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THE ATLANTIAN 0lj? Atlmttian Published Monthly by E. WALTER TRIPP Box 118, Atlanta, Georgia THE ATLANTIAN will give free space to all Secret Societies and Labor Or ganizations. On the other hand, we put every body on notice when THE AT LANTIAN makes a statement which we believe to be true, and such statement goes uncontroverted, we shall insist that it is true. Pablished Monthly by The Atlantian Publishing Co. VOL. 4 MARCH No. 38 Our Motto: “Pull for Atlanta, or Pull Out.” m Fill! av*iq1 lii hitc Luiioridi Eiicnmys The Common Welfare We live in a day of “business efficiency.” Our newspapers are full of suggestions along that line, and accompanying that idea has arisen the cry of “constructive policies.” Thoughtful observers will have noted that in all the cry for busi ness efficiency, and constructive policies, only the material side of things is stressed. When the great newspapers write double leaded editorials along the line of constructive policies, it is always the ma terial that is preached. More factories, bigger pay-rolls, a bigger city, enhancement of land values, et cetera. The cry is never for a better city, for a more righteous people, as judging from our daily journals we do not need these things. Now the law of life is growth, and one must concede that the de mand for growth has a sound basis, but this fact must not be over looked; the gourd vine which will run all over the garden in a few months lives but one season, while the sturdy oak which stands for centuries takes an hundred years, or more, to attain full size. A forced growth by extraordinary effort, as in hot house work, always results in getting plants susceptible to disease and of short life. We Americans have become possessed of a frantic mania for big ness, and must “do it now.” We overlook the fact that this forced growth is likely to be danger ous if we overlook the vital fact that all plants which arrive at a quick, maturity by a forcing process are of short life. The moral side of our civic life may be compared to the roots of the oak—they not only support the tree and give it steadiness, but they insure it long life. A purely material civilization, built without reference to moral! ties, spells, not evolution, but revolution. Our men of business, our great journals, our chambers of com merce, our great financiers, have become so one-sided that they can not take, or do not take, that larger view which is essential if we are to have a permanent civilization. The Bible says, and there is no more forcible statement in that forcible Book, “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” That statement can he applied to cities as well as individuals—for illustra tion, what would it profit Atlanta to be another New York, with all of New York’s problems? Would it not lie better to base our efforts upon justice, upon mercy, upon kindness, upon integrity—in short, upon what we call the Ten Commandments, and then get all the folks we can, who will travel with us, on that platform. This does not necessarily mean the mil- lenium. Anyone who will take the Ten Commandments, and study them carefully, will see that they lay down a moral code which any man can live up to. Why did the Jewish nation perish? Never in the world was there a people so gifted in the making of money—but the nation perished. Ask yourself why, and see if it did not lie in the fact that they overlooked righteousness. The law is just as inex orable today as it was in the days of Solomon, David and the Macca bees. We may ignore the law, but we will pay the penalty. It does not make any difference what our attitude to the law may be, outside of keeping it, we are going to pay the penalty. Ignorance of the law will not avail, hostility to the law will not avail. The only thing that will avail is obedience to the law, and the city which puts the making of money, the enhancement of real estate values, more factories, big ger pay-rolls—having in their train a long line of so-called necessary evils—that city which does these things, and either ignores or dis obeys the moral law, will become a city of barbarians, however much they may know, and will perish from the earth as Nineveh, and Baby lon, and Persepolis, and Byzantium, and Memphis have perished. Mighty Atlanta, with its multitudes of people and its vast volume of business, acquired by the processes of bald materialism, will pre sent the same sort of interest to the archaeologist of five hundred years hence that the ruins of Baalbec do to the archaeologist of today. What then? The heading of this article presents the answer, “The Com mon Welfare.” Take that into your minds, and canvass it from every angle—and the longer you think about it, the bigger it will get; and when once you have got down to a clear perception of what the common welfare means; and once the people of Atlanta have arrived at that point where they want to build up the city with the common welfare as the guiding idea, then Atlanta will grow along the lines of such permanence that neither the waves of revolution nor the aeons of time will cast it down. John R. Wilkinson John II. Wilkinson, who has been Ordinary of Fulton county for more than ten years, is a candidate for re-election. John Wilkinson is an American of the Americans, his people hav ing been among the early colonists. Several of his ancestors in this country date from 1650 and 1660. His father, Major Uriel Wilkinson, was one of the most useful Georgians of his day. After years of mercantile experience and other years as clerk of the City Council, Mr. Wilkinson was finally elected Ordinary, and has now given many years of excellent service in that responsible position. Judge Wilkinson has perhaps as many personal friends as any man in Fulton county—possessed of a kindly temperament, he has never spared himself in the service of the public, and has always stood ready to do anything within his power to help a constituent. His hobby is Masonry, and in Masonry he has got all there is to get, from Blue Lodge to Temple and Shrine and Scottish-rite Ma sonary up to the thirty-third degree. He has had it all. He has served that great fraternity in many capacities, and has an ac quaintance nation-wide, gathered from his attendance upon the Grand Lodges and his official position in the supreme bodies of t he order. In the present contest, Judge Wilkinson lias opposition—the only basis of which is that he has had it long enough. No man has ever been bold enough to charge him with any dereliction of duty, and usually he has been re-elected without opposition. The Mayoralty We are beginning to hear the rumblings in the town of the political earthquakes which always precede a municipal election. Several gen tlemen have intimated, more or less clearly, that they feel entirely competent to fill the office of mayor. A much larger number, who feel themselves to be even more competent, and who would like to fill the aforesaid office, are holding themselves in reserve, in the hope that the gentlemen now out in the open may come to disaster, which will profit them. It is going to be a rather interesting discussion this year. Municipal ownership of public utilities is going to figure to some extent, because Atlanta has finally waked up to the fact that this is a live question. It may be possible that some changes in the form of our municipal administration may come up for discussion. Naturally, there will be more or less criticisms of the administration, as there always is. •So far as the matter has developed, there is a cautious feeling abroad, and the masses are not committing themselves rashly or recklessly to any man. It begins to look ns if the various aspirants for this posi tion will have to follow Teddy’s illustrious example and get into the ring. Incidentally, it may be said that our people can not too care fully consider the qualifications of men who want to be mayor; our city government is a matter of vital concern to every man who lives within the corporate limits, and to many who live outside. It is a vital matter, therefore, that we choose a man who is not afraid of a new idea, merely because it is new, who does not worship an old thing because it is old, and who does not advocate a new thing merely be cause he has the Atlantian temper and is always seeking some new thing. A clean, capable man of good sense—of liberal temper—and of pro gressive ideas, is needed. We have plenty of them, but it may prove t he part of wisdom to call one of them out, rather than to select those the part of wisdom to call one of them out, rather than to select one of those who have called themselves.