davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
An Artificial Basis
Washington Post)

The Americans Petroleum Institute is authority for the statement that the daily average gross production of crude oil in the United States for the week ended August 4 amounted to 2,24O,9OO barrels, and that the inn ports of oil during the same period averaged 31,OOO barrels a day, so that the daily average of production and imports totaled 2,471,90O barrels. While the quantities thus available are immense, the consumption also is enor- nous. Nevertheless, the prices preva- lent in different parts of the country show such a wide variation that the National Motorists Association seems to have some justification for its con tention that they are no longer regu- lated by law of supply and demand, but are largely maintained on an arti- ficial basis.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17

very often taken as the criterion of an acts success, but 1t is the habit of American theater audiences to applaud each act to some extent, and every body knows that the acts are not all geod, by any means, while some of them are almost uncomfortable, As a consequence, there are many people who remain away from vaudeville al- together, because they dc not relish the lottery feature which makes 1t im- possible to determine in advance whether e bill is good or not, Press agents claim that they are all good, and sometimes 1t seems that there is effort to make up in wealth of praise for the actual lack of quality in the act described.
 The announcement of the manage ment of Loew's Theater that fall vaudeville and picture bills will con- tinue for one week each and be of higher quality than formerly is evil dence that there is a changing opinion ds tN W4lak u4aWo NAOWdoa 4ANCAA bAAooS who attend shows of inferior quality often do so for lack of other amuse- ment, and would heartily welcome s higher and more entertaining type of artists. Where there are changes twice a week, one hundred and four companies or troupes are called into service during the year. There are perhaps not one hundred and four good troupes in the country. Certainly not on one circuit. With only fifty-two troupes there is prospect of better average performance. If the people of Birmingham really care for better vaudeville, and if the projected per formances are up to the standard rep resented, then the ticket sales should tell the tale.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
Consideration of the Trust (Chattanooga Timesl

The Standard authorities disclairn any purpose to put independent com- petitors out of business-the Standard Oil never did such thing in it's life but it expresses the highest admira- ton for the independent producers and wishes them well. The fiat re- mains, however, that many independ- ent producers will be put out of busi- ness, and that isn't going to hurt Standard Oils feelings or interrupt it's plans when the time comes to re- sume business and to recoup its pres ent losses through the skillful manipu- lation of future prices. There is no reason why the government may hot investigate the oil industry and then honestly report to the people whether they are being exploited by robbers" " But government appears to be afraid of "oil," and we may be sure that the consumer is going, ultimately, to pay every dollar of the Standards deficits as a result of this gesticulation of a South Dakota politician.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
ENACT. THE SEAPORT BILL.

Governor Brandon urges upon the legislature the importance of enacting port enabling measure so as to au- thorize the promotion of that project at the earliest possible moment. The delay that has attended this question cannot be adequately explained, for the proposition is definite and the mandate of the people is explicit. Too much time spent in debate does not indicate magnitude of undertaking so much as lack of legislative enter prise. It is true that the legislators should exercise due care in empower ing the expenditure of such sums as are contemplated, but it is necessary in the final result to entrust some per son or persons with the responsibility, and decision on this point need not cause detrimental delays. Every week lost is also a definite commercial loss to Alabama.
 The legislature should be careful not to impose such restrictions upon the conduct of the business of the har- bor board as to impede the efficiency with which the board may operate. The legislature should also be cautious about authorizing a board composed of members chosen according to resi- dence in political divisions of the state. This enterprise should not be a politi- cal enterprise, nor hampered by politi- cal considerations. It is an enterprise of statewide benefit, and the standard of choice of men to conduct it should be ability and merit, not politics. The board as at present constituted has shown most commendable intelligence and energy in preparing plans for sub mission to the legislature, and the value of its services to date should not be lost sight of.
 The legislature in this session has yet to enact any measure of outstand- ing importance. It is hoped that these weeks of hesitation are about to cul- minate in legislation of approved qual- ity. Unless there is result of this na. ture, the delay is inexcusable. The governor has called upon the legisla- ture, in this seaport matter, to do only what the great majority of the voters of Alabama have commanded them to do. That being the case, what reason able argument can there be for pro- crastination?
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
ANTHRACITE PROGRESS

The withdrawal of the anthracite miners from their ultimatum regard ing the "check-off," on condition that the operators also agree to discontinue payroll deductions for merchandise, rentals and other items, indicates that there may yet be an agreement with out a strike. The proposal of the op- orators that the miners continue
 working after September until the completion of negotiations, with the understanding that the agreements should be retroactive to that date, while not yet accepted by the miners
 officials, appears to the layman as an eminently fair proposition. The fact that the miners have receded from the "check-off" demand proves that their abrupt withdrawal from the confer ence because this demand was not agreed to by the operators was arbi- trary and unnecessary. It also proves that most troubles and disputes can be settled around a table without either walkouts or breaks in negotiation. The alternate proposal of the miners could just as we'll have been made in conference as not. So can any other proposal and counter-proposal, and any agreement hereafter to be arrived at can likewise be made in conference without either break or strike. The present insistence on the eight-hour day and on a wage increase of approx imately twenty per cent should not be laid down as preliminary ulti- matums to be accepted in advance by the operators. On the contrary, these items are the very subject of negotia- tions, and should be introduced in the spirit of conference and not of ukase. The miners demand acceptance of the principle of collective bargaining. Let them then proceed along that line.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
ALL SHADES oR OPIIlONO
The Cost and the Price
(Cleveland Plain pealerl

The question is not so much one in- volving the price at which existing stocks of gasoline can profitably be disposed of as one of the most at which gasoline can be reproduced. The small independent and the state ad- ministration are likely at such time as the present to think in terms of the former while the Standard Oil com panies think and talk of course in the language of the latter. If the present price struggle should effectually dem onstrate that a fair and reasonable price of gasoline is five or six cents below the price that has lately pre- vailed the fact will be thereby estab- lished beyond any reasonable doubt that the Standard Oil companies have in some way maintained an artificial price for gasoline and as a conse- quence have pocketed an enormous profit of non-competitive kind.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
Consumer Pays the Bill
Nashville Bannerl

NANdoltlllG
 The general public is likely to gain only very fleeting benefit for itself and to pay for it through the nose later in the game. As matters now stand, quite number of smaller re- fineries face the prospect of being forced out of business entirely, un- less some means of making the price equal to the cost of production is hit upon, and when this result is attained the survivors will doubtless see to 1t that their losses are recouped. It is automatic that the consumers must pay the bill. The only good which will come to them from the fight is what they will get while it is going on. The majority of consumers have neith- CT the funds nor the facilities for stor- age to make it possible for them to assure themselves cheap gasoline through very extended period
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
CoNGEsTEp POLICE DOCKETs

The congested condition of the re- corders court as depicted by the com missioner of police is proper subject for the consideration of the city com mission with a view to it's relief. At present it is said that one judge must hear and decide nearly three hundred cases a day." and that the court is in session from nine in the morning un- til six or seven o'clock at night. The commissioner rightly says that such long hours are "too much to ask or re- ouire of any man," especially under such a constant need for alertness as is imposed upon a judge presiding over police cases. That is one side of 1t. The other side is that the intent of the law and complete justice to every case cannot be attained in wholesale lots. It is humanly impossible for one judge to serve the full measure of the law under conditions as described.
 The commissioner further declares that appeals to the circuit court are sometimes postponed until witnesses have moved away or other changes make a fair trial of the case impossi- bIe. Defendants take daily advantage of this fact, it is said, to avoid pun ishment altogether To correct the condition the commissioner advocates another police judge, to hold either day or night court, preferably the lat ter, and a circuit judge whose es- pecial function it shall be to hear appeals from the city police court. Inasmuch as the conditions are un- doubtedly bad, the public properly looks to the city commission to take whatever measures lie with it's power to remedy the congested condition in the recorders court, and to confer with the circuit judges in order to formulate whatever plan is practicable for prompt handling of criminal ap- peals. Inadequate provision for trials cannot fail to result in either injustice to defendants or else lax enforcement of the statutes. Either result defeats the very purpose of the courts.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
PROMISE BETTER VAUDEVILLE

Theater managers and producers frequently answer criticisms of pro- auctions by saying that they are giv- ing the public what it wants. It is far more likely that the public, having time on it's hands and seeking amuse- ment, takes what it can get. By ire quent changes in bills, arrangements have sought to stimulate patronage, with the result that the demand fo- changes in bills, films, acts and troupes has made it necessary to lower stand ards in order to supply the quantity. Accordingly, those who like good vaudeville frequently have to endure four poor acts for the sake of seeing perhaps one good act. Applause is
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
NEW BESSEMER CONCERN

A tile and clay-product plant to cost six hundred thousand dollars and to employ three hundred men is not a small one, for this class of manufac- turing. Such a plant will soon be constructed in Bessemer and will pro- duce clay tile, fire brick and other clay products. One of the reasons for the choice of locations is the adequate and low-priced transportation afforded by this district. A further considera- ton is the advantage attendant upon being a part of a community already populous and devoted to industry. h. dustrial centers attract new industries, because the very fact that industries have succeeded in a certain locality is reliable indication that industries will succeed there. The Birmingham and adjoining territory is rapidly ex- banding and filling up with a wide variety of inter-related industries that thrive because of mutual advantages. By-product, subsidiary and subordi- nate activities arise as the inevitable and profitable consequence of the ex- istence of major industries, either be- cause of some basic relation thereto, or because the advantages and facili- ties called into being by the major in dustries are equally of benefit to all other industrial activities and ven lures. It is hoped that the concern will enjoy the success to which its vision and determination entitle it.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
POOR BOYS WHO
 BECAME FAMOUS By Frederick Houk Law
Andrev CnrneEie
By Fred'

In very noisy and busy cotton factory little bobbin boy jumped about at his task, in his ears the roar of the machinery, and on his mind the constant de- mand of the whirling, twisting, moving mass of mechanism to which he was a slave. At the end of every week he walked up proudly for his pay-a dollar and twenty cents for six days hard work. He had been to no school. for his father, a Scotch immigrant, needed every cent that he and the family could earn.
 The boy, in his movements around the factory, became a good friend of the engineers, who taught him how to manage the steam giants. What boy would not be proud to run a steam engine! Little by little the youngster picked up information about en- zines, and when he was just over twelve he was permitted to run an engine himself, and now he was indeed rich, for he earned the whole of thirty cents a day!
 That boy, strange<as it may seem, was Andrew Carnegie, who later in life tried to give away his millions of dollars so that he might have the honor of dying poor. All over the land are scat tered the libraries that he gave so that other poor boys such as he was in his youth might have the opportunity to learn from books. All over the land are great chari- ties that he created so that the condition of the poor might be better. There are vast funds of many millions that he gave so that colleges might do better work, so that men might be stimulated to deeds of heroism, and so that humanity might become better. In the libraries are books that he wrote, full of stimulus to good What a wonderful carer that lit tie bobbin boy, busy among his whirling wheels, had before him The rise from that humble posi- tion to untold wealth and power is stranger than any fairy story in the old books.
 Andrew Carnegie, the Scotch boy, had an enquiring mind. He borrowed books and studied hard. He kept learning something new. When he became a telegraph mes senger boy he at once studied telegraphy. He became an opera tor, then private secretary, then a telegraph superintendent and a great worker in the Civil War. Since he had to travel to inspect telegraph lines he became inter- ested in. sleeping cars, and thereby made money. Then he saw the profit to be made in oil wells, and made more money. From that he turned to making iron bridges for railroads, and soon he entered into the steel work for which he Is SO noted. Because he continued ef- fort and study, millions upon mil lions poured in upon him. He bought a castle in old Scotland, erected the Hague Temple of Peace, and began giving away so many millions that he staggered all people. He made himself a great and benificient man, largely because he took advantage of every opportunity to learn and to do.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
Temporary and Local
(Louisyille Herald)

Louisville Herald)
 There ought to be considerable traf- fic to the north side these days. The cut in gas has come sooner over there than ever before. As a consequence, Hoosiers rejoice and Kentuckians en- joy the much-vaunted pleasures of an 'ticipation. Just what is the cause of the furry, if furry it is? Are we learning once again that the laws of supply and demand are memorable? Has production provided a surplus to inspire and justify the merry war? It bears that appearance and, if that is actually the condition, then the end is not yet. Meantime what is fun for some must needs be anything but fun for others, and it would certainly ap- pear that there will be losses which will not be confined to Wall Street. Just how much that overabused local ity may be responsible for the stir we would not presume to say; hope to induce forced liquidation for the be- nign purpose of taking in some cheap stock is a perfectly possible explana- ton of some of the maneuvering. We do not advance it; we are content to mention it and pass on.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
MOTHERS OF FAMOUS
 MEN
The Mother of Robespierre

You shall not marry Jacque- line" So thundered Carrault, the brewer of Rouxville, in France, in 1757, when Maximilian-B Bar tholomew Robespierre, an advo- cate and the son of an advocate, or lawyer, proffered his suit. Now the Robespierres were proud, for all they were not rich, but the brewer was both rich and proud. You shall not marry Jacqueline Carrault!" so thundered Maximil- ian's own father, for he thought it would be lowering of the family dignity to unite the Robes pierre name with the name of brewer. Nevertheless, the lawyers son was very much in love with Jacqueline, and he managed to see the girl, in spite of all that the fathers could do, much as Ro- meo managed to see Juliet.
 In the end love won the day and Maximilian married Jacque- line. This intense love affair, with its romantic course and it's impetuous haste, was a prophecy of what was to come to the world
 
 miHen Robespierre, the master of France in the worst days of the Reign of Terror. The young law yer, father of the great Robes pierre, was a man of deep emo tions, a man who would permit nothing to stop him in his course. The mother was of a different na- ture from the father. She was calmer, more sensible, more guided by reason.
 We'll would it have been for the world if Maximilien Robespierre could have felt more of the influ- ence of his mother. For seven years he enjoyed her quiet teach ing. Then she died. The young est child was then unable to talk, but Maximilien was seven. Now, at once, in a tragic moment, his mother had been taken from him. At the same time the deeply emo tional father left home and went wandering off over the world. Maximilien brooded more and more. He had lost mother and fa- ther, and had been thrown upon a world to work for himself. He grew old before his time, and be- came a pale young advocate, who grew up without the guiding hand of mother-love. If Robespierre's mother could have lived for ten years longer the whole future his tory of France might have been changed.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
NOT A RELIGIOUS QUESTION

The great trouble with those who oppose the teaching of "evolution" in state and public schools is that they persist in viewing it as religious question, which it most certainly is not
 Belief in the general theory of evolu- tion as applied to the entire plant and animal kingdom does not imply ig
 norance of the Bible, as some intimate, nor disbelief in the Bible. Indeed, it is quite likely that foremost scientists are just as well read in Biblical writ ings as any opponent of the teaching of evolution, and perhaps are just as sincere believers. The theory of evolu- ton is definite and not an indefinite thing. It is also true, and this attests the sincerity and honesty of scientists, that the theory, like any other scien- tific hypothesis, is not fixed and un- changing thing, but is continually mod flied to harmonize with new biological facts as theware discovered. Darwin himself subscribed to the principle that any theory becomes untenable when proved facts are marshaled against it.
 It would be impossible to banish the teaching of biological truths from the school curricula of this state and hope to maintain any standing with outside institutions of learning. Biol ogists, like other scientists, teach their s+,,dants to he honest with themselves
 which is a tremendous character asset. There is no compulsion exerted on stu dents to believe in any theory. The various phases of the evolutionary hy-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
MEXICO TO BE RECOGNIZED

Prospect of early recognition of the Mexican government is received with qualification by Americans generally. There has been some hatred in Mex ico of Americans, but, except perhaps for certain harried sections along our border, very little ill-feeling in this country against Mexicans. There has been commiseration for Mexican shortsightedness, perhaps, and regret that conditions there have been so chaotic. It has been felt all along that personally President Obregon has earnestly desired American recogni- ton, but that he was impelled by the insecurity of his own tenure to delay negotiations looking to acceptance of the terms laid down by our state de- partment as preliminary to recogni- ton. Now that his authority is su- preme in Mexico it is probable that Obregon feels that he is strong enough to do what perhaps he otherwise would have done in the beginning.
 One of the greatest obstacles to recognition has been with regard to the interpretation of the new Mexican constitutional clause relating to sub soil and mineral rights. Undoubtedly the clause was intended, and was un- der the Carranza regime interpreted, as confiscatory of all rights and grants acquired previous to the adoption of the constitution. The Mexican su- preme court under Obregon, however, held that the kclause was not retroac- tive, and it is understood that new conventions with Mexico stipulate ex- pressly that it is not retroactive. There are other stipulations respect ing the title to property in Mexico held by foreigners, and it is now ex- pected that the agreements will be satisfactory to both governments. Claims for our Mexican punitive ex- petition are also accepted, it is said. Recognition and the resumption of formal diplomatic relations will un- doubtedly materialize within the next few weeks.
 Recognition of Mexico, and the re- newed acknowledgement of the valid ity of American titles in Mexico will assuredly rebound at once to Mexi- can prosperity. American capital has not been very active in Mexico pend ing the negotiations, and industries operated by American capital and fur nishing employment to thousands of Mexicans have long been idle. Now it is probable that the old operations will be resumed and that new devel- opments will be under way shortly. Mexico offers an inviting field for the development of mining, oil, transpor- tation, agriculture and the like, while at the same time opening a convenient new market for American products. To be on bad terms with Mexico is bad business for us no less than for the Mexicans. If Obregon is a sam pie of the new type of administrator that shall rule Mexico the future is suspicious. It may be that the time is at hand when the Mexican as we'll as the Canadian border shall be but an imaginary line marking a physical division between two entirely friendly people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-17
Effects Apparent

A10d9AGll JOuIldlJ
 Prophetic of the effect of the passage of the new revenue bill as 1t left the house, shorn of it's efficient taxing machinery, comes the announcement that tax values in Etowah county this year are, expected to show a shrinkage of at least one million dollars as compared with those of last year. The tax assessment last year in Etowah county amounted to a lit- tie more than $21, 100000. This year it is expected to be just a little over S2O.OoO,0 900. This is not due to any large reduction along part4cular line. but to a general cutting of assessments. This Is reduction of almost five per cent. It will mean, of course, Q reduction In the incomes of the county and cities, as well as the states share, of five per cent. from last year. It will mean that schools and other public institu- tions will suffer.