davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15

Each time the traffic bureau has intervened. The result of the action of the traffic bu- reau is that these carrier proposals are sus- pended pending hearing on their merits.
 For example, the carriers proposed rais- ing the rate on grain and grain products from the west to Birmingham from twenty four to twenty-seven cents. The traffic bu- reau entered protest and the Interstate Com merce Commission has suspended the pro- posed rate until April. Meanwhile hearings will be held and, unless the carriers can es- tablish the justice of the advance, it will be denied Thus traffic bureaus justify their existence and the expense entailed by their operation. In fact, they are worth many times the cost of operation to the communi- ties supporting them. Birmingham owes the present fabric of freight rates within it's neighborhood trade territory to the traffic bureaus persistent and intelligent presenra- tion of its cause and, what is better still, it owes to this protective agency that sense of security in the matter of freight rates which has developed from the bureaus constant alertness.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
OUR FOREIGN TRADE

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
 One incidental contribution which the amazing increase in our foreign trade is making to our national life and thought is that it is helping America to know and understand the rest of the world. With the greatest reluctance, but neverthe- less swiftly and inevitably, America is growing out of her traditional policy of isolation. This progl ess seems to be along the path of des- tiny. In the attempt to cling to the old order the people turned thelr backs upon political association With other nations, but nevertheless our association in fact with these na- tions continually grows more lnti- mate. Ten years ago man as great as Clemenceau coming as a vlsltor from a foreign land would have been only a name to all but the erudite few who followed lnterna- tional affairs. Today the Clemen- ceaus, the Lloyd Georges, and the Venizeloses of the earth are almost as well known to Americans as our own statesmen. Political debate even has become international. Clemenceau made speech in New York; he was answered by Borah in Washington; Nitti in Rome added his rejoinder; Pertinax, the Parisian journalist, commented; and so it goes. The world has grown very small. We have become merely the largest of group of jostling neigh bors.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
A CLINIC IN INTOXICATION From the New York Herald.

Senator Spencer's bill appertain- ing to revision of the Volstead act has features which will rouse emo- tion and imagination among the thirsty. It provides for federal commission of five men and two women to determine within fair ness and reason" how much aiconol beverage must contain to be in- toxicating. Doubtless there are houdreds if not thousands of men in this very city, who would be will ing to serve on the commission or as subjects of experiment. In the in terest of science. not to mention fairness and reason" they would submit to the quaffing of old fash ion beer, of rare dry sherry from Spain, of red wine bottled at the chateau. They would do sums in arithmetic with the watch held on them. They would walk chalk line. They would let their pulses be taken after the first drink, the second and the third. The govern ment has not had any dollar a year men since the war, but it could get for less than a dollar a year any number of martyrs to be used in clinics under such circumstances as the Spencer bill suggests.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
ONLY THE SYMBOLS REMAIN

The entrance of the French troops into the Ruhr valley takes on an aspect quite apart from it's actual meaning when con- sidered solely from the human side It brings up pictures which do not include blast fur naces and rolling mills and may not-have been caught by the movies if they were there. Perhaps the most vivid incident oe- cured at Werden bridge Before reaching that point the invading columns moving along the valley were revealed by the glare from the blast furnaces they were to seize, but the incident of the bridge required no il- lumination to reveal it's significance. It itself was luminous enough.
 Between the French soldiers and the German inhabitants just released from the death grapple there was it is reported, no sign of enmity. They passed in silence on the road and without glance from either direction. But the bridge was adorned with statues of Bismarck, Won Moltke and Will liam, and it was at these things that the French showed anger and bitterness. The figures were symbols of what they hated. The Germans they were meeting on the road were the men they had fought, the flesh and blood, but the effigies of these dead represented the spirit of that which had made them fight-the ruthless power of the German Empire. The laborers they saw coming from the mills were human beings like themselves, but the statues were anathema-accursed things.
 It is possible that the statues are now anathema to those German workmen also But once they were not; they were some- thing like gods. And the word anathema itself offers a curious commentary here Among the Greeks it meant devoted thing" They offered anathema to propitiate their gods. The word was used in sense of conservation. And so, what were a short time ago sacred things in the Ruhr region are now to those at present in power there things accursed. It may be that people, if they paid less heed to symbols, would get along better.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
THE WOLVES! THE WOLVES

A new kind of immigrant is making noises at our gates. Scarcely have we reduced the number of the ravenous humans who would land upon our shores than there is borne from across the Canadian wilds the howls of the timber wolf, hunger-driven in this direction by the scent of food.
 According to a noted scientist, the cause of this threatened invasion is-as is the old age cause for the migrations of men-the scarcity of food The gray wolf in Ontario has increased so rapidly in the last few years that the supply of his smaller furred breth- ren of the forests upon which he feeds $ giving out, and he has recently been making ravages upon sheep and cattle. Grim tales are told, too, by the remains of trappers and Indians devoured by the hunger-mad beasts. In the fate of these human victims a grim irony, too, is drawn. It is the reduced price of the wolf's skin-worrh twenty dollars to sixty dollars two years ago and today only from five dollars to nineteen dollars-that accounts for the trap pers allowing the tribe to increase And by the same token it were better from our point of view if we could let in the game the wolf is after than that he himself should cross the border. But at least we may take comfort in the thought that this threatened invasion does not presage the disaster com monly connected with the wolf's presence T. the door.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
Poor Boys Who Succeeded
 By FREDERICK HoUK LAW
Michael Faraday. .he creat seienti..

In 1872 a certain MT. Dance took some books to a London shop to be bound. He happened to talk with young apprentice named Michael Faraday. Seeing that the boy was interested in science he invited him to go with him to hear Sir Humphrey Davy, the great chemist. .a t5
 That invitation was opportunity. Michael Faraday went to the lecture, wrote an ac- curate report of it and sent it to MT. Dance, who, in turn, sent it to Sir Humphrey Davy. Now, Sir Humphrey had been born the son of wood-carver and had been an apprentice, so that he knew what was go- ing on in a poor boys mind. He wrote kindly to Michael Faraday. When he learned more about the boy he recommended him as a laboratory assistant. Finally, he took the young fellow on long trip through Eu- rope, and taught him all he knew. That kindness is as much to the credit of Sir Humphrey Davy as is the invention of the safety lamp that makes mining less dan gerous.
 Thirteen years after Faraday had heard that first scientific lecture he was director or the IdDOfaCoTy oi IHe IsoSdl siHetieutAoH Eight years more, and he was professor of chemistry in the same famous school
 Faraday studied all his life until his death at 76. His discovery in connection with magneto-electric induction led to our present use of electricity. He discovered the magnetization of light, and also what $ called diamagnetism as well as much else in the scientific field.
 In spite of the fact that his father had been only poverty-stricken blacksmith, and that he himself, up to the age of 22, had been nothing but book-bnders apprentice, he had risen, through earnestness and hard work, to be Che scientific leader of his time. He died full of years and honors, an example of high success achieved by an inquiring mind
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
SOME GOOD IN COUE

Certainly the gospel of M. Coue must have much good in it. The simple examples for the practice of his methods which he is giving through the columns of The Age Herald are, eliminating even the theory of their subconscious power, safe rules of conduct. Speak no evil, think good thoughts, imagine fine things. It has often been said since the Frenchman's arrival in this coun- try that there is nothing new in his theory, that it is as old as the Bible, and older So t is in most ways Much of what he says could have been said, and was, by St. Paul and others before him.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
EXHIBIT OF MORAL COURAGE

Almost the last official act of Commis- sioners Cooper and Gaillard has been to dis charge the engineer and the accountant who made statements repudiating any responsi- bility for the valuation findings of the com missioners as regards the properties of the Alabama Power company and denied that they had full access to the company's records or furnished figures warranting such high valuation. The question arising out of the situation is whether employees of a public commission owe their first allegiance to the commissioners who have employed them or to the people who furnish the money to pay their salaries. Usually in such cases em- ployes think of their jobs first and of the public interest second It is very much to the credit of these two men that placed the public interest and their own professional in tegrity before any thought of their jobs. Per haps by that act they have made their Hobs secure.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15

Britain would have to send to America a far greater bulk of goods than she originally purchased with the money loaned.
 We think the chancellor puts the issue very well when he says: "The cordial and prompt agreement of the two greatest dem ocraces on a question of this magnitude will be an example to the nations and long step forward in effecting solution of the economic troubles of Europe. Let us not forget that until these troubles are solved there can be no general revival of interna- tional trade"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
THE GLAMOR OF THE TOWN

Charles Lamb to Robert Lloyd.
 Let them talk of lakes and moun- tains and romantic dales-all that fantastic stuff; give me ramble by night, in the winter nights of Lon don-the lamps lit-the pavements of the motley Strand crowded with to and fro passengers-the shops all brilliant, and stuffed with obliging customers and obliged tradesmen-- give me the old bookstalls of Lon don-a walk in the bright piazzas of Covent Garden. defy man to be dull in such places-perfect Ma hometan paradises upon earth! l have lent out my heart with usury to such scenes from my childhood up, and have cried with fulness of joy at the multitudinous scenes of life in the crowded streets of ever dear London.
 I don't know if you quite compre- hend my low urban taste; but de- pend upon it that man of any feeling will have given his heart and his love in childhood and in boy hood to any scenes where he has been bred, as well to dirty streets (and smoky walls as they are called) as to green lanes, where live nibbling sheep" and to the everlasting hills and the lakes and ocean. A mob of men is better than a flock of sheep. and a crowd of happy faces jostling into the playhouse at the hour of 6 is more beautiful spectacle to man than the shepherd driving his "silly" sheep to fold.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
BOIL WEEvIL PEAcEMAKER

From the Wall Street Journal.
 Except for clerks in the depart ment of commerce compiling its depredations and bulls in the cot ton ring it was not considered that the boil weevil had any friends, but it develops otherwise. For 30 years litigation has been going forward between the farmers and smelting companies because of damage to crops from arsenic and sulphur io smelter fumes. Now the farmers of the south are imploring the smelt- CTS of the United States to save the cotton industry by producing all the arsenate possible, as dusting the plant with calcium arsenate kills MT. Boil Weevil. This year, demand is so great that the price of arsenious oxide has doubled and instead of penalizing arsenic the smelting com panies are offering premiums for arsenic bearing ores. The boil weevil has actually added about $2O a ton to the value of Cobalt silver ores and concentrates carrying 1000 ounces of silver because of their richness in arsenic.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
A Timely Editorial
TAXING THE FAT

From the New York Times.
 The Paris wits have just got a fresh start in making merry over the novel of Henri Beraud, "The Martyrdom of the Fat Man. It won the Goneourt prize of 1922. Pre- sumably, M. Beraud learned in suf- fering what he taught in song, as he confesses to a weight of about 240 pounds. He is at present in Athens, where his confreres gravely express the hope that "art and nature and ancient monuments, not to speak of recent events, will teach him fine lessons of restraint and modera- tion." But they also hasten to dis turb his Greek calm by sending him word that town in Sweden has be- gun levying tax on obesity.
 The reason solemnly given for this new form of taxation is that the fat man stands accused, by the very fact of his too solid flesh, of gluttony and laziness. These vices can be supported only by those hav- ing fat purses, and what are the latter for except to disgorge for i the state? The Swedish municipal counselors go on to argue that the tax will be in the interest of health and sobriety. It may be thought ot as hygienic measure. But to make the tax democratic and equal it begins low down, the man weighing no more than 150 pounds having to make small payment. Then the tax is scientifically graduated up ward, so that the unhappy being who rises POO pounds will have to pay 10 francs for each added kilo. Thus will the motive for keeping ones figure svelte be strengthened at the same time that the public treasury waxes more corpulent.
 In vain will the doctors protest 1 that excessive fatness may go with abstinence and activity. They prate about the fat "diathesis" which makes some persons obese no mat ter how they order their lives. This will not go down with the Swedish tax-layers. To be thin is civic vir- tue. Fatness is vice to be taxed out of existence. So there is to be a direct levy on the fat man whom no- body loves. It cannot. be known as yet whether this process will be more fruitful than the famous American plan of frying the fat" out of pro- tected manufacturers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
THE SHEPHERD ON THE HILLS

C. T. Davis, in the Arkansas Gazette. o Lord, bring no gifts of gold
 Nor frankincnse nor scented myrrh-- Here in the dark guard the fold,
 Thy least and lowliest worshiper. Yet I have seen, remote and far
 A jewel in nights diadem- The white irradiating star That shone OCT Thee in Bethelem. And have watched the Wise Ones pass
 Till voice and footfall blurred and blent And died like whispers in the grass
 My heart went with them as they went. o Lord, I bring no goodly thing;
 No myrrh nor frankincense nor gold. heard Thy angel chorus sing,
 And yet stayed-to guard the fold.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
WITHHELD

By Helen Frazee-Bower. Black night withholds the daybreak from the
 land,
 Gray mist withholds the moonlight from
 the sea, In long lean lines the ragged hill slopes stand, Withholding heaven all too jealously From plains that dream below. And from
 the wide,
 Cold vault of space the hungry quietness Withholds the far, iaint murmur of the tide, A gull's lone cry, the trembling winds
 caress. All things are bound by fate or circumstance, And each from each withholds the other
 here; I only am supreme. nc child of chance, For out of darkness, swift, triumphant,
 clear, Assurance comes that naught withholds from Who keeps his soul, controls life's des-
 tiny!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
BREAKING BUILDING RECORDS

That the remarkable building record of 1922 in the southern states will be at least duplicated this year there is every reason to believe. All records during the past two years were broken in November. Most of the work on these contracts will be done this year. The record of 1922 ran seventy-five per cent. ahead of that of 1921, the total amount involved in contracts awarded in 1922 being $550, 1000, as compared with $330, ,OO0,0 in 1921. The Manufacturers Record, which has made compilation of the 1922 building figures, says: "On the whole last year was marked by increased activity in practically every line of construction. The development was widespread with no particular section or class of structures pre- dominating, thus forming well-rounded program that resulted in general forward movement"
 broad scope of building operations in 1922 tally with the conclusion of other observers. Factory and road building have kept pace with home building, and churches and schools have arisen along with splendid fra ternal temples and auditoriums. The out look for 1923 is reflected in the buging order books of the cement producers and in the avalanche of orders for sanitary pipe that have been placed a month ahead of the usual time. The healthiest element in the situation is the financial one. Money is easy and the vast majority of the structural pro- jects have already been financed. For six months, at least, structural operations in the entire country will be on very large scale.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
THE NEW GOVERNOR VT

Today Alabama sees change in gover- nors. Thomas E. Kilby, who has served ably and well, today turns over the honors and duties of his station to William W. Brandon, of whom great things are expected. Never did governor retire from office with a bet ter record of achievement for public better ment, and never did governor-elect take up his duties under more suspicious circum- stances Alabama's public and private af- fairs are in flourishing condition, and all agencies are set for tremendous advance along all lines.
 The task confronting the incoming gov ernor is 8 huge one; but he will have eff ficient and courageous allies on every side to hold up his hands and to support him in his trying moments. Alabama's day of op- portun;ty has dawned so respendently that many are dazzled. Those charged with the primary responsibilities of office have course to lay that shall be both broad and permanent. It is well that the governor is a man who is grounded in the deeper philoso- phy of life and who has determined to be guided by time proved principles and not by expedients. Alabama's growth cannot be checked, but there is the duty to build solidly and not unsoundly.
 Therefore, the occasion of the inaugural is tinged with solemnity, because no one knows how greatly the next four years will affect the permanent development and pros perity of this state. The day is pregnant with potentialities. Yet there is ample cour- age to meet the future, and full confidence that the acts of the new administration will carry Alabama farther and higher along the triumphant journey to which she has set her self, and so much of which she has already accomplished. All success to the administra- tion of Governor Brandon!
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
"Son, Be of Good
 Cheer By REV. H. C. OFFERMAN

It may be that disappointments have come too thick.
 It may be that your faith was lacking.
 It may be-many things.
 Son, be of good cheer"
 After all, the future is bright, if you will make it so.
 After all, the world is full of opportunities.
 After all, there are many friends left, there is God left, all ready to help you.
 ''Son, be of good cheerw
 Insist on being glad, and making the best of it.
 The sunshine, the air, the heav- enly stars are free.
 Make joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands"
 Rejoice, all ye believers"
 Shout the glad tidingsv
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
WATCHING THE RATES

But for the watchfulness of the Birming- ham traffic bureau and it's prompt protest when carriers propose advances in freight rates without prior notice to shippers or con- ference with them, these advances would go in effect at the time set by the carriers and it would require months and months of time and labor to obtain redress. Several times last fall the carriers proposed rate advances applying to Birmingham and they have sought withdrawal of transit privileges.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
SNOWFALL

I. V. s. w., in the Coming Tower. Wires strung with diamonds, Shanties decked in white, Our shabby little village Turned lovely overnight. If I were dressed in satin, With diamonds in my hair, Do you think, perhaps, that some one Would say that I was fair?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
TEMPLES

Witter Bynner, in The New Republic. Lord or no Lord, temple is established Among the gorges of the Yang-tsze River, Another where Himalayan Ranges vanish, And one where Kileauea's tripods quiver The Alps are ready for Him and the Rockies And the most breathless tip of Fujisan; The columns of the Canyon blind His
 mockers
 The Poles are trumpets in angels hand. Moiave and Sahara smooth His coming; Zambesi and Niagara pour His wine; Lord or no Lord, His gatheredsaftars, doming, Bow down before Him in knightly line And burn in sacrifice, for manifest, The consummated Temple of the West.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
Bad Way to Legislate

From the Pickens County Herald.
 There are three bills ready to be railroaded through the legislature at the very earliest moment. We heard one politician remark that one of the bills will be sure to pass this week. If this is the way it's going to be done, the average citizen will be better off without legislature.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
Advocates Publicity Bills
From the LaFayette Sun.

from the Lafayette Sun.
 Never in the history of news paper making in Alabama has there been such harmony and team work among the editors. This portends better things along all lines-the development of the state, economy in public affairs and better officials where better officials are needed. An even dozen new publicity laws will save one or two million dollars year to the taxpayers of Alabama. Therefore these new publicity laws are cheap at any price. Alabama editors should see their senators'and representatives today and also take up the matter in the editorial columns of their newspapers Let's have an accounting to the taxpay- CTS. It's their money, not the money of the states servants.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15
REGENT VERSE
SONG

SONG Glenn Ward Dresbach, in the Double Dealer. Who dreams, and feels too soon That the dream is vain Because he grasped no silver of the moon Or could not once retain The dropped jewels of the rain, May wonder how some dreamer stands Watching, where the last hope fingers, Moon-silver melting in his hands And rain-j jewels trickling through his fingers.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-01-15

An airplane, operated on the principle of the helicopter, is reported to have made a successful trial flight at Dayton Saturday. It is said that the machine could be ma neuvered at will at height of six feet from the ground. There appears to be fertile field of experiment along this line. Safety and stability, the two chief desiderata of fly ing, are promised by application and adap- tation of the helicopter.