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THE ATLANTIAN
3
The Atlantian
Box 118, Atlanta, Georgia
THE ATLANTIAN will Rive free space to all Secret Societies ami Labor
OrRanlzatlons.
On tlie other liuntl, we put everybody on notice when THE ATLANTIAN
makes a statement which we believe to he true, anil such statement Roes
■incontroverted, we sliail Insist that It is true.
Published Monthly by The Atlantian Publishing Co.
E. Walter Tripp, Editor.
Vol. 6. APRIL No. 36.
Our Motto: “Pull for Atlanta, or Pull Out. 99
Editorial Etchings
Easter
Christ is the central figure of all history. His work,
in the brief years spent on earth, was responsible for
the growth of what we call “altruism.” Before him
there was no “altruism.” Before him the most culti
vated of all the ancients magnified a robust intellectual
ity, or athletic bodies—but altruism is not born of these
things. It is born of the spirit, and Christ was the great
spiritual teacher of all history. In the nineteen centu
ries which have passed since His coming, we have passed
through the dark ages, the middle ages, the period of
the reformation, and have come to our own day. The
pessimistic mind, in looking back over this period, see
ing its dreadful wars, its lust of blood and money, its
immoralities of all kinds, will come to the conclusion
that the Christian creed has been a failure. The philo
sophic mind, however, looking over the same period and
seeing the slow, gradual betterment, will realize that
in the fulness of time the spirit of the Christian religion
will conquer the world, regardless of specific creeds so
dear to some minds which regard the splitting of theo
logical hairs as of more importance than well-doing.
The essential fact in Christianity is well-doing, but
there will be no well-doing unless there is at bottom a
love for one’s fellow-men, and love for one’s fellow-men
is “altruism.”
There is not now, and never has been in the world
another altruistic creed.
Without Christianity, we would be but a lot of snarl
ing dogs quarreling over the bones of materialism. It
has not penetrated very far into the anatomy of hu
manity as yet. It has only gotten beneath the skin, but
it is perfectly marvelous what it has done when we con
sider the small depth to which it has penetrated. Im
agine, if you can, what it will do when it has really con
quered the whole anatomy. Once a year, Christians
good and bad, Christians real and nominal, celebrate the
resurrection of the Master. It is well that they should
do so—for from Him who said “I am the resurrection
and the life,” has proceeded every good thing which
makes our day more tolerable than the days which have
gone before: and the more closelv we follow the ex
ample which He set the better will our day become.
Our City Government
The administration of the affairs of the City of At
lanta presents a most perplexing question. For many
years past, the City has had a phenomenal growth in
population, in volume of business and in the way of
buildings. The various communal interests, however,
such as sanitation, education, good streets and public
works, have not kept pace with the growth of the City,
and resulting from this, we find ourselves annually faced
by a finance problem which seems as years go by to
grow rather more acute instead of improving.
It is not our purpose here to find fault with anybody
—we are not criticising the personnel of the City Gov
ernment. The individual members average up well
enough. They are usually men of good character, of
average intelligence, and not lazy. When these men
come together, however, to administer our City affairs,
they appear to meet with insuperable difficulties. We
have approximately five million dollars per year to
spend, and that five million is annually one million short
of our needs. In other words, we are trying to run a
six-million-dollar town on five million dollars. This is
the crux of the question. Unless we can find a remedy,
we are bound to go from bad to worse.
Atlanta is to-day the dirtiest City in Georgia. It may
be that in other Georgia Cities they have shack tene
ment districts for the poor white people and the negroes
similar to those we have in Atlanta—certainly, on the
surface, other Georgia Cities are cleaner than Atlanta.
Atlanta is trying to set the pace, but it fails utterly in
setting the pace in those matters which are even of more
vital importance than big business. The greatness of a
City consists, not in the greatness of its possessions, but
in the quality of its citizenship. We cannot deny that
in some very essential things Atlanta is making bad
character.
Our newspapers have no other remedy than bond is
sues, but under the present construction of the law bond
issues are practically impossible. It looks as though we
must work out the solution along some other line. It
may be that such an adjustment or equalization of taxes
could be made as would remedy the evil financial situa
tion—but we cannot be sure even of that.
It looks as if the best thing that could be done would
be for a selection of five citizens, representing men of
the different classes in the community, to spend several
months in a thorough investigation of conditions with
a view to making recommendations that would solve
our governmental problems. Even this might be a fail
ure, but at least it would be an honest effort. One thing
is certain—unless we mend our civic affairs, and that
soon, we are p-oing to be in a position that will imperil
the most vital interests of the City, and this is not said
as a reflection upon any man, or any set of men.
Woman Suffrage
There was held recentlv in Atlanta a great meeting
to further the cause of Woman Suffrage. The speak
ers were all women of national reputation, each one of
whom handled that phase of the question committed
to her care in a very masterlv way.
The immense audience, which packed the Atlanta
Theatre from the footlights to the topmost gallery,