Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

J TH E - —C GotyiifeM IN Jjx THC y-ajQg VOLUME ONE. NO. FORTY-THREE. WHAT WE THINK OF WHAT WE SEE ANTA Claus’ mail is very heavy just at present, and he is said to be unus ually busy making out lists of toys and other things desired by his young friends. He has been forced to employ new help to install a card system in order to keep a systematic record of the desires of the good little boys and girls. S I I He has ordered a large lot of lemons for the boys and girls who have not been good. One lemon for each is what they will find in their stock ings. Just recently we had a Thanksgiving day and we had much to be thankful for. The nation and the country in general are still safe, but there is much to fill the citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, with gloomy forebodings. The cooks have had for some time a “blacklist” and households which did not treat them as they thought they should be treated, were placed on that list. Now the washwomen have formed a trust and are raising prices. There is no way to get a rebate, either. The final straw comes in the form of an announcement that on and after January 1, A.D. 1907, the price of haircuts and shampoos will jump to thirty-five cents each. It has been a long time coming, but the era of happiness for the bald-headed bachelor seems to be arriving’. In the executive bill reported to the House by the Committee on Appropriations, is the following language: “Hereafter in printing documents au thorized by law or ordered by Congress or either branch thereof, the Government printing office shall follow the rules of orthography established by Webster, or generally established dictionaries of the English language.” This seems to put the public printer in a bad hole. If he should fail to use the new spelling, the President may dismiss him from his office; if he does use the new spelling, Congress might refuse to appropriate his salary. Think of the rashness of a committee in putting the authori ty of Webster above Roosevelt! Who is this Web ster, anyway? During the short term of the Fifty Ninth Con gress now in session there will probably not be very much effective legislation beyond the passing of ap propriations. That body has some serious work ahead of it when it does settle down to business, consisting in the settlement of the Ship Subsidy Bill, the Philippine Tariff question and legislation on the inheritance tax, child labor and “'trust bust ing.” Life is strenuous for national lawmakers in these days, with the people on one side asking for legislation and a President on the other directing it; and the representatives of the Octopus getting in a word now and then. There is some point in the anecdote recently going the rounds. A gentle man took his little hoy to the Senate gallery while the Senate was in session. The boy became inter ested in Dr. Edward Everett Hale, whom his father had pointed out as the Chaplain of the Senate. “He ATLANTA, GA., DECEMBER 13, 1906. prays for the Senate, doesn’t he?” asked the lad. “No,” said his father, “he takes a look at the Senate and then prays for the country.” Two disastrous wrecks on the Southern Railway within a very few days of each other, both due in part, if not altogether, to defective operation of the block system, seem to indicate that the “Block” doesn’t always block. No human contrivance can be expected to be perfect ; and it is probable that the block system as used on our railways is the saf est one yet devised, but the lesson to be taught by these wrecks is that not too muche dependenc should be placed in the block alone. It is supposed that under the rules only one train is allowed with in a block—that is, a given distance of the line— at the same time. Should a block operator become careless ; should he drop dead at his post or should he misread a despatch from a fellow operator, loss of life may result. Laws should be enacted re quiring railways to further safeguard their trains and passengers by sending out flagmen each way when a train stops upon the main line, no matter how short the stop may be, or however sure it may seem that they will be protected by the block. In brief, the trains should be protected by flags just as they were before the blocks were installed. Such precautions would have saved the life of Samuel Spencer and others within the last fortnight. The cx-Rev. Thomas Dixon has presented one of his plays in Atlanta. It was well attended. It was well advertised in advance. The author him self is a good advertiser and his press agent is a star. He uses every method conceivable to get the play and the author before the public. Last season a prominent Atlanta minister told his congregation what he thought of the play and its author, and this was nuts to the ex-Rev. Thomas. He managed to bring it into his curtain talk and also wrote a piece to the paper. This year the press agent sent tick ets to the minister in question. That provoked more talk, more newspaper, more advertising. An other scheme which blossomed in the fertile brain of said agent, was to give out a report that the ex- Rev. Thomas intended to use the profits of his plays (alleged to be immense) in founding some kind of sanitary ranch near a South Georgia city. He had already secured the land for the site. What a no ble way to spend the money! Some rude newspaper man wired to the city in question and found that it was another press advertising scheme. The idea is to get the combination talked about—something good, if possible—but something anyway. As they say in Boston, “Each minute particle assists mate rially.” Dr. Algernon Crapsey, of Rochester, has for mally renounced the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, after being compelled to do so by the verdicts of two ecclesiastical courts. Much attention has been given by the press to his views— wherein he rejects the belief of the virgin birth of the Savior and has ideas upon the resurrection to tally different from those accepted by his Church. There have been letters written and published de crying the action of his Church in deciding that he should withdraw from the ministry, and the authors of the letters have in some instances al most maudlinly protested that such action on the part of an orthodox Church was a denial of free thought and of enlightened investigation. It is no such thing. Dr. Crapsey has the right to think just what he pleases and to preach just such doc trines as may seem to him good—outside of the Episcopal Church; but while he is a minister of that Church and wears its cloth, he is bound in common honor and by the rules of ordinary decency, not to advocate doctrines fundamentally opposed to its fundamental principles and teachings. To give aid to the enemies of one’s own country while still wearing its uniform is not more traitorous than the acts of this minister. The fact that ne had to be forced out of his ministry and displayed so little re spect for the demands of common honesty of attitude toward his Church, would make us shy of his ex pressed beliefs. We want a different kind of proph et to lead us when we begin to break out new paths. Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given away, up to this date, according to Henry Clews, sixty millions of dollars, and notwithstanding this, his fortune is said to be increasing faster than he can give it away. He has just given a lake to Princeton, three and one half miles long, which cost a nice little sum in build ing, and he makes a gift almost every day. He ap peals to us as being the wisest rich man of mod ern times. He is doing good with his money and he is appreciated by his fellow citizens. It must feel good to be able, like Uncle Andy, to give whenever and whatever one is inclined to do. His gifts al ready made to schools, colleges and educational progress, to say nothing of the establishment of free libraries throughout the country, entitle him to cred it as the greatest single factor in the advancement of general enlightenment among the people of the United States. The Sage fortune will not be di rected into the same channels as that of Mr. Car negie probably, as Mrs. Sage’s interest has hereto fore been mostly concerned with the Emma Willard Seminary for Young Women, The Woman’s Hospi tal, the Y. W. C. A., the Y. M. C. A. work, partic ularly among soldiers and sailors, anti-narcotic and anti-drink legislation, and the training schools for working girls. The keynote of her interest has been women and education. Poor Mr. Rockefeller can’t get rid of his money every time he wants to, because of that oily smell. lie is being annoyed by prosecuting attorneys, too. His son, John D., Jr., in a recent talk before his Sunday school class, expressed some distaste of being so rich. He even said he didn’t have as many friends as he wanted. Maybe that will come right some day, when the taint is worn off, and the world will benefit by that fortune also. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. FIVE CENTS A COPY.