davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-19

Miss Rachel Edwards II Fairfield
was the weekend guest Of i1l'loW-
ell friends.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
THE STATES FINANCES

Governor Brandon replies to MT. Kilby that the auditors statement is the basis of the governors message on state finances, and that in sending the message he made no criticism, but merely called attention to the auditors reports, which clearly showed a deficit instead of large balance" The governors reply further says: "No con- toversy can change the facts and the facts can be ascertained by proper examination and investigation" To this end the governor requested the legislature to appoint a re- cess committee to make an inquiry into the states finances and to report to the sum- mer session. As to this inquiry Governor Brandon says "I trust they may find con ditions better than think, and that careful investigation will reveal that we are not em- barrassed for funds, which will relieve my anxiety and give us opportunity to go for ward; but we must get proper and correct inventory before we can proceed in an intel ligent way to appropriate any money" This, at lesat, is safe and sagacious policy, and will enable the legislature to proceed with full knowledge of the states revenues ana obligations. In that report the whole sub ject will be thoroughly and completely set forth, and any difference of opinion as to interpretation will doubtless be resolved by the full exposition of the figures. Mean while, as has been said, the essential facts and the records will not change, and the states actual financial situation remains the same. No matter how good this may be, the public will welcome any betterment that may ensue from the new administrators concern and activity in this regard.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
IT CAN BE DONE

It isn't everybody who has the financial background which makes possible complete independence of transportation shortcom- ings. Therefore, there are many who vii cariously enjoy Henry Ford's challenge to the rail lines of West Virginia that if they cannot furnish the equipment to haul hu coal he will extend his railroad down to West Virginia and haul it himself. There is not much doubt that Henry can do it, or that he will do it if they attempt to "call his bluff" MT. Ford has demonstrated in number of ways that those impediments to business and industry which are commonly called insuper- able are possible of removal. He has shown that efficiency introduced into manufacture, into mining, into raroading, into numbering and into the management of men at once shows results in greater service and greater economy of output. There are others who would do well to adopt Ford's motto that it can be done.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
A Timely Editorial
Our New Minister to Cuba
Providence Journal.)

To commend as fitting the Presi- dents nomination of Maj. Gen. Enoch Ii. Crowder for minister to Cuba is hardly enough--it is most fitting. No other nomination would have been so well deserved, so log ical, or, it may be believed, so vel. come to the government and people of Cuba.
 For two years General Crowder was in Havana as the Presidents personal representative, engaged in the duty of reconstructing the pub lie finances and incidentally over hauling the government machinery which had broken down following the postwar economic collapse that affected industry and banking throughout the island. President Wilson had chosen him for this serv- ice, and he was returned at the re- quest of the Cuban government by MT. Harding. He found an Augean stable and he cleaned it; before the huge task was half done, overcom- ing hostility and securing the hearty cooperation of most of the off cials, bankers and business leaders.
 It was an achievement compar- able in magnitude and in benefit to the Cuban republic with the work that had been done for Cuba by the government at Washington at prior periods, in rescuing it from military chaos and insanitation. And this was not the first time he had served Cuba. He was with Major General Wood when the latter was governor general, following the war for inde- pendence, and had a part In the writing of the young nations consti- tuition and code of laws. As Amer ican minister he will undoubtedly continue to be helpful.
 The whole American people be- came acquainted with General Crowder when, in 1877, as judge advocate general of the army, he framed the selective service meas ure and administered it when enact ed into law. That statute was orig inal. It mobilized, as had never before been attempted, the man power of the nation for war. A combat army and an industrial one were created simultaneously with amazing smoothness. The whole world witnessed the working of the American draft law with wonder and admiration; and before the struggle closed Great Britain copied it, while other belligerehls were ready to acknowledge 1t as model superior to the customary conscrip- tion machinery.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
RAILROADS AND INDUSTRIES

There is no section of the country where interests of the community and the trans portation agencies serving them are more closely linked together than in the Birmfng- ham district. Basically the district is a large tonnage producer and supplies the rail lines with considerable proportion of their producing freight. In turn, the railroads serving this district place heavy order of rails, track accessories and other material with Birmingham mills. It pays the railroads to patronize the Birmingham mills because the product is handled from these mills by their own cars and is closer to point of use than if secured in eastern or western mills. Of the nearly $7,000,000 to be expended in additions and Improvements by one trunk line entering Birmingham this year, the major portion of that money is already placed in orders for new cars, car repairs, rails and other material and equip ment to be furnished by Birmingham mills. This will give the Birmingham mills work and enable workers to earn full-time wages, while the carrier will get the cars and rails more conveniently and at less cost by reason of their being manufactured on it's lines and
  tion.
 The carriers have benefited by each im- provement in the freight-rate fabric of Bir- mingham quite as much as have Birming- ham industries. Each time Birmingham has been accorded the rates to which her posi- tion entitle her, the business handled by the carriers in and out of Birmingham has in- creased. Every time Birmingham's position as a distributing center has been improved, the rail carriers have profited by the greater business which this has produced. A prom inent feature of the reports of operations and earnings of carriers entering this dis trict is reference to this districts tonnage in iron, steel, and so on, as an important factor in the showings that are made. In the early days of Birmingham the rail lines, in order to place traffic locally and outbound on a paying basis, established rates that greatly helped the struggling coal and iron industries. What was done then was as good for the roads as it was for the district. The principle has not changed. The rail- roads are as much dependent on the tonnage of this district now as then and it is as much to their advantage now as then to cooper ate in putting the finishing touches to the districts rate fabric. For this reason these carriers cannot afford to stand in the way of any freight advantage which this district may secure in whatsoever direction.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19

does not approve. The British hesitate to withdraw their troops from the Rhine, be- cause that would have the appearance of desertng France and leaving her isolated. On the other hand, it Is obvious that Great Britain views the course of France with grave apprehension and would gladly be relieved of the obligation to keep her troops in German territory. Their status is even more equivocal than that of the American troops, since the United States did not rat ify the Versailles treaty and the withdrawal of our soldiers, whatever moral effect it might have had did not change the status of the American government with respect to her former war associates. Great Britain, however, could not withdraw her troops without risking an open rupture with France, something that she has studiously avoided, in spite of the frequent differences that have developed between the two gov ernments since the World war.
 If one may judge from the attitude of France, she is determined to carry out her policies, regardless of what Great Britain may think about it, and no doubt this inde- pendent spirit has had its effect on the British government. There is not much cor- diality in the present relations of Great Britain and France, but seif-interest re- quires that they stand together, and that motive seems to be stronger in London just now than it is in Paris. It is ntimated that Germany hopes for interference on the part of the United States and Great Britain. The latter government may eventually make move of that sort, but the United States shows no indication of changing it's Euro pean policy. For obvious reasons, Great Britain is far more concerned over the re- suits of the French occupation of the Ruhr than America and, with the exception of Germany, probably no other country would feel greater sense of relief if the dead lock between France and Germany were broken.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
ENLIGHTENMENT NEEDED

FE arguments used by the opponents of the Ford offer for Muscle Shoals reveal either crass ignorance of the entire stu- ation, or else deliberate attempt to mislead. For example, Representative MaGee of New York recently declared that no fertilizer ever has been manufactured at Muscle Shoals and that in his opinion there never would be.
 a0se people who argue that nothing ever aili De because it never has been are not the aeope who have led this world onward and aFHard to overwhelming achievement. MT. sMaese goes on to say that primary power s is 5o valuable to be used for manufacturing faeiizers, and that plant operated by sec 8ndsfy power 'coud not successfully com reHe with modern plants using modern pro- eess for the production of nitrogen" All fhaQ is beside the question. Henry Ford is Yiiiiag to make the fertilizer experiment and te p9t up the money to do it with. Discus sien )f whether he can not is academic, fot t1e validity of his contract depends upon bis success.
 AS indicative of the trend of his mind to- wards federal operation MT. MaGee says: II ongress should determine to furnish comm ercial fertilizer to the farmers at req sonnb,e prices, which is most commendable, then Congress should provide for the con- ssraetion of modern plants in localities where distribution of products can be readily made. t is futile to attempt to supply the farmers of Kansas, Illinois, North Dakota and Oregon with fertilizers manufactured at Muscle Shoals under an obsolete process" Is it pos sihe that the member does not know that the Tennessee river is navigable from Muscle Shoais to the Ohio river, or that Henry Ford ass rot bound himself by contract to manu- Eacture nitrates by any specified process? Furthermore, why should any one advocate .he manufacture of any commodity at the pcbic expense when an individual with plenty of funds at his command is ready and even anxious to undertake it!
 Undoubtedly campaign of education, ,n important public matters, among the mem- bers of Congress would be splendid and profitable thing, provided always that there could be found those who would be willing to do the listening instead of the talking.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
PREVENTING FIRES

Birmingham's fire department has received an unusually large number of calls during the recent cold snap. In one period of twenty-four hours last week eighty-eight calls were answered, ranging all the way from conflagration in a pot of coal tar to fires in small buildings. At that rate the average call on the department was little oftener than once every twenty minutes. The fires themselves were, it is safe to say, nearly all preventable. The loss from preventable fires constitutes one of our heaviest drains. Preventable fires cost Bir- mingham annually many thousands of dol lars. By the exercise of precautions in little things, such as the proper disposition of rubbish in back yards and store houses and rigid inspection for faulty flues and roofs, very large percentage of the fires would be avoided. More stringent building requirements would also contribute to the same result. But no matter how thor ough are the official fire inspections, the prevention of fires is, after all, to a great extent in the hands of the individual 1nd care in this regard is duty he owes not only to himself, but to his neighbor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
THE URGE TO DISCOVER

The discovery urge is not listed by the psychoanalysts among the urges which prod people on. It may be a different kind of urge from the kind they consider. But it is certainly an urge or pull of great power. So great indeed that it carries men away from the calls of food and warmth and sex. Perhaps, though, the particular kind of pull which draws the discoverer on is partly cov- cred by the lego" urge. In sense it is true that the questing spirit in man is ani- mated by intense interest in himself, his forefathers, his kind. That is one kind of spirit of discovery, the scientific. But there is another kind. It is the thirst for adven- ture, passion for the strange and new, or the strange and old. It is the eternal youth in us.
 Who has not on the wings of his imagina- tion flown to the strangest places of land and sea! Within the four walls of lonely room we launch our ship, and the Spanish Main and all the summer seas are ours. We all are devotees of romance. It is romance, romance of the past, that is now taking us to the Valley of the Kings. And what name, that to conjure romance with! That old tomb, that amazing treasure trove! The golden chariots of the Pharoah roll again be- fore our eyes and all the prehistoric pomp re- turns. It is not the wealth alone, nor the antiquity. It is that all this is gilded with romance.
 Science may rewrite history from the hieroglyphics in the tomb. But just the same it is the gliding of romance that makes this picture of the past so alluring
 The passion for discovery or the strange and old is taking men to Yucatan, where civilization rose and fell before the Chris tian era. This Mexican peninsula may be made to yield the treasures of the Mayas and there we may be preoccupied with mys- teries as amazing as those of Luxor. There too scientists may decipher dates and docu- ments, but there too the spell for us will be spun by the magic fingers of romance.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
GOVERNOR RELY RESIGNS

The resignation, owing to injuries re- ,eived in an accident, of E. Mont Reilly, governor of Porto Rico, calls to mind the rigorous unsuccessful effort of certain Porto Ricans to unseat him last year. Investiga- ion by the government and a careful oral examination of Governor Kelly failed to con- vince the president that there was cause Tor removal. It is inferred that the jealousy of those who formerly battened on Porto Rico's helplessness and who were thwarted by Governor Reily's policy was responsible for framed attack upon him. Reports of various official nature indicate that, during the American protectorate, Porto Rico has thrived wonderfully and her reve- nues have been diverted to causes of pubic betterment. Formerly revenues were col ected and used mainly to swell the private fortunes of Porto Ricos rulers. After American authority was established there, roads were built, the postal system was re- organized and expanded, sanitation and sewerage systems were established, strict account of public funds was maintained, and n every way the lives and property of citi- was given encouragement.
 As the rancor of former oppressors and rrafters waned, so the general appreciation of American efficiency was made manifest. This was shown by popular demonstrations of welcome when Governor Reilly returned 10 the island afteh long vacation in the ,tates. Governor Reilly may have made mis-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
Boys Who Succeed By FREDERICK HOOK LAW
Henry H. Rogers, Newsboy

Who that passes a neWsboy, his papers under his arm, his eyes raised in expectation, would expect to see that boy grow up into one of the greatest of millionaires and the friend and adviser of a great liter ary manl Henry H. Rogers, the Standard Oil and copper magnate, and the warm friendof Mark Twain, was once only newsboy! There is not single newsboy on the street or in the trains who cannot be en- ergetic, honest ana ambitious if he wishes. It was those characteristics that changed Henry Rogers, the newsboy. into H. H. Rogers, the millionaire.
 Although Henry H. Rogers had the opportunity to gain high school education, he did not have the op- portunity to go to college. Thrown very largely upon his own resources, he sold papers, and then became a clerk. After that he found employ ment in working in a most humble position for a railroad. He was willing to do anything and to do it with will.
 Looking for further opportuni- ties, he drifted' into the oil region of Pennsylvania, ana there set to work. In those days oil was new thing, and gave men as great oppor- tunities as automobiles, moving pie lures and electricity give today. Young Rogers worked with a zest that brought results. At thirty he came to New York city and became associated with some of the oil kings who saw that the energetic young man had knowledge, adaptability and keen foresight. All his natural ability he used to advantage, and so he was one of the men who helped to make the Standard Oil company. In fact, it is said that his ability was so great that he was, in sense, the brains of that won derful organization.
 Henry H. Rogers, by aiding in the development of natural resources, aided in enriching the country. He himself made a huge fortune. In spite of great wealth he continued active, and used hss Keen brain in developing railroads, steel and cop per mines and other factors of wealth.
 As in his youth, he always worked hard. Taught by early experience, he demanded economy and skill. In Mark Twain he found friend whom he loved, and it was his delight to advise that great American writer.
 When Henry H. Rogers died in 1909 it was reported that he left over hundred million dollars, a sum so great that, in his newsboy days, he might have doubted that there was so much money in the world.
 Next: Gen. U. S. Grant, the Farmers Boy, the Great General.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
UNITED AGAINST MALARIA

A campaign to drive out the mosquito and banish malaria is business proposition and is so regarded by business men and heads of industries. The direct result of success In the undertaking would be to effect an eco homie saving. For industries it means reduced labor turnover and more efficient service than can be rendered by employees physically below normal or absent because of malaria. For real estate it means drain age and the recovery of property now of low value because undrained. For house. holders it means reduced expense for sick ness and increased earning power. For merchants it means greater trade due to the greater buying capacity of the people.
 Thus the campaign to get rid of the dis case and the pest is one that invites the most far-reaching cooperative effort on the part of all elements of the citizenship. The question is not whether the people can af- ford the expense of the campaign, but whether they can continue to bear the in- finitely heavier expense of the sickness the campaign is expected to abolish. Plans are being developed to enlist the entire commu- nity in the fight for more healthful condi- tions. Such effort will materially augment the lpropriations made directly by the mu- HasfDa ity for the work, and is justified on taaf core alone. The more earnestly the people cooperate along the lines to be sug- gesled by the health officer, the more quick le 0 they enjoy immunity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19

takes, and there may have been some lack of tact and diplomacy in his dealings with an excitable people, but in the main 1t ap- pers that the government and the American people have been faithfully represented in Porto Rico, and that the governors enemies dare not now stand out against him. How ever that may be, the governor has resigned only after having successfully withstood and defeated the determined effort to oust him. That in itself goes long way towards vim dicating him at the bar of American public opinion.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
It Servea Him Right

Bill Dogget was reckless boy born on a farm in Illinois. He tore around like all tarnation, swore he'd have an eddication. Now, why he wanted larnin', well, that's somethin' I could never tell. His dad, he got along without it, and I done well, no doubt about it. I said to him, sez I, "Young friend. you sure will come to some bad end, for sure's you live an eddicater is fighting hard gin human nater." But Bill went right ahead proceedin in search of things he wasn't needin.' Well nacheriy, there came a day when Bill packed up and went away, amid the city folks to swim-the farm wa'nt good enough for him. We heard from him onct in a while, but never heard that he'd struck ile. But ten years later, sad to tell, the blow I had expected fell; news came of a dstressin' nater-they'd sent Bill down to the legislator Two years Bill Dogget got, yes sir l never did find out what fer.-Stanwood.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
Speaking of Times

An, Memory is treacherous Dame With power to kindle lond-dead flame. For I, too, remember time When two soft hands stole up along my
 coat-lapels And patted my tie and lightly touched my
 cheek, While two eyes shyly laughed with love. It seems but yesterday you spoke Of what the years ahead would mean to us; The home, the garden, our lives together, And how lovely and possible you made it
 seem. But years have passed between us now And perhaps you hays forgotten it all In newer loves An, Memory is treacherous Dame With power to kindle a,lond-dead flame.
 Silver Saxon.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-19
WIDENING FIRST AVENUE

In widening the narrow portion of First avenue so as to harmonize with the dimen- sions of the greater part of the highway, public interest will counsel no half meas ures This is a matter involving the con- venience of travel over main artery and the work should be done with regard to per- manency While at the job it should be done right. The narrow portion should be extended sufficiently to accommodate traf- fife for all time. Whatever small savings might be made now by compromising on the extension would be lost in rne greater cost of making the extension in years to come. The cost will be absorbed in the long years of future benefit. Birmingham's rapid development should always be borne in mind when public improvements are con- sidered. That will avoid many acts of mis- taken present economy to be paid for later on.