Newspaper Page Text
8
The Golden Age
(SUCCESSOR TO RELIGIOUS PORUM)
Published Ebery Thursday by the Golden 54ge Publishing
Company (Inc.)
OFFICES: LOWNDES BUILDING, ATLANTA, GA.
Price: $2.00 a Year
Ministers $1.50 per Year.
In cases of foreign address fifty cents should be added to cobet
additional postage.
Make all remittances payable to The Golden Age Publishing Company.
WILLIMM D. UPSHS4W, .... Editor
A. E. RAMSAUR, - - - Managing Editor
LEM G. BROUGHTON - - - Pulpit Editor
BEN S. THOMPSON, - - Business Manager
Entered at the Post Office tn Atlanta, Ga.,
as second-class matter.
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.
The Universal Valentine.
Where is the heart on land or sea—
’Mid tropic isles or arctic snow,
That doth not feel at Valentine
“'Love’s young dream” intenser glow?
The sage who sits on Reason’s throne,
The swain who walks behind the plow,
The king and queen with scepter grand—
The subjects that before them bow—
All. all with hearts that ne’er grow old:
All, all with hearts forever young,
Are thinking of their Valentine
And thrilling o’er the message sung!
0, hearts that love, the world around!
Os bird and beast and maid and man,
Thank Heaven for your Valentines
And send them—get them —while ye can!
William D. Upshaw.
Georgia Anti“ Saloon League.
Seldom do the leaders of a great moral movement
find themselves in a position to sneedily witness the
actual results of their labors, and seldom, in
deed, are these results of so strongly marked a
character as that shown to the promoters of the
Georgia Anti-Saloon League when reviewing its
work at the First Annual Convention held in At
lanta last week.
Organized but two brief years ago, the promo
ters counted the first twelve months short enough
in which to create an understanding of the work
demanded. The second year matters had so far
shaped themselves that it was found possible to
establish a regular organization with a state super
intendent, a working office and field force and an
organ of its own. This publication, “The Georgia
Issue,” echoes in its every line the sentiment of
the League, the passion and prayer of which is
for the creation and crystallization of Prohibition
Sentiment.
Already branches of the League are organized
in nearly sixty counties, and the delegates at the
convention in question numbered about one hun
dred, all filled with enthusiasm for the spread of
the good work. To quote the words of the Superin
tendent, Dr. J. C. Solomon, the aim of this or
ganization is to “dry every county in Georgia,
whether it has a saloon or dispensary, as rapidly
as possible, and to do this we rely on our great
hope which has been the keynote of our work—
Agitation, Education and Organization.”
Two of the most important measures adopted at
the convention were in the form of resolutions
proposed by Dr. Solomon. These were as follows:
1. That the League go before the legislature
next June and ask that the question of state pro
hibition be submitted to the people for a vote.
2. That the governor of Georgia be condemned
The Golden Age for February 14, 1907.
for licensing the Southern Express Company to
carry intoxicating liquors to dry counties.
Both these resolutions were heartily and unani
mously endorsed by the convention.
The meeting was marked by some of the most
notable and helpful addresses ever heard at a
gathering of this kind. Chief among these were
the earnest words of Rev. Sam Small, who spoke
on “Prohibition as a National Problem.” Dr. G. A.
Nunnally also gave a stirring address on the “Fal
lacy of the Dispensary,” and Dr. Len G. Broughton
spoke in his usual telling way on “The Obligations
of the Christian Citizen.” Perhaps one of the
most vital issues met and discussed at the conven
tion was that of “The Liquor Traffic as it Relates
to the School Interest,” which was handled in a
masterly way by Hon. B. S. Fitzpatrick, of Fitz
patrick, Ga. Dr. J. L. D. Hillyer addressed the
meeting in a scholarly manner on “The Govern
ment Relation to the Liquor Traffic.”
Mrs. Mary Harris Armor, President of the
Georgia W. C. T. U., spoke on the subject of “How
to (Secure State Prohibition,” and her views were
both practical and forceful.
Throughout the sessions of the Convention the
music was a notable feature and it was conducted
delightfully by Mrs. Boatman.
Judge W. R. Hammond, the President of the
League, presided at the meetings and the people
of the state who feel themselves vitally interested
in the suppression of the liquor traffic have cause
to be most hopeful of the ultimate success of their
efforts.
Tennessee is taking active legislative measures
to drive from that state this public evil; other
Southern states are rapidly organizing their forces
and when the final comparison comes as to the work
accomplished in the South, as come it must within
the near future, we feel proud to know that Geor
gia will take first rank in the line of her sister
states.
Hurrah for Terrell!
The great good news comes to us that the good
old county of Terrell in the great old state of
Georgia has gone “dry” by one hundred and sixty
majority. Reference to this battle was recently
made in these columns, telling of a visit to Dawson
and the hearing of a matchless speech of Judge
Anderson Roddenberry in launching the campaign,
against the dispensary in the county of Terrell.
The result in Terrell has more than local signi
ficance, because the “blooming” financial success
(?) of the dispensary there has inspired other
counties to try it—many Terrell county men boast
ing that their property was like government bonds
—didn’t have to pay any taxes at all. And how
many men, alas! sober, respectable men, find it
hard to vote against anything that brings a few
dollars into their pockets! The next thing, then, is
to persuade 'themselves that “prohibition don’t
prohibit anything,” and then they find themselves
paying the taxes of floating, whiskey-drinking vot
ers in order that the sale of liquor may continue
and property go free—whatever the moral conse
quences to the people!
Thus consciences have been poulticed, moral
stamina has been weakened and souls have been
dwarfed wherever men have become apologists for
the liquor traffic in any form. And Terrell has had
more than her share of this. Good men—otherwise
good men—have looked at the situation with blear
ed vision; indeed, some looked at it with eyes to
tally blind—for a big, round dollar got so close
to the orb of sight that the debauchery of men and
the broken hearts of women could not be seen be
yond it; and the “jingle of the guinea” made such
music in their ears they could not hear the sounds
of sorrow and sighing and crying among those who
suffered because some men loved money too well!
But, the best and wisest of Terrell’s citizens
saw two things: They saw dispensary liquor mow
ing down the flower of their young men and de
bauching worse and worse the Negroes who were
its easiest prey. They saw $120,000 being spent
for liquor every year in order to get $20,000 rev
enue. And they saw a third thing, in one sense
sadder than these: They saw the ideals of the
community being commercialized and lowered until
communities beyond were suffering from the spread
ing disease, while the sins of the fathers were
crouching to spring, like tigers, upon the defense
less generations yet unborn. And these wise, brave
men arose in their might and got ready to fight,
and the fair women—God bless them—whose hearts
are temples of devotion, gathered about their hus
bands and- sons and brothers and 'sweethearts, and,
like the Spartan woman of old, “buckled on their
harness with trembling hands,” and said: “Go,
our defenders; go to the front and do battle while
we, every day at the ringing of the bell, go yonder
to the sanctuary and pray!”
And thus, the battle in the greatest dispensary
stronghold in Georgia, was fought and won.
The story of Terrell is, to a greater or less degree.,
the story of all. And we call on the brave men and
women of every rum-cursed community in the land
to take courage from the accomplishment of what,
for a long time, seemed impossible in the “banner
dispensary county of Georgia,” and rise in the
might of such consecration and effort and free
themselves from the “mighty curse”!
Preparing to Fight Consumption.
We are greatly pleased to note the recent move
ment which is being widely discussed in Atlanta,
and -we trust throughout the state of Georgia, of
the urgent necessity to fight the appalling spread
of tuberculosis. This movement was begun by that
public spirited organ, the Atlanta Georgian and
News, and with true humanitarianism as well as
a high sense of obligation toward the people, this
publication urges on the state the vital need of
such an institution.
It so happens that the South is peculiarly un
fitted or unprepared with the requisite weapons to
fight this scourge, and according to’ authoritative
statements there is no place in the state of Ten
nessee. for instance, where such cases can be cared
for and we do not believe that Mississippi, Ala
bama, Louisiana, or even Florida is any better
equipped. These facts seem to emphasize the need
in Georgia for a modern institution devoted solely
to the treatment and cure of this ill. At present
The Home for Incurables in Atlanta is doing some
work along* this line, but from its physical unfit
ness its usefulness is seriously impaired.
Georgia needs a hospital which shall be erected
on modern lines, with capacity for a given num
ber of absolutely free patients, as well as accom
modations for those able to pay a nominal sum
and also for such persons as can pay regular hos
pital rates for treatment.
The erection of such an institution could be made
self-supporting in a short time and might throw
open its doors to paying patients from other states.
There is also this paramount advantage to be con
sidered by the people of Georgia in contemplat
ing a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis;
the climate of Middle Georgia compares favorably
with that of any in the world for this special ill.
This fact is being more or less slowly recognized
by physicians and it is said that a doctor in Ber
lin, Germany, after making a study of climatic
conditions in the United States with reference to
the treatment of pulmonary consumption sent a
patient to Atlanta and that this patient, though
in an advanced stage of the disease, gained a meas
ure of comparative health.
Once it is generally understood that consumption
can be cured, and that its victims can be saved
from much of the acute suffering which has here*
tofore marked the progress of the ill, it would seem
that immediate steps would be taken in this direc
tion. But, leaving this element out of the question
and considering the situation from a more selfish
(point of view, the protection of the public health
demands that tuberculosis patients be isolated in
a separate hospital, in order that the spread of
the disease be checked. When such a place is pro
vided it should be as incumbent on physicians to
report to the State Board of Health every case of
consumption as it now is to report smallpox or
scarlet fever. When stringent legislation is had
along this line, and when the state makes proper
provision for this class of afflicted persons, then
and then only will the dutv to the public be ful
filled. •