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THE ATLANTIAN
for results. Reformed civil service is almost the reverse
of that. It has, however, a negative merit which for
practical purposes far outweighs all its faults—that is,
it takes appointments out of politics and thereby pre
vents Cabinet and Congress, which are supposed to be
the Nation’s special guardians, from looting the public
service wholesale, as they would certainly do if their
hands were not tied. Our civil-service laws are a strange
commentary on our political morality.
If we had a law requiring that the secretary of the
treasury be chained to his desk lest he loot the treasury
vaults, disinterested observers would think it indicated
an odd state of morals. Our civil-service laws are some
what like that. The time will come when they will not
be necessary, because debauching the public service for
political ends will be considered as infamous as stealing
public money.—Ex.
Wireless for Trains
That stock tragedy of the dispatcher who discovers
too late that he has ordered two trains to proceed in
opposite directions over the same stretch of track at
the same time will soon become unavailable for the ama
teur fictionist. Trains have already been experimentally
operated by wireless telegraphy, and it has been demon
strated that by a comparatively simple apparatus sig
nals may be sent from a moving train. In a little while
the absent-minded dispatcher will be able to call up his
trains en route; and the sequel of the story will be
merely a reprimand for t^e dispatcher instead of a
wreck. That this will make travel by land safer, as
wireless has already made it safer by sea, goes without
saying.
During 1 a recent storm that wrecked the telegraph
and telephone lines all trains on a division in Pennsyl
vania were handled bv wireless station messages. We
have here a means of communication that is almost in
dependent of physical means that fire, flood or hurricane
can hardly affect, somethin" hardlv more limited by phy
sical obiects than is thought itself.
And incidentally astute railroad managers are already
figuring how much monev thev can save when a simple
means of wireless communication with trains is gener-
allv used. For example, to ston and start a heavv loner-
distance freight train costs quite a bit. At present such
trains must stop frequently, merely to receive orders.
With wireless, they need not stop at all short of destina
tion.
It is a beautiful idea, and promises to yield good cash
dividends, as so many other beautiful ideas have done.
On With the Dance
The Appeal to Reason is inclined to look upon the re
vival of dancing as of much significance. “There are in
dications,” it says, “that it is related to the world-awak
ening and the vision of better things.” The Appeal to
Reason has often been called pessimistic, but there is
nothing pessimistic about that statement. If there is a
world-awakening on the tapis, the tango is undoubtedly
related to it, but, as we make our occasional tours of
inspection of these dansants and see those who are most
devoted and most expert, we have difficulty in connect
ing the craze with a vision of any sort. Yet, as it is
a much pleasanter attitude to take than that of manv
of our ministers, who bitterly oppose the tango because
they don’t know what it is, we shall hold it as long a?
possible. We shall hope, with the Appeal, that the “world
hope is getting into the feet.” On with the dance!—Ex.
Bank Clearings in Atlanta
The showing made by Atlanta in its Bank Clearings
for the last month or two has been truly remarkable.
Week by week, the summary for the whole country
shows a decline from the corresponding week of 1913.
Week by week, Atlanta is the only Southern City show
ing an increase. Looking over the long list of cities
covered in the weekly reports, one will find in the North
.and West from one to five cities showing usually a mod
est gain, and occasionally one showing a good gain. In
the South, Atlanta still shows every week a large in
crease. The only conclusion that can be drawn from
this is that Atlanta must be widening its business bor
ders very largely with each year, and each year is be
coming more and more the financial and business em
porium of the South. Its Post Office receipts back up
its bank clearings—it now beine the first City of the
South in Post Office receipts. If we could only handle
our internal affairs as well as we seem to handle our
external trade, we would sure be some folks—but the
experience of the last few vears indicates that when it
comes to these internal affairs we are up against a very
hard proposition.
The Monroe Doctrine
Among the things very much in evidence just now,
owing to the Mexican troubles, is what we know as
“The Monroe Doctrine.” This Doctrine was formulated
about ninety years ago when the United States was a
small and weak nation. When it was enunciated by
President Monroe it had the support of England, Eng
land and the United States being both opposed to the
machinations of what was known in Europe as “The
Holy Alliance,” the purpose of which (though veiled)
was the acquisition of colonies either in North or South
America.
The result of the formulation of this principle was that
no further attempts at colonization have been made from
that time to this upon the American continent, except
the ephemeral Mexican Empire, fathered by Napoleon
III. From the time of Maximillian’s death, in 1867, down
to the present, no further attempts have been made by
any European power to acquire territory either in North
or South America.
That the Monroe doctrine served a good purpose in
the first forty or fifty years of its life is undoubtedly
true. That it has been totally unnecessary during the
last forty years is equally true. In some ways, it has
been harmful rather than beneficial. The Latin nations
to the South of ns have been resentful of what appears
to them to be a claim of guardianship on the part of the
United States, and this has hindered the cultivation of
cordial feelings between these nations and the United
States.
In the second place, it puts our country under the obli-