davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
PROTECT LIVES FIRST

Nearly forty per cent. of all persons ar rested in Birmingham during February were charged with violation of traffic laws. Pre- sumably the larger portion of these arrests led to convictions. If the laws are not being oheyed, there is indication that it is not altogether the fault of the police depart ment, for the arrests seem abundantly nu- 1mcrous. provided the penalties are suf- ficiently severe. Nevertheless, there is far too much reckless driving, such as unfortu- nately is too frequently Vndetected. Viola tions of minor laws and parking ordinances are to be discouraged, of course, but inas much as the chief function of the police is to protect the lives and property of citizens those infractions of traffic laws that menace the lives of citizens should receive primary emphasis. Those who are persistent offend CTS should be forbidden to drive automobiles in Jefferson county, and such other meas urcs are in order as would keep the offenses at the irreducible minimum.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
INDEX OF IMMIGRATION

Among the European states which have already reached the limit of their immigrant quotas for the fiscal year ending June 30 are Armenia, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Runania, Greece and Palestine. How many more of these people would come over this year but for the limitation may be judged from the promptness with which they have exercised the maximum of their privilege. While southern and eastern Europeans have come through the gateway to the number allowed and masses are pressing for the next open- ing, it is to be regretted that there are no such returns from Ireland, England, Scot land, the Scandinavian countries, Holland and Wales. Would it not be we'll to make a deeper study of why those whom we con sider especially desirable do not come, and see if we cannot devise some inducement to have them come? Our immigration grows where it is already over-done. We would have it begin to grow where it is under-done.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
WAR NOW MORE REMOTE

The situation in the Near East seems subtly to have changed without anybody knowing just when or how. short time ago the powers were on the defensive against the attacks of the Turkish envoys upon their peace proposals. The more the allied diplo- mats argued and defended, the more aggres- sive grew the Turks. Then came the ulti- matum of Lord Curzon and the end of the conference. For a time the Turks sulkcd in gloomy hostility, and the threat of war hung heavily in the air. Now, of a sudden come the Turks with counter-proposals in- stead of cannon, and they in turn are on the defensive while the powers criticise their oi- ferings. Inn Turks first held the strategic advantage as far as argument was concerned, for the powers had no means of knowing how far towards actual belligerency the Mos lens were willing to go. Now the Turks have made definite proposals and the powers know that somewhere between the two sets of proposals there lies agreement. The dan ger of war is not altogether gone, but 1t has receded into far less menacing back ground.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

do not visit the shopping district, both be- cause of their loss of sleep and the fact that they have spent their money otherwise. Un- doubtedly there is considerable basis for the belief that night life with it's attendant and sometimes questionable allurements de- tracts from the more legitimate and con- structive business of the daytime. If the merchants succeed in ending the practice they will perhaps be conferring moral ben eft upon the community as well as stimu- lating their own trade. It is question, how ever, whether such a program can be car ried out without strenuous fight on the part of the merchants of the night to retain the white lights, the brilliant allurements of electric blazonry, and the attendant custom
 It is probable that the pendulum has swung as far nghtwards as it will, and that there will be more or less of return to daylight saving by using it rather than by squander- ing at night the earnings of the day. It will be an experiment interesting to watch.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

ing this as the correct answer to the ques- tion for MT. McAdoo is not apt to be in error in matters of this kind, just what has it profited us to have had this defense thrust upon our former official through a diplo- matic breach?
 Lord Balfour was recently in this country on the disarmament conference and he showed in unmistakable ways his friendli- ness for us. He was extensively entertained in Washington and unfailingly gave proof of the deepening understanding between his country and ours-a relationship, certainly, of more value to us and to the world than any mere question invoving matter con- corning which there must be, anyhow, some definite record to speak fir itsef. great deal depends on our relations with Great Britain. It is not enough to say that there are the deepest ties of blood between us, nor that our international welfare is largely af- fected by these relations. In all the troubled world we are the two nations now in posi- tion, by standing in close cooperation, to bring that which the world most needs speace Any question, the point of which is merely to ascertain whose statement is, as a matter of memory, right and whose is wrong, was a most unfortunate question for an ambassador to raise. Silence is often the better taste as we'll as the better diplo-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
HONESTY IN TITLE DEEDS

At meeting of the Birmingham Real Estate Board an address was delivered by Judge Phares Coleman in which he strongly urged absolute truth and honesty III deeds recording transfers of property. Too often. it was shown, these transfers contain vague clauses, which fail fully to recite the con alterations on which the transfer IS based. This, in the end, leads to conrusion, diffi- eulties and embarrass aelnts, which IS the same as to say that litigation is involved to straigh.en out the resulting complexlty ana vagueness.
 Some of these vague clauses, such as "and for other valuable considerations" are ln- serted for the purpose of essslng the tax burden by avoiding disclosure of the full 5alue of the said considerations" This < not right and is not ultimately and al -ways successful in avoidance of the tax pathcrer who has means of his own for ferreting out these subterfuges. Law was conceived fer the benefit of societW; to hold it together in bond of fair play be- tween men Too often it has been twisted to opposite ends. That should not be tol- erated in transfers of real estate, because the social fabric is founded certain ten- llrc of land ownership. Our transfers Of real estate should be simplified, but so long as they are not, it is essential that they be so clear and conclusive in statement that yexation cannot follow.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
WHEN SILENCE IS DIPLOMACY

What point can be gained either way through the controversy now going on be- tween spokemen of this country and spokes- men of Great Britain as to whether the United States required England to guaran- tee it's loans to other nations during the war, is anything but easy to see. Ambas- sador Harvey started the ball rolling in an after-dinner speech by denying a statement made months ago by Lord Balfour to the effect that this country had required of Great Britain such indorsement. Lord Balfour passed the ball back in the direction of Mir. Harvey, and now it is being tossed around ing this as the correct answer to the ques- of the Intnralled council on war purchases and finance and by MT. Leffingwel, assist ant secretary of the treasury during the Will son administration.
 Mir. McAdoo says Ambassador Harvey was right and Lord Balfour was wrong. Accept
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
IN SMOKING SMYRNA

Smyrna burned five months ago. It has been just that long since human masses were huddled along the waterfront's edge while from their homes, the public build- ings and the warehouses of the town there arose a background of flame which revealed ships far out in the harbor and heroic work of rescue as we'll as exhibitions of robbery and brutality. The conflagration served to illuminate the stage of great human drama.
 Smyrna still shoulders. Its blackened and twisted ruins disfigure the shores to which the ships of the ancient world came before Pauls epistles went out from Ephesus, a city which was a new and upstart rival to Smyrna. which from the dawn of history had held first place in the commerce of Asia Minor. Homer is said to have found inspi- ration there and Smyrna's coins of later day were stamped with the poets figure. In the seventh century the citys trade raised it to the height of power and splen- dor. In the twelfth century the Turks be- gan their ravages upon it. Then came the Mongos and then the Turks again. British trading companies in later years took hand in it's commerce, stabilizing channels for it's figs, carpets, tobaccos and silks Some seven thousand steamships visited the port each year. It was the headquarters of missions of all denominations, with Chris tian schools and colleges, and the ancient city still held first place among cities of Asia Minor.
 The fire of five months ago leaves it still smoulderng in its. ruins and with the spirit so gone from it's people that not brick since then has been laid in restoring it. Enl- bers still burn among the fire-swept waste and streets are tangles of girders and stone The hand of desolation rests heavily upon the once proud city. But as though spirit of sardonic irony were in possession of the place a sweet and languorous odor arises out of the ruins. Millions of tons of to- bacco owned by an American company are still aglow and as from huge pipe bowl are giving out smoke-wreaths into the somnolent air, and Smyrna with its beloved weed and its pipe of peace is smoking itself to sleep, a sleep to be disturbed only when and if the broken spirit of its people can raise the stricken city from its ruins.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
TO DRAIN SOUTHERN SWAMPS

The matter of retaining swamp lands is of great importance to this section of the country, where such areas as could be drained are so extensive. Such project may be favored by the nexr congress. The West has had much attention from the gov 1ernment in the reclamation of its vast arid regions which have been changed from de- serts to fruitful fields, and a committee from congress is now on its way to San Diego, where exceptional opportunities are offered for the study of this problem. Rep- resentative w. B. Bankhead of Alabama, who is a member of this committee, IS staunch advocate of the governments turn ing it's attention also to the S0uth's waste and reclamable lands, and he hopes for the early enactment of necessary measures. Legislation to this end is expected through the cooperation of representatives from the West with those of the South, for the needs of the two sections are identical, though the processes to be employed are reversed. The reclamation of the South's swamp lands, however, would be less expensive and more immediately profitable because of the simp- Ter problem. The fertility of the lands thus to be drained is unquestionable and in their accessibility to transportation facilities there would be an immense advantage. Unlike the vaster drouth-stricken spaces of the West, the Southern swamps lie within easy reach of the railroads and navigable rivers Count less acres of land as rich as any In the world only await drainage to add immensely to the South's agricultural wealth and to the worlds supply of the soils increase.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Poor Boys Who
 Became Famous By FREDERICK HOUK LAW
James Gordon Bennett

It probably does not occur to anyone who walks along Broadway at Thirty-fourth street and looks at the beautiful building formerly occupied by the New York Herald, that that building and the great wealth and energy of which it is the representative found their source in the efforts of an immi- grant boy who all but starved to death in what seemed hopeless scramble for an existence.
 James Gordon Bennett, the older, the founder of the New York Her aid and one of the keenest news paper men the world has ever known. was graduate of the school of misfortune. He was born in Scotland and gained good education. When he was about twenty-five he came to America to seek living. He was willing to work at anything, and he simply had to have money in order to stay alive. Much of the time he had in- sufficient food, and life looked black. But he had a key that un- locks all doors; he was willing to work. He taught languages; he taught bookkeeping; he worked as a poorly paid helper in printing of flee; he translated foreign dis patches; he did eye-wracking edi- torial work; he did all the tasks of a newspaper office, and he kept on trying harder and harder to do well. When bitter necessity had trained him enough he became Washing ton correspondent and wrote so well that people sat up and said: Here's a good newspaper man"
 After an association with a num- Der of different papers the young man, who had not only made both ends meet, but, being a Scotchman, had managed to save some money, hired dark basement in New York and got out the first number of the New York Herald. He had theory that when people buy newspaper they wish to read news. "Tll give them news," he said-and he did :! New York woke up and gasped-and from then on no one ever knew what the Herald would do or say next
 Meanwhile, every day, people bought the Herald to find out. Bennett was born newspaper man. he had a nose for news" He knew how to find news when no one else could find it. He instituted so many modern newspaper moth- ods that he is, in a sense, the fa- ther of modern journalism. He did anything and everything to get news and to make it interesting. Consequently, his paper flourished, and money rolled in upon him. In his early struggles he had had to work hard; in his direction of his paper he made everyone else work hard, and he himself, to the very last, was as willing to work as he had been in the days when he could scarcely find enough to eat. For tune and fame did not come to him he battered down their doors.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
March

The birds are Johnny-on-the-sp
 To greet the jocund day.
 They hang around the corner lot
 And pipe merry lay,
 Because, wot, they haven't got
 An income tax to pay.
 Having succeeded in photographing the Ectoplasm, Conan Doyle will bring it to America-probably to have a scenario writ ten around it.
 Quoth Sir Arthur: Professor Schrenck Notzing of Munich has succeeded in con- vincing one hundred of the most prominent scientists in Germany of the reality of the Ectoplasm." And in the meantime the Ger man government is printing ectoplasmc money.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
MERCHANTS NEW IDEA

An association of merchants in New York City proposes rather a novel departure from custom when it advises it's members against the practice of brilliant lighting of their shops at night. The theory is that bright lights attract the crowds downtown and en- courage them to stay late and spend their money at restaurants and amusement re- sorts, with the result that in the daytime they
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

fifty per cent. These bank clearings and these postoffice figures, building permit rec ords and that of plant expansion and pro- duction are data that bear up one another, each proving the next one and all proving each. It is fine to be in district where proof of what it is and is everlastingly get ting to be is so easy of convincing presenta- tjon.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Every Day Like Saturday

(HuntsvlIIe TlmeB)
 The old town is taking on city airs so fast that it is nothing un- common to observe busy scenes on the streets here every day of the week. Any old day is buster than our Saturdays formerly were, and as time goes or business conditions are satisfactorily increasing.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
WHEN WILLARD FIGHTS
(Galyeston Newsl

Jess Willard's assertion that he can get in condition for a fight with Dempsey may be correct, but if he has lost his money he is already in condition.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
TRYING TO IMPRESS
lRrnoklyn Eaglel

"No eggs for breakfast, only one meat for dinner, no butter at all, !" are rules for Berlin restaurants strictly enforced. Poverty so ad- vertised should impress even the stony heart of France. Why doesn't it?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
NO GYPSY CLAIMANT

(San Antonio EXpress) Strange, no gypsy queen has arisen to pose as King Tutankha- mems lineal descendant and heiress to his treasure.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
IMITATION AS IT IS

tcleveland Plain Dealer)
 An Ohio man has been sent to prison for six months for imper- sonating a member of congress. Still, there are lot of imitation congressman walking around Wash ington.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

Chattanooga has been marveling at a "solar halo" which was recently visible there. Since this phenomenon did not occur on Sunday, the halo could not be taken as ce- lestial approval of the Sunday blue laws.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Rich Soil in Barbour

tEufaula Daily Citizen)
 There is great variety of soils and clays in this section of the state. gold mines, so to speak. just await ing development at the hands of an enterprising people. No section is richer in this particular than is Barbour county, and the pity is that more people do not grasp the op. portunities that are here at our doors.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Should Como South

(Roanoke Leader
 Getting ready to go to farming down in Alabama while they haven't thawed out up north yet. Moral: All good Anglo-Saxon folk in that frigid section should come south as soon as they can get here.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
BACKWARD KNOWLEDGE

VAsheVfIIe CitlzenJ These modern wars work fright full havoc on your knowledge of geography if you are over twenty wears old.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
FATHERS AND OLD CLOTHE.

Nashville Tennessean) Many father can't be in style because his son doesn't wear his clothes out quick enough.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

A young man recently climbed Washing ton monument and leaped from window five hundred feet above the pavement. It does look like the jumping off place.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

The packer combine has been practically completed, in spite of the filing of com plaint against it by Secretary Wallace. The packers must be getting bolder and bolder.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Alabama Press
City's Fine Prospects

(Alexander City Outlook)
 Alexander City Is gong forward with the best prospects in her his tory. There will be more building here this year than has ever been in one year before.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Round Trip to Ruhr
(Mobile Register)

(MoblIe Reg1sterJ
 It will be prudent of the negroes who may be invited to go to the Ruhr to work in the mines at seven dollars a day to require the pro- motors of the enterprise to give a good bond to return them safely home after the employment is ended,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
JAPAN IS JAZZY

tHOustUn IUstT The social conditions of Japan are falling before jazz, we are told That ought to dispose of the Japan. csc menace so far as we Americans are concerned.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
THIN TAXING THE FAT

If thin men were in control of this country they probably would put tax on bay windows.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Gadsden's Coke

(Opelika Daily News)
 Gadsden claims that $50 tons of coke is used in that city every day. The city on the Coosa, of course, refers to coked coal, not the sort of coke the narcotic squad is trying to SuppreSS.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
The Poor Fish
The Poetic Pest

A Wop I know, who is poet, always wants the world to know it. Believe you me, he is some pest-of all the Bards he thinks he's best. We cannot lose him though we try; we can't escape his eagle eye. He hangs around and waits and waits until his virtues he relates. Please open wide the pest house door and keep him in there ever more.-Tarzan.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
OUR CUTOVER LAND PROBLEM


 Somebody in the government has figured out that the non-tillable lands of the Mississippi valley and regions to the eastward. if adapted to timber culture, could be made in the course of time to provide forest products sufficient to meet the needs of the country. If similar use was made of the cutover land, much of which when cleared of stumps is tillable, there would be timber and to spare for posterity.
 What to do with the cutover lands of the country is live ques- tion. Most of them have grown up in tangles and the soil is non-pro- ductive in its wild state except in some regions where it is leased as game preserves or kept for bird hunting for the owners and their friends.
 The difficulty of establishing a grass crop on such areas has mili- tated against stock production. This is one of the serious draw backs to the cattle business in cer- tain sections of the south. Planted with pines these lands might be- come productive and help to mako the farmer mad planter forget some of their troubles.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
| |J1s;1oRe6EBEARER

The spring usually finds the tired busi- ness man with an amplified girth and con- cern over his growing rotundity of figure. That's what gardening is for. It takes ones mind off his worries and inches off his waist.
 That's the reason why so few grow thin ner.
 They don't like the recipe.
 The police commission has discovered an ordinance requiring merchants to clean their sidewalks before a. m. They'll either have to complete the job before that time, or not at all. Wonder which it will bey It is remarkable how much interest citi- zens are taking in paying their income taxes. Do you know that Martin Klubb is a po- liceman? And are you aware that Colonel Whipp has been appointed manager of the St. Charles School for Boys? All right. Giddap!
 Now, if ever, come perfect days. There will not be another session of congress until next December.
 The Height of Patriotism Although the Robin Red-Breast has
 An optimistic song to sing He ain't as optimistic as
 A baseball expert in the spring.
 Cecil. "The mysteries of China" says Sven Hedin, Fare more interesting than those of Egypt" How true! Hieroglyphs have never intrigued us, but we have always had secret hankering to decipher laundry ticket
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Not "Hcre We Rest"

(Montgomery Advertiser)
 Publishers of Webster's dictionary are asking Dr. John w. Abercrombic to inform them as to the correct pronunciation of Alabama" When the doctor writes his letter we trust he will add postscript adjuring the publishers not to say, Alabama here we resi- since that isn't the meaning, historically or otherwise.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12

It is said that the people of Smyrna have made no effort to rebuild the portion of the city ruined by the Turks. Which is perhaps due not so much to sloth as to wisdom.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-03-12
Our Youngest Contrib.

The man hate is John McMurser, A tightwad and nickel nurser; And when it's time to pay his rent He says his pocketbook is bent.
 Richard Schwartz.