davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

Some of the Southern states, including Alabama, have no law providing for the increase of taxes, above the statutory rates, to meet bonded indebtedness, while the maintanance of sinking funds to take care of maturing bonds and interest due by many municipalities is not usually re- quired by law. In addition, many North ern and Eastern states permit a much larger percentage of the taxable values to be pledged in issuing securities, and that offers further safeguards for pur- chasers of such securities.
 After all the rates of interest fixed in municipal loans are largely determined by the risk involved. Bond buyers con- sider, first of all, the matter of security, then assets and prospects,. Nearly all the cities of the South offer attractive in- ducements to investors in municipal se- curities. It appears that there is need of revision of laws in Southern states, re- moving inhibitions on the power to levy additional taxes to protect bonded in- debtedness Such law failed of passage in Alabama's recent legislative session. That failure is costing the state hundreds of thousands annually in excessive inter- est charges.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
POLITICS AND THE BUDGET.

The city budget is being prepared with an eye more to political effect than to the economical administration of public affairs. It is apparent that this aspect is uppermost in the minds of some commis- sioners, and therein lies the usual bug bear of politics. The idea that a city is business corporation whose chief pur- pose is to render value received to it's stockholders, the citizens, seems to be lost sight of.
 There is hesitation whether there should be an increase in the salaries of policemen and firemen in making up the new budget. Instead of so allocating the revenues as to provide for this nec- eSsary item, the commission contemplates Rpecial tax on licenses for this purpose. That is not business-like nor is it neces- sar1 1t is believed that no commissioner issgnfficiently severe in pruning his own desired appropriations. The money could be probably found within the pres 5 ent revenues, if sincere effort were made to do so.
 The maintenance of an effective police force and fire department is an inescap- able necessity. It's value is many times itk cost. A promise was made by the cizE e0 install certain Improvements in the fire department and to keep it's ef- ficiency up to a certain, standard in order to get a reduction in insurance rates The city cannot properly evade this. It is matter of protection to every citizen who owns or insures property. Birming- ham has a comparatively efficient fire department, but it cannot be expected to keep pace with the growth and needs of the city unless the firemen are paid such salaries as will retain them in the public employ, and unless the department is eX- banded to keep pace with the municipal growth.
 With efficiency in the financial man. agement, it is believed that this can. be done. Incompetency in handling the municipal affairs causes far more waste than would represent such increases as both the police and fire departments re- quire. The plea for additional funds de- notes lack of that business capacity the public business of this city so sorely needs.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
Watching The Parade
By JOHN PILGRIM

N FEVER, while 1 retain my powers of M vision, will I see Jack Shreyer again. That is, I hope to be able to see him at such distance that l can cross the street give you my oath I've aged since l met him.
 Well, well," he moaned, when l saw him again after an interval of years, we're get ting older. Yes, yes. Havin' any trouble with your teeth?'
 My teeth are as sound as Plymouth Rock. You could shatter q cold chisel against any one of them. Jack Shreyer was remotely pleased to hear this, as becomes a fine old chimney corner buck when he gets good news of a friend, but he did not conceal his sur prise;
 Well, we'll" he grunted. You have all your. hair, too Mighty lucky at your age. Not one man in thousand as old as we are can say as much.
 He is older than I am by page on the calendar and by the Christian era in feeling. There is just q month between us, to put this fact in less recondite language. But he began to get old about the time he ceased to be young For years his one great hope has been to provide against old age. He has feared age until he has invited the enemy into his home.
 Il won't buy new car,' he said. I'm getting too old to drive. When this one is worn out I'll quit He is right in his de- cision. He is too old to drive because he thinks of himself as old.
 I'm pretty well fixed financially" he told me, heavily, gazing off into some gray flu ture. It's about time for me to retire"
 Half q dozen of the eOuntrys big men did not begin to make a success until they were older than Jack Shreyer is now. Older in years, that is. Shreyer has made himself old by thinking himself old.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
Forum Of The People
"Vyatch the Counter. Change.

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Those who favor the union of the Method ist church, south, with the Northern Method ist church allege that the union is opposed by ignorant people who would never know that they were united unless somebody told them. It reminds me of an incident of General Stonewall Jackson. Jackson was always anxious for counter-stroke in battle to make the victory decisive. He was opposed to fighting the battle at Fredericksburg, be- cause the Rappahannock river would pre- vent a counter r-stroke and stop him before he could finish the work with the enemy. But he resolved to make the effort anyhow, and drive the federals into the river. He planued to make the advance after dark. So he sent for Dr. Hunter Mcclure, chief of his medical staff and asked him how many bandadges he had. McGuire replied that he did not know exactly, but that he had enough for another battle. Jackson insisted on knowing how many bandages he had. Me Guire told him he had enough for another battle and asked him why he wanted to know the exact number. Then Jackson told him he wanted to advance and drive the Yankees into the river, that the charge would have to be made after dark, and he wanted each one of his men to tie piece of white cloth around his arm to distinguish him from the enemy in the dark Mcclure told him he did not have enough bandages for that purpose. Jackson then told him to tell the men to tear off ther shirttails for the purpose. Me Guire went, Dur returned to inform him that most of the men had no shirttails to use {! Just then the word came from Lee not to make the charge, and the movement was held up.
 Now our side, I mean those who oppose this union, may be like Jackson's men, minus the shirt but there were no brighter rifles in Lees army or men who could put it over in finer style with the bayonet than Stone wall Jackson's men. The union side won at Chattanooga but watch the counter-charge $. A. STEEL.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
THE SvsxSrs, sxSrs, xsAI
 |MWiSaRBkSki;ilIII Y
Traitor And Patriot.

N AR, GANDHI, saintly leader of the non- N co-operationist movement in India, has
 been abstaining from all food for a period of q days as a protest against the riots and bloodshed between Hindus of Mo hammedan and Brahmin persuasion. The fasting has had this effect: that leaders of the two religious factions have come together in conferences and have pledged each other cooperation against the white mans dominion instead of wasting their strength in futile massacres. Of course, Mir. Grandhi did not fast 21 days in order to draw the attention of the gods to Ind;a's condition, but he did it merely as a gesture to center his peoples thoughts on the futility of internal strife. There are writers who interpret his action.as those of fanatic. As a matter of fact Gan dhi is an. able, conscientious idealist, who has before him the goal of freedom. It is all very well to speak of the great blessings of civilization England has brought to India, but England's treasury has been filled from resources in this same country for many cen turies now. The Hindus had civilization when the English came. That civilization was their own and would have developed along
 lines of Hindu character and culture. What they have now is a mixture of exploitation and civilization with a religions, manners, judiciary and foreign dominant class, wholly distasteful and alien to them. From the na- tionalist standpoint Mir. Gandhi is patriot, though the English dub him traitor.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
DeUiIutiOTl
By DIR. FRANK CRANE

WHEN the college boy in writing his w thesis wanted word to express the
 opposite to evolution he couldn't think of any, 50 he coined one, "Devilution."
 It is not at all real word, but like it. It is picturesque. Why shouldn't common person have the right to manufacture word of his own once in a whileg
 The more you contemplate the word the more it grows on you. The 'de'' in it inti- mates that it is the reverse of evolution, it is the process of evolving turned backwards. The "devif in it means just that-theere IS the devil in it.
 Evolution is the term we apply to the whole of that upward swing of all creation, the growth of the entirely of aa living things. DevilutiOn would mean the opposite.
 The most striking instance of devilution in the history of the race is WAR.
 In the ordinary peaceful state of human society there is a continuous process of the survival of the fittest, while the unfit, the weddings, are constantly eliminated. In war it is just the other way. The fittest, that Is, the bravest strongest, and most vigorous specimens of the human stock are picked out and sent away to be destroyed by bullets and fever.
 The unfit, the diseased, the thin-blOOded stop at home. These propagate the race Hence it is easy to see how state of war works to deteriorate the human race
 This Gs devilution. As David Starr Jor- dan says: Tn the red field of human his tory the natural process of selection is ottg}l reversed.
 This means human harvest from it's poor est seed.
 It is the triumph of unreason.
 The chief ambition of living men should be that the next and the next generation should be better and better. What ought one to think. then, of a condition of society where the soundest and healthiest bodies are sep arated from the mass and led out to death and the most spiritually minded are care fully weeded out and ordained to celibacy: Yet such for centuries has been the practice in Europe.
 What would one think of a gardener who pulled up all the thriving plants from his gartlen and saved the sickly ones for ;eedg
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
The Right Word
THE ANSWERS.
Fly w. CURTIS NICHOLSON

(Find the Error in This Article.) 1. He was q man whom liked very much (not whO).
 g. went to see him who had ruined my life (not he.) Still better: Il went to see the man who had ruined my life.
 3. thought it was he (not him).
 4. They will never find another like me (not II.
 5. Mir. Smith and I are going. One surely would not say, "Me are going" And one would not say, Myself are going.
 6. It is he (not him). 2. It will be (nOt mel.
 8. Close Johns door, and mine too.
 "Superality."
 l., A. Barta, Chicago; Will you kindly let me know if there is such a word as 'superality' in the English language? If so, can it be used in a sentence like the follow ing: That shows my superality'"
 Answer: Probably Mir. Barta meant to write, That shows my superiority"
 Either Is Correct.
 Mary Harvey, Cincinnati: will you de- eide for a company of beligerents which of the following expressions is correct: under the circumstances in the circumstances? Is- it proper to use either|
 Answer: Under the circumstances means that action is affected, Mere situation IS expressed by ''in the circumstances. There fore, either one of the expressions are correct. Yesterdays Error. Wrong: the air has not been proven to be finite.
 Right: .. the air has not been proved to be finite.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
The Dreamer
Howard Mckinley Corning in the BucOneer

Another shall furrow and plant the spring, Another shall SOW the seed. And I shall rise up an-hungering, Pressed by a mortal need. Another shall nurture the frail green through The mellOwing tilth of the waking mold, But I shall have eye on the farthest blue, Where the mounting wing of the finch
 burns gold Another shall husband the grain, and wrest From the browning stalk the rust and the
 blight,
 But I shall make song on the highest crest Of the hills that run to the rim of light Another shall garner and bind the wheat Another shall come to reap; But shall not rise and pluck and eat shall be fed with sleep.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
SOUTHERN INTEREST RATES HIGH

Under the title of Southern Munich pal Bonds," an interesting analysis of why they yield a higher rate of interest than issues of municipalities situated in the Northeastern part of the country re- gently appeared in the New York Evening Post. It is set forth that where North eastern issue wo Lld yield foul per cent, a Southern issue might offer anywhere from four-and-a-half to five per cent. Our contemporary observes that the pervail- ing interest rates of the South are gen. orally higher than in other parts of the country, due, in rart, t. the great expan- sion which is now taking place in the South and the necessity for borrowing i1 outside markets much of the new capital required.
 It is pointed out that the memory lin- gering in the minds of investors as to the doubtful credit which years ago marked a number of the Southern states, particu- larly following the Civil war and recon struction days, may have some effect. But the Southern states are not alone in the record of repudiation. Pennsylvania, Maryland and Michigan stopped payment on their bonds in 1842; Indiana in 1840, and Illinois in 1841, while Minnesota in 1860 refused to pay either principal or interest on some or US DONQS.
 So that some other reasons must be found for the difference in rates of in- terest, now that the New York state bank ing law recently, through an amendment, removed the disqualifications placed upon cities situated in states that had defaulted their debts at any time subsequent tc 1861. This restriction mainly barred Southern cities. One of these reasons may be found in the fact, as above stated, that, because of the large industrial de- yelopment going on in the South, the Awakening in expansion and the infusion (of new blood in it's population, there has been an unprecedented demand for new capital, with a consequent higher rate of interest because of the demand.
 Another reason for the higher interest is given by Professor H. s. Dobbs, of the University of North Carolina, in a recent study of tax rates in the different states of the Union. He sets forth that the states of the South, taken as a whole, now have the lightest tax burdens per capita of any states throughout the Union. Taken together with the steady appreciation of property values, this may be cited as factor of some importance for taxes figure more or less in the size of interest rates when computed in con- nection with the stability of securities and property values.
 There are other factors entering into the situation as determining influence.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
Brief Nature Studies
AFAYETTE NATIONAL PARK, SUI
By J. OTIS SWIFT


 rounded by sea, having for it's nucleus
 the granite mountains on Mount Desert Island, Me, is q santuary for many lovely wild flowers, Champlain, who called 1t "TIsle des Monts Deserts" did not mean that it was devoid Of vegetation but that it was wild and solitary" The Maine cost was formed by flooding of an old and water-worn land surface. turning it's heights into islands and headlands its stream courses into arms and reaches of the sea, its broader valleys into bays and gulfs," says the Department of the Interior.
 At the centre of this coast, the most beau tiful in Eastern North America, there stretches an archipelago of islands, sheltered waterways and iakelike bays-a wonderful region-and at is northern end, dominating the whole with it's mountainous upllft, lies Mount Desert, whereon the park is placed' It is a paradise of high. weatherbeaten, rock-tripe severed mountain ledges, upland rock gardens lined with reindeer hchen and mosses over which grow bearberry, blueberry and wild flowers, white granite sandy shores and sOmbre, restful forests.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

furnaces are often blown out for repairs or because of temporary inactivity in the iron market, with no measurable effect upon the business of the community, and even without the knowledge of the great majority of the people. On the other hand, new enterprises are so often estab- lished or enlarged that they attract little local notice. It is because they are the rule, rather than the exception. When the average business man arises, he ex- poets to read in the morning newspaper, Announcements of one or more new ln- dustrial or commercial projects, and ire quently of large enterprises that create substantial pay-rolls and add extensively to the districts production capacity.
 The Birmingham district of today is very different from that of few years ago. The chief difference lies in its growth and importance. Diversified in- dustries have proved the salvation of the district, just as was predicted by pioneers in the production of raw materials. Each industrial enterprise means the coming of several more. The process is cumulative. It has been only few years since critics of this district, for reasons of their own, put out reports that it's fuel was unsulted for many purposes; that it's iron ore could not be profitably utilized in steel-making and Chat it's basic materials were below the standards required for many differ ent kinds of manufacture.
 All of these claims, one by one, have been successfully refuted, and the Bir- mingham district promises to become one of the greatest centers of production in the country. No longer are it's people alarmed at rumors of suspensions. With new industries coming here at an unprec- edented rate; with the realization that the district can make nearly anything sue cessfulIy in competition with other parts of the country, and with faith born of the knowledge that it is yet in it's infancy as respects quantity and quality produc- tion, there is no wonder that there is such pride of achievement and confidence in the future.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
Sarah And Victor Hugo.

The chauffeur of the Prince of Wales tells New York reporters that he did not feel in the least embarrassed in the presence of royal ty. He even told His Royal Highness few things such as "I can tell any man to go to he'll" It does not always go so easy with ordinary mortals in the presence of kings. Bach, the great musician tfembled in the presence of the king of Prussia, though Vol taire again felt rather at ease. But Victor Hugo stuttered when he was first presented to Sarah Bernhardt. The good master stam- mered, blushed and later admitted he made a fool of himsel Later Hugo regained his flu ency of tongue to a remarkable degree when in the presence of the Divine Sarah. On one occasion he invited her to big dinner party at his apartment in the evening. Sarah sus- pected his design and arrived with four friends. The table was laid for two. Hugo, not m the least embarrassed this time, winked at Meunier, one of his friends. Sarah said of Hugo that he was a lovable and affectiOnate '.yieillard"
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
THE TRUE PROGRESSIVE.

From my point of view he only deserves to be called a progressive who cannot see a wrong persist wit. ,.out an effort to redress it, or 8 right denied without an effort to , protect 1t: who feels deep concern for the economic welfare of the United States, but realizes that the making of better men and women is a matter greater still; who thinks of every governmental policy first of all in its bearing upon human rights rather than upon material things; who be- heves profoundly I'm human equality and detests privilege in whatever form or in whatever disguise, and who finds the true test of success in the welfare of the many and not the prosperity and comfort of tile few. The civic unit of America Is not the dollar, but the individual man. All that goes to make better and happier and freeR men and women Is progress; all else Is re- action.-J0hn ". Davis.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
A SYMPATHETIC WORLD.

Those who lament talk about the indiffer- ence and cold selfishness of mankind should reflect on the fact that whole city will al. ways stop all it's activities and watch with dismay and point with alarm whenever an automobile, big or little, goes up the street with flat tire.-Worcester Telegram
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
Bolshevik Ruthlessness.

Women and children are placed in front of advancing red troops in Georgia, dispatches tell us. Probably it's only story to accentu- ate bolshevik "horrorism." The American people were told the same things about the Germans advancing into Belgium and in that instance it was proven to be lie on the part of the wartime propagandists. Still the bOl- sheviks, if they are true Marxists and Lenin- ists, should not hesitate to employ such tae- tics, Their procedure in a eounter-revolution must be ruthless, according to the tenets of the communist faith. Trotsky says: We cannot afford to be lenient or soft with the bourgeoisie I'rotsky knows the experience of his fellow communists in Finland and Hun gary. A coUnter-revolution in those coun- tries meant in the case of Finland the massa- ere of 75,OO0 reds and in Hungary the Ru- manian army destroyed 100000 of them. Trotsky has an eye to the future. And there fore the revolt in Georgia must be stamped out before it spreads to other regions and en- dangers the authority of the dictatorship of the proletariat In such cases ruthlessness is a part of the faith.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
WHY THERE Is CONFIDENCE.

comparatively young business men of the Birmingham district, when rumors that furnace would be shut down or mine closed created a feeling of depres- sion. That is no longer true. Mines ire quently suspend active operations and
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
HARDLY CALL LITA SAFE BET.

Now it is predicted that even New York City will go Republican, but it were well to remember that the battle-scarred tiger is q sly >old campaigner.-BO Boston Transcript.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
WHAT FATHER KNOWS.

The greatest need of the age is a motor car that each member of the family can use at one and the same time without interfering with the others.-Cincinnat Enquirer.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08
DIFFERING FROM SATAN.

Satan, according to one western clergyman, is busy in the colleges. In that respect, Satan differs from the great mass of undergradu- ates-New York Times.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

The soviet commissioner of health has on sanitary grounds issued orders against kissing. This is not the only department of the soviet government which is insan- itary.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

SUBSCRIPTION RATES--By mail payable in advance. in United States and Canada. Daily and Sunday year. $500, six months, sa.oo; three months. S2.25: one month s5c. Daily only: One year. S6.50; six months $s25; three months. s175; month. 75c. Sunday only: One year, t3.o0; six months. S1.5o; three months. 76c: one month, 25c.
 By Carrier, where carrier delivery Is main- tained. 2Oc per week; S5c per month.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

It is said that wives are purchased on credit in some parts of Africa. The trouble in. America seems to be that some of them refuse to stay bought. -t
The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-08

Fanny Hurst says that her visit to Russia cured her of being red. Seeing is believing, especially whei the sights are wholly off color.