its dmme- diate environs were torn down in 1890. much to the sorrow of antiquarians.
 in order that the sanitation of the city might be improved. Around this most characteristic feature of the old city congestion was very marked. Tho walls of the buildings that formed
 many of the streets could be touched simultaneously by outstretched arms. Windows were mere slits letting in
 little light and air: and the filth of ages had accumulated in cellars and
 rooms. On the site of the old market section has been constructed the mod
 ern but commonplace piazza of Victor Emmanuel
 Florence is in the north central
 part of the Italian peninsula, but on the west side of the Apenndne moun-
 tains. It Is situated on the river Arno about 50 miles from the sea. Medieval Florence needing an outlet for its commerce bought its way to the sea by purchasing at one time the title 10
 Pisa on the Arno near its mouth and Leghorn. seaport a few miles from
 Pisa"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
007 ASHINGTON, D. C., May G., WW Especially - Florence. which
 racaptlxr was renortad in

wv Nsasssloe. espssisl, F: Florence re s-s which s recently was reported in newspaper dispatches to be the start ing point for expeditions by armed Italian Fascist, or extreme national ists, against communists. had cap tains of industry" "business adninis- trations' unemployment and riots by the proletariat of its woolen shops when Lawrence and Lowell were happy hunting grounds for Indians and Col umbus was unborn. according to a bulletin issued by the National Geog- raphic society, from its Washington. D. C.. headquarters.
 "Florence, one of the most famous of the worlds art centers has not had the peaceful existence that is sometimes associated with art" says inc bulletin. But it has had wealth in abundance which Is perhaps more important, for art seldom develops in poverty stricken communities. In the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries this city-state was perhaps the wealthiest community in all Europe. More than 30,000 workers were employed in its woolen indus tries and its traders were found throughout the known world. Flor ence was to such an extent a synonym for wealth that, when Florentine was taken prisoner, the ransom de- manded was twice that for citizen of another community. The coin of Florence, the florin, was. the standard | money of Europe.
 "This widespread commerce natural ly poured an increasing stream of wealth into Florence and made its merchants and proprietors opulent. The city fairly bristled with captains of industry and merchant princes The forms of republic had been es- abolished but from the first it was strictly business mems government. The guilds or associations of the lead I ing merchants in the several lines of l trade each elected members to the governing body. Later the represen- tatives of some of the minor guilds were permitted to join the governing group. The laborers made strenuous efforts to obtain voice in what might be referred to in the terms of today as the city's business soviet but ex- cept for a brief period following a revolt. were excluded. For period nobles. were denied a voice also and
 the town was business mems paradise.
 "The famous Medici family were among those enriched by the i'm
 dustry and trade of Florence. They owned chain of Is banks about Europe. By the generous use of their money and influence they became the patrons and dictators of Florence and
 later it's ducal rulers. though the
 forms of the republic were retained for some time.
 Florence shows today the results of its great medieval wealth and the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
Another Step in
 Birmingham's Progress
Y y y

6NHE first shipment of merchandise
 from the east via the Mallory and Warrior barge lines is on the way up the river to Tuscaloosa and Bir- mingham. It consists of hardware for wholesale merchants. It pays 20 per cent less freight rate by reason of having come by the barge line. Hardware is heavy. The difference in the freight bill over rail transpor- tation must be considerable.
 This shipment is important in the same sense that the launching of the first vessel at the Chickasaw yards was important. It marks a new achievement in doing business in Bir- mingham and enlarging Birming- hams trade territory.
 Typical of the dual transportation advantages of the district, the pressed steel car plant at Fairfield begins it's regular operations next week, turn ing out 15 to 25 standard freight cars per day. Rails and water, freight cars and barges, locomotives and steamships are alike employed in working out Alabama's commercial and industrial salvation.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
HOW BIRDS HELP FARMERS

John Burroughs. in Harper's Magazine
 for May.
 Swallows, in hawking through the air for insects. do not snap their game up as do the flycatchers. Their mouths are little nets which they drive through the air with the speed of air planes A few mornings ago the air fuzzy. insects from the size of mos- quitoes down to knats. They kept near the ground. I happened to be sitting on the sunny side of rock and saw the swallows sweep past. One came by within 10 feet of me and drove straight on to a very conspicuous in sect which disappeared in his open mouth like a flash. How many hun dreds or thousands of such insects they must devour each day! Then think of how. many insects the flycatchers and warblers and other insect-eating birds must consume in the course of a season! The State Agricultural Society of Kansas estimates the bird popula- tion of that state to be 256,000,000. which is probably not far out of the way. but that they destroy every year 576 00o,0oo pounds insects is a gross exaggeration At least half of this bird population are seed eaters, which would cut this estimate to about 2S0.- 000,000. The other half the flycatch- CTS the warblers, and so on. are here orly about one-third of the year. which would again greatly reduce the esti- mate. Two hundred million pounds would be very liberal estimate, re- ducing the reputed 4so trains of 50 box cars each, or 24.ooo cars containing 24.ooo pounds to the car. to much less than half that number and amount. But even this would save many mil lions of dollars annually to the Kan sas farmers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE
Great Glass


 "Of all the unique ideas for observ- ances that of the Cosmopolitan Bible class of the First Baptist church strikes me as being one of the most original, said Gordon Erickson, community con cert director.
 The rapid growth of the class has been duplicated before, but the exer- cises in Woodrow Wilson park Sunday morning will be the first of the kind have ever heard of taking place.
 "The class is indeed fortunate in ob- taining Judge w. w. Brandon of Tus- caloosa. as the speaker for Sunday morning. The innovation of the young women pinning carnations on coat lapels is also bright idea. No doubt a record crowd will attend"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
Proud of His Son

T am proud of my son Albert. /" says M Israel, "as he is going to be farmer and Is taking the very great est interest at his work at Perdue university.
 He will have one more year there and then he will be ready to begin his life work. He is not thinking of Being mere fancy agriculturist, but each vacation he works on some farm. Last summer he was at Judge Stokely's s place near Demopolis. I hope he is going to make good and believe that he is, as he likes both the theoretical and practical side of farming.''
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07

THE CALL AT THE BASEMENT Clinton Scollard. in Munseys Magazine, In at the easement comes a call
 My lips may not transmute, As turing and ethereal
 As is fairy flute. It seems, the while list lntent,
 'Tis blent<of breeze and bird, Or like some rare old instrument
 To sudden music stirred It has the charm of lyric streams
 That ripple OCT the stones: The ecstacy of singing dreams
 IT. it's faint undertones. needs must heed--I have no choice
 Be out and far away, Tho follower of that truant voice. a The spirit of the Mayl
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
Read The Age.HeraId

We had regular run of inquiry this morning with regard to the portable steel flower stands made by the John M. Red Manufacturing company" said Charles F. Yarn of the Chamber os Commerce.
 Tt all came about through a small reading article in The Age Herald call ing attention to the establishment of this new steel industry. Numbers of persons wished to get in touch with the maker so as to ascer tain prices and the like. railroad agent wished to handle the outside shipments of the stands.
 '~ New spaper publicity is certainly the thing and Birmingham is about the quickest place on earth to catch on to anything that the newspapers tell about.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
America's Place Is
 With the Allies

X MEXICAN participation in the A settlement of Europe's affairs is not only demanded by our national interests involved, but is a work for humanity that we cannot afford to ignore.
 Several times the tension between Great Britain and France has almost reached the breaking point. Lloyd George has found it necessary to jus tify the attitude of France, but it really calls for no justification. France is still smarting from the injuries she received during thewar froma ruthless foe and since Germany has tried every ruse her statesmen could devise to avoid payment of indemnity to the nations she wronged, it is little to be wondered at that France is i'm patient. She not only feels that she has suffered most, but she has con- stantly before her the menace of a rejuvenated Germany launching her armies once more on a career of con quest and striking first at France, the principal object of her hatred.
 It is announced from Washington that President Harding has ac- cepted the allied invitation to have America represented in the su- preme council, the separations com mission and the council of ambassa-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
* # 4 Denver Preacher Takes Charpe of a Newspaper

X PERSON who will frankly ac- A knowledge his inability to drive a locomotive or perform some other kind of skilled work in which he has never had the slightest experience, thinks he knows all about running a newspaper. The self-appointed critic. is familiar to all newspaper workers. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Rev. w. H. Wray Boyle, pastor of the Central Presbyterian church of Denver, accepted an invitation to take charge of the Denver Post for one day after he had preached a sermon assailing newspapers and the kind of news they publish.
 Big "stories," as they are known to newspaper men, meant nothing to the preacher-editor. Two notorious divorce cases were completely ig- nored, although even in newspaper circles opinions differ as to the amount of space that should be given to such matter. The sport page car ried nothing about boxing, but Casey at the Bat" was reprinted for the edification of Post readers. The front page was given over to two-columu editorial on "The Ideals of An Edi- tor" interviews with lawyers urging improvements in the jury system, story about the governor of Colorado vetoing bills for a normal school and five telegraph items. No type larger than 36 point was used and the larg- est headline was two columns.
 Dr. Boyle may be a good preacher, but since he doubtless desires to con- tinue sleek and well fed and provide for those dependent upon him for sup port, it is just as we'll that he doesn't have to earn his living as an editor. The kind of newspaper the average preacher would publish, as indicated by Dr. Boyle's one-day supervision of the Post, would not survive long. Sem sational journalism is not the highest type of journalism, as all newspaper men know, but newspaper must pub lish news, or it cannot exist. When a paper prints the details of the lat est murder, it does not advocate crime. Its readers want to know what is go- ing on in the world, the good as well as the bad, and it is the function of a newspaper to tell them, as truthfully and accurately as possible. 1
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
New Courthouse

Jefferson county certainly needs a new and larger courthouse," said B. k. Ray, and I think the recently sug- gested plan of Thomas F. Huey, mem Der of the board of revenue, is very good one if it can be worked out.
 I have not looked into the legal status of it. but it appears to be the only way, for some time to come, whereby new building may be erected.
 The present courthouse is entirely inadequate for the administration of the legal affairs of this county and is a matter which all jurors called to serve on the juries Of the various di- visions of the circuit court should con- slider when they are there and think about the matter. Every department is crowded and there is much time lost by the way in which the departments are scattered about. I would like to see new courthouse and hope this plan can be worked out as it seems the only means to an end"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07

LIGHT STUFF. I'm afraid posterity will never hear of Scribson." ''why not?" "He writes the kind of books people read on trains.'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
High Living Standards Depend on Industry

N HARLES SCHWAB spoke many N sound and practical truths at the dinner recently given him by the New York Chamber of Commerce, but none was sounder or went deeper than this
 = We talk of minimum of liv-
 ing wage for the individual, but the community must first be al- lowed to live.
 Our laborers are entitled to high standard of living, and we should throw around them every
 possible opportunity to realize it.
 But the average standard of liv-
 ing will depend necessarily upon
 the average amount of work done
 by all men and not upon the mere
 money rates which are paid as wages Wages are not gifts and
 the worlds wage bill cannot be
 paid unless 1t is earned by labor as whole.
 In other words, the community can not lift classes of men higher than the community itself rises. The com munity is the support of every kind of labor existing in it and depends for it's character on the average per- formance of labor. Labor cannot de- mand high standard without pro- ducing the means of it's maintenance and the means cannot be produced by working at minimum.
 Classes should realize that they live off the masses. Whenever class of labor gets more than that to which it is entitled, the masses pay the bill. When the load becomes too great for the masses the bill is not paid and the standard set up for itself by labor that begrudges return in labor for the wage it receives falls to the ground.
 The nation needs recognition of honest dealing, man with man, more than it does all other things. 1. * F
 Wharfage Situation at
 Mobile an impeachment
 
 A LABAMIANS cannot escape the EA seriousness If the situation at the port of Mobile, where wharfage charges are in the hands of private owners, the railroads. Secretary Weeks has called attention to this and has forwarded the data to the interstate commerce commission with
The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-07
STILL A NOVICE.

NOT ACQUAINTED. "Is this the detective bureau?" Yes, ma a'am," replied the chief What can we do for you?' My husband has deserted me" Do you know the reason why he left you?"
 No. I don't know the hussy, but 1 understand her first name is Mabel"