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The Semi-Weekly Journal.
tnterad at the Atlanta Poatofflee as MaU Mat.
tar of ths Second Clara.
JAMES R. GRAY.
Editor and General Manager.
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♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga. ♦
~
Friday, November 26, 1909.
S Two orphans—sugar trust and oil trust.
The early bird doesn t catch the book
worn. (
A bird in the hand's worth what you
| ean get for it.
If a woman s a suffragette, what s her
busband? A ••wuffer-yeL”
Many a man who thinks he's the
architect of his fortune Is only a hod
Merlir.
• Cupid's arrows don't really Injure a
y- young man. They simply knock him
I eeneelesa.
Funny, isn't it, that one of the Judges
i» who dissolved standard oil should be
named Hook? •
♦ How natural that Astor’s divorced'
I; wife should have been the first to dls
f qjvsr where he was.
has gone to raising bananas.
J That's more unique than raising riots,
if not quite as exciting.
|. One problem that the mothers* con-
KWaas dared not discuss is, when a ba
by's pretty and when not.
5? Collector Loeb has given a number
of the sugar trust's friends a chance
to devote their entire time to it.
Now that Macon has stopped the sale
of near-beer on Sundays, visitors there
| can probably tell the day of the week
New York preacher says he has known
only two really religious men in his life
and— wonders alive! one of those isn't
IjMmself
A naw Jersey bookkeeper shot out
y both his eyes because he was short In
I Ids accounts—a literal example of the hu
man ostrich.
If the Pilgrim Fathers had foreseen
what their descendants would have to
pay for turkey, they would never have
« established Thanksgiving.
Since the state board of health's prop
| Uganda on the danger of flies, the
i aplder will probably be more careful
* about asking them Into his parlor.
* «One of the Imprisoned miners lived
I three days with nothing but his cap for
L food. Had it been a woman's hat he
L could have held out through the whole
r ..winter.
If the baby starts to bawling at 2
' o dock tn the morning, don't get cross
:• with the little thing. Just chuckle over
I the fact that some day it may have to
* be a parent Itself.
K Chicago minister says a girl has a per
i' feet right to pop the question to man.
| But what’s the need of it when she al
l -Ways makes him pop It himself the mo
; m«nt she has a mind to?
Back to the Land
Chicago Record Herald.
Becurring to that fascinating subject. tbwAe
. turn to the soil, there was a truly edifying re
ettal lea tai western paper recently that potato
a moral beautifully. The subject was a "re
* tamer" who mad* a deep Impression on an tn
tSTvtewer by an apt illustration. He said that
yea could teseb a dog all kinds at queer tricks
| and that the animal wocld learn to do them
“ thirty weC. He would never like them, how
I'-aser-never So them naturally with ease and
7 pleasure But take that same dog, cue that bad
been trained frrxn the time that he was a poppy.
| gad that had never been allowed to run about
~ freely, and torn him loose is the country, and
t? bo would need no tastructkm whatever as to
• chasing a rabbit. He would enter into that
.sport at the first provocation and then have bto
I first experience of the joy of llfb.
■- The returner went on to say that be bad
| done pretty well tn bnslneca back east. He bad
jT- learned the tricks and achieved at least a modest
U success. Bat it was not until he went to living
la an orange orchard that be begun to chase
bis rabbits. Probably be baa had to chase the
real thing, since rabbits sometime show a Ilk
| lag for orange orchards, bet. of course, he was
t qprsking figuratively. He bad found work that
be loved, and. like the dog. be bad entered into
Jay of life after many years of waiting.
Vs course be baa made a auceera of raising
’oranges and if all returns could only be sure
•jtbat they would bare the same aest and delight
* tn the new en>ptey«u*nt there could never be
say doubt about the wlsdoni of their change of
work. Too many of them, however, are not
i real returners. They are retlrera. who
the soil to produce far them as if by magic,
ami who are so need to the busy haunts of
am that they want to resume some of the
trteks. if not an of them. Before giving
* up the tricks be sure that the natural instinct
Is as strong an it stsuld be to bring the longed
lev Jag and content
' To make peach taping, soak one tea
cupful of tapiocA over night in one quart
k of water. Cook until clear in a double
! boiler, add one cupful of sugar and a aalt-
K apoonful of salt. Butter a pudding dish
B and half fill It with sliced peaches of fine
flavor. Pour over them the hot tapioca,
ar.d bake until peaches are tender Serve
hot or cold, with thick cream.
Hazardous Business
! Judge.
« The maMen dropped her krvely eyes l.ster
she east her eye* far dwwn the rocky slope,
sf the mountainside. After she had rested
theta upon the topowwt branches of a nearby
free, she let them fall upon the waters of a
: placid lake. Then a visit to an oculist si,
taperaJva.
THE FARMERS’ UNION UNIVERSITY.
The people of Atlanta and vicinity should exert every eflfort
to secure the great university wtych is to be established by the
national organization of the Farmers union.
Many important and progressive enterprises have been set on
foot by the Farmers’ union, looking to the welfare of the farmers,
but none of them is more genuinely entitled to a cordial support
than this plan of a central university where the youth of the
rising generation will be educated to the idea of a return to the
farm.
The Farmers' Educational and Co-operative union, to give
the full name of the organization which has grown during the
past few years with such astonishing rapidity and has accom
plished so much for the welfare of the farmer, has always laid
special stress upon the educational feature of its work, and the
plan of establishing a great central university has long been one
of its most cherishe.i projects.
Arrangements have now been perfected to establish this
university, and the only question which remains to be determined
is where it shall be located.
There are many competitors for the honor of securing this
institution. Some communities have offered to donate several
thousand acres of land in order to secure the institution, while
other places are offering still other inducements.
The true place for this university is in or near Atlanta, and
if our people will give the matter the attention which its impor
tance demands we can secure it for ourselves.
The first efforts will be directed toward the establishment of
the university, but afterwards it is proposed by the Fanners’
union to establish branch academies in such sections as will justify
such a step, and there the students will be educated with a view
to sending them on to the university when they are qualified.
One of the great missions of the times is to educate the young
men of the south that their future is on the farms. Something
must be done to counteract the pernicious tendency to flock to thf
cities. Here in the south we have a genial climate and a fruitful
soil, which, as Douglas Jerrold said, “needs but to be tickled
with a hoe to make it laugh with a harvest.’’ The rural life of
the south, under the better conditions which are sure to prevail
if the plans and purposes of the Farmers’ union are sustained,
will become as ideal as that of the English country gentleman.
The successive generations of our southern young men must
be taught, not only the things contained in an ordinary collegiate
or academic course, but they must be taught the science of agri
culture, which in many respects is the greatest of all the sciences.
They must be taught how to make country life attractive and to
improve the natural advantages which are spread about us with
a lavish hand.
To do these things is the purpose of the university to be
established by the Farmers’ union, and the place for it is right
here in Atlanta, or in its immediate suburbs. This is rapidly
becoming the educational center of the south. The acquisition of
this university would be a distinct achievement, and no stone
should be left unturned to secure it.
THE CENTRAL AMERICAN WAR CLOUD.
Th£ Latin-American republics are once more furnishing
their full quota of sensationalism, and the general public is
wondering what the outcome is to be.
The progress of the revolution in Nicaragua has developed
a situation which is of peculiar interest and importance to the
people of this country. The state department appears to be in
possession of information which shows that the speedy trial and
execution of two American citizens, charged with complicity in
the so-called uprising, was without warrant in law or justice,
and a demand for satisfaction is to be made. Those who are
familiar with the guarded language of diplomacy will be able
to read a great deal between the lines when Secretary Knox
says that if certain alleged facts are found to be true, the United
States will make a peremptory demand for reparation for the
execution of Grace and Cannon.
Still more notable is the fact that the Buffalo, which is now
on the coast of California, has been ordered to proceed to
Panama, within striking distance of Nicaragua, and that two
other cruisers are evidently preparing to sail at once for the
Central American region.
x In short, it is very evident that Nicaragua is to be
“spanked.” and the spanking may, in fact, take the form of
putting an end forever to the feverish love of disorder and
revolution which has characterized those Central American
republics for ro many years.
We are not directly concerned in the state of affairs in
Venezuela, where it is constantly reported that Castro’s adherents
are fostering an insurrection, and, as a counter movement, a
number of those Castro followers are being cast into jail. But
it is, nevertheless, true that the continual turmoil in that country
is having a serious effect upon the development of trade.
At a time when we are drifting toward what we may call
a war with Nicaragua, if anything so slight may be thus dignified,
the one reflection which will arise in the minds of students of
American history is the degree in which we have snarled up the
Monroe doctrine by taking over the Philippine islands. Until
the evil hour when we took that step we were able to come into
equity with clean hands. Madison had said: “I hope to see
the time when a line of demarkation will be drawn midway
4owp the Atlantic, on the hither side of which no European gun
will ever be heard, nor an American gun on the other.” The
same sentiment, in varying terms, had been expressed by all the
great fathers of the republic.
The Monroe doctrine, as formally enunciated eighty years
ago, was a righteous doctrine, but a bold one. The general
acceptance of it by the European powers, however tacit, was
practically complete, but it was based on the understanding that
we were, in the language of school boy sports, to “shinny on
our own side.” It was our strongest justification for keeping
the old world powers on the other side of the Atlantic that we
should remain on this.
Something has now got to be done to restore order and
protect property in Nicaragua. Unless we do it, promptly and
efficiently, some European power may feel / called upon to
intervene to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
The assertion of the Monroe doctrine, after peace had been
restored on terms now unknown, would be much more difficult
than if we had been content to leave the Philippines alone, or
else, long since, to have disposed of them without a lot of
twaddle about benevolent assimilation.
DE ARMOND’S TRAGIC DEATH.
The death of Congressman David DeArmond. and particularly
the tragic manner in which it occurred, has carried sadness to
the hearts of the American people without regard to section or
to political creed.
Judge DeArmond was born in Pennsylvania in 1844. His
more than three score years were spent in scenes of great activity
and usefulness. He had been a member of the bar and for a
time served on the bench before he was elected to congress, where
he served for nineteen years. He was. therefore, always deeply
interested in judicial subjects in congress, and in addition made
a specialty of labor questions.
He was a fine type of the scholar in politics, for few men in
congress possessed such vast and varied information.
He was a vigorous and ready debater. No man was better
able to hold his own on the floor of the house, and this frequently
brought him into rather violent contact with his colleagues and
opponents. Indeed, his differences with John Sharpe Williams
reached the point of personal violence.
He was regarded throughout the whole country as one of the
stanchest supporters of the Democratic party, and his death will
be sincerely mourned.
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 26. 1901.
A ROUND THE WORLD x.. j-
A WITH PROF. PARKS G ' Mtar
GIBRALTAR. Oct. 2«. 190 S.
Our patty reached Gibraltar today,
having come direct from the Madeira isl
ands. As the boat approached the strait
that leads to the Mediterranean sea, all
eyes were turned toward the massive
rock which guards the entrance. We re
called Browning’s words:
"In. the dimmest northeast distance,
Dawned Gibraltar, grave and gay.”
The rock of Gibraltar projects south into
the sea, a promontory. On the
west, is the Atlantic ocean; eastward is
the blue Mediterranean; on the south, the
strait, and on the north is a flat sandy
neck of land connecting with Spain. The
rock is three miles long north and south,
but not wide, the entire distance around
being about seven miles. The highest
point is 1,-KX) feet above the sea. From
this eminence, the view is one of the
finest in the world, overlooking Europe,
Asia, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean,
two continents and two seas. Below oan
be seen ships from every part of the
world. Unique in its position and ma
jestic in its grandeur, Gibraltar com
mands the admiration of evety beholder.
As our boat entered the harbor and
approached the city of Gibraltar, we
passed a number of foreign steamships
and of BriUsh battleships; from the deck
of one of the enormous gunboats some
sharp shooters were firing at red target
floating on the water. We watched with
keen interest. First the water would
splash near the target, and then after a
few seconds the shot could be heard.
Presently we seemed to be going behind
the target, and almost in the line of the
firing. We began to feel that the Brit
ish were a little careless. Our forefathers
faced the British in the days of King
George 111, but we thought the differ
ences of that day were passed. None of
us wanted to fight the British and none
of us wanted to be fired at. We were
uncomfortable. About that time, the
firing stopped, and we were made happy.
International hostilities were averted,
and peace reigned on the Mediterranean.
As the harbor Is not deep near the
shore, our party was taken to the land
on small steamboats or tenders.
The city of Gibraltar has a population
of nearly 30,000 people, consisting of Brit
ish soldiers, of English people, of Span
iards, Moors. Arabs, Jews, Turks, Portu
guese, Africans, Maltese and Levantines.
Such a cosmbpolitan group one rarely
sees this side of Egypt.
The Moors and Arabs form only a small
part of the population, but with their
turbans, their hooded garments, bare legs,
and yellow slippers they attracted im
mediate attention. Passing by the Moor
ish market, I attempted to take a snap
shot picture of a venerable and pic
turesque old man. Being warned by the
excited comments of some of his com
panions he threw up his hands in a
threatening manner and thwarted my
plans.
The Spanish were seen In large num
bers, some of them prosperous and
good looking, but most of them poor
and degenerate in appearance. The
poorer Spaniards carry most of their
freight on the backs of small donkeys.
Hundreds of these donkeys were on
the streets carrying loads of water and
vegetables and charcoal. Talking to a
Spanish guide, I asked:
"Why don’t the people haul ,theit
freight on drays or wagons. Instead
of taking small quantities on the backs
of donkeys?”
GEORGIA’S MOST
GOLDEN YEAR
New York Press.
This is Georgia's golden year. The
cotton crop of the state this year, if the
proceeds were divided equally among the
two and a half million population, would
give every one of them, black and white,
young and old, between $75 and SBO.
It has been customary for New York
ers to indulge in attempts at humor at
the expense of Georgia every time a
man from Macon, Atlanta or Augusta
happens to be visiting this part of the
country. He is referred to as a “Georgia
cracker.” This, of course, implies that,
he is what they call down there a "one
gallus man”—a man whose trousers are
sustained by a single suspender. This
year, however, the Georgians have jump
ed into the automobile class. The larger ‘
farmers are planning trips to Europe, ■
and even the "one-horse farmer”—the •
man who laises only ten bales of cotton [
—is assured of a Christmas such as he ■
and his family have not known before. I
Georgia has raised a big crop of cot-1
ton. The state has done that same thing j
before, but then the price of cotton was |
comparatively low. Now it is high—tre- |
mendously high—and it'is high right at j
the time of the marketing of the crop, j
Last year the crop in Georgia was 2,118,-,
000 bales. But cotton at this time last I
year was only 8 1-2 cents a pound. The j
total commercial crop of America last
year was 13,825,000 bales. This year,)
while Georgia will raise as much cotton ;
as it did last, and possibly more, the
rest of the'eountry is not faring so well. ;
The crop last year was 3.819,000
bales. This year It Is likely to be fully
a million bales less. Other states, such
as Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. (
have short crops, and. in fact', so has .
Mississippi. Last year, for instance.
Mississippi produced 1,(573,000 bales. The]
present estimates are that this year she
will raise only 1,100.000 bales. The total ,
crop of America this year will be about]
11.060,000 bales.
Georgia probably will raise this year
more than 2.200,000 bales. Cotton has
been selling at prices ranging from 12 1-2 t
cents to 15 1-2 cents a pound. The aver- ■
age price since the crop began to move ’
has been 14 cents. That means S7O a bale, j
That is the highest price for cotton, dur- |
Ing the marketing season, in more than j
thirty years. In the Sully year prices]
reached 17 12 cents, but that was after,
farmers had sold most of their cotton.
The price was around 10 cents in October ,
and 11 cents in November of that year. I
To show by comparison what the pres
ent crop means to Georgia it might be .
well to bring up the contrast with last .
year. Twelve months ago cotton ranged
between S4O and 845 a bale at the farms. :
It Is as high as $75 a bale there now. and |
the average price is no less than S.O. At (
the latter figure the Georgia crop of 2.- ]
200,000 boles is worth about $155,000,000. It ]
is safe to add to the Georgia crop 1,000.- i
000 tons of cotton sqed. The price now be
ing pair for seed ranges between S3O and {
$32 a ton. Therefore, the total value of;
the raw material produced by the Geor- ;
gin cotton farmer this year is $185,000.000. ,
Just ten years ago the value of the com- '
mereial cotton crop of the whole United ]
States waft estimated at $363,000,000. or a •
little less than twice as much as the crop i
of Georgia alone this year.
From its cotton and eotton seed the
south will get this year nearly $1,000,000,- I
o<o. No such vast sum of money as this I
can be brought into a territory or region. I
especially when the wealth is derived •
from the soil and Is the product of many ]
who are working for themselves without |
making u tremendous difference in the i
Indus’ria I economy and the ethical side of !
tile life of th< people. This is more money ■
than the south in all its history ever has ]
received for its crop of this staple be-
"Ze poor man,” he said, “he have no
money for to buy; he use ze leetle don
key; he not cost much; he eat very
little.”
The streets of Gibraltar are very nar
row, and hence where larger convey
ances require two horses, the horses
are driven tandem, thus taking up much
less room. The streets are well paved
and the city appears clean and at
tractive. Large numbers of carriages
are on the streets ready to take the
tourist to any place desired. The
stores and shops are attractive and
eager merchants and salespeople are
always ready to aid the tourists tn
getting rid of some of his surplus
money.
pne of my newly n|ade friends
bought some kind of a Spanish melon,
which he carried to the ship. He
doesn’t know what to do with It, but
ludicrously calls it a Spanish squash.
He keeps it as a reminder of his un
sophisticated propensity for securing
souvenirs.
But most interesting of all is the
fact that Gibraltar Is the most cele
brated fortress In the world.
It Is the British stronghold. It has
been called the Lion of England, sit
ting at the door of the Mediterranean,
and guarding the entrance to the sea
for his royal master.
Gibraltar, Is in fact, one of the four
strongholds of Great Britain In the
Mediterranean sea. the others being
Malta, Cyprus and Egypt.
The martial character of the place
is manifest at a glance. Massive gun
boats are lying in the harbor; the
rock is honeycombed with tunnels
from whose sides are countless open
ings bristling with cannon; on the
streets there are officers, soldiers and
sentinels, with swords and guns and<
drums and bugles and cannon. The
gates of the city are opened at sun
rise and elosed at sunset, guns being
fired as signals. The galleries of tun
nels cut inside the rock will aggregate
more than two miles In length.
Cannon point from all -«Jdes, and
England guards the sea In every di
rection. Two of the cannon are 100-
tow guns, each being 32 feet long and
each being capable of throwing for 8
miles a shot weighing 2,000 pounds.
Sometimes a fog interferes with the
aim of the gunners below; in such »
case, by means of electricity and ma
chinery, the sighting can be done by
the men at the top of the mountain.
The garrison Is prepared, if neces
sary. to stand a siege for several
years. On one side of £he rock, acres
have been covered with cement, in or
der to catch water in a cistern should
a siege occur.
Annually the fort costs England
over a million dollars; altogether the
cost has not been lees than a quarter
of a billion dollars. Burke once said:
"Gibraltar made England Invaluable to
its friends and dreadful to its ene
mies.”
There Is but one other place in the
world having such a unique position
as Gibraltar, standing as It does where
two continents and two seas meet.
That place is Constantinople. Be
cause of international Jealousies, the
Turk has not been separated from this
advantageous position. What its fu
ture will be only time will tell.
The more I make a study of history,
the more pleased I am that old Eng
land holds Gibraltar.
fore. This billion dollars is the worth of
the raw material alone. When It is work
ed up into Its finished product, the in
numerable kinds of cloth and goods in
which cotton plays a greater or less part,
the value will be almost incalculable—a
sum that staggers imagination.
Because the farm lands of Georgia es
pecially, and the rest of the south In gen
eral, are earning more now than they
ever have before, they have appreciated
greatly in value. They were bound to.
There is a veritable boom in agricultural
lands, and especially those devoted to
cotton, all over the south. For instance,
there were many excellent cotton sections
in Georgia where land was selling early
this spring at from S2O to S3O an acre.
Much of this land produces from half a
bale to a bale of cotton to the acre. This
] year each of these acres has produced cot
! ton and cotton seed worth from SSO to >IOO.
|ln other words, many a purchaser of
land at S2O or S3O an acre has raised a
i crop of cotton this year that has been
sufficient in value not only to pay for the
land itself, but for all Improvements. It
is a pretty good business that will more
1 than pay for Itself in a single season.
Thousands of farmers are appreciating
■ this and are adding to their landed pos
sessions right and left. As a result, prices
i are going up rapidly.
Ihe banks in Georgia are bursting
with money. Long-standing mortgages
i on farms and real estate in general
.have been, paid off. Notes that bank
ers had grown to look upon askance
, owing to their frequent renewals have
i been paid in full. The farmers who
have sold only part of their cotton are
assuming an independent attitude and
[ looking forward to disposing of the re
mainder at even better prices than pre
-1 vail today. They do not need the'mon-
■ ey and cannot be scared into selling.
One marked peculiarity about the
cotton plantations in Georgia Is that
I most of them are of modest size. There
] are no great monopolists in the rais
ing of that staple, no planters whose
! fields stretch for miles, as they do in
Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Tne
] plantations of the small Georgia farm
i er, in aggregate area, are greater than
I the total holdings of those whose
i farms are in the 500 or 1,000-acre
I class. There are innumerable small
] farms of five, ten, twenty and thirty
, acres. That is why this $185,000,000
; that will go in to the Georgia farmers'
pockets this year is going to be very
■ evenly and widely 'distributed.
There will be more fireworks burned
, in 'Georgia this coming Christmas than
; there were set off at the Hudson-Ful
ton celebration last fall. Christmas,
not Fourth of July, is the great day
; for fireworks all through the south.
, With plenty of money in their pockets.
. the Georgians will illuminate their
state from end to end with a blaze of
i rockets, red fire, roman candles,
set pieces and everything of that sort
that is used to express exuberant joy.
There will not be a crossroads town,
far off in the country, that will not
] have at least a score of aerial bombs
and a lot of other brilliant and noisy
' devices to stir things up.
There is a good market for paint In
] Georgia now, and there will be for
some time to come, until all the houses
; and barns are freshened up. There
will be a good market also for every
| thing else that adds to the comfort
i and convenience of life. New hotels
; will be built all over the state. Trav-
I eling men are already flocking to Geor
l-gia because business is good there. Tn
i cidentally. they are paying more atten-
I tion to the south in general but Geor
gia as a section has the most money
to spend and they go there first. That
is one of the reasons for building new
hotels and the improvement of old
ones. There will be new telephone
A NOTABLE BICENTENNIAL
By Frederic J. Haskin.
Two hundred years ago the good people
of London awoke to find themselves *he
possessors of what no people ever before
had possessed—a daily newspaper. "The
Dally Courant” was a tiny single-sheet
publication appearing six times a week.
Like all its successors, living and dead,
it was intended to supply a "long-felt
w’ant.” The particular demand existing
at that time was the desire of the people
of London to obtain news of the cam
paigns being waged on he continent by the
Duke Marlborough, for in the good year
1709 Europe was bleeding in the war of
the Spanish succession. The history of
daily newspapers from that day until this
Is the history of the world, but there is
a particular trade history which is of in
terest even to those not engaged in jour
nalism.
• • •
The United States and Canada now
boast 2,500 dally Journals and the rest of
the world has about as many. There are
60,000 newspapers and other periodicals
in the world. 23,000 of which are published
in the United States and Canada. More
than half of all the periodicals in the
world appear In the English language.
The development of modern journalism
has been the peculiar mission of the Eng
lish and American nations. It is fitting,
therefore, that London should have the
honor of being the birthplace of the daily
newspaper and that It should now be the
home of the most powerful of all daily
journals; while the United States sur
passes all other countries in the versatil
ity, scope and prosperity of Its press.
e ♦ •
The newspaper however, is an Italian
invention. Leaving aside the Chinese an
tiquities and reckoning only the western
world, the first newspaper editor was Ju
lius Caesar. The great Roman did not
possess the facilities of the 20th century,
but he had the soul of a press agent.
He used the dead walls of Rome to dis
play bulletins of the news—news carefully
•■olored to suit the political desires of J.
Caesar. If this early effort at publicity be
barred, still the Italians have the claim to
the first newspaper. In the latter part of
he 16th century the first regular publica
tion of a bulletin containing information
for the public was undertaken in Venice.
These bulletins were not printed, but
were written on large sheets and display
ed in a public room. They were called
"gazetta.” from which comes the English
newspaper title "gazette.” The popular
clamor for news of the war between the
Venetians and the Turks was the "long
felt want” supplied by the appearance of
these "gazetta.” The files of 60 years of
its issues are preserved in a museum in
Florence.
• • •
The first printed paper was the "English
Mercurte,” a religious publication which
appeared in London in 1588. The earliest
real newspaper was the London Weekly
News, born in 1619. For 90 years the Lon
don press led a varied existence, more
than 300 newspapers being started only to
perish in early failure. But in the full
ness of time several weeklies were firmly
established, and there were seven thrice
a-week journals in England when "The
Daily Courant” made its bow to the pub
lic in the autumn of 1709.
• • •
The first newspaper venture in America
was a tragic failure. Mr. Richard Pierce,
of Boston, in 1690, began the publication
of “Public Occurrences.” He declared in
his salutatory that there were too many
unfounded and baseless rumors floating
about Boston, and that the mission of his
paper was to record them, and then trace
them to their source. Mr. Pierce appears
to be entitled to the honor of being the
first Journalistic muck-raker. But those
were cruel times, and the legislature sup
pressed the sheet after its first issue, sol
emnly declaring it to be "a pamphlet
which came out contrary to law, and con
tained reflections of a very high nature.”
• • •
A generation later Benjamin Franklin
confided to his mother his intention to
start a newspaper. The worthy woman
exclaimed: "What can you be thinking
of, there are two newspapers in America
now!” As a matter of fact there were
five, but three of them were so far away
that Mrs Franklin had not heard of
them. The successor of the paper which
Franklin did establish now has the larg
est circulation of any weekly publication
in the world—more than a million and a
quarter a week.
• • •
The first daily newspaper in the United
States, the American Daily Advertiser,
appeared in Philadelphia in 1784. three
years after England had acknowledged
the independence of the states and five
years before the beginning of the gov
ernment under the constitution. The
New York Dally Advertiser followed in
1785, and in 1786 the Pittsburg Gazette be
gan its present prosperous career.
• • •
The United States now has 85 newspa
pers more than a 100 years old, and in
this respect, at least, America is quite as
old and quite as mature as her European
sisters. Many of the 85 members of the
"newspaper century club” are still week
lies, but most of them, weeklies in 1809
are now dailies. The Baltimore Ameri-’
can, the Philadelphia North American
and the Charleston News and Courier are
the most venerable.
lines stretching out all over the stats,
so that people can talk to each other
whenever they like. New trolley lines
will be run through the country
districts, connecting important towns.
These two elements of modern civilization
will do more than almost anything else
to bring to life communities that have
been considered dead or slumbering for
many years. New highways, new coun
try roads will be built and better and
cheaper facilities will be offered for
transporting the farm products to mar
ket. One of the first things that a small
farmer buys when he can afford it is a
new wagon and better horses. Probably
the wagon makers east of the Mississippi
will do a bigger business in Georgia this
year than they ever did in a similar area
before.
These are a few of the tremendous
economic results that will be brought
about by this period of prosperity. The
traveler through Georgia this winter v/ill
see them on every road. They are far
more impressive than any array of fig
ures or statistics.
Although Georgia is attracting the most
attention, the whole south is more or less
prominent. There is hardly a southern
man on the floor of the New York cotton
exchange who does not believe that he
has been contributing to the prosperity
of whatever section he comes from by
bulling cotton. Os course there is a cer
tain amount of danger that the enthusi
asm for high prices may run away with
itself. At the figures that cotton com
mands today the mills are finding it very
hard to manufacture their products and
to sell them at prices that will leave them
an adequate margin of profit. As a result
they are buying as closely as they can
and are not accumulating any surplus
stock of raw material, hoping for a de
cline of prices. If prices should go down,
however, the farmers of the south will
not be injured, for they have sold most
of their cotton at the high figures and a
comparatively small percentage is being
held for a further advance. Hitherto it
has been the fact that the farmers have I
been compelled by .force of circumstances |
to sell their cotton at low prices in the I
marketing season, and the high prices I
have come later and have enriched only
the speculators.
The majority of the century-old pub
lications are .in the eastern states, of
course, Pennsylvania heading the list
with 19, followed by New York with 15.
Strangely enough, Ohio comes next with
nine, and then Massachusetts with seven.
The St. Louis Republic, 101 years old. is
the only one west of (the Mississippi river.
The first newspaper west of the Alle
ghenies was the "Kentucke Gazette” of
Lexington, founded in 1787, and whlci
still flourishes.
• • •
The growth of the newspaper business
was so great that by 1830 the United
States, with 13.000,000 population had more
newspapers than all Europe, with 190,009,-
000 people. The American record has been
maintained and the United States still
has more newspapers than all Europe,
and until the rise of the newspaper in
Asia, it had more than all the rest of
the world.
• • •
The New York Herald, founded by
James Gordon Bennett in 1835. was the
first of the modern school of newspapers.
In December of that year a great fire
in New York destroyed property worth
830.000,C00. Mr. Bennett wrote a report of
the fire, with “human Interest” embell
ishments. The people were astounded,
and the story was repeated tn the Her
aid the second day in response to popu
lar demand. Before that time newspapers
bad devoted practically all their attention
to politics and political news, and to
news from other cities. Local news was
ignored. If a fire occurred, it was sup
posed that everybody knew about it al
ready, and that it would be silly to print
anything about it. That attitude toward
local news is responsible for the fact
that the first voyage of Robert Fulton’s
Clermont was considered to be worth on
ly seven lines in the New York Evening
Post, and not that until after an adver
tisement of the rates of passage to Al
bany was inserted. Mr. Bennett wrots
all about the great fire, and made the
great discovery that the people who see
a thing are the very people who most
want to read about It. He made anoth
er discovery at the same time, that "hu
man interest” is quite as much a feature
of the news as is “importance.”
• • •
In England the Times became supreme
in the journalistic field in the latter part
of the 18th century. In 1807 the Times
sent a special correspondent to the con
tinent to report the Napoleonic wars. Be
fore that time the newspapers had de
pended (altogether upon official sources for
news. Within a year the Times demon
strated the usefulness of the special cor
respondent by furnishing Important news
to the government days in advance of the
official dispatches. From that day until
this the special correspondent has been
an Increasingly important factor in in
ternational affairs, and the Times has
occupied a position of commanding influ
ence in political journalism. But the Eng
lish idea, as exemplified in the Times,
had to fall before the more catholic
American idea, and the English newspa
pers of the largest circulation do not
fail to realize the Importance of "humas
interest.”
• • •
These beginnings of the newspaper
business were small and insignificant
compared with the journalism of today.
The Invention of the locomotive and the
telegraph, each in turn, aided enormous- .
ly in the development of the press. But
the civil war in America was the most
potent factor in the evolution of the
newspaper of today. During that con
flict the American newspapers began
the use of the telegraph for gathering
news, they Illustrated their dispatches
with drawings and maps, and they learn
ed how to write head-lines and turn out
extras.
• • •
The next great event in the develop
ment of the American press was the
Spanish-American war. It wasn’t much
of war, as we see it now, but it seemed
to be the biggest thing in the world just
then. 'And the newspapers did seeming
ly impossible things every day, which
they have continued to do every day
since. The close of the war dlda’t end
the war journalism at all. For the past
decade there has been little change in
American newspapers except that they
have shared in the wonderful growth
of the nation. t
If Mr. Bennett in 1840, when hig paper
was five years old and a prosperous
sheet, with the facilities he then pos
sessed, had undertaken to publish the
Sunday Herald as it appeared last week,
his presses would be running yet and
the edition would not be finished. Things
progress rapidly in these days—in fact
there has been more progress in the
newspaper business in the last 20
years than there was in the preceding
180 years since the birth of the first dally
newspaper. What wonders will be de
veloped in the next century no man may
safr. It appears that war has a most
potent influence upon Journalism. •If
there shall be a great war in Europe,
what then? What with aeroplanes hav
ing wireless apparatus attached, with di
rigible balloons, with wireless telephones
and with things not now unfolded to the
gaze of man, it is a safe wager that
the newspapers would set a new mark
for themselves and fill every "long-felt
want.”
Starve the Garbage Can
W»«hington Host.
The French have more than $300.000.006 Invest-
M in Japan, and It to only another evidence
cnmulatlvc of the thrift of the French peoole.
But tn Franca the garbage barral holda nothing
but garbage; In our bleaned land two-tblrda of
Its contents to wasted fooda, and it to poaalbiy
i true that thia branch of waate costa the Amori
can people $1,000,000,000 every year, and the
thing Is constantly growing. That family that
insists on making lamb stew of lamb chops In
stead of lamb neck is a candidate for the poor
house, unless its head to a man of wealth
I It to at once foolish and criminal so to throw
away money, and it la playing into the bands
of the meat tmat every time it is practiced.
It i> the only way In the world to fight tne
trnata—to waate nothing. Put juat enough rn
the table and nont to apare. Keep food out
,of the garbage can. Buy nothing not needej
I These are doctrinea that every woman fit to
be a poor man’s wife ought to cfaeriab and
practice, and if ahe be heedless of tbem and a
rich man’s wife ahe will sown turn him to ■
' prx r men.
The American people bare two vice*. One to
they are too eager in pursuit of a dollar, too
prone to regard its possession the chief if not
the sole end of life, and the other vice the prac
tice of a frightful waste that would send to
the poorbouse any other country in the world.
It to computed that bad country roads entail an
annual tax of WOf'.OOO.OOWI on the American peo
ple. That is waste. Fins and floods cost other
hundreds of mllliona—all waste. improvident
and stupid fanning coeta billions—all waste.
But to get back. If we would bring the meat
trust and the other trnata to their sens?*,
star-e tbe i-arbage can—feed it on nothing out
dirt and garbage.
He Had a Preference
A would-be antbor called on Mr. Fields one
day at his office in the old-time Boston pub
lishing house of Tlchnor A- Fields. Evidently
the young man did not like Mr. Fields’a ap
pearance. for tbto was the conversation that
took place; “Is thia Mr. Fields?” "It is,
sir.” "Mr. James T. Fields*’ "I am he.”
"Well. then. I’d like to see Mr. Ticknor!”
WILL ASK “BLESSING” IN
KANSAS PENITENTIARY
LANSING. Kan., Nov. 24. —For tha
first time in the history of the Kansas
state penitentiary a "blessing” will be
asked upon the food at the prisoners
d'Ying tables Thursday morning Thanks
giving day has been chosen by Warden
J. K. Codding as the day on which to
start the custom and twice each day the
blessing will be said.
