davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
STREET NAMES AND NUMBERS

Great loss and inconvenience are suf-
fered by the business concerns of Biz
mingham because so few of the streets
are marked, and too few of the houses
are properly numbered, if at all. Every
merchant and business interest knows
what an obstacle this condition is to
prompt and accurate delivery service.
The postal deliveries are similarly handi-
capped. The remedy would require little
cost. When the public authorities are
approached about it they plead, as usual,
municipal poverty, instead of exercising
that capacity for administration the cit
liens have a right to expect.
In many cities with less population and
wealth than Birmingham ordinances re-
quiring names Of streets and numbers on
houses are enforced. Property owners
are required to bear the house-numbering
cost, which is small, while the cities pro-
vide signs with street names. Birming-
ham, in the interests of convenience and
economy, should promptly rectify this
situation, as other cities have done.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Cabaret In Holy City

Dignitaries representing the various Chris
tan denominations in Jerusalem are aroused
over "disgraceful conditions i'll the holy city"
1t appears that a certain Arab, Ben Ali
Zoed by name has obtained concession from
the municipal authorities of opening cabaret
where American jazz music is to be played, or
is now playing. That would be very nat
ural thing, for Jerusalem is in the throes of
a remarkable revival. Outside the old walls
a practically new city has been constructed
European in appearance and absolutely mod
ern in its facilities and conveniences. AS the
center of great Hebrew revival, the metro
polls of country in which tens of thousands
of young people have come to make a living,
the center of money activities, headquarters of
British army divisions, it is quite likely that
something of the nature of a cabaret should
be thought of. To the casual tourist, of
course, this would be no attraction. He
comes to see the holy places of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. but to the inhabitant
of Jerusalem these holy places have become
commonplace. He must have some diversion
And perhaps one of these days some little
clay tablets will be discovered which will
show that the poet-king of antiquity also
danced on other occasions than on the return
of the ark and that his son, the wise Solo
mon, had cabarets and parties for his three
thousand wives that would make Ben Ais
little joint look like little circus sideshow.
Copyright, 1924
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
HOW LOS ANGELES BUILDS

The CITY of Los Angeles has been sub
feet to considerable bantering because
of its Boosting, the allegation being that
the climate of that region is its only
asset, and that its people have made most
of it. There must be considerable WINE
in such a climate, or some elixir that
makes men surpass themselves, for Los
Angeles has now much besides climate
~ which to boast. All have heard OF
the city's paved boulevards extending for
miles in every direction, its wonderful
homes, its wide streets, sumptuous hotels,
extensive Fairgrounds and other attrac-
tions. But such things are to be found
in greater or less degree in many other
cities.
There are, however, at least three
achievements in which Los Angeles has
surpassed anything done by any other
city, unless it be Chicago with its re-
claimed waterfront of more than twenty
miles, or Philadelphia, which is bodily
moving a fair-sized populace in order to
carry out its magnificent new CITY,
beautiful concept. The first of those
Los Angeles enterprises of outstanding
moment has recently been in the public
eve by reason of the California drought
when ranchers in the valley whence the
city draws its water supply opened the
gates and poured the water into their
Irrigation bitches. This water supply of
Los Angeles is carried by conduits, a
whole river of it, from a mountain valley
two hundred and fifty miles away. The
aoueduct surpasses anything else OF its
kind in the world.
Once Los Angeles was an inland city.
It determined to become port. A wide
interval of sand separated it from the
ocean harbor. But such small bstacle
is no impeachment to Los Angeles. 1t
simply built harbor on the ocean, just
as Athens had her Peiraeus, and connected
that harbor with the city by rail and by
magnificent highways. Now, to all in
tents and purposes, Los Angeles is sea-
port.
The third achievement, now just draw
ing to completion after more than
thirteen years of construction, is the
tunnel through the mountains which is
to carry the San Joaquin river forty-five
miles from its present course, convert its
current into electricity and send it to
serve the city two hundred and seventy
miles away This is the longest tunnel
in the world, exceeding even the great
Simplon tunnel in the Alps or the
Rogers Pass tunnel on the Canadian Pa
cific. 1t has opened up the bowels of
the mountain to the study of scientists,
who were invited from far and near to
come and make their observations.
Los Angeles has spent its millions upon
millions for all these gifts which many
other cities have by nature, and yet Los
Angeles has not mortgaged herself be-
vond redemption, nor does the question
of financing these great undertakings
bother her government or her people. On
the contrary, the wealth, the taxable
values directly arising out of these i'm
provements havsh resulted in an actual
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
WHEN is A MAN OLD?

The headline writer of the Journal, a
young man full of vigor and short on years.
referred to a 65-year-old resident as an aged
man and the morning post brought a letter
from highly esteemed citizen protesting
against the term. We agree with him.
No man is ever aged when he is less than
40 years old. Sixty-five comes at time
when man should be at his best. Possibly
he cannot play as many rounds of golf at that
time as he could at 80, nor can he dance for
as many hours, but mentally he should be
alert and at the peak of his life. If he has
been reasonably careful about his health, a
man at 60 should be robust and strong, and
young.
In Florida, n person should be able to live
about as long as he wants to. Anything less
than 125 years will be disappointment to
this writer 1t is now very old-fashioned,
even foolish. to be aged at 65, so the headline
writer is hereby admonished to keep off this
subject in the future.-Pensacola JourkAl.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Brief Nature Studies
by j. OTIS SWIFT

T TP IN the hills where the Torne trail lies
white in the moonlight under the skies
hedged by laurel and pinkster bush and
old gray rocks that frost sprites push over
the high cliffs, cracked and torn, hurting
down 'mong tree trunks shorn, into the laugh
ing, babbling brooks, creeping and purling
in shady hooks, there's mystic, sphagnum-
haunted bog-muck and quaking, rotting log
broad wide spaces to goldthread sown that
the spice-bush claimeth for its own.
Benzon, fever-bush, wild all-spice or spice
bush was used by the Indians as remedy
for fevers. All through the mountains OF the
South it is used as a substitute for Chinese
tea Its egg-shaped red berries are dried and
used for flavoring food.
81 supped last evening on tea made from
shrub called spice-wood," write Andre
Michaux in the diary of his travels in Amer
lea, February Q, 1896. "a handful of young
twigs or branches is set to boil and after it
is boiled at least quarter of an hour sugar
is added and it is drunk like tea"
DIR. Francis Porcher of the Confederate
Army in 1863 told how South Carolina sol
diers drank spce-bush tea as a beverage.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
THE BUILDING RECORD

Having already passed the million
dollar mark in building permits Tor
eighteen days of December, the permits
for the year 1924 have reached the nlne-
teen million dollar mark, and are ex-
pected to 20 half million dollars more by
the end of the year. This represents an
investment covering general contracts
only. When the additional costs OF struc-
lures are included, the aggregate VIII
run around thirty million dollars or more.
This record does not include building
operations in the industrial field, which
are expected to be as large or larger.
Thus the total building program of this
community during 1924 will be around
sixty million dollars, perhaps more, and
represents very large increase over the
record of last year, or any year IN the
history of the district. AS result OF tnls
huge building program community pros
perity during the year has been enhanced
because Of the heavy demand Tor ma
terials and labor. The building industry
is one of the several influential factors
that contributed noticeably to commun-
ity development. There are prooaply
few, if any, cities in the South, IN BIZ
mingham's class, which are engaged IN
erecting seven skyscrapers of ten or more
stories nlSH, al Lie odliic tiiiS' NotHN --~
may advance the theory that Birmingham
is OVERRIDING the building industry. Re-
Gently an observant man remarked on
the large number of apartment houses
which were erected during the year. Yet
all the apartment houses built in 1924
and 1928 combined would not provide
for the growth in population of Bir1ming-
ham during one year.
It is doubtful if all the building OF res
licences of every kind erected here IN
1924 would take care of one years
growth in population. Subtracted from
the new building program must be the
percentage IF houses which became un-
iivable during the year. The net gain in
residences of every kind will not provide
for the city's population growth
Thus it does not appear that the build
ing program as represented in residences
has been at all overdone. In the in
dustrial and commercial fields Birming-
hams growth has been fully abreast with
that of it's population, while the increase
In production, the progress in wealth and
the records all along the line show rela-
tive ratios of development. 1t would be
physically difficult for Birmingham to
overdo the building industry at the
present time.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
NATIONAL SUPPLY BILL

Although the supply bill now in con-
gress calls for more than three-quarters
of billion dollars, it is encouraging to
note that it is eleven million dollars
under the budget estimate. 1t is increas-
ingly apparent that the presidents policy
of economy is bearing fruit in some de-
partments at least. The appropriation for
prohibition enforcement is somewhat
more than the budget estimate, but is
said to be more than three hundred
thousand dollars less than the sum avail
able for the year. The appropriations for
rural free delivery will be six hundred
thousand dollars less than for last year,
indicating that with the construction of
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
The Right Word
NOT QUITE CLEAR
Find the Error In This Articlel
by w. CURTIS NICHOLSON

Mi A. S., Louisville, KY: please correct
the following: Why don't you get water
wings! Then you would not need any one
to teach you-you could learn YOURSELF l
contend you can have some one teach you.
but you have to learn yoursef-therefore, l
believe the foregoing is correct"
Answer: You are right, but is not the
sentence you have submitted somewhat lack
ing in cearness? 1t is true that the sentence
is similar to the following: If you will con-
centrate on the problem, you will be able to
solve it yourself. You really mean that you
yourself could learn. But the way you put
it one might be led to think that you could
teach yourself, and that in expressing your
thought you had used the wrong word.
Since there is room for confusion, why not
say, why do you not get water-wings? Then
you could learn to swim without instruction.
"a" Is Right
j. Williams, New York City: Recently
ain article was published in a railroad paper.
The heading read as follows What Kind
of Service Are the Railroads Giving?
"a states the caption is correct as
printed. 81
"'B' states it should read, What Kind of
Service Is the Railroads Giving?
will you please state which is correct and
why?'
Answer: "a" is correct. In a question
the subject of the sentence usually follows the
verb. In the foregoing sentence, railroads, a
plural noun, is the subject. Examples What
kind of an apple is this? What kind of ap-
pies are these?
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
IG'a9ONCE
0NU OVER
Modern Letters To Santa Claus

Modern Letters To Santa Claus
Dear Santa Claus:
am a little girl nine years old. l am in
bed every night by midnight as rule and l
am very good and frequently obey my parents
except when they cross me or disgust me with
their silly old fogy ideas. l get along re-
markably we'll with my parents, considering
how dumb they are, and l would like the
following things for Christmas:
(1) A nice lipstick with gold holder like
my mother uses
(2) A can of real good rouge.
81 A carton of cigarettes.
That's dear old thing, Santa.
Dear Santa Claus:
What wish you would bring to my house
more than anything else is some new hair
for my mamma. She came home the other
day looking so awful 1 nearly died of fright
and when 1 cried she just said, Don't be
afraid. It's only your mother" Mumsy has
had her hair bobbed SO she will look younger.
It's shame how somebody's fooled her and
wish you would let her know it and bring
her some hair so she will look human again.
BABY SMITHERS.
(Four years old)
P. S.-Please punish the people who told
her it would make her look younger.
Dear Mr.. Claus:
L am a young woman 16 years old and
have always been very fond of you.
1 have been very good girl the past
year and haven't had any strong drink in
almost three weeks. You can't believe
anything you see on the labels any more
and at party of the Kappa Sigma Mu
month ago / passed completely out on
less than five drinks of Scotch
l have cut down my smoking, too and get
along on two packs a day and have cut out
smoking before breakfast, too Isn't that
just too fine for anything, Santa, old dear?
1 use profanity very little except i'll
my own home and get along much better
with my parents now. 1 never fight with
them. 1 just ignore them. They mean
all right; just couple of hasbeens.
that's all, and 1 suppose 1 should know
better than try to get them around to
my way of thinking.
1 wish you would bring me for Christ
mas an ivory cigarette holder, one of
those dear little TASKS that can be carried
i'm vanity case, some silk stockings,
good hair dye, a diamOnd-studded garter,
some dancing pumps with rhinestOnes in
them and some good suppressed fiction.
If you make your visit before 3 o'clock in
the morning 1 probably won't be in, but if
you should come after that look me up and l
would dearly love to have chat. l think
you're great big dear, one of the few charm
ing old men l know.
This will have to be all for now, as 1 was
up most all night at dizzy jazz party and l
am just wreck physically.
DORIS.
p. S.-Burn this letter, as Bert is ter
ribly jealous.
Dere Santer Clus:
am ii years old and all I want is to live
my own life in my own way. My mother and
father don't understand me. They cramp my
style. l want to see life
MILLICENT.
p S.-Have you read Freud?
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Prodigal

[ bring to you no conquest and no spoil;
| come to you in no heroic role,
Stained by the dirt and hurt of battle soil,
| only bring my bruised and bleeding soul
l have been buffeted of men and gods,
l have been scorned of women and OF
crowds,
have gone up against the endless odds
And my dead hopes are swaddled IN their
shrouds.
No debt is yours and no desert is mine;
file no claim upon your store of trust;
may not pay, not even with whine;
| come not that / would, but that l must
1 bring you nothing but my hopeless need,
| droop before you, desolate and dumb
My whitened lips can neither pray nor plead !;
| stumble to YOUR presence-but l come.
-Edmund Vance Cooke in McNaughts
Monthly.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Democracy OF Death
BY DIR. FRANK CRANE
( rOWHERE does convention lay it's paraly-
VI zing hand upon poor mortals so hardly
as at the funeral.

as at the tuneral.
A man can live as independently as he
pleases wear a soft shirt, eat with knife and
refused to go to receptions, and altogether
imagine that he is an individual, but when he
dies, custom with iron hand and velvet glove
invades his house and takes charge.
The great high priestess Of funerals is Mrs.
Grundy. The sensitive, torn hearts of the
family shrink from any sort OF conflict, and
SO they submit to the absurd, expensive and
vulgar things that make of the funeral q
horror.
The widow is anxious that all respect be
shown Hence she submits to the extortions
of the funeral director and consents to the
purchase of a casket that costs six times
what it is worth and ten times what she can
afford.
Why should people who never ride in auto
mobiles in their lifetime be made to pay for
automobiles for all the relatives and friends
out of the insurance money that belongs to
the widow and children?
A decent respect for the dead and for the
opinion of our neighbors demands that there
be some ceremony, as solemn, as reverential
as can be made. But, above all things, their
rites should be purged of display, extrava-
gance and show. They should be simple,
heartful and genuine.
1t is not the money spent that matters so
much. In our grief we care nothing for that,
and only wish we could squander millions ii
by SO doing we could show the depth of our
sorrow. But that is precisely the point OF
error for the expenditure of money does not
express grief, it expresses pride; it is a dis
position to make a show which is entirely
out of place.
The grief of bereavement is essentially pri-
vate and shrinking. A funeral should be an
affair of the utmost privacy and simplicity.
That, of all places, is no place to parade.
And what a spectacle is the modern grave
yard, with its distinctions of rich and poor
more sharply marked than among the living.
By all means, let man live in palace if he
chooses. but why should he wish to project
the class lines of wealth into region where
riches and poverty are no more. At least the
realm of death is a democracy. At least in
Goods Acre" men ought to be willing to lie
still in bare manhood, all together in their in
vestiture of day, equal at last, prince and
manner. there where there is no more:
1.-The boast of heraldry, the pomp of
power"
If we can have no real democracy while
we are alive, at least permit us to have the
democracy of DEATH
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22

better roads existing routes have been ex-
tended or combined with material de-
crease in overhead. This reduction in the
cost of rural free delivery Of mails takes
place in the face of an increased mileage
and a greatly expanding rural mail bust
ness. A reduction of more than three
hundred thousand dollars in the sum
asked for the customs service is also
noted. There is no doubt that each year
will reveal opportunities for promotion
of economy through more efficient
method or organization in government
activities. bureaus and Departments.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
THE yexesa sa~I
%M;2 iSaRBkSs$y{Sl 5; = !
In the French Chamber

TRANSLATION of a part of the official
report of the sessions of the French
- chamber of deputies reveals the bitter
ness and rancor now prevailing in French
politics and the position Of the Herriot gov
eminent caught between the attacks of the
clerical party on the one side and the COM
munists on the other. The chamber is dis
cussing the "Red Saturnalia," another name
for the socialist and communist manifesto
tions held at the transfer of the body OF
Jaures to the Pantheon.
General Saint Juste (nationalist) ''There
was not a single French flag in the process
sion. All l could see were the detestable
scarlet banners of Moscow"
NJ. Valiant Couturier (communist): "Sit
down, you assassin
NJ. Cachin Communist 1.-THE socialists
have confiscated Jaures for their own pur-
pose, but he belongs to u.s.
General Saint Juste: eve will meet your
red flags with bullets next time"
NJ. Valiant Couturier: For you a bullet
is too good we'll strangle you"
M. Renaudel (radicaI, to the reds: ''You
are set of abdominable demagogues."
Kisses, catcalls, pamphlets and other
missiles fly through the air, socialists and
communists enter into a fist fight; the ser
geant-at-arms intervenes. Premier Herriot
starts for the tribune and Cachn calls out
apparently in defiance of the whole world
IF you want a fight, we communists are
ready; we have the men, we have the means
and we have the courage. We showed ouI
strength at the Jaures funeral. The masses
are with us" Premier Herriot finally arrives
at the tribune and receives an ovation from
the left.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Forum OF The People
Commends News Policy OF The Age. HeraId

COmmendS News POIICy VI THO Hso-IIoI alu
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
Permit me as an humble reader of your
paper to express my admiration of your fair
and clean manner in which you and your able
staff have handled the news concerning the
murder of DIR. Edwards wife in Fairfield.
Especially is your unbiased position to be
commended when the two afternoon yellow
sheets are vieing with each other in an effort
to create the most sensational news and to
condemn to the gallows a nan who has not
even been given a preliminary hearings
1t is my belief that this same admiration is
the general feeling of large number of people
of this section where DIR. Edwards spent his
boyhood days and where his father is still
one of our most worthy citizens.
RICHARD r. YOUNG.
Selma, Ala, Dec. Is, 1924.
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-12-22
Xmas Tree Waste

We would not be killjoy. We would not
abate one iota of the spirit of goodwill and
gadness which makes Christmas the supreme
spiritual and social festival of the year. The
lights, the gifts, the greetings, the carols, the
legend of St Nicholas for the little ones, are
ali not merely delightful memories, but also
distinctly valuable assets Of personal. domestic
and community life. Perish the thought OF
their abandonment!
1t is, however, question worthy OF serious
consideration whether we could not have an
entirely satisfactory Christmas celebration
without indulging in monstrous orgy OF
waste in the cutting of Christmas trees The
country is suffering actual scarcity of timber
snd facing a veritable timber famine. The
President himself is taking the lead In heroic
efforts to check waste and to promote tree
culture. We all recognize the fact that forest
conservation and culture is one of the greatest
economic problems before the nation. Yet
every year vast numbers of the very finest
Young trees, of one of the most valuable
varieties, are cut down, to be used for few
days for decoration and then to be chopped
up for firewood or thrown on the waste
heap.
Some of these may, of course be properly
cut in places where the young forest growth
needs thinning out. But it is probable that
very few answer to this description, for the
reason that their shape shows them to have
been growing where there was plenty of room
Tor their branches to spread. 1t may well
be believed that nine-tenths of them would
grow into large and valuable timber if they
were not thus incontinently destroyed. Of
course, the old custom of trees lighted with
candles and hung with gifts, which Christian
ity borrowed from what it regards as pagan
ism, is very beautiful. But mere beauty does
not justify gross wastefulness. 1t would be n
reproach to our resourcefulness if we were
not able to devise something to take the place
Of the Christmas tree and thus avert the com
ing of time when we should have to give
it up because there would be no more forests
left from which to get it-Washington Post.