Newspaper Page Text
November, 1918
THE ATLANTIAN
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first possess a people physically, mentally aiid morally fit
and sound.
Any achievement that is purchased at the continued
sacrifice of human life does not advance our material re
sources but detracts from the wealth of the State. The
leaders of our civilization now realize these fundamental
truths, and the statesmen, the scientists, and the humani
tarians are endeavoring more and more to protect human
life and to secure to each individual not only the right
to life but the right to decent standards of living. We
have had to change old customs and repeal antiquated
laws. We must now convince employers that any indus
try that slays the vitality and destroys the initiative of
the workers is detrimental to the best interests of the
State and menaces the general welfare of the Govern
ment.
We hold it to be self-evident that no industry has
the right to sacrifice human life for its profit, but that
just as each industry must reckon in its cost of produc
tion the material waste, so it should also count as a part
of the cost of production the human waste it employs.
An Equitable Wage.
No comparison is fair which does not secure t.o each
worker at least enough to permit him or her decent
standards of life. The workers themselves have not al
ways been able to secure such compensation. Particu
larly has this been true of women and children, in whom
the State should take an especial interest. To secure for
these, less accustomed to the competitive struggle, pro
tection that other workers have won for themselves
through organization, we should carefully consider the
establishment of wage boards with authority to fix a
living wage for conditions of work, below which stand
ard no industry should be allowed to continue its opera
tions.
Child-Life Must Be Protected.
For the welfare of the State child-life must be pro
tected. Not only should the child be guaranteed the right
to be born equal, but it must be given the chance to live,
to grow, to learn, and to develop into useful and patriotic
citizenship.
No business has an inalienable right to child labor.
No industry has a right to rob the State of that which con
stitutes its greatest wealth. No commerce that depends
on child labor for its success has aright to exist.
Justice to the Workers.
Let us, then, be just to the workers. No man can
pay too high a tribute to labor. It is the creative force
of the world, the genius of accomplishment of the brain
and the brawn of man, the spirit of all progress, and the
milestone marking the advance of nations. Civilization
owes everything to labor—to the constructive toiler and
the creative worker. Labor owes very little to civiliza
tion. Mother Earth is labor’s best friend. From her foi>
ests and her fields, from her rocks and her mers, the
toiler has wrought all and brought forth the wonders of
the world.
We live in a progressive age; the world is moving
forward to a higher level, and mankind, conscious of its
power, hopes for nobler things and demands better gov
ernment, untrammeled by political expediency and un
hampered by partisan considerations.
What Atlanta Really Needs
From 1910 to 1918 Atlanta grew nearly seven times
as fast as did the State at large, or as the Cotton belt at
large (Texas excepted). Digest that fact.
Twenty-five thousand peole in Atlanta live under
deplorable conditions, whether considered from the stand
point of sanitation or subsistence. Would it not be well
to mend that situation before we increase this sub
merged population to 50,000?
The people of Atlanta, while not abandoning health
ful recreation, need to learn that trivial amusements are
not the main purpose of life, and that such things do not
make strong men and women.
Atlanta needs newspapers which will give to its citi
zens less “mental garbage” and more of that kind of mat
ter which will tend to moral and intellectual development.
Atlanta needs the creation of an atmosphere so
moral, so educational, so sanitary, so wholesome, that
good people from all quarters will be eager to make their
homes with us.
Atlanta needs ta remember that: “Righteousness
exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Labor and the New World
Its Effect Will Be Felt in Georgia Politics in the Future.
We are on the threshold of a new world.
Men are having large visions and the world calamity
has given us a knowledge of our capacity in many direc
tions which we are going to utilize.
Organized Labor has made 'decided gains during the
war and if it makes no mistake of purpose or generalship,
stands to win a great position in the future. But the pur
pose must be righteous and the generalship wise or the
hosts of labor may defeat themselves and in so doing pull
down the pillars of the national temple in their fall.
Unless all men come to see that safe democracy
means the voice and rule of all the people and not merely
the voice and rule of one class, we will have to abandon
hope not only of democracy but of civilization. The Rus
sian debacle ought to satisfy us on that point.
The world has never before had so fine an opportunity
to lay wide and strong' and deep the foundations of a
righteous and an end ..ring civilization, but if each class