davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
APPRAIsING THE AIR SERVICE

Secretary Wilbur and Rear Admiral Moffett, chief of the bureau of aero nautics. told the house committee ln- vestigating aircraft that while the Amer ican air service is inferior in numbers to the air forces of other powers, 1t IS superior in material, design and general efficiency. This announcement was doubtless made as much for public con sumption as for the information of the house committee. There has been so much talk lately of the rapid strides made bv other nations in developing their air services, while the United States is lag ping behind, that large percentage of Americans are beginning to think we have no air service worthy of the name.
 Nevertheless, neither Secretary Wilbur nor Admiral Moffett will deny that Tn one important particular we have dropped behind other nations. No one questions American leadership in the establishing of records of all kinds, the building ot airplane engines, which must be efficient, or the finest planes that could be built otherwise are useless ;-the resourcetulness of our inventors; the skill of our flyers and all the technical phases of aviation. But we do not build the planes; we do not develop commercial aviation. The result N-NN compete with the United States if we were to exert ourselves, have great air armadas, closely coordinate air ministries and an airplane industry that can be de- pended upon to supply every need ot peace or war
 It is this situation of affairs that gives so many students of American aviation a sense of uneasiness. It is situation %bat is fruitful of false alarms. The persons who want to frighten congress into spending more money than is neces- sary on aviation have an opportunity to spread propaganda that is all the more effective because it is partly true. Like wise the jingo and the militarist view with alarm and keep up an agitation that may do infinitely more harm than good, while the bulk of the American people wonder what it is all about.
 Some experts tell us the country can not be invaded by hostile air force, Other experts say this can and may b' done by fleets of planes that will blow
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
Brief Nature Studies
By J. OTIS SWIFT

TN THE woods atop Hoevenkopf Mountain,
 near Suffern, in the Ramapos, is the log \ cabin studio where for quarter of a century or so Francis Wheaton, painter Of sheep and landscapes, has lived far iron, from the madding crowd and made his beautiful hits of art. A little way off is the pie turesque cottage where he lives. All about the forest stretches, old hardwood trees, messy stumps, gray-green lichened ledges. winding trails. Under a glacier scratched ledge IS the spring.
 In dry autumn weather, when forest fires crackle and the air is pungent with brush wood smoke, brooks are dry and ferns turn sere. Mir. Wheaton rises early to sit by his open window and watch the spring where the wild deer, unable to find water in the ravines, come trustingly and unafraid, like tawny shadows in the early dusk, to drink from the family we'll. They drink, stare at the immovable figure at the window and saunter away.
 Before the sun rises come birds, inter- rupting their morning chorus for "a drink, to sit on the fountains lip dipping their bills in the spring. Before they go they give thanks, trilling in the apple trees about the house.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
The Right Word
HOW MANY WRONGg
By W. CURTIS NICHOLSON

The sentences ill yesterdays test. should have been written as follows:
 1. May I help you with your work? When asking for permission never use can.
 ?. He will come more often tor oftener), now that you have returned 7; not more oftener.
 g. good many of you know whether he Tor I am wrong. Avoid the use Of lots TOT good many, many, or a considerable number
 f. He has done what l suggested. Use done with has, have and had.
 5. Here is the book that you were look ing for. Never use what to refer to noun. Never say you was" ".t% 1 E>:
 G. Any one of the three plans is appro- prate The sentence written incorrectly read as follows Either of the three plans are ap- propriate. Either means one or two. Either and any one are singular and should De foi- lowed by a singular verb. t~. ~,
 [. "He went in the house.. should have been "He went into the house." Laying should be changed to lying in the following: which had been laying the piano: Say all the afternoon,' not, "all of the after noOn +'f a-cf
 s. Leave out got and change them to those in the following sentence Have youagot' any more of them samples? "
 g. Who is the subject of might III the following Who do you think might be called upon?
 10. "As we'll as" does not make plural subject, as, John as well as James has left town.
 II. One cannot be taller than any person, because any includes ones self. The following is correct: He is taller than any other person lin the room. A sS'
 12. Say 'try to find" instead of strye and find" ;" aA :-
 Yesterdays Error. '& t4-~'
 Wrong: Would you not like to test your ability to write correct English. ~
 Right: Should you not like to test your ability to write correct English? -..
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27

our first-line battleships to Kingdom Come far out at sea, and then proceed to rain bombs on New York, Washington Philadelphia and other strategic points Either we need more planes, or we dc not need them. With such fever of inquiry and investigation, argument and debate, going on, it should be possible to get at the truth. The view of mod crate advocates of preparedness is that we should have more planes, if not better ones, although we do not require such air forces as Great Britain and France now possess, because we have less to fear from air attacks.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27

level. As Europe's economic condition steadily improves, process which IS ex- pected to be maintained, notwithstanding political flurries abroad, American mar kets will be restored. There should be more business done with Europe and a greater demand for American products in |1925. All of this directly affects labor. Then, too, when the country is prosperous there is less likelihood of dissension be- tween capital and labor.
 Probably favorable industrial and eco homie conditions are more responsible than anything else for the comparative peace that now reigns in labor andpem- ploying circles, but it is not too much to hope that the spirit of arbitration and fairplay have had beneficial. effect. Strikes hurt both sides and they hurt the public. They are wasteful and destruc- tive, and may therefore be defended only as a remedy dictated by desperation.
 As society more fully recognizes its duties and responsibilities, and the idea grows that cooperation and compromise are the bases for peace in industry as we'll as in international affairs, strikes will become rarity.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
The Great Answer
rLEvEN hundred years ago Charges, king
By JOHN CARLYLE

IrLEVEN hundred years ago Charges, king
 N of France, was crowned at Rome A1 Thenceforth he was Emperor of the West. And he was called Charlemagne:
 A little less than 300 years later William the Conqueror was crowned King Of England amid the shouting and tumult or ms hosts III the city of London.
 Both of these events, fascinating to the historian, came on Christmas Day.
 It is said that Charlemagne and the Con oueror were beloved of their people. William we are told, granted his people liberal charter-a charter which they must nave ios' ere King John came on hundred and tltty years later.
 It is not the crowning of King Charles or King William, with all their liberal charters which we celebrate on Christmas Day.
 We celebrate the coming of another King who gave to men the most liberal charter ever known on this earth.
 His charter makes over to men the Kingdom of God He establishes it upon the earth and as Isaiah said long before there was Christ mas Day, the government shall be upon hls shoulder"
 And this King has proclaimed that his peo ple shall be knit together In a unlVersa brotherhood and that Love shall be the watch word at the gate of all human progress.
 The liberal charter of William, called the Conqueror crowned in the tumult of London on Christmas Day. is forever lost and for gottenl The friendly scepter grasped on q Roman Christmas Day, fell centuries ago from the mortal hand of Charlemagne.
 But the Everlasting Charter of Love granted by the gentle Gallilean, IS deathleSS amid a changing world. It IS the Immortal Magma Charta of men.
 We may fail, again and again. for day or a lifetime, to obey the love-laws of the Great Charter. But they are there, and they are there forever.
 Some day the people of this world will rise up and adopt the Great Charter, so liberally given by this King of Kings And they shall find therein the answer to all their questing
 For in it's terms lies the meaning of life the justification of the age-long struggle the answer to the riddle of an immortal universe
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
AN INEXCUSABLE DELAY

That there were twenty-two victims o1 attack from dogs in Birmingham Tn one day presents a situation that strongly suggests the need for correction by the public authorities. The health depart ment has repeatedly directed attention to the need for effective remedies, Tn the absence of which the city laboratory IS kept busy administering the Pasteui treatment. There is reason to believe that the number of dogs suffering from rabies in this community has become nnblic menace, Ordinances to provide against this are simple of creation and easv of enforcement. It is apparent that yagrant dogs in Birmingham are lncreas- ing the danger to the public, while creat- inc a situation which is expensive, tlme- consuming and inconvenlent.
 In England, Japan and other countries where anti-rabies treatment IS admin ;stered to animals at the public expense under rigid laws the disease is almost unknown and the public is protected ac- cordingly. The health authorities o1 DIT ningham have repeatedly warned agalns' the increasing menace, and the recoros show that remedial steps are needed Tn the public interests. ....,
 The department will renew It's e11or1s to get the city commission to tighten the regulations under which dogs may run al Iaroe. The commission has been con- sidering such a measure for some months: I+s nostuonement of action has increased that body's responsibility in the pubic behalf. Every day in failure to act III. creases the danger. Many victims or mad dogs are already asking why the ;paxcusable delay.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
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"Mother of the Revolution"

DRESHKOySKAYA, one of the most bril- n liant women of Russia, who spent thirty
 three years of her life in, reeklng, crawling, typhoid cell of a czarist prison in Siberia, has commented upon the situation Tn her homeland. Breshko lives Tn Czecho- Sloyakia at present, because she cannot agree with the bolshevist regime, and 1t was Tn Prague that the aged woman was lntervlewed by a Paris correspondent. She felt highly amused over the squabble between the Rus sian grand dukes over the succession to the throne of Nicholas. Cyril says he is czar. And that he will reform the whole of Russian life To whom is he talking, anyway! Wouldn't you like to be czar? she asked her interviewer. Well, you may as well say you are czar. It does not mean thing. Then the little bent woman made prophecy. And it will be recalled that her prophecy of 1905 that the czarist regime would not last another quarter century has become matter of reality. II know my Russian people. They do not want a czar and they do not want doctrinaire economic system that leaves them no freedom. They want peace, happiness and their religion. The bolsheviks are going soon. They cannot last with their rigid inflexible system of dictatorship. Then Russia will be free. But no autocrats of any kind will be tolerated. An interesting angle to the present squabble over the succession are the claims of Prince Sieskowitz, descendant Of Rurik, the Varangian, who conquered Russia in S62. The prince says he is direct de- scendant. of the Romanoffs, while Nicholas and Cyril and in fact all the czars since Peter the Great were descendants of the German husband of Empress Elizabeth.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
Watching The Parade
T1HE HERO of this story, if ,he, ,fis. a hero
By JOHN PILGRIM
and not a chump, is a very well known

lTHE HERO of this story, if he, is. a hero and not chump, is a very we'll known writer of fiction. So well known that you'd be surprised if you heard his name Critics write about him often. One gathers that they do not altogether approve of him, but then the function of critics is to dis approve But they all agree upon his spon- taneity.
 It is evidently pleasure for him to write," they say.
 The hero says it isn't. To change his autobiography slightly, so that his identity may not be spotted he had had fairly good education. That is, he could spell and cipher, and he had had twentytwo different jobs in twenty-six months, which is mighty fine education indeed, although his mother did moi think so. tF "
 Game day." as the movie sub-titlers say when he was out of a job, almost out ot money, on the verge of hunger, cold all un' Icharitableness and in a fifty-cent lodging house. A periodical souse who frequented the place happened to be in state cf induced loduacity. He said he had been newspaper. man, and had even written fiction. Anyone could write fiction he said. "Why, here's a plot"
 He sketched story and then went to sleep Our nearly down and out hero thought it over moodily, because it was showing outside and his shoes were thin and the fifty y-cent lodging house was steam-heated. Then he sat down to write that yarn, in the hope that he might perhaps make five dollars out of it. After three days of hard physical toll he succeeded and then sold it to an editor who coopered it up bit and paid him forty dollars.
 He has been writing ever since. But with no more "spontaneity" than when he wrote that first yarn. It is hard labor for him to write The invention of a plot involves the belaborng of a brain that seems to have been short-circuited. He writes fiction because that is the only way he knows in which to make a good living. ,'"
 Chance turned him that way, and it is a smart man who knows his luck, But the rest of his success was founded on headaches.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
Ho For Bay Of Shi1na
~oME, sisters, let us go to the Bay of
By DIR. FRANK CRANE

NOME, sisters, let us go to the Bay of \ Shima. on the Pacific coast of Japan. O Why bother about England and the United States, where males are tyrants and women voteless? Over wonder the women do all the work, which consists in diving for pearls, while the men loaf.
 The women spend ten hours daily in the and smoke.
 I have always wanted to have my wife go into business and support the family. Un- fortunately, she will not do it. l must per force work for living.
 Think of having you women folks run a boarding house or a millinery shop, while you just bask in the sun, out in front, with your chair tilted up against the wall. There you can gossip with your neighbors, joke with the other loafers, note the pretty girls, and argue about politics, while from within comes the sound of the sewing machine or the odor or ham and eggs. You are called in to eat. Alter dinner you go down to the postoffice and argue some more. Is it not an idea! ex- istence? Can you wonder that we favor women's rightsT
 And then have you ever noticed the rare devotion a wife pays to a shiftless, no-account, and brutal husband? It is wonderful. No decent, hard-working man can hope for the Newfoundland -dog-like affection which the drunken loafer receives from his wife.
 knew little dressmaker once who had as trifling lout for husband as you could find in a days journey. She worked her fingers to the bone for him. She labored twenty-five hours a day for him. She fed him., clothed him, coddled him, and shielded him. Every once in while he would play fully kick her, or pinch her black and blue.. Once he plastered a piece of pumpkin pie which did not suit him all over her face. But that was merely his way. George was so funny. And then, you know, he wasn't very we'll He usually had some disease up his sleeve in case he was threatened with a job. And how she loved him! 70
 In primeval days men did no work. They hunted and rested. Their business was kill ing. The women titled the fields and ground the corn. Alas, those good old times are no more. We live in decadent era when men are presumed to labor and women to play bridge. As consequence we arc not loved with that fierce emotion. women in ea-l: ages bestowed upon us.
 Therefore, let US go to the Bay of Shima and set up our hut, lie in the w&rm sands, and watch the women dive for pearls. When they grow tired of that we can make them 20 up to the house and get LIS something to eat.
 r Then, brethren, we shall beloved.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
IE'4sONCE 0NpONlE!::,,RE q: R

What! No Crisis With Japan Today? i Over a week has passed since our. last crisis with Japan. This is very ,alafn1inESkfe both countries and particularly sdisturbanEato the American public which has been educated ur to weekly crisis and insists upon having il as per schedule. | Uncle Sam made a serious effort few months ago to taper off to programme of only two crises month with Japan, but the people wouldn't stand for It. After the third week had passed with no strained relations Washington was flooded with letters insisting that Secretary Hughes call the matter to Japan's attention at once and demand an i'm mediate insult.
 The United States and Japan have been in fewer wars and more crimes than any two major powers on earth. Every time the Jap anese cabinet meets the first question is: MT. Secretary, is there any new cisis with America this morning?"
 'No, sir, I'm sorry to say there is moi" :"
 Extraordinary, very so !" says the Japan ese manager of the hot and cold crisis depart ment. What time is 1t now"
 ''Ten minutes to twelve"
 Well, we'll wait another half hour. May I be Secretary Hughes is sick or something. But if America doesn't furnish us with new crisis by twelve-twenty we'll supply it our selves"
 | A new reason for crisis with Japan can be dug up almost any time, but in case of a shortage there is always the immigration law to fall back on. This limits Japanese imm- grafton to two troops of eight jugglers each per circus. -. 3+G
 The last crisis, four or five days ago, was over the old reliable fleet issue It was charged by an American congressman that Japan was not limiting her warship building programme to point where the news reel photographers could get the entire fleet in one reel.
 Japan is supposed to be under strict promise to build a navy satisfactory to the United States and vice versa sf&
 
 1 A few weeks ago there was crisis when | it developed Japan had out two extra sailors on the cruiser Osaku Kzuko without per mission from Secretary Wilbur: The matter finally was compromised by Japan agreeing to let the United States use two goats in stead of one for mascot purposes at the naval academy 70 'at&
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
One Word

One word is too often profaned For me to profane it, One feeling too falsely disdained so,. For thee to disdain it. .s:s s5 One hope is too like despair For prudence to smother, '' +;'" Na And pity from thee more dear a-e Than that from another.
 f.- l can give not what men call love; But wilt thou accept not The worship the heart lifts above And the heavens reject not: The desire of the moth for the star, Of the night for the morrow, The devotion to something afar From the sphere of our sorrow?
 Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
QUACK! QUACK!

As hinted in this pilaster of prophecy. old IF. F. A. didn't care so much for his first duck hunt. A man who frequently gets to work at II o'clock probably can't see why he should start to play ut q. m. And his was duck-hunting de luxe, too! A palatial South Carolina hunting lodge, reached by private car, and equipped with launches, guides, duck wranglers, etc. For such m expedition we would gladly give more than the cash on hand, and yet it was all thrust upon this in grate; there are days when we feel that jus tice has a jaundiced eye. and there is no Santa Claus.-Oklahoma Times
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
LITTLE ERNEST'S ESSAY Babies.

Everybody was baby at leest once:
 You often heer people say they wish they was boy or a girl agen, but you never heer them say they wish they was baby agen, either because they don't remember weather it was eny fun or not, or elts because they don't like the way babies look.
 If you tell a babys father or mother that it looks like them it makes them feel stuck up and grate, vile if you told a stranger the same about most babies they wouldent feel eny way except insulted.
 Babies start without eny hair, teeth, name or langwidge.
 Wen a baby gets even one small size tooth everybody gets as ixcited about it as if it was Ia big gold one
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
Now Ibanez Is Insane.

The grandees of Spain in solemn session assembled had a talk over the agitation ot certain novelist named Ibanez, who lives at present in France. This man Ibanez is out for republican form of government and has dared to challenge the Hapsburg king of Spain. To prove their solidarity with the monarch, the grandees passed unanimous resolution declarng Ibanez insane. Of course, this does not make the man insane, no more than resolution by the Roman senate made Augustus god. The following day, however, the grandees announced that they would fight tooth and nail the propaganda spread by the author of ''The Four Horsemen." Now If the man is insane. why all the noise. Let him alone in his rawlings. But no, the grandees look around and see the miserable conditions of the Spanish peasants and industrial work CTS and they know that the insanity of lbanez may be highly contagious in such surround ings and may at certain inopportune mo- ment spread like widfire. When that moment comes, not only the king but the dictator, Rivera, and all his corrupt clique of grandees will be swept away in the avalanche of rev olution. The remedy of Spain's ills Is not denunciation of Ibanez but active reforms to better the conditions of the people.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-27
WALLY THE MYSTIC

He'll Answer Your Questions, Somehow. At this glad season of the year The whole world should be of good cheer Don't let yourself be melancholy; Confide in sympathetic Wally. e.., ... These Babies. Dear Wally:
 Kindly tell, Old Hoss, D When baby's feeling rather cross, What shall do to make her better!
 Yours very truly,
 A GO GETTER. Dear A Go Getter:
 I must say like your free and easy way! How old is baby? Oft a spank Will cure grown or infant crank
 A Social Climber.
 A girl-winsome, tall Has said she'd like to have me call; But I am short. What can I do To equalize the distance? Dear Blue:
 Compose your fretted mind. In every tall girls home you'll find A lot of pillows These were meant For use as well as ornament. THE JINGLE-JANGLE COUNTER Bad manners we would fain abolish; The bootblack is a man of polish.
 Nathan NJ. Levy. Much on fancy dogs is spent; Bloodhounds are worth every scent
 Cecil Rickett Where roses climb great blooms hang clustered A hot dog needs dab of mustard
 Dave H. Morehead.
 The Proper Spirit. Ryan: "The doctor was in high spirit when he left your home." Nelson: he was. I gave him few dose of his own medicine"
 Roger Keats. Copyright 1924 Reproduction Forbddsn'