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THE ATLANTIAN
Atlantian
Box 118, Atlanta, Georgia
THE ATLANTIAN will give free space to all Secret Societies and Labor Or
ganizations.
On the other hand, we put everybody on notice when THE ATLANTIAN makes
a statement which we believe to be true, and such statement goes uncontroverted, we
shall insist that it is true.
Published Monthly by The Atlantian Publishing Co. a
VOL.
NOVEMBER
No. 58
Our Motto: “Pull for Atlanta, or Pull
Out.”
it
Editorial Etchings
**
Thanksgiving Day
For what shall we give thanks?
The Puritans of New England, who established the
custom, had to contend with Indians who burned and
murdered, with a harsh climate and infertile soil which
made mere living a desperate struggle, and yet the bless
ings of life under these hard conditions seemed in their
minds a sufficient justification for the setting apart of one
day in the year as a special day for the returning of
thanks to the Most High.
The soft green beauty of the tender spring leaves,
the delightful summer breezes laden with the salt air, the
glowing tints of the glorious and bracing autumn weather,
the good health of sturdy children, the pleasures of fam
ily life, the hewing of new homes out of the wilderness,
these, and other things in their minds more than compen
sated for the hardships of life, and called for a special
day of thanksgiving.
For these hardy men and women of New England
were not tinctured with the folly and cynicism which
have come into the lives of so many of the moderns. When
they had to pay the penalty of their human unwisdom
they did not try to ease themselves down with the state
ment that it was the “will of God.”
They had too much sense and too much courage to
indulge in such nonsense. Tinctured as their religion
was with too much old Testament fanaticism it was yet
a sturdy faith which accepted all good things as the work
ings of a Divine Providence which had shaped a law un
der which man could work contentedly if he would.
In the light of history we must respect the sturdy
courage, zeal, faith and works of these stout hearted old
Puritans and it would be well if we could emulate their
virtues. It should be an easy matter for us to do as well
as they did.
But the very abundance and variety of the things
which we have so distract our minds that we forget our
obligations to an overruling Providence and become
puffed up with the sense of our own importance and our
great performance.
Man did not fashion his own body, nor create his
own intelligence.
To the Providence which gave him this body and this
mind as tools with which to work he owes everything.
However great his achievement, it is the merest folly
for him to get the idea that it is his own work.
It is highly becoming therefore that at set seasons
he should take stock of himself, and in humility of soul
bow himself down to the God of all the earth with a grate
ful heart that he has been permitted to have a part in
this great human life and is still spared for further ser
vice to God and fellowman—for that is the chief end of
man—service.
Hutchens Erupts
Georgia has no natural volcano, but being an enterpris
ing Commonwealth has developed a personal volcano in
the shape of one G. R. Hutchens, frequently referred to
as “Give-’em-hell Hutchens.”
Mr. Hutchens is a lawyer who wanted to be a judge.
He is a politician who wanted to be we know not what,
but whatever it was he failed to connect.
He has from time to time erupted in violent fashion,
but never dangerously, which is to his credit.
His latest eruption was in the shape of an epistolary
communication to the Macon Telegraph that shining lit
erary light among Georgia newspapers.
In this effusion the prominent though disgruntled citi
zen vented his spleen on one Hoke Smith, now junior
United States Senator from Georgia, and this frightful
disturbance in his volcanic anatomy was caused by cer
tain appointments to Federal positions in Georgia—
Jones, Blalock, Thompson, Alexander— these constituted
his text and with his text laid down he proceeded to make
what the old darkies call a “powerful novation.” He
has relieved his feelings, he has abused his enemy, or sup
posed enemy, he has swatted the friends of his enemy, so
that now we may look for a period of quiescence. It would
be uncharitable to hope that he may become an extinct
volcano, and it would take some spice out of life.
However, it is dollars to doughnuts that if Brother
Hutchens had been on that list of Federal appointees that
we would not have “hearn” a word about Hoke Smith and
his evil deeds.
Policemen and Their Pay
No class of public servants are more poorly paid than
policemen except it be school teachers and firemen.
There seems to be a strange perversity in the human
mind that causes humanity to pay those who serve it in
inverse ratio to the value of their services.
Thus we pay an ambassador $17,500 yearly salary
and a cry constantly goes up to heaven for more pay to
maintain the dignity of their great positions.
Nevertheless it is strictly within the truth to say that
the actual value of ambassadorial service is practically
nothing. Such positions have become mere places of so
cial distinction.
On the other hand the policeman is as much a public
necessity as streets, and houses, and courts, and law.
He keeps our criminal element in check; he hunts
up our lost children; he spots vicious men who are trying
to debauch our youth; he watches over us at dangerous
street crossings, and he is on the job day and night.
The policeman must have physical strength and
fairly good judgment, backed up with personal courage.
His life is always at risk for he can not stop to count
chances when he eues to arrest a criminal.
For his services he is paid a pittance. The Atlantian
wants to go on record as favoring a minimum wage of one