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8 The Golden Age (SUCCESSOR TO RELIGIOUS TORUM} Published Ebery Thursday by the Golden Age-Publishing Company (Inc.) OFFICES: LOWNDES ‘BUILDING, ATLANTA, GA. Price: $2.00 a Year , ... WILLIAM D. UPSHAW, - - - , - Editor A. E. RAMS A UR, - - - Associate Editor W. T. UPSHA W, - - -- Business Manager ■■‘• ■ ■ • Entered at the Post Office in Atlanta, Ga., , , as second-class matter. ’ ■ ’ _ , . , . - y .. . ..... : ■■ To .the Public: The advertising columns of The Golden Age will have an editorial conscience. No advertisement will be accepted which we believe would be hurtful to either the person or the purse of our readers. t . A Parting Word. On about the first day of this month—May— the undersigned was notified that he had been chosen to service by the Mission Board of Georgia, commonly known as our State Board, The offer came to me with such conditions, that I was glad to accept same. I have resigned as sec retary and treasurer of the Golden Age Publishing Co., and am at this writing fully in the service of the Board. I leave the Golden Age with highest personal regard for those connected with it, and wish for it the greatest possible success in the course of usefulness which it has mapped out. My postoffice address until further notice will be Austell Building, Atlanta, Ga.. H. R. BERNARD. Dr. H. R. Bernard. While we are moved to congratulate Dr. Bernard upon his call to assume duties under the State Mis sion Board, which promise to be congenial, to him and to afford a broader field of usefulness in the work for which his splendid ability and rich expe rience so well qualify him. his withdrawal from active connection with the Golden Age is a source of regret to every one connected with the paper, either as directors or the immediate staff. Dr. Ber nard was managing editor of the Religious Forum, which paper was succeeded by this one. A very large number of the readers of the Forum v ere per sonal friends of Dr. Bernard, and these especially will be pleased to learn that he will be a contribu tor from time to time to the Golden Age, and that he remains a member of the Board of Directors of this company. His connection with us has been most pleasant and valuable in every relation, and our best wishes follojv him in his work. We con gratulate the Mission Board on this strong addition to its force. 't ■ ■ ' The Duty of Young Graduates. Our soon-to-be graduates are now preparing their graduating essays, and it may be that a word to them just now in this sacred hour when they are choosing their subjects will mean much to the coun try and the race. This is a moment when a word of advice from our graduates may decide the weal of future gen erations. We are aware that we may be suggesting what has already occurred to them, but we venture to mention a few problems upon which the brilliant light of their definite and exclusive knowledge is needed. Take the Panama Canal problem. The Government has decided to erect a canal upon the Isthmus of Panama—a comparatively unknown and attenuated country which has been discovered to be “a strip of land connecting Central America with the United States Treasury.” Get down your at lases and study the situation. It appears a small matter to prepare this canal and make a highway for the commerce of the world. Give us the benefit of your judgment. The Golden Age for May 17, 1906. Cousin John’s Start. Cousin John Rockefeller told his Sunday School class that he made the first dollar he ever made ► ' ■. • and banked,'by digging" potatoes. He said it would be better if the young men who are'making their livings over desks, .would quit it and go to digging potatoes. How would the advice apply to Cousin John himself ? He and Uncle Andy have been say ing a lot lately about how their Wealth bores them: how they suffer from ennui while contemplating their millions: ‘ and how little happiness they derive from their wealth. We will secure Cousin John a steady' job digging potatoes, if he will give us the one he now holds—and we will furnish the pota toes, too. "We will arrange them at any depth he desires, and have them any size he may specify if he will let us have the combination of his safety storage vault all for our own for a brief time. ’ . ’ ' I . ' - , . . . ' Free and Unlimited Seeds. By a majority of almost one hundred, the House of Representatives has voted to continue the free distribution of warden and flower seeds. We are glad of this. “Glad” is a poor, weak word for our emotion. We hope we will never have to endure again such suspense and uncertainty as oppressed us while this great ouestion was trembling in the balance. During childhood’s happy hours we were accus tomed to look forward to the blooming of the flowers and the arrival of packages of seeds from our Congressman, addressed to our father. Noth ing so made us venerate and endorse the head of our familv as did the fact that our Representative in Washington should gird his toga about him and select seeds for Pa. When we had ourselves ar lived at our majority and seeds came to us, life indeed seemed good and fair. Even now we can recall the thrill that stirred our being when the first package of seeds addressed to us was placed in our bands. True, the seeds were not for use in this world—their name could never be pronounced correctly: still they were seeds; they came from the seat of Government, they were proof that the Un ion still existed and that America was still in busi ness as the home of the flower and the land of the garden. Fellow citizens, let us guard and preserve to our posterity this bulwark of our liberties. Torrey-Alexander Meeting. Ethically, ther should be no need of religious “revivals”—and individuals should always keep in fullest touch with the spiritual side of living, but actually this is very far from being true. Just as we grow careless and unconscious of the sun light until a dark day comes, so do we grow lax in matters that touch the life of the soul and of the spirit until we are reminded that “our light shines dimly.” This “reminder,” therefore, is the real value of genuine revivals, and those evangelists are most useful and successful who can bring home to us a realizing and a lasting sense of our spiritual need. Tn Atlanta each day at the present time just such services are being held; the papers of the city as well as the people are giving more time, thought and personal attention to religious matters than at any time for many years past. And it all helps on the great Cause. Even the condemnation of the few against the commendation of the many argues that at least people are awake; are thinking, feeling and being impressed. Ignorance or lack of thought can no longer be used as an excuse, for laxity in religious matters. Dr. Torrey with his words of burning eloquence, his calm dignity of thought and of expression; Mr. Alexander, with his exquisite song services, and the able assistants of these gen tlemen in the persons of Mr. Butler and Mr. Ja coby, are untiring in their efforts for the people’s good and are uniting in a series of meetings, the influence of which it is hoped and believed will ex tend far beyond the confines of our state and even of our own time. our emotion. Ao Out-of-Date Office. ' Has it ever occurred to you, dear readef, that the office of county treasurer in the average county is a useless expense ? It is an office that pays well; has no work at tached to it, no resporsibi’ity, and no expense ex cept the cost of securing election and retaining the office. ' ' .. Candidates for this office usually promise in ad vance to deposit their trust funds in some partic ular T;ank in return for which the bank agrees to furnish the necessary bond in the event of his election, and -of course to assist his candidacy at least to the extent of its moral support. When elected, the treasurer takes, the necessary oath of office, tenders the bond furnished by his bank, and then turns the entire work over to the bank officials. These obliging' gentlemen, for the free use of the idle funds the county has on hand during his incumbency, keep his books neatly and correctly, merely calling on the “treasurer” to affix his official signature to vouchers, checks, etc., and to draw his commission. So notorious has the situation become that we find instances of candidates offering to give a por tion of the income from the office, if elected, to some charity, or some county improvement. In Walton county, for instance, one candidate at present offers half the income of the office to the Confederate Monument Fund. Another pledges, if the people elect him, to give half to the county school fund. These offers are alright, but they put one in mind of the fellow who offered to let people pick black berries on halves. In the average county the treasurer’s commission approximates two thousand dollars per annum. If this office was abolished, and its duties lodged with the Ordinary or Clerk of Superior Court, or County Commissioners, the taxes could be reduced to that extent. Nay more, instead of paying out this com mission the counties could secure an interest on the funds by depositing them with the bank which would nay the best interest rate. When it is considered that a saving of eight to ten per cent, in taxes can be effected right here, it is time that the people begin to agitate the question, and ask for appro priate legislation. When the office was created by our legislators it was needed. In those days banks were rare outside of cities. It was quite essential then to have a trustworthy citizen hold this office, but with the development of our banking system the need for the office has passed away. Economy and progress demand a revision of our constitution, abolishing this useless expense, and providing instead a law that shall give the tax-payers the benefit of inter est on their funds. Significant. On the 14th inst. the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, declared itself in favor of the creation of a committee to prepare a new statement of faith. If we recollect aright, there has been in the recent past some talk of a change in the statement of faith of the Presbyterian Church. It seems that a majority of leaders in religious belief of several denominations are not satisfied with existing articles of faith. This will disturb many good people, but it ought not. “Articles of Faith,” after all, are nothing but man’s statement of what he thinks the scrip tures teach, and as man is fallible, because of his limitations, it is natural as these are removed, that he should express himself in new terms. These new terms make the new “Articles of Faith.” We will observe here, that nothing ought to be adopted because it is new, nor rejected because it is old. Error, no matter how it comes to be known as error, is always to be rejected. Truth—no mat ter how arrived at, nor by whom, is to be accept ed, and moreover is to be maintained, and propa gated at any cost. We are living in strenuously testing times, but as the Lord reigns, and as the truth must prevail, we are content and hopeful.