davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

It was only few short months ago that we learned that the Postoffiee Department was in the red. Now we ate informed that there is less than a $3.000 deficit against this government agency. Writing to Post master General Farley recently U. S. Treasurer Julian said, Tn looking over a treasury statement of August 3l l note for the first time in many. many years that the postoffiee is in the clear. and for this year. since the lst of July, there is less than S3,000 deficit. You certainly are to be congratulated and should have the Croix de Guere bestowed upon you for your excellent management. Somebody has accomplished wonders and why not praise Mir Farley. He went into office with the department away in debt. All he did was to establish a two-eent rate on local mail. Has this cleared off the deficit of the last few years?
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

Governor Cross has set aside October 9 as Fire Prevention Day. This ought to be a good year for all of us to make up our minds to prevent at least one unnecessary fire in the coming year. That can be done in diverse ways. However, the average man will say to himself, T don't start many fires during the year over which l haven't control" That's perfectly true, but there are many fires started through earelessness of which the starter may never have any knowledge. How many forest fires can be traced directly to the responsible person? Very few. unfortunately. They start in great many ways - cigarette butts, cigars campfires, sparks from locomotives, etc. And forest fires can damage not merely property which can't be replaced in a day, week, month or year. but also much personal prop erty on many occasions. This is the season of the year when good many outdoor fires are started in backyards, fields. etc. Be careful of them and always have a pail of water handy. not to mention brooms rakes shovels, etc. Also don't forget that such fires call for permits from fire wardens.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

Recently a large group of vet erans closed q two-day eonVen- ton by calling upon the govern ment to offset It's deficit by passing e law eliminating all tnx.exempt securities, thereby enabling the government to collect taxes on more than $50, oo0,O00,oo0 of such securities"
 It is c shame to shatter fond il. Iusions, but the federal deficit Will not and cannot Do wiped out in any such way. Senator Lonergan of Connecticut, who, with experts, has been working for months on c proposed constitutional amend. mcnt bearing upon this very pro. posal, says that while there Is no accurate basis for estimating rev. enue which might Do produced If these securities could be taxed, ho is of tho belief that if current rates were applied to the entire volume of tax -ekempts, the revenue would be around $150.000,000 annually. This Is q sizable sum. but it will not go far toward reducing the federal deficit.
 There is, of course, n congtitu. tlOHui qdtBbtOh "h0thVs tho exempt feature can be elimi. mated retroactiveiy upon the se- euritics now outstanding. Aside from any question of constitution. ality, however, 1t is sufficient to square such action with fairness and Justice toward the states, counties and cities which have sold these bonds and the invest ors who have puf chased them. The political subdivisions that have is. sued them have been able to Dor. row at less than the current inter. est rate. The investors who have bought them have been content with q smaller return than they would have received from taxable securities. If tax exemption Is fin. ally deemed to be m unwise pub. lie policy, the sensible course would be to deny exemption for new issues, so that suitable adjust. ments can be made. Many of the outstanding Issues will Do retired within ten years, and future issues, whether refunding or new, could be sold without this feature. After oil, 1t may be better, in tho long run, for public bodies to build uD their credit free from artificial props.
 It must be borne in mind, how ever, that if e drastic yet fair pol icy of removing exemptions from the federal income tax Is followed, 1t cannot stop with exempt bonds. In all equity, no good reason exists why federal employees should not pay state income taxes or why state, county and municipal em. ployes should not pay federal in- | come taxes. Here Is a broad loop.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

ary i. lo33. Newark had SlS.4S9.66l in arrears in taxes for the years 1929 to io32. By September 1 the total had been re- dueed to S13,l23.470. Forty-nine per cent of the current taxes had been collected by that date.
 According to the eitys director of rev. enue and finance. the fine showing is to be explained by improved bushes eondi- tions plus personal solicitations on the part of his office. A citizens committee is mak- ing house-to-house campaign for payment of back taxes. Payment has been faeili- tated. too. by modifying the usual tax-eol- lection rules with system of monthly in- stalment payments All these things to- gether are making an excellent beginning to- ward filling the municipal eoffers Other cities should take note. A reform greatly needed in many places is instalment-plan tax payments. Where the rule is full pay ment or nothing, penalties accumulate on unpaid bills which might be reduced by allowing easier methods of payment
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
The Real Issue

After all, the real issue which the people of this city will be called upon to vote next Tuesday is a very simple one. Are the peo- pie of Waterbury satisfied that Mayor Hayes has done as well as he reasonably could during the past four years! That he has reduced the burden of taxation IS sure. The figures speak tor themselves. The tax rate has been reduced from 42 mills to g l-2 mills While city after city has failed to meet it's .payrolls and defaulted in its obligations, Waterbury has paid its bills as they became due, and this, too, in spite of the many efforts, made largely for political purposes to discredit its financial standing The banks are certainly satisfied with it's condition, as it has been able to borrow money in anticipation of taxes at lower rates of interest than most municipalities.
 Then, too this is perhaps the most try ins period the city has ever had to meet in it's whole history and it is very possible that in normal times an even greater saving could have been made. You cannot fire school teachers, who have served the city long and faithfully for many years, at moment notice, because the attendance in some of the schools has temporarily fallen off. It IS neither good business nor common deeeney' Nor can you do it with the policemen and firemen. And as to the street and water departments, isn't it better to give some of our needy fellow citizens little something to do, rather than to make them hopeless and helpless objects Of public eharity' or course, it is No city can or ought to be run like piece of automatic machinery, constructed of steel without mind or heart.
 The mayor has done the best he could He is a taxpayer. as we all are directly Of indirectly. and would naturally like to save when it is possible. But our factories and our city in the last few trying years have shown us that they have little of the milk of human kindness as well as cold blooded business instinct. and we arc glad to see it And what city in Connecticut has reduced its tax rate by as great d percentage as Water bury in the past four years' That's the issue next Tuesday and no amount of cheap talk about poor mans ticket can cover it up. Our taxes have been reduced and our payrols and bills paid when due. Our credit is as good as any eityS in New Eng land. No political argument can obscure these facts. It isn't the time to change horses now.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Adventure Revived

One of the strongest of all the habits possessed by the modern American seems to be his habit of holding reunions. Apparently there is something about the bonds which are forged when men unite in common cause that the years do not weaken very much. And of all the reunions of the year, the most interesting must surely have been that of the International Sourdoush Asso' eiation, held recently in Los Angeles
 This outfit is composed of men who went to Alaska in the great gold rush of 9S. Its members arc not. in all cases. wealthy for every man who struck it rich in the Klondike. and came back with fortune, there were thousand who got nothing but experience for their pains. But that. per haps, is precisely why these men find annual reunions worth their while.
 A reunion of this sort celebrates the sharing of great experience. The men who attend it are men who are set apart from the rest of us by virtue of their having par tieipated in something SO stirring and exeit- ing that they find it worth talking about all the rest of their lives And the value of that experience is the same whether they got rich or not.
 As matter of fact it is a question whether the typical gold-rush veteran ever' in the bottom of his heart, really cared very much about getting lot of gold. He thought he did, of course; he said he did, and he acted as if he did. But the com mon sharing of mad desire to get rich quick would not be enough to bring hun dreds of men together each year in great reunion. If it did we would witness annual conventions of the veterans of the bull mar ket of 1929.
 No, the gold-seekers of Alaska, like the men who opened up South Africa, Cali fornia, Australia and the rest 0 fthe great gold fields, were really after something else. Life suddenly gave them the chance to step outside of the ordinary routine, the chance to try out a new horizon and enter new world. They found that curious something which we call Adventure; they found ex- sitement. danger and kind of freedom that most of us will never know. Once upon . time the earth opened up for them and look on guise we stay -at-homes never saw. k made them rich in experience. if not in Durse.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
4 Book e Day by BRUCE CATION
The Civil War As
 The Slaves Saw It

"Kingdom Coming" by Roark Bradford, Is one of the most ap- pealing and completely beautiful of all the novels written about the Civil War.
 Tho story begins more than q decade before the war, when Mes. senger, negro slave, Crimp, his wife, and Telegram, their little son, are, being transferred from their owners New Orleans home to his Red river plantation. It Is Tele- gram growing awareness and un. dersta nding of tho life about him that gives us our picture of slave life.
 It was an odd life, hard to characterize in a few words; by turns brutal and kindly, needless and thoughtful, a tapestry of sum light, melody and laughter on n background of resigned misery. All the slaves dream of freedom; some try the underground railway at the risk of their necks; others, buying their freedom out of their savings, stay right on tho plantation. And underneath 1t all is the unspoken conviction that real freedom can only come with death when black coachman can drive Gods carriage down golden streets and the earth's disinhorited enter their Kingdom beyond the sky.
 This conviction remains when the war comes. The slaves never quite believe that the men in biuo are going to free them. Freedom Is q dream, the substance of things not seen. It can't come on this earth. The old plantation life is broken up; that the freedom which follows northern triumph is only q mockery does not surprise these negroes. Their deepest belief is that to And their lives they must loso thom.
 It is Q long time since have read so. tonderly and sympathet- icaliy lovely n book as this. To my notion 1t might we'll be the 1883 Pulitzer Prize novel.
 Harpers is tho publisher; the price is $2.50.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Profitable Spending

Secretary lekes, answering criticisms of slowness in getting the great public works program under way. declares that the money must not be spent ineffieiently or for pol' tieal purposes Before allotting government funds, he says he must ascertain the value of a project to the community in itself. and as a producer of jobs. Which reason- ing. no doubt, is sound. And slow as the government appears to be, in time when peplc are naturally impatient for aetion it is said to be moving faster than private en- terprise usually does in such matters But there is urgent cause for all the haste that can be made without reeklessness.
 More haste could be made no doubt, if the rather simple device were adopted of building lot more postoffiees. Almost any town begins to feel that it could use a nice. big, new postoffee as soon as the shine has worn off the. old one. But Mr lekes flatly says that he cont sec much point to building postoffiees when slums can be cleared. And slum elimination plans take more time.
 It may be worth the added delay. how ever. Such construction is one of the most fruitful forms of spending for ma. terals and labor. It builds people along with houses and apartments. And slums need not be thought of asexisting only in large cities. Every town, every village, has it's rundown section which ought to be re. built and modernized.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

And while we are on the subject of the Postoffiee Department let us not overlook the fact that next month the mueh-prom- ised Koseiuseko stamp will be issued. Oe- tober B is the date. It will be of Scent denomination and five cities have been des- isnated as what are known in philatelie eir- eles as first day cities. They are Chicago, Detroit, St Louis Boston, and Buffalo. Incidentally Postmaster General Farley has promised commemorative for the Byrd expedition which officially started yesterday with the departure of the supply ship, Bear of Oakland, from Boston. Stamps are coming thick and fast these days. It's a veritable phiatelists nightmare.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
JOY IN AROOsToOK
(Hartford Times)

Potato growers in Aroostook county. Maine, are Q much happier lot than they have been for many months. They have raised q fine crop and, what Is quite as import ant, they are receiving good prices for their potatoes Instead of 60 cents Q barrel, as last year, and 70 cents the previous year. potatoes are now selling for $2.25 to $2.75 per barrel in that famously fertile potato county.
 Prices may change as the yield of other areas in the country reach market but the expectation Is that the grower will be able to make somewhat more than costs this lyear. He was overdue for such L return. To be sure, this will mean more costly food for those who buy this food staple but if wages should rise with prices, as they must if the new and better balance of eco. homie factors is to prove stable. then the higher quotations should
 have a beneficial effect. The Aroostook grower is @ consumer of industrial goods. If the farmer can buy and pay for his purchases. the urban workers, are more like | ly to have jobs and so can afford to buy potatoes at higher price than during the depth of the de- lpression.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Poor Mathen1aticS
Elimination of Tax Exempt Securities Would Not
 Prove Case-All For Uncle Sam's Deficit.
EVENING POST

hole the manifest injustice Of which appeals strongly to the aver age citizen, who sees no reason why he should pay n substantial l tax on his Ave or six thousand a year earned as an accountant or salesman for Q private business while a state or city official with the same income is exempt.
 The subject has many further ramifcatlons: if tax-exempt sccuri. ties are to be eliminated, 1t might be well to look into tho whole mat. ter of local tax exemption of prop. crty. Each branch Of tax excmp. ton is a complicated subject in it. self. But one fact is clear: Those who believe that all the financial difficulties of governments can be done away with by merely eiimi- mating exempt securities arc fol- lowing q will.o'.the.wisp. They arc simply raising false hopes which cannot possibly be realized.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
So They Say

The strongest man in history has never been silent. -- David Lloyd George.
 want to state that q more do. cent set of gals never existed than those of us who frolickod so mer. rily in the Dawson dance halls,-- klondike Kate.
 Just a bunch of idiots go to those nudist places, anyway, bunch of old baldhoads wanting to think they're young again.-Judge Jo. seph B. David of Chicago.
 
 There is no room for smallness In civil disobedience.--Mahatma Gandhi.
 want to tell you the secret of my success. 1t is that am always right.-secretary of the Navy Claude Swanson.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
By RODNEY BUTCHER (Waterbury Democrat Wa hing.
 ton COrrcsDondcntl

Washington-F'irst definite fg- ures showing the effect of a code on an industrys employment and wage totals are in. They are indi- cative but not conclusive.
 The first NRA code was that of went into effect July 17th. Latest the change in employment and payroll totals between July 10th and August 18th.
 Employment in the cotton goods manufacturing business increased to 1885 and payrolls from 73.7 to S.8.
 The employment increase doesn't mean much. The fact that the pay roll increase was nearly seven effect of the new minimum wage that payrolls are still 12 points be- low the 1926 index number of 100 while employment is 3.5 above. crease was slightly below the gen. Ctai CdoC anu the payroll increase some points above.
 Expanded to Beat Costs.
 Huge pre-code increases, how ever. spoil any attempt to measure the codes actual effect. The in- dustry sped up and piled up huge stocks in order to beat higher costs. Thus the July employment of 101.4 compared with 61.2 for August last year and payrolls were 73.7 as against 3S.4. What the Au- gust figures would have been with out that pre-code rush is only con' jectural.
 The latest figures are more than a month old and those for Septem. Der may show sharp declines. Tex. tile production is falling off and few will be surprised if 1t Is found that there is less employment and smaller payrolls than just before the code went into effect.
 New Living Cost Index.
 Roosevelt is having a better cost of living index worked out out one which will be more up-to-date He found, for example, that the present index included prices for women's high-buttoued shoes. "And everybody knows" hs points out. "tkat the girls don'l wear 'em any more."'
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Rome Letter
BY THOMAS B. MORGAN United Press Stan Correspondent

Rome-Torment and torture ma chimes fill the new museum of criminology recently opened here through the initiative of the min istry of justice. It contains a large number of interesting exhibits, some of them dating back to the 14th and 18th centuries.
 The Milazzo iron cage, discoveer- ed during excavations in Sicily a year or so ago and known to have been used by British troops en- gagged in Sicily during the Napolo- mic wars, is one of the things on view.
 A curious exhibit is the so-called gossip's muzzle-'briglia delle CO., ari'-a kind of iron muzzle that centuries ago was placed round the heads of nagging women given r to scandal and gossip. To the mug gle a sort of bridle was attached and the unfortunate gossip was driven, or dragged through the streets to be held up to the con- tempt and execration of her fellow citizens.
 The dragger of the once famous Calabrian brigand. Seinardi, is shown in the muesum. The bandit | is believed to have murdered a doz- en men with this weapon, which has engraved on 1t the figure of a fox. Another exhibit is a brig and's walking stick which disguises a short rife.
 In the modern section of the museum there are extensive exhib- It's of burglars and counterfeiters' apparatus. as well as numerous safes which have been opened by various modern means such as tho oxy-aeetylene lamp and the electric drill.
 A special room is given over to finger-prints, photographs of crim- inals and tattoo markings. The ex- hibits include the photograph of the tattoo on the chest of cele. brated murdered who was con- victed Of some i've assassinations. This skin drawing bears the words "f love my mother" surrounded by a garland Of flowers.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Easier Tax Payments

Another city has been experiencing a sudden spurt of tax-paying. Chicago achieved that result by means of a law per hitting the county treasurer to throw de- Inouent properties into reeeivership. New ark. N. J.. had the best August tax eol- Ieetions in it's history. August is usually suiet month in the matter of taxes, which nskss the current achievement the more rctsbls. Payment on back taxes almost sausilsd those on current taxes On Janu-
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
Daily Washington Letter Figures Show How Code Increased Employment
 And Wages in Textile Industry

Imitation and NRA.
 What would imitation do to NRA? The current imitation furry has started plenty of speculation about that, especially in NRA's own ranks.
 On school of thought holds that prices would be going up so rap- idly and everything else in the in- dustrial and economic fields would be happening so fast that the at- tempt to make relatively careful industrial adjustments would be blown out of the water, whereupon MIRA would fade out.
 The other view is that MIRA would become more important than ever because every pressure and every group conflict which centers here would at once become accent uated. Labor, the consumers and other groups, according to this theory, would be raising the devil. And the MIRA set-up would be in- valuable as machinery to cope with all that.
 Secretary Ickes' Explanations.
 Secretary of the Interior Ickes has blossomed out as the most thin-skinned member of the cabi. net. His official denials, under criticism. are becoming frequent.
 He felt called on to deny that Emil Hurja, Postmaster General Farley's patr onage lieutenant, would handle public works appoint ments and that D. K. Burlew, his administrative assistant who was held over from the Hoover admin istration, was running his depart ment.
 Complaints of delay in the pub. lie works program also have trket him and he insists on placing ths blame elsewhere.
 The blame certainly should bs distributed, but if the recover, program bogs down one of the chie reasons sure to be attributed VII be that the administration didn' speed the public works to give I an initial push.
 New Capitol Police Chief. w. S. orthman, new chief o the Capitol police. was taken frH the police force of Chicago, where gangsters operate SO spectacularly He won out in a fight which placed his job in the patronage orchard. He disiikes Communist demon strators and has promised to treai them roughly. apparently unaware that White House Secretary Louii Howe likes to talk to Communist and that Roosevelt sees no reasof why they shouldn't demonstrate. Copyright. 1888, NEA Service tne
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

The largest beer vat in the world has just been built at Lum, Germany, according to reports from that country. And wonder of wonders it is coming to the United States. San Francisco will get this huge copper eontainer which has a capacity of 27,5o0 pounds of malt. It weighs 70,400 pounds itself. What a grand swimming pool it would make for some rich mans estate.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
To-day.s Selected Poem
LUCID INTERVAL.

LUCID INTERVAL. Mildred Weston in The New York Sun) Here in this field. Persuaded by The verities Of earth and sky, rest at ease. Serene. Replete With summer As the ripened wheat. A potent draught, Reality. The wonder is That it should be No proof Against tomorrow When The fever Wili return sgain.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26
MACHINE GUN BATTLE COST ssil

Salem Ore-(UP)-A machine gun battle between police and a crazed maniac in the. Linn County jail destroyed SSH worth of food. clothes and furniture belonging to Sheriff Herbert Shelton. Now Shelton seeks reimbursement from the state for the loss.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

We begin to be fed up with nationaisite name. changes when an up to date lady calls her Chinese poodle a Peipingese
The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-09-26

Probably not since the waters above the earth were separated from the waters be- heath the earth has harder job been tackled than putting wages up while keeping prices down.