Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE ATLANTIAN 3 Stye Atlantian Published Monthly by E. WALTER TRIPP Box 118, Atlanta, Georgia THE ATLANTIAN will give free space to all Secret Societies and Labor Or ganizations. On the other hand, we put everybody on notice when THE AT LANTIAN makes a statement which we believe to be true, and such statement goes uncontroverted, we shall insist that it is true - Published Monthly by The Atlantian Publishing Co. « VOL. 3 SEPTEMBER No. 32 Our Motto: “Pull for Atlanta, or Pull Out. ” © Editorial Etchings © Labor Day The present indications are that the Labor Day demonstration in Atlanta will be the most notable in the history of the local organiza tions and that throughout the state and indeed the whole country the men who toil will celebrate their national holiday with unusual enthusiasm. It is entirely fitting that this should be so. There is no class of people in the state of Georgia who are more genuinely entitled to their recreation, and, what is more important, to the substantial demands which they make from time to time, than the great body of the working people of the state. In every contest for good gov ernment and high citizenship it is the masses of the people who' march in the vanguard, and in the long intervals it is they who keep the beacon lights burning. It goes without saying that the skill and intelligence of a great majority of the working men in Georgia stands far above that of the working men in other states. Here where the infusion of for eign pauperism is reduced to the minimum, here where the men who labor with their own hands are literally the children of our own soil and sprung from our own old red hills, they are in sympathy with our political institutions and in harmony with the highest as pirations of good citizenship. In other sections there have been extremists, at times, who have brought a certain measure of reproach upon the cause of organized labor, but here in Georgia they have been found contending for their rights in orderly fashion, under the forms of law, and striving for the inauguration and perfection of better laws. It is impossible for society to overestimate the debt which is due these people. They live in a wholesome atmosphere and hence the ideals toward which they strive are wholesome. The old Romans had a motto, which, turned into English, means that “Labor conquers all things.” This is only half truth. For in this world, labor has conquered everything except justice for itself—that it has never done. The philosophic student of history is not always sanguine. It seems that the world can progress up to a certain point—and then there comes a reaction which casts us back into the pit; from which we begin slowly to emerge, and after cen turies when we have risen to a point where it looks as if something would be done worth while—and then, back to the pit we go! So it has always been. The question is: Will it always be so ? But for one thing the situation would appear hopeless. But during the last nineteen centuries there has been a solvent in the world; and, however little multitudes of men may be influenced in their personal conduct by that solvent, there is no question that it has done much toward bringing' about what in the language of Mr. Roosevelt is called “the square deal.” Labor can never come fully into its own until “the square deal” is the rule of action. But labor must give “a square deal,” as well as take it—and if we know anything about Organized Labor, that is the basis upon which it works. It is willing to accord justice, and wants justice. When one takes up the statistical reports of the country and reads where the men in a good trade have incomes which pay them less than five hundred dollars a year; and then sees how protected manufacturers and stock jobbers and bankers have millions to spend upon gaudy pleasure, and other millions with which to buy decadent Counts as helpmates for their daugh ters—it’s rather discouraging. It looks as if the man getting his five hundred dollars a year is not getting a “square real.” And yet, that condition prevails in the coal regions, in the cotton mills, and in many other of the prominent industries of this country. When men talk about well-paid American labor and the high standard of living in American labor, we think of these things. And sometimes when wo hear men talking of this, we cannot refrain from asking the question: “Iiow would YOU like to live on $500 a year?” As long as these conditions obtain, we need Organized Labor— and we need a Labor Day in which the hosts of Organized Labor can come together and take stock of the situation as they look upon each other’s faces after the hard struggles of another year, and thus gain inspiration for the hard struggle to be endured during the coming year. From Labor Day to Labor Day, one cannot often see a great advance. But the advance is there. If anyone doubts it, let him compare the hosts of labor on Labor Day, 1911, with Labor Day, 1890, and he will see that some gain has been made. The gain will continue only if the hosts of Labor are true to them selves. If their leaders are unselfish, persevering and capable; if their members are peaceable, honorable, law-abiding, determined and loyal, they will eventually win the fight. Naturally in that vast body of men that we speak of as Organized Labor, there will be some unfaithful ones. But if the heart of the great body is sound; if their practices are correct, they will eventually win their struggle for equal justice, and for a fair share of that wealth their labor creates. No political party can ignore their demands and live; no politi cal faction or organization can neglect them and deserve to live. In the broad and patriotic sense they are democratic to the core and the measures they demand are for the welfare of the many and not of the few. The feeble voices of the past have increased in volume and grown in strength until today the two millions and a half of labor votes become a factor which every party must reckon with, and the interests of labor must be consulted by every man who aspires to office, from the chief magistracy to the militia district. The Atlantian extends its greeting on the occasion of the na tional holiday of Labor and wishes for every working man a better and a brighter year than has ever gone before. The Congressman From the Fifth District The new Congressman from this district, William Schley Howard, who has just seen his first service in the extra session, has acquitted himself in a most creditable manner. Mr. Howard has not made the mistake, that some new members make, of trying to push himself forward too rapidly—but, in everything that has concerned the wel fare of his district, he has been right on the spot, and has failed in nothing that was possible of accomplishment. It is not so much, however, this that entitles him to full credit, as the fact that the Democratic party, being on trial at this session, and the lines being clear-cut, Mr. Howard has shown himself absolutely loyal to the platform enunciation, and has voted straight in every vote taken during the session. Not only so, but he has made it a point to be constant in attendance, and no charge of absenteeism can lie against him. If he maintains (and we have no doubt that he will) the rec ord already made, it is a foregone conclusion that the man, who (in