Newspaper Page Text
November, 1916
THE ATLANTIAN
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resented by their descendants in the management of the
“big” bank which their fathers created, and while they
may handle more money, it is certain that they cannot
manage it any better than their fathers did in the days
when Atlanta was a straggling and struggling town.
Business Gain Under Collector
Blalock
The Internal Revenue department of this district un
der Collector Blalock’s administration has shown the
most remarkable percentage of gain in the history of the
district.
This proves two things; first, that the whiskey business
is not necessary to a gain governmental revenue, and
second; that the general current of business prosperity
must be running wide and deep and strong to produce
such results.
The Collector is himself a capable man who has sur
rounded himself with efficient subordinates resulting
from which excellent service has been rendered.
One can safely gamble on the proposition that the
government has got every penny that was coming to it,
and will not lose anything as long as the present Collec
tor and his force are on the job.»
The Fallacy of Universal Peace
To those, who believe in and dream and work for a
coming time of universal peace I would say, “Nation-j
ality, there is the enemy.” From what I have seen of
their labors I do not imagine that many of them have yet
looked at it in that light. They seem to think that some
purely mechanical device can insure peace without dis
turbance to the human background and motive of all
wars. They have never realized the fundamental anti
mony between peace and patriotism. They have never,
in consequence, taken the true measure of their enter
prise or mastered that first principle of strategy which
counsels a concentration of forces at the decisive point.
The essential problem before them is to supersede the
appeal of nationality, which is by its very nature a par
tial and a bellicose appeal, by setting before the world
and drilling into its consciousness some higher and more
embracing ideal. There is, indeed, a conceivably shorter
road to their goal, but it is one they are debarred from
recommending. If, as I have said, some one Power were
to dominate the modern world as Rome dominated the
ancient, it might for perhaps a century or two impose
by sheer force an absolute cessation of strife. But
Pacifists in general, I apprehend, are not prepared to
welcome or to further any such solution. There re
mains for them, then, the slow, endless, heartbreaking
effort to substitute for this instinct or tradition of
patriotism the bond of a wider union: to set up against
the claim of nationality the superior claim of humanity;
to enlarge and broaden the vision of men till they see in
frontiers and boundaries nothing but hampering restric
tions that obscure the view of the vaster brotherhood
beyond. When men cease to think of themselves as
belonging to this country or to that, but simply and natu
rally as citizens of the world, and when they rise into
the clearer atmosphere that is unvitiated by prejudices
of race or speech or national bias, then the impulse to
wars will have spent itself.—Exchange.
Big Business for 1917
We have now reached a point where it is safe to fore
cast the coming year.
For the first time in our history a presidential elec
tion has not been able to make a ripple on the business
wave.
The surplus commodities taken by Europe have reach
ed a point where surpluses are vanishing and our re
serves are beting trenched upon.
Resulting from this there is a phenomenal increase in
money much of which is seeking investment. Number
less enterprises have been of necessity postponed be
cause of the impossibility of getting material.
Were the war to stop tomorrow it would take all of
next year to meet the waiting needs of our own people.
There need be no fears of poor business in 1917 for
thousands of factories have now business in sight for
the greater part of the year.
In the great iron and steel business men are even try
ing to buy for 1918 delivery.
In no manufacturing line is any surplus on hand. A
lot of short sighted men have been prophesying that the
bottom would drop out when the European war ends,
but if it does, it will be not because conditions justify,
bpt because people believe these prophets of evil, and do
not take stock of conditions for themselves.
Hon. E. C. Yellowley, Revenue
Agent
Hon. E. C. Yellowley, Internal Revenue Agent with
headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., though new in this field,
is doing excellent work. He belongs to the type of men
which wanting anything, done—goes. As a result of
this spirit he is making it very uncomfortable for that
class, who have no understanding of law, other than that
it is something to be evaded, or to be violated, if there
is a chance to evade the penaltiy. Our greatest defect
is a lack of proper respect for the law, because it is the
law, and because law is essential to orderly living. The
public officials therefore, who make the law respected
by that class which respect only power, is doing a great
work, the results of which will endure long after his
term of service has ceased.
Mr. Yellowley is a credit to the public service and we
welcome him.