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fHE ATLANTA 6EMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA.. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA.. 6 NORTH FORsiTH BT.
Entered at the Atlanta Postofflce ae Mall Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R.. GRAY,
and Editor.
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Atlanta. Ga.
A/New Balkan War.
Tlie late Balkan war was a crusade for civiliza
tion; the new war is a wrangle for spoils. The Al
lies having won an epochal victory by their united
stand against the Turk are now hazarding the fruits
of their achievement by a selfish brawl among them
selves. Bulgaria seeks a lion’s share of the conquer
ed lands. Servia and Greece, each bent upon ex
tending its particular sphere of control, fling a sharp
challenge to their big neighbor. The larger Powers
look on, apparently unable to pacify the ■ disputants
and, in the case of Austria, not very desirous of do
ing so. Thus it seems'that a second war with none
of the justice or real glory of the first but with far
more peril to the peace of Europe is about to be
fought.
The Greeks and the Serbs reel that they have a
righteous caus: The former contend for the posses
sion of Salonica, a city of high commercial' and
strategic value and of Hellenic origin. Servia is
chiefly concerned in securing an outlet to the Ad
riatic, without which, it is believed, she will dwin
dle into insignificance. It was hoped that these and
all other issues coulu be settled through the good
offices of the Powers hut for many weeks past the
Balkan States, particularly Bulgaria, have shown a
testy temper and now, unless the Powers exert them
selves to the utmost and as a unit, fighting of serious
consequence will come.
A prolonged war in the Balkans at the present
time would not only be gravely disturbing to Europe
but also especially unfortunate for the countries im
mediately concerned. The territory that has been
wrested from Turkish control is naturally rich but
~ its development requires peace. Only through quiet,
constructive years can the ills of the old Ottoman
regime be cured. It will he pitiable, indeed, if the
energy and resources which should be turned to the
remaking and the emancipation of these countries is
spent in wastful war.
The Balkan states themselves can ill afford an
other conflict. Their treasuries are exhausted and
their populations reduced by the Turkish campaigns.
Tnis circumstance, if turned to due account by the
larger Powers, could be made a potent influence for
peace. It was reported some time ago that France
would lend no money for military preparations in the
Balkans. If that purpose is adhered to and is fol
lowed generally, any considerable war will be well-
nigh impossible.
England, France and Russia are apparently very
much in earnest i. their desire for peace. But the
Georgia’s Welfare Demands
A Compulsory School i-aw.
In their recent annual convention held at Newnan,
the teachers of Coweta county adopted resolutions in
which they urge, among other needed measures, the
enactment of a law requiring all normal children be
tween the ages of six and thirteen to be placed in
school for at least three consecutive scholastic months
each year. .
This petition is well worthy the Legislature’s
favorable response, for, it voices the conviction
of an especially able and experienced body
t. men and women and further ore it rep
resents the mature judgment of thinking citizens
throughout the State. Indeed, the time has come
when our General Assembly can no longer afford to
lag behind public sentiment and public thought on
this vitally important issue. It is Georgia’s mis
fortune that she is today one of the only six States
in all the Union that has not adopted a compulsory
school attendance law. Let it not be said to her dis
grace that she shall suffer this backward condition to
continue another year!
We must face the disturbing fact that there are
but five other States with a greater percentage of
Illiteracy than Georgia. This magnificent common
wealth of whose material resources and industrial
progress we are so justly proud, whose golden sun
and fertile acres are beckoning homeseekers from
every corner of America, this commonweaitn whose
people are known for their liberal minds and hospi
table hearts stands forty-third in the record of il
literacy, when she should stand in che forerank of
i jpular education.
This fact is due partly and largely but by no
means entirely to our large negro populr.aon. The
United States census reports show that between
1900 and 1910 negro illiterates in Georgia fell from
fifty-two per cent to thirty-six and five-tenths per
cent, a decrease of more than fifteen per cent;
while during the same decade white illiterates fell
from eleven and nine-tenths per cent to seven and
eight-tenths, a reduction of only four and one-tenth
per cent.
These figures speak for themselves and they
speak with tongues, of iron. They warn us that in
behalf of our practical Interests, if not In behalf of
j our ideals we cannot afford to neglect longer the
solemn duty of guaranteeing every Georgia boy and
girl the right to a common school education.
The annual report of our State department of
education after noting the fact that there are sev
eral counties where white illiteracy is large, de
clares in this connection:
“Investigation seems to prove that these il
literates are the children of illiterates and that
illiterarcy always tends to propagate itself. The
wages of an illiterate person are practically al
ways small, in comparison with those of one
who has received educational training. .
We lose thousands of dollars every year through
the listless, feetuiejjectual efforts oj iiwsc who
are in this condition. The State is dependent
upon the training of her people for wealth,
progress, civilization and it is iucr duty to see
that these children are trained for citizenship,
if only as a matter of self-protection
There has bien in seasons gone by at least, a
tendency even am„ng some of the advocates of a
compulsory school attendance law to discuss this
issue in rather a gingerly manner, as thougli they
were apologizing to prejudiced opposition. Let us
away with this half-handed meticulous policy. Let
us deal with the needs and the rights of Georgia
children frankly and whole-heartedly, as they de
serve, taking a bold, firm stand 'against the sham 3
Public Judgment Supports
The Game Law. |
It is evident that any attempt to repeal or to J
weaken Georgia’s game law will encounter intense
opposition among thoughtful citizens throughout the
State. Especially significant of public sentiment in
this regard are the recent utterances of such papers
as the Albany Herald and the Dawson News. The
former declares editorially:
"We are quite sure that toe have the best game
law toe ever had; the only one, in fact, that ever
amounted to anything or afforded any real pro
tection to our birds and fish. It has been efficient
under the direction of Commissioner Mercer who
has entered into the' work, which he was selected
to supervise, ivith keen enthusiasm.”
In like vein, thd News remarks:
"The game law, which has already been of vast
benefit under the vigorous administration of Com-
N-
missioner Mercer, should be safeguarded where-
ever possible.”
The truth Is Georgians are more alert than ever
before to the importance of conserving this particular
field of their natural resources. All true sportsmen
realize the necessity of a game law that is well de
signed and well enforced; while fanners recognize
the fact that upon the preservation of bird life the
safety of their crops and orchards from destructive
insects very largely depends. Considered from an ag
ricultural standpoint, the present game law is worth
millions of dollars and, if supplemented at certain
points, it will be worth still more.
Of this, we may be sure, that no one who is abreast
present day thought will for a moment entertain any
suggestion to impair the law’s usefulness or to take
a backward step in this vital sphere of conservation.
On the contrary, public judgment is squarely behind
the statute and squarely behind Commissioner Mercer
in his faithful and efficient efforts to enforce it.
FANTASTIC FAITH
By DR. FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913, by Frank Crane.)
motives of Austria are open to Suspicion. It was Aus- our
tria that led the Powers in the movement for an au
tonomous Albania and in coercing li-tle Montenegro
into renouncing hard-won Scutari. Austria has long
coveted a foothold or a clear path in the peninsula
and seemingly she reasons that a weakening or de
structive war among the Balkans themselves would
open the way for her ambition; hence it is suspected
that she is in no wise loath that the fighting should
proceed.
It is still possible, however, and certainly it is to
be hoped, that a more generous policy will prevail
among the large Bowers and that through their com
bined influence they will force the present issues to
arbitration.
State now suffers from years of duty
shirked.
Whoever fancli.. that compulsory school attend
ance would prove unpopular with the rank and file
of Georgians grievously underestimates the con
science and intelligence of our citizenship. Such a
law, on the contrary, will prove one of the most
popular as well as most useful, ever enacted and the
legislators who place It upon our statute books will
earn everlasting enconiums and gratitude.
A Matter of-Social Justice.
The need of a State institution for the guardian
ship and education of wayward or incorrigible girls
is so manifest that the bill to that end recently in
troduced by Messrs. Mills, of Butts, and Jones, of
Coweta, should pass at the present session of the
Legislature without difficulty or delay. Leading mem
bers of the House and Senate have expressed them
selves as earnestly in favor of this measure and
thoughtful citizens in every part of Georgia have
given it their cordial indorsement. It carries an ap
peal to the good sense as well as the conscience and
human-heartedness of every member of the General
Assembly.
Some years ago the State established at Milledge-
ville a reformatory for boys and a kindred Institu
tion, known as the Industrial Farm, is maintained by
Fulton county at Hapeville. The value of ths work
is beyond reckoning. Scores and hundreds of boys
who were on the downward path toward lives of
habitual crime have been reclaimed and turned face-
forward in the way of useful citizenship. It is a la
mentable fact, however, that while we have given the
wayward boy a chance, we have thus far
left the wayward girl without shelter or
guidance. An Ollie Taylor is taken from
the streets and placed under wholesome disci
pline, is strengthened in body and mind and character
and made self-supporting, self-respecting; but a girl in
similar circumstances is left to drift as she will.
There Is no corrective or educational institution to
which the courts 1 commit her; and so she passes
on frofn a moral twilight to the valley of utter dark
ness.
This condition should not be suffered to continue.
Is the life of a girl less precious than the life of a
boy?
Is the State’s interest in preventing criminals
among women Jess vital than in preventing criminals
among men?
Not simply as a matter of pity or of worthy senti
ment but chiefly as a matter of justice, justice to the
community as well as to the individual, the State
should establish an institution where girls who are
not hopelessly, and often not inherently, bad may be
given that measure of restraint and instruction which
will save them from the evils of impulse or environ
ment and make their lives worth while to themselves
and their generation.
When Mme. Annie Besant was according brief au
diences to the unbelieving in a pretty little hotel
placed at her service by one of the elect of the
Parisian "world,” Emile de Saint-
Auban penetrated into her sanc
tuary and asked her if she be
lieved that faith was failing
among men.
“There are no unbelievers,” re
plied the prophetess. "The un
believers of today believe a lot
of things.”
A very shrewd truth! Also
that saying of Joseph de Maistre:
“We are approaching the great
est of religious epochs.”
The variety of bizarre “be
liefs” is inconceivable. Cities are
full of them. All around, our fe
vered money-making plays, the
most amazing spiritual freakishness. We have as
many soothsayers, crystal-gazers, necromancers, phil-
ter-concocters, hoodoo artists, clairvoyants, fortune
tellers and spook dealers in general in Boston or Chi
cago as they had in Tyre or Troy.
Humanity continues to believe as fiercely, unrea-
soningly, and pugnaciously now as in former times,
though an era of tolerance has cut our fangs.
There is no city without its variegated cults, move
ments and new religions. Sometimes they are pursued
in cheap boarding houses, sometimes in hired theaters,
sometimes they build expensive temples. And the
newer and crazier the faith the more militant it is.
Huysmans state that they are still celebrating
the Iniquities of the "black mass” In certain houses in
Versailles.
There is hardly a superannuated god of Olympus
or of Walhalla that cannot find some worshippers, he
adds, in Paris.
They recently had a congress of spiritists at Ge
neva, where all the sharpshooters of metaphysics gath
ered to compare their strange "facts," and incidentally
to dine at tables that, let us hope, were not tipped by
uneasy ghosts.
I know a perfectly rational man, to all appearances,
who confidently believes that the world is coming to
an end in 1914. He is disposing of his property and
going to move to the mountains so as to be high and
dry when the wave hits us.
It sometimes seems as if the modern “tired busi
ness” or “society woman” will swallow any sort of
outlandish "faith,” provided it is not' orthodox.
It all means the irrepressible hunger of the hu
man spirit. If it cannot find bread it will eat shucks
and boot tops. Utter materialism is impossible. The
human soul will not believe in mud.
Brahmanism and Buddhism have many followers
in America The east still fascinates.
Last summer at Stonehenge, in England, where are
the Druid remains of stone temples, there was a meet
ing of English sun worshippers, and girls danced in the
dew and saluted Jhe rising star of day.
There never was greater opportunity for an apos-
tel of wholesome, intelligent human faith than now.
The common people would hear him a3s gladly as they
heard the Nazarene, though in time doubtless they
would make of him, as they made of Jesus, a strange,
heathen fetich; not to be heeded in simplicity, but to'
be worshipped with elaborate rites on Sunday and
disobeyed with a whole heart the rest of the week.
THE INCOME TAX
XIX.—THE CORPORATION TaX.
Bx FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
American Universites
Rich in Romance
American collegiate history is full of romance and of
thrillingly interesting occurrences of which more
should be made, declares a writer in the Yale Review.
The founding of Dartmouth college in the wilderness
by Eleazar Wheelock for the purpose of educating In
dian youth; the association of Benjamin Franklin with
the plan fob the University of Pennsylvania, of Rufus
Putnam and of Manasseh Cutler with that for Ohio
university, of Thomas Jefferson with the creation of
the University of Virginia, and of the two great men
memorialized in the name of Washington and Lee uni
versity; the impressive commemorative exercises at
Harvard and Yale at the civil war’s close, the former
identified with the participation of Edward Everett,
James Russell Lowell, and Phillips Brooks, the latter
with that of William M. Evarts and of Horace Bush-
nell; the invasion of New Haven by the British under
General Tryon when good President Naphatali Dag
gett, musket in hand, showed his ardent patriotism;
the setting-up of the first printing press on this conti
nent at Harvard college, and Washington’s assuming
command of the American troops under the shadow
of her buildings; the temporary holding of congress in
old Nassau hall; the beginning of the University of
Georgia with Abraham .Baldwin, one of the framers of
our constitution—these are facts taken almost at ran
dom indicating the close association of some of our
long established universities with the most pregnant
events in American history. They have the associa
tions necessary to make them factors in the main
tenance of historical continuity for the whole country.
—Christian Science Monitor.
/
:
A Hay Show.
The Rural Letter Carriers.
If there was ever a convention entitled fo a par
ticularly cordial welcome in the State’s capital, it is
that of the Georgia Rural Letter Carriers’ Association
which is now assembled in Atlanta for its tenth an
nual meeting. No single agency has meant more to
the country’s development than the free delivery of
mails in rural districts. It is a constant, far-reach
ing influence for the enrichment of farm life. It
inks the wayside mountain home to the centers of
national thought and progress and is a steady guide
o education ana good citizenship.
Like all institutions, however, the rural free de
livery depends for its character and vitality upon
the rank and file of the men who are per-
orming its duties from day to day. They constitute
ts human and, therefore, its essential element. To
be extent that they realize the importance of their
vork and measure up to the standards of their
service, to that extent the rural free delivery of mails
becomes a blessing to each community.
Hence the significance of the Association now con-
ened in Atlanta, an association organized to pro
mote the highest interests of the work in which its
members are engaged. To such counsels as this, the
efficiency which the service has attained is very
largely due; -indeed, their influence has spread far
beyond the immediate sphere of mail delivery. The
progress of the good roads cause iq Georgia owes
much to th,e discussions and plans of such conven
tions, backed up by the efforts, collective and indi
vidual, of the Association.
The rural letter carriers play a distinctive part
in the advancement of Georgia as of all other States.
We trust that their present meeting will be unus
ually profitable to them and to their important field
of work.
r armers in the territory between Atlanta and Ma
rietta have conceived the interesting and praisewor
thy plan of holding a hay show. At a recent meet
ing they subscribed a fund sufficient to meet the inci
dental expenses and also to offer attractive premiums
for the best products displayed. The show will be
staged at Smyrna early next autumn and will
doubtless bring many exhibitors and visitors from all
the surrounding counties.
As a means of arousing and educating common
interest In this important sphere of Georgia agricul
ture, no better enterprise could be undertaken. Upon
a larger home production of food supplies, the prog
ress of our farms very largely depends. The people
of this State are spending millions of dollars an
nually in Importing corn, cattle, nay and other such
products from distant sections at high prices. In
deed, It has been estimated that there is a deficit of
thirty-seven million dollars every year between the
value of our cotton crop and the cost of our im
ported foodstuffs.
If the State is to enjoy its due measure of pros
perity, this condition of affairs must be altered. As
one means to that end, the State corn show which is
conducted under the auspices of the Atlanta Cham
ber of Commerce is exceedingly vaulable. Hay shows
like that to he held at Smyrna will prove corres
pondingly useful; for, it is commonly agreed among
students of agriculture that if Georgia is successfully
to engage in the raising of cattle she must first pro
duce the forage that is necessary to their sustenance.
The soil of this State is particularly well adapted
to the growth of nutritious grasses Crops of this
kind can be raised here with less labor and expense
than in many other States where the cattle industry
has become famously profitable. The farmers of this
section who have determined to raise more hay and
better hay are setting a fine example which, it is to
be hoped, will be followed throughout the State.
The Triumph of An Idea.
The moral force of a quickened and educated pub
lic sentiment is strikingly witnessed by the short cas
ualty list frojm the recent Fourth of July celebration.
In summers gone by Independence Day has left a
trail of suffering and death throughout the Union but
this year injuries due to dangerous fireworks have
been comparatively inconsiderable.
Dispatches from various parts of the country ac
count for some forty to fifty persons killed in divers
accidents: twenty-eight by drowning, five by automo
biles, five in a train wreck and two in aeronautic
sports. For the most part, however, these were fatali
ties not peculiar to “the Fourth” and, what is es
pecially noteworthy, they more than doubly outnum
ber tlie gunpowder accidents of the day.
The movement for a sane Fourth required years
to get fairly under way but its appeal is now nation
wide and its results abundantly gratifying.
A Wonderful Flight
Editorials In Brief
“It is the most difficult thing in the world to
keep your temper in an argument when the mercury
stands at ninety-eight,” says a Middle West philoso
pher. Not at all. The most difficult thing in the
world is to catch a flea while wearing boxing gloves.
—Louisville Courier Journal.
The general reader, on hearing that the Poet
Laureateship has been offered by Premier Asquith to
Robert Bridges, will probably ask who he is. Kip
ling, William Watson, Stephen Phillips he will know
in one form and another, but his acquaintance with
Dr. Bridge’s rather academic muse will be slight.
Still, If the Poet Laureateship has effected nothing
else, It has helped more than one poet in official
guise to address a larger audience than he could
otherwise have done.—New York World.
President Wilson is cruising in the Mayflower
somewhere on Cheasapeake Bay; and Washington
does not know his whereabouts.
A bully good way to find him, however, would be
for the politicians to attempt to “put one over” dur
ing his absence.—Kansas City Star.
(New York Evening Post.)
The wonderful feature of M. Brindejonc’s successful
flight from Paris to St. Petersburg and back is not the
distance, the 3,100 miles covered falling a thousand
miles short of the distance traversed by Rodgers in
this country in 1911, when he flew from Sheepshead
Bay to Pasadena. But while the American accomplish
ed his undertaking by a long series of short flights,
the Frenchman has attained his goal by a short series
of long and speedy flights. Rodgers’s longest flight in
one day was 231 miles. The Frenchman’s shortest
flight In one day was 219 miles. The American was in
the air on thirty days, scattered over seven weeks.
Brindejonc flew on just nine days, scattered over one
calendar month plus two days. And the Frenchman's
speed! On the flrst day of his trip, he flew from Paris
to Warsaw, 876 miles, in eight hours, averagaing well
over a hundred miles an hour. At another time, he
travelled a considerable distance at the rate of 140
miles an hour. Of course, it is possible for our pride
to reflect that the Frenchman succeeded only by flying
a return journey, and that he was compelled to travel
over the territories of several nations, while in our
broad domain Rodgers went in only one general direc
tion, and was never out of the jurisdiction of the Stars
and Stripes. But for a decadent people, the French
must be admitted to act rather strangely now and then.
I
Ancient Trees
The corporation tax l&w enacted in connection with
the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill under circumstances that
constitute a remarkable episode in American fiscal leg
islation, has proved an efficient
revenue raising instrument, and
whatever the defects of the oth
er parts of the Payne-Aldrich
law, no one seems to criticise
the operation of the corporation
tax clause. It has raised an
average of about $27,000,000 a
year in revenue. Furthermore,
it lias compelled corporations
to Keep accurate records of
their business and to give the
icderal government a look-in
upon their affairs that has gen
erally been regarded as saluta
ry. Knowing that their sworn
statements to the interna reve-*
nue bureau might be used
against them in other than tax
proceedings it has been fol-
j lowed by a general tendency
upon the corporations to keep
theii houses in order. Ther© are a little less than
300,000 corporations making returns showing their an
nual net incomes. They represent a total capitaliza
tion of about $60,000,000,000, and a total bonded and
other indebtedness of approximately $32,000,000,000.
Their net income approximates $3,250,000,000 a year.
A look at the records of the tax in the internal reve
nue bureau discloses some interesting facts concern
ing different lines of business. For Instance, while
the major portion of the adverse criticism of corpora- ,
tions has been directed agains\ the railroads and other
public service corporations, the records reveal the fact
that they lake smaller net earnings thap any other
class of corporations. On the other har.d, until re
cently few people have hod much to say against fi
nancial institutions and insurance companies and yet
the corporation tax records disclose the fact that they
mak© a greater profit than an” other class of Insti
tutions. Of course, the fact that railways and the
like are quasi-public partly accounts for this. These
returns sh6w that the net earnings of financial insti
tutions and insurance companies amount to 15.84 per
cent upon their capital stock, while those of mercantile
corporations amount to 10.13 upon their capital stock.
The percentage of industrial corporations average 4.80
per cent, and that of public service corporations 4.17
per cent. The four states of New York, Pennsylvania,
Illinois and Ohio pay more than half of the tax. New
York itself pays nearly a fourth of it.
• • •
As intimated above, the legislative history of the
corporation tax law is a remarkable one. The meas
ure was not discussed or even thought of in the pres
idential campaign that preceded its enactment, and
although the constitution vests in the house of repre
sentatives the right of originating all revenue legisla
tion, it did not originate there, was never before it for
consideration, discussion of vote, except as it came up
in a conference report It was not mentioned in the
inaugural address of Mr. Taft, was not introduced by
any member of congress, and had many other peculiar
and unusual experiences. As a matter of fact, when
it seemed that something had to be done to keep con
gress from passing an income tax law, th© attorney
general, George W. Wickersham, drafted the law and
had it placed in the hands of congress.
• • •
On the floor of the senate Mr. Aldrich admitted that
he was goinj to vote for the corporation tar law as a
means of defeating the income tax. Senator Flint pro
nounced it a makeshift to serve until the income tax
amendment could be passed and an income tax law
of undoubted constitutionality enacted. Senator Root
declared himself for it because he believed it was a
wise measure and against the income tax law because
he believed It would be an unwise one. j
• • •
»
llfteen cases were submitted to test the constitu
tionality of the law, and perhaps the first one taken up
by the court afforded the best Illustration of the In
justice it might work. It was the case of Flint against 1
Stone, Tracy & Co. Some years previous to this suit
there was a big firm by the name of Tuxbury & Stone.
It was dissolved and two separate businesses estab
lished. which becam.ee active competitors. One busi
ness was a corporation and the other a partnership.
Under the law the one business was compelled to pay
the tax and the other was not. The one business was
required to open its books and the other was not.
The supreme court, however, In spite of this inequal
ity of two similar businesses conducted In a dissimilar
way, 'upheld the constitutionality of the tax. Tho
greater privileges gnd Immunities of the corporation
as compared with the partnership neutralize th% appar
ent discrimination.
This was r.ot the first time that it had upheld the
right of the federal government to tax corporations
It had done so In the income tax suits in 1895, and
again under a law enacted In 1898 aimed at the sugar
trust and Standard Oil. This law provided a tax of
1-4 of 1 per cent upon all gross receipts of corpora
tions engaged In the oil or sugar refining businesses,
where these receptis amounted to more than $250,000
a year. The constitutionality of this tax was called
Into question upon the ground that It was a discrim
inatory tax. and In contravention of the decision of
1895. But the court held otherwise.
The Internal revenue authorities have nothing but
good to say for th e corporations’ attitude toward the
operation of the law. They say that the number of
cases of willful attempts at evasion are almost negli
gible. Sometimes they se e returns which indicate that
a corporation has charged up money spent for better
ments to the account of expenses, but these are much
j more frequently due to a misapprehension of the law
I than to any intention to „vade the tax. Sometimes
} close corporations make undue allowances for sala
ries, but a ruling of the treasury department has put
a check to that. And where there are errors they are
not always against the United States by any means
Frequently a corporation finds that it has paid too
much tax, that its books show a greater net profit than
really was made, For instance, a corporation dealing
in securities made its returns on its profits from the
sale of bonds. The bookkeeper entered upon his books
the cost of the bonds in one account and in another
account the interest his corporation advanced on them.
When the securities were sold he entered the sales
price of the bonds plus the lnterst in his account of
the sales. In making his returns to the Internal reve
nue bureau he deducted the price paid for the bond*
from the price at which they were sold, including the
interest, and thus found the gross profit. This failed
entirely to take off the interest paid out, and conse
quently, they showed a net income far in excess of the
realities. The corporation overpaid the government
more than $4,000 as a result.
(From the London Chronicle.)
None of the famous British oaks, long-lived though
they are, comes anywhere near holding the record as
the oldest tree in tire world. The Soma sypress, in
Lombardy, is known to have existed forty years before
the birth of Christ, and Ceylon boasts a sacrea tree
which is said to have sprung from a branch of one
under which Buddha reclined in the Sixth Century B.
C. According to Dean Stanley, too, there are still eight
of the original olives standing in Gethsemane. Stray
ing into the realm of legend, one can find a tree sprung
from Cain’s staff in Palestine.
Once more the Georgia peace is advertising us to
the nation.
President Wilson continued to disappoint his en-
j emies by not making a mistake.
Secretary Daniels’ advice, is good. When over
heated, think of the growing cotton crop.
That mysterious novelty, a breeze, is in our
: midst once more.
Love's Captivity
Ah! since you came and took your place within
The garden of my soul, new flow’rs have grown
In wild luxuriance there; and these have blown
Tlielr perfume all about. Your smile has been
Dear one, like olden wine, and life to me
Instead, with freedom sown.
Is hedged about with Love's captivity.
Though I be slave I love my serfdom well.
The stronger chains you forge about my will
Are welcome, for they hold me close and still
Near to the holy place where you must dwell.
Take all my dreams of other years than thi*
And these upon the restless waters straw:
I want but this: my servitude for you.
Behold my lips are passioned for your kiss.
I have known freedom, but how dull now seem
Those years of liberty, before you came.
I even knew the petted touch of fame.
But these dissolve, like some forgotten dream
Before the glory which your love has brought,
And these strong chains your little hands hav«
wrought. —H. K. HARMAN.