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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA.. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES -R. GRAY,
President and Editor.
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President Wilson’s Way.
•7 am very glad, indeed, to have this oppor
tunity to address the tioo Houses directly and
verify for myself the impression that the Presi
dent of the United State-s is a person, not a mere
department of the Government, hailing Congress
from an isolated island of jealous power, sending
messages, not speaking naturally and ivith his
own voice, that he is a human being, trying to
co-operate with other human beings in a common
service.”
This brief preface to Mr. Wilson’s first commun
ication to the nev Congress interprets more clearly
than any amount of comment over could his earnest
and thoroughly sensible purpose in speaking in per
son, rather than by lifeless proxy, to the national
lawmakers. He was impelled to depart from a cen
tury-old custom not by any fancy tor breaking prece
dents but by a serious desire to be of direct and
vital use in the great task now confronting the party
in control of t_,c Government. Heretofore presi
dential messages have been read in a purely perfunc
tory manner to empty seats. Mr. Wilson’s message
was a real leader’s human appeal to his fellow ser
vants of the people. The fact that he has broken
one precedent is not of such importance as that he
has established a new and a constructive one. The
country welcomes this frank and independent stroke
from its chief executive.
The message itself is a remarkably succinct and
forceful statement of Democracy’s’duty in the matter
of tariff revision.
Protect Georgia’s Oyster Beds.
The plea by Game Commissioner Mercer for ade
quate laws to protect and develop the State’s oyBter
beds should receive the Legislature’s earnest consid
eration. Extending from the St. Mary’s to the Sa
vannah river, a distance of some t*o hundred miles,
these reefs are naturally among the richest of their
kind on the entire Atlantic coast. But subjected, as
they now are, to continual and unscrupulous raids
their destruction is a matter of a only a few years,
, unless remedial measures are taken.
The Commissioner suggests that, for one thing,
it be made a misdemeanor to use a dredge in gather-
i ing oysters. This machine, as he says, rips through
■ the banks and destroys the very possibility of future
development. He also favors a law that would pro-
; hibit the taking of oysters for canning purposes until
the reefs can be replenished and he would provide a
' license and small fee system for oystermen and their
. boats in order that the State might have some prac
tical means of supervision.
When it is reflected that Rhode Island, whose
s oyster beds are far less fertile and abundant than
Georgia’s, realizes nearly three million dollars an
nually from its oyster output, it bocmes evident
' that this State is neglecting one of its truly valuable
: resources. Indeed, Commissioner Mercer estimates
; that with a few timely laws, thoroughly enforced,
i Georgia could derive not less than five million dollars
a year from its oyster beds.
The game law which was enacted a few seasons
ago, and which has already produced gratifying re
sults should be supplmented with legislation that will
conserve this important hut rapidly declining field
‘ of our natural treasure. The piratical inroads now
being made on the oyster beds should be checked as
vigorously as the pot hunter has been; and by so
doing the Legislature will render far-reaching
service.
Will Huerta Stand?
The spirit of insurgency seems almost as strong
in Mexico today as it was before the exile of the
elder Diaz or the fall of Francisco Madero. The gov
ernors of six or more States are in open defiance of
the Huerta regime while rebel bands are driving their
old trade of pillage and terrorism in the southern
country. Such news as leaks to the outer world is
a satiric commentary on the sanguine reports issued
from the capital.
An informal conference of the so-called “Consti
tutionalist” representatives was held yesterday at El
Paso, Texas, preliminary, it is said, to a general
council that will soon be called at some point within
. Mexico itself. The onstitutionalists contend that
I Huerta should withdraw as provisional president in
favor of Lascurian who was minister of foreign rela
tions in the cabinet of the late President Madero.
Such a procedure, they hold, would place the govern
ment on a legal basis and would command the re
spect and suport of all factions. Huerta, they de
scribe, as being simply a military usurper.
Whether there-.is any merit in this claim will be
of small consequence, if the insurgents can muster a
sufficient force of fighters. Huerta has succeeded in
putting down several minor outbreaks, but it is
doubtful that he would he able to cope with a move
ment that would be reasonably well organized and
well financed. The number of troops at his com
mand does not exceed at the utmost fourteen thou
sand men; and it is doubtful that all these would
prove loyal in a crucial moment.
The New Tariff Bill.
The new tariff bill is essentially a proposition to
carry out in good faith the pledges of the Demo
cratic party and the wishes of the American people
as expressed in the last Presidential and Congres
sional elections. It is in every sense a plan of re
vision downward, yet it is duly mindful of the busi
ness interests that are largely interwoven with the
existing tariff system. Its purpose is not revolution
hut orderly readjustment. Its framers have wisely
recognized that a system which has been long
decades in developing cannot be suddenly torn asun
der; and, so, they have approached their task with
prudent regard for all the affairs concerned.
They are none the less insistent, however, that the
tariff shall be genuinely reformed, that it shall be
revised “steadily and unhesitatingly downward," that
the Democratic party shall live squarely up to its
promise and give the people substantial relief from
economic wrongs they so long have suffered. . Such a
program holds no threat or menace to any sound and
legitimate business. Interests that have heretofore
depended upon Government patronage must look to
their own worthiness and efficiency, if they would
thrive, but, in the Ion;; run, even they will be stronger
and more truly prosperous as a result; for, the wel
fare of any industry is conserved far better through
the natural laws of competition and trade than
through hot-house protection from the federal gov
ernment.
The guiding purpose in the new bill is to relieve
the necessaries of life from a tariff tax, in so far as
is possible, and instead, to center the tax on luxuries.
This is the kind of legislation needed and demanded
by the rank and file of the people, the kind that
will prove just and wholesome. Items of food and
clothing that enter into the daily life of all house
holds should be freed from every unnecessary ele
ment of cost. If they are to bear any tariff whatso
ever, it should be only the minimum that is essen
tial to the raising of revenue for the Government's
needs; certainly they should not be taxed to swell
the profits of special interests.
If such a thing were possible, it would be better
to dispense with every tariff wall. But so long as
the expenses of the national government must he
borne largely by duties collected at the ports, abso
lutely free trade is not to be thought of for this
country. Tariff o£ some kind, there must be; for
revenue must he raised; hut this revenue, as the
pending bill provides, should be raised by placing
the tax most heavily on luxuries and most lightly on
the necessities of life.
A thoroughgoing reduction in the present tariff
schedules gives rise to the problem of making
up the resultant decrease in federal revenues. To
meet this condition, an income tax is proposed,
whereby an annual tax of one per cent will he levied
on incomes above four thousand dollars, the tax per
centage to increase gradually in proportion to the
amount of the income. This levy, it is estimated,
will bring a revenue of something like one hundred
million dollars a year and sufficiently offset the tariff
reductions.
Here again the controlling purpose of the new
bill is to equalize tax burdens. The taxing of rela
tively large incomes is analogous to the taxing of lux
uries rather than necessities under the tariff. An
article which only the wealthy few can afford should
rightly bear more tariff than one which is in con
stant demand by all the people; and likewise the man
who has gained a firm foothold in life should bear
a larger portion of his Government’s expenses than
he who is •still in the, struggle for uaily bread.
Any measure that proposes a thoroughgoing re
vision of the tariff will naturally give rise to differ
ences of opinion. The present controversy over the
wool and the Sugar schedules is only what was ex
pected. The new bill purposes to admit a number of
the necessities of life duty free, among them being
meats, flour, leather, lumber and agricultural imple
ments, as well as wool. In the case of sugar, it is
planned to cut the duty twenty-five per cent at once
with the provision that at the end of three years
there shall be no duty at all.
However vigorous may he the protests i particular
groups of manufacturers, the Democratic party can
not afford to give precedence to any special interest
where the rights and welfare of the whole people are
concerned. It was recreance to this all important
principle that wrecked the Republican party. If
Democracy is true to itself and to the country it has
been called to serve, it must press steadily forward
to a fulfillment of its tariff pledge.
The great issue of this hour is that which has
arisen at all times and under all governments when
the rights of the many have clashed with the priv
ileges of the ,few. The government of the United
States has been entrusted to Democratic control in
order that the welfare of a hundred million people
might no longer be sacrificed to the undue advantage
of special groups. That is the high principle embo
died in the new tariff bill, the principle of taxing
luxuries, not necessities, of taxing wealth, not pov
erty, of making the fariff a means of raising legiti
mate revenue, not an instrument of patronage and
favoritism for special interests. This bill has had
the sincere and very sober consideration not only of
leaders in Congress but also of the President himself.
It is earnestly to be hoped that its underlying pur
poses will be carried into effect.
Ambassador’s Salaries:
So much has been said of late concerning the rela
tively low salaries which the United States pays even
the highest ofllcials in the diplomatic service that
such a hill as that introduced in the House yesterday
by Representative Henry, of Texas, was to be ex
pected.
This measure would provide appropriations for
the lease of residences for our ambassadors and min
isters .and would authorize the Secretary of State to
look into the advisability of eventually purchasing
such quarters. Such a plan, it is contended, would
relieve our representatives abroad of one of the
great items of their expense and would make their
present salaries more nearly commensurate with, the
needs of their post.
Whether this particular bill presents the best
solution of the problem is a matter for discussion.
Certain it is, however, that something should be done
to remedy the conditions that now exist.
President Wilson recently expressed regret over
the fact that the country has to ask such heavy sac
rifices of those who are invited to serve it abroad—
“a service which every year becomes more exacting
and more important. The sacrifice of time, of means
and of opportunity at home is very serious for any
but men of large means and leisure and the diplo
matic service is unnecessarily hampered.”
This is a matter that demands the serious con
sideration of Congress. The salaries paid our repre
sentatives to foreign nations should at least be suf
ficient to maintain the dignity and usefulness of
these posts.
Popular Election of
United States Senators.
United States senators will henceforth be chosen
directly by the people instead of being named, as
heretofore, by State legislatures. This important
change in the country’s electoral system became vir
tually effective yesterday when Connecticut ratified
a Constitutional amendment to that effect, thus mak
ing up the thirty-six favorable votes, or three-fourths
majority required.
It is an interesting and significant circumstance
that this amendment has been adopted within less
than a year from the time it was actually submitted
to the various States for legislative consideration.
In June, 1911, the Senate agreed to the principle at
issue but it was not until May, 1912, that the verbal
details of the resolution were finally determined so
that it might be distributed among the States. For
more than sixty years there have been proposals that
the voters of each State be permitted to choose their
representatives in th! national Senate directly at the
polls and within recent decades this demand has
become nation-wide and insistent. Naturally, there
fore, when popular sentiment was given a free pain
to exert itself upon the Legislatures through local
pressure, the proposed change was speedily wrought
into effect.
With the underlying purpose of this measure,
the people of the South have always warmly sym
pathized. Indeed, most of the Southern States long
ago put this principle into practice through the ma
chinery of the Democratic primary. In Georgia, for
instance, the Legislature has in effect simply certi
fied the choice of senators expressed by the voters
themselves in a senatorial primary. We opposed in
the present amendment an extraneous feature which
gave the' federal government power to’ supervise reg
ulations as to the time and manner of holding sen
atorial elections. That provision had no rightful
place in the amendment itself; for, it presented a
possible, if not a probable, menace to the sovereign
rights of the States. That, however, is now a mooted
question. The important fact is that the people have
at last been granted their right to choose directly
their representatives in the Senate as well as in the
lower House of Congress; and thus the federal Senate
becomes a truly democratic body.
The Antiquity of Man
Once ever so often in the hurly-burly, the living
grow tired of the pressure of imminent things. The
demand for up-to-dateness palls. Neither the latest
war news nor the last peace movement serves to thrill
or calm. The new party slogan falls on unheedful
ears. The Balkan crisis, the yellow peril floods, earth
quakes, sextets and serums, suffragettes and sugar du
ties, alike essay to fill the void in vain. It is then,
by the dictates of a mysterious Providence, that long-
whiskered and bald-pated scientists are led to emerge
from the recesses of the Smithsonian or the Peabody
museum or other likely tombs of erudition with the
on e thing needful—a dissertation on the antiquity of
man.
What a delightful subject it is, and how we do
revel in ages and aeons, as the learned familiar leads
us back and back, through the dust of buried cities to
wattled huts, to the Garden of Eden—a very modern
settlement, my dear—to cave dwellings, then to pe
riods—pliocene, miocene, oligocene, eocene, until we
stand square in the primeval ooze and squirt it up be
tween our toes! And then we work up again—with
the help of the kindly professor, of course—and have a
nice talk about the gradual development of art and
culture, of science and civilization and laws, until—
presto! we. reach once more the present world, with all
its bill—tariff, Buffalo, dollar and monthly.
Assuredly It was a very long time ago when the
trouble first began. Some fifty thousand million years,
more or less. Let it go at that. Think of the time it
must have taken to learn how to put yeast in bread to
make it rise, to extract the juice-that-gladdens from
the heart of the humble, corn, to invent gunpowder and
face powder! It would be appalling, if it were not so
fascinating.
But the professor has rolled up his manuscript,
and now beams adieu through his glasses. Tes, pro
fessor, we’ll meet again. Thanks, awfully, for the en
tertainment. The beginning was far away, very far
away. So far, in fact, as the civil service applicant
said when asked the distance of the moon from the
earth, that it need not interfere with the proper per
formance of present duty. It’s time to get back on
the job.—Washington Post.
Editorials In Brief
If hens could pray, we supose they would start
off with “Now I lay me.”—Columbus State.
No day is long enough to waste any of it nursing
a grouch.
We can’t help wondering how those cubist futur
ist artists would deal with a pair of bowlegs.—
Philadelphia Inquirer.
THE PASSENGER PIGEON
By Frederic J. Haskin
The recent sickness of the passenger pigeon in the
Cincinnati zoological gardens—the last survivor of h
mighty host—has served to call the attention of nat-
uralistd again to one of the
most remarkable of all the sto.
ries of nature’s library—the ex
tinction of one of the most re
markable birds that ever inhab
ited the earth. Millions of peo
ple are still living whose eyes
have witnessed the flight of
the myriad hosts of passenger
pigeons, and yet only one of all
the vast numbers of those pig
eons is known to survive—and
that one occupies a place of
honor in the Cincinnati zoo.
When he dies it is probable
that his body will be presented
to the nation, to be preserved
in alcohol at the national mu-*
seum.
* *• *
In these days it is hard for
the younger people to believe
the story of the passenger pigeon, so incredible were
their numbers, so remarkable were their flights, aud
so strange were their nestings. And the story of tlie
brutality that marked the work of the pot hungers
who followed them as a tiger stalks his prey, relent
lessly pursuing them, using the telegraph to keep in
touch with their flights and their nestings, is a story
of revolting cruelty and butchery.
* * *
The world is indebted to John James Audubon, tlie
great naturalist, for what is perhaps the best account
of the passenger pigeon ever written. And his truth
fulness and scientific accuracy make it a story to be
accepted at its face value. He relates that in the
autumn of 1913 he left his house at Henderson, on the
banks of the Ohio, to go to Louisville. In passing
over the Barrens a few miles from Hardensburgh he
observed pigeons flying from the northeast to the
southwest, in greater numbers than he had ever seen
before. After they had been passing for about an
hour he dismounted, seated himself on an eminence,
and made a dot with a pencil for every flock that
passed. In a short time he found that he was putting
down dots at the rate of 163 in twenty-one minutes.
He resumed his journey and still the pigeons came;
the light of day was darkened as if by a solar eclipse.
Like a torrent,» and with the roar of distant thundr,
they gathered in a solid mass, darting forward with
the wings of the wind in undulating and’angular lines,
descending and sweeping close to the earth, then
mounting perpendicularly so as to resemble a vast col
umn, and when high in the air once more, wheeling and
twisting within their continued lines, which then re
sembled the coils of a gigantic serpent.
• * *
For fifty-five miles Audubon traveled on to Louis
ville, with the serried columns of pigeons still float
ing over his head, and for three days the flight con
tinued. Each flock did exactly as the one ahead had
done; if the one ahead darted down when passing over
a brook, or dodging a hawk, the flock behind did the
same. Audubon attempted to estimate the number of
pigeons in that great flight. He assumed that the
column averaged a mile in width, which was far be
low the average in point of fact. Then he assumea
that the birds flew at the rate of sixty miles an hour,
also a conservative assumption. Upon this basis tL©
pigeons passing in three hours would form a streak
180 square miles in area; and, counting two pigeons
to the square yard, there would be nearly a billion
and a quarter pigeons in such a flight. How many
there must have been in the three days’ flight he did
not undertake to say. Audubon’s observations wore
that each pigeon eats fully half a pint of food a day.
The pigeons in a three-hour flight would thus need
nearly 9,000,000 bushels of food a day.
• • *
Audubon made several pilgrimages to a famous
roosting place on the banks of the Green river in Ken
tucky. He rode through the forest for upward of
forty miles, and by crossing and recrossing it reacned
the conclusion that the roost was of an average breadth
of three miles. His first view of it was about two
weeks after the pigeons had established it as a roost
ing place. He arrived about two hours before sun
set. Few pigeons were to be seen, but there were
great numbers of people, who, with horses and wag
ons, children and dogs, guns and ammunition, had
established camps on the borders of the forest. Two
farmers had driven more than 300 hogs over 100 miles
to fatten them on pigeons that were to be slaughtered.
Here and there were people engaged in plucking and
salting the catch of th© day before. Many trees two
feet in diameter had been broken eff by the sheer
weight of the multitudes of roosting birds. Every
where great branches of forest monarchs were broken
off, and th e aspect of the thousands of acres of wood
land was such as one might expect to be the result
of a fierce tornado.
• • •
Some of the people who were camping there had
great pots of sulphur. Others had poles, and others
guns. It was after sundown that the cry went up
that the returning hordes were approaching. The
noise they made reminded Audubon of a hard gale at
sea passing through the rigging of a close-reefed ves
sel. As they passed over his head he felt a current
of air that astonished him. Thousands of birds were
knocked down by the pole men, but tens of thousands
and even millions continued to pour In. They alighted
everywhere, one above another, until masses as large
as hogsheads were formed on the branches all around.
VOTING BY MAIL
EY DB. FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.)
Somebody has said that habit is the fly-wheel of so
ciety. There is a certain jnertia in all bodies politic
which keeps them going on in the same direction. It
not only takes arguments, facts, proofs and induce
ments to change the laws of a people; it takes time.
It is difficult for a million people or so to stop and
turn around, even if they all want to.
I know a man who invented a process of mixing
steel wool with rubber. He thought the whole world
would adopt it because it was a good thing to prevent
skidding and slipping. He was surprised to find the
whole world organized against it, for the simple rea
son that business had been so far carried on without it.
The power of what has been not only keeps the
work going, however, but it lays a paralyzing hand
upon progress. Only by constant effort can we coun
teract it.
Charles Francis Adams has written an article in
which he proposes that we should vote by mail. The
very statement of th! proposition commends itself to
every open mind.
His plan would swfcep away most of the election
abuses. It would make voting a rational and deliber
ate affair instead of being, as it now is, confused and
hurrjed.
M*e have already the machinery for it in the post-
offices scattered everywhere throughout the nation.
There are three essentials to the right kind of vot
ing. It should be intelligent, compulsory, and strictly
private. Voting at a booth on election day is none of
these three. Voting through the postoffice, after care
fully studying over the matter at home, would be all
qf these three: .
Here is an opportunity for some statesman, who
would like to do something to distinguish himself be
side marking time, to take up a real live issue.
There is one weakness in Mr. Adams’ plan which
may prove fatal; It is in ,the interest of all the peo
ple, and not one class.
Most measures are carried by the energetic efforts
of a class. Woman suffrage, the tariff, prohibition,
and the minimum wage easily form a compact army of
adherents. What’s everybody’s business, however,
seems to be nobody’s business. We find it difficult to
better our public schools, clean our streets, or build
our street car lines unless we can get some man or
company to take hold of the proposal and make some
money out of It.
Voting by mail would also he a blow to party poli
tics, and we can probably depend upon all bosses and
parties to “view with alarm” the scheme. It would be
a distinct step toward organized democracy, toward
making the Individual American citizen conscious of
ills responsibility. As such it is devoutly to be wished,
though our prayer be mixed with much fearsome un
belief. The proposition is entirely too sensible.
WATCH YOUR STEP!
“You Can’t Buy Every Man,” Saya the Conductor.
“I got a buddy that’s a detective. He’s in one of
th’ hotels. They call him th’ ’house man,’ but he’s a
sure enough detective. He’s got a star an’ If he’d ar
rest you, it’d be th’ same as If a cop would. He’s on
his job night times. Him an’ me’s got th’ same room.
Only he sleeps in it after I’ve gone to work. That
fellow's smarter’n a steel trap. Lizzie don't like him.
She got peeved at him one night when we was all eatin’
together an’ Danny said (Danny Lynch, that’s his
name) every man had his price. He said he knowed
it, ’cause he’d bought lots of ’em. I didn’t get mad at
him, like Lizzie did. He didn’t mean it th’ way she
took it. You see, he’s just like a fellow workin' all
th’ time in th’ stock yards. He couldn’t smell a bou
quet if you soaked it In hair oil. You know a good
bird dog runs around with his hose to th’ ground ail
th’ time, lookin’ for bird tracks. That’s Danny. If
a bird dog’d run into a bunch o' singln’ canaries, an’
flush ’em, an’ you wouldn’t shoot their yellow heads
off, that dog’d quit you for a coward. Lizzie says toi
him, ‘Dan, you got a evil mind. I’d hate to think
you had your price, an' I know Jerry ain’t got his.
Have you, Jerry?’ An’ I says, ‘No, no, I ain’t. Not
since I knowed you. You got me bought an’ paid for.
I’d swim th’ river for you.’ Danny laughed so hard he
choked on a bean in his soup, an’ he says, 'There, I
told you every man had his price.’ An’ Lizzie says
right out loud so's everybody heard It, ’That ain’t
what price means. Price means that somebody can
get you if they offer more. An’ nobody can get Jerry
away from me.’ Lizzie's right. She ain’t got no price.
She’s got a copper rivet cinch.
“Stand back, an’ let ’em off!
“Don't stand on th’ platform!
“Watch your step!”
Here and there perches gave way under the weight
with a crash, kltling hundreds of birds as they fell.
Everything was uproar and confusion. The people
could not hear themselves talking to one another, and
even the reports of shot guns and blunderbusses could
not be heard above the great noise. Audubon sent a
man out from the forest to see how far the noise
could be heard, and it was plainly audible three miles
distant. By midnight the stream of arrivals began to
fall off, but before the break of day the advance
guard began to move out again. While no one dared
go In the woods while the pige'ons were In the trees,
they were able to kill and cripple enough of them to
keep all the people bu3ily employed next day, with
enough left over to give the 300 hogs, the wolves, the
foxes, the lynxes, the cougars, bears, raccoops, pos.
sums, pole cats, eagles and hawks a more than satis,
factory breakfast, apd at the\ same time to save
enough back for the yultures that came to supplant
the animals and the birds of prey.
THE COUNTRY HOME
CONDUCTED BY MRS. M. H. FELTON
A STREAK OF SUPERSTITION.
HERE are two things that the most
of people have in spite cf them
selves, namely, they love to go
fast when they are on a railroad train,
and are plagued also with some sly
streak of superstition. I confess I
don’t like to begin an important job of
work on Friday, but I don’t know any
harm I ever got by Fridays. But the
majority of people call Friday an un
lucky day. If you press for a reason,
maybe somebody will tell you that Fri
day is hangman’s day. It is a case of
giving a dog a bad name and then to
abusing him for it. Why Fridays have
been made hangman’s days as a rule, I
do not understand, unless the majority
of the judges of the county have a su
perstitious streak in them, and continue
to give Friday a “black eye’’ because
other oldtime judges sentenced crimi
nals to the gallows on Friday.
Some folks would pass sleepless time,
if they chanced to sit at table and
counted thirteen persons around the cir
cle. It is astonishing how often thir
teen has been called an .unlucky num
ber.
The most of us have been thirteen
years old and lived to say it, after we
passed twelve and went along to four
teen.
Some people get nervous if a looking
glass or mirror chances to fall and be
broken. But we should remember that
glass is a fragile substance, and unless
the mirror is fastened securely to the
wall of a piece of furniture it is more
than apt to be broken from extensive
handling.
My black mammy was strong in the
belief that somebody was coming if
slie dropped her discloth, and I find I
am very apt when in a hurry to drop
my discloth, and yet I connect the drop
with a certain amount of visitors on
any given day.
If the palm of your left
hand itches you are comforted
that you will get a present,
but I have watched the itching palm
rather closely and I cannot say that it
made anybody generous in my particular
case. Also if the bottom of your right
foot itches you are likely to go on a long
journey. If your ear burns somebody is
surely talking about you, according to
the rule of superstition.
It is bad luck to move a cat, and ac
cordingly there are a lot of wailing lone
some cats in the land who deserve some
attention because of their fidelity.
Let a rabbit cross the road and bad
luck is waiting for you, also if you spill
salt, you are en traine for disaster.
Witchcraft was punished with cruel
death in Puritan New England, and yet
nobody could place the witch, except* by
ignorant superstition.
You must have money in your pocket
when you nrst glimpse the new moon, or
you will be unlucky. A candid old darky
woman whispered once to me: “Carry
your bunch of keys in your pocket, Miss
Becky, and shake it at the new moon,
and it won’t know but it’s money.’’ And
she thought she was doing me a prime
favor. It is amazing how general is the
superstition about the dark of the moon.
I know lots of people who consult the
“light” and the “dark” of the moon as
to corn planting and potato planting,
and they believe In it as much as they
do in the Bible and the catechism.
The weather can be all that is desired
for hog killing, but unless the “moon is
right” you couldn’t make a majority of
farmers kill their meat until the alma
nac said the moon was in the right quar
ter of its course, never understanding
that the moon is always shining but the
earth casts a shade on the disk, accord
ing to its place in the heavens. And it
actually does no good to argue about
these superstitions.
WHEN PNEUMONIA IS SURELY
FATAL.
When a person has a well-developed
case of pneumonia, recovery will almost
certainly depend on the staying power
of the patient’s system. To make it
plainer, if the patient is a sober person
and has not abused his constitution by
ugly habits, by which I mean licentious
as well as drinking and dope habits, the
chances are good for recovery, with
proper care and* medical attention. Pneu
monia can affect not only the lungs and
the mucous membrane of the mouth,
nose and throat, but it will invade the
intestinal tract and cause rapid destruc
tion of the entire vital forces of the
body. When this dread disease enters
and attacks the citadel of life, it means
there must be resistance based on clean
habits and well-protected blood circula
tion or the chances are that death will
occur inevitably.
I was thinking tonight of the long
ago—when I was-in Washington City—
and was shocked by the death of one of
the most gifted men in public life—a
Georgian also—and a gentleman of cul
ture and wealth and high standing.
Nobody understood he was a secret
drinker, because he seemed to be in the
very prime of manhood’s strength and
vitality. He was a guest at a fine din
ner, wit& the finest intellects of the
period, and indulged in wine, until he
neglected, perhaps forgot, to put on his
overcoat, after midnight, when return
ing to his lodging place.
But for the fact that a belated physi
cian saw him on the street car, in even
ing dress, at that late hour, nobody
would have understood the cause of his
sudden illness. A dreadful cold set up
and by the time it was noised abroad
that he was ill, he was in a dying condi
tion. The doctor said, “his system was
fatally weakened by the habitual use
of intoxicants, and by drinking secret
ly.” Furthermore, the doctor said,
“when pneumonia attacks one who has
kept his blood inflamed by intoxicants,
he has not one chance in a hundred for
recovery.” Any personal habit which
weakens the physical* system on the in
side, such as follows whisky or dope
drugs, or imoral practices, risks death
whenever there is a sudden cold and in
flamed lungs.
And the demise comes through heart
failure in the majority of cases. The
heart cannot do its usual work and the
blood machine breaks down when the
pump gives out. If I was not already
an advocate for abstinance from liquor,
the danger that goes with pneumonia
would make me one; and if I was a
young man I would try to bulwark my
constitution by living a clean life foi*
safety’s sake, if for no other reason.
Very old, very weak or very young
persons may die with pneumonia be
cause they cannot rid themselves of
bronchial secretions, but the strong man
or woman, who is attacked with the
dreadful disease has a living chance.
It is when the citadel of life has been
weakened by drugs or liquor or immoral
habits, that the awful disease I am
writing about, gets its inning, and from
what I have seen in the course of a long
life, I feel sure there is nothing more
fatal to a drunkard than a spell of
pneumonia, because his citadel of life
is in a toppling condition, before the
enemy gets ready to begin its attack.
And why should an immortal being de
base its forces, when common regard
for safety indicates abstinance on all
the lines mentioned?
Man made in the image of the Al
mighty is given a living sense of the
importance of preserving the body,
which incases the vital spark, and
keeps the human soul in every day ac
tion.
To give way to John Barley Corn is
simply worse than the brute creation
attends to its own safety.
Do not forget that intoxicants, dope
drugs, and bestial habits, make men
even a little lower than the brutes:
And open the door to death!