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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA„ FRIDAY, JULY 18, 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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It contains news from all over the world, brought
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sentatives.
Chief Justice White and
a Fallacious Cotton Tax
The New York Evening Post seasonably calls at
tention to the interesting fact that the fallacy and
injustice of such a tax as the Senate is now asked
to impose on contracts for future delivery of cotton
were laid hare twenty-one years ago by a Southern
senator, who is now chief justice of the United States
Supreme court. In 1892 a similar scheme to tax fu
tures and options i-i cotton, wheat and other commo-
dites and to do so under the cover of tariff legislation
was vigorously opposed by Senator Edward D. White,
of Louisiana, as his title then was, who condemned
the proposed measure as contrary to the Constitution
and also as a 'menace to a great field of legitimate
business and agricultural interests. And it was ow
ing largely to his cogent analysis of the fraud and
the peril of such a tax that was defeated.
“His Constitutional argument twenty-one
years ago," says the Post, “went to several points.
The tax was di: criminatory. It singled out cer
tain products and omitted -others (an injustice
even more apparent in the tax now proposed.)
Furthermore, it was pointed out by Senator, now
Judge, White that the tax would be upon a form
of contract which the Courts had held to be valid.
It was not a gambling transaction that was to be
penalized. State courts and Federal courts—in
cluding the Supreme court—had held that con
tracts for future delivery were perfectly lawful,
provided that either of the parties had ‘an
5 honest intention to deliver.' But the argument
upon which Mr. White in 1892 laid most stress
was that the proposed tax was a fraud on its face.
It pretended to u revenue measure. In reality
jt was a punitive statute. And what Senator
White declared that the Supreme court would do
to such a bill, if it ever came before it, has great
pertinence at a time when he is the presiding
judge of that court.” -
rus opinion was, in effect, that the Supreme court
would brush such an act aside as “a flagrant and
open violation of the Constitution.” The Senators of
the present time will do well to t:.ke note of the
view held by so i .stinguished a predecessor and to
profit by the reasoning and the facts which he
brought to bear upon an issue in all essentials the
same as that now pending.
The suggested tax of fifty cents a bale on con
tracts for future delivery of cotto has bestirred Wide
spread and well-warranted protest, particularly among
mechants and farmers and commercial bodies in the
South, whose interests are vitally concerned. Such
contracts, as The journal has ireviously pointed
out, are a thoroughly legitimate means for the honest
dealers’s protection against ruinous losses in the con
tinually fluctuating price of cotton. Without the
safeguard afforded by such contracts, it is doubtful
that extensive cotton business could be conducted. A
tax like that proposed as a rider to the pending tariff
bill would be as harmful to the farmer as to the man
ufacturer and merchant, for, it would inevitably lower
the price of cotton. It is unjust, uncalled for; and,
as the New York Evening Post pertinently remarks:
"From the folly of having temporarily approved of
this tax, Democratic senators should retreat as soon
and with what dignity they can.”
Everybody works but father was not spoken
of vacation times.
A Victory for Arbitration
It is a matter of keen satisfaction the country
over that the employees and officials of the eastern
railroads have responded to President Wilson’s time
ly counsel and are now fairly on the way toward a
just and quiet settlement of their differences.
This course of action has not only averted a
strike that would probably have imposed hardship
upon both parties directly concerned and well-nigh
irreparable injury upon the public, it has also ex
emplified more luminously perhaps than ever before
the power and the righteousness of the arbitration
principle.
The White House conference, made possible
through the President’s initiative, brought togeth-
. er the heads of the railroads and of the labor or
ganization. It opened the way for the constructive
influence of sober reasoning and engendered on both
sides a spirit of conciliation.
Especially interesting is the fact that it hastened
the enactment of the Newlands-Clayton bill, provid
ing for the arbitration of wage disputes in a man
ner satisfactory to the roads and their employees
alike. This measure, which had been pending, was
rushed to passage in order to meet this particular
emergency.
Arbitration is the fair and economical basis on
which all s^uch differences should be adjusted. It
_ conserves the interests of those directly involved in
an issue and, what is supremely important, it pro-
'c-cts the rights and security of the public, which
’ erwise is helpless.
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Atlanta. Ga.
I he Popular Demand
For Drainage in Georgia.
The reclamation of swamp and overflow lands in
Georgia, far- from being a subject of purely scientific
interest, is one of intensely practical concern to huh-
dreds of farmers and to the communities in which
they • live. From Whitfield county, for instance,
there has come an insistent appeal for the govern
ment’s aid in making drainage surveys of the country
about Coahulla creek some miles east of Dalton.
Thi stream overflows in such a way as to inundate
or render useless thousands of acres along its banks.
Land that is naturally very fertile is thus being kept
from cultivation and its owners are suffering a loss
which, indirectly at least, is reflected upon the entire
community.
This is but one among many instances in every
part of Georgia showing the demand for an adequate
reclamation policy on the part of the State. Few in
dividuals are able to solve such problems with their
personal resources. Indeed, drainage enterprises are
essentially public in their nature and require public
initiative and support. The federal government has
offered to spend five thousand dollars annually for
a period of five years in making drainage surveys
throughout Georgia, if the State will appropriate a
corresponding amount. This is an opportunity which
the present Legislature should seize, for, it opens
the way to the reclamation and the increased tax
value of a vast area of land which is now yielding
practically no retui^ either to its individual owners
or to the public treasury.
The people, am particularly the farmers, have
awakened to the vital need and value of such drain
age, realizing that it will release thousands of acres
for agricultural -evelopmenc and will also protect
the community’s health against malaria and other
diseases. This truth has taken a firm hold on the
popular mind in north Georgia as well as in south
Georgia; it appeal; to merchants and manufacturers
as well as to farmers. Few acts of the General
Assembly would eUcit approval so widespread as one
that would make possible the carrying out of a State
wide program of swamp and overflowed land reclam
ation.
President Wilson gained twelve pounds on his
vacation, but even so he isn’t a Taft in size.
The woman who marries a man to reform him
has no time to waste improving her complexion.
Many a man who has been selfish all his life has
nothing to show at the final round-up except the ill
will of his neighbors.
A Land of the Unexpected.
The ghost of Elsinore was not more fitful or per
turbed than the inconstant spirit of the Balkan con
test: “’Tis here, ’tis there, ’tis gone,” and anon it
reappears in some unexpected quarter to bestir new
plots in that troublous land and to vex with new
problems all the nations of Europe. From its out
break nearly a year ago, the peninsula war has been
a hurrying series of surprises. Thousands of lives
have been sacrificed and vast areas of fertile country
have been desolate;' yet, today the situation is more
uncertain and perplexing than over.
Few men believed at the beginning of this war
that the little Balkan States, however, stanchly they
might fight together would be able to overthrow Turk
ish rule in Southeastern Europe. The Moslem army,
famed for its vigor and discipline, was expected to
crush its enemy in the first few battles; and, that
failing, it was considered a matter of course that
the larger Powers would never permit the dismember
ment of the Turkish empire and the consequent rise
of a strong Slavic confederation. But the successes
of the Allies were as numerous as they were rapid,
so that within comparatively a few months Turkey
had been brought to humble appeals for peace and
the Powers were preparing to accept a new map and
a new era.
But scarcely had the new boundaries been tenta
tively decided upon than the Allies fell out with one
another. Bulgaria sought to impose terms of her
own upon her joint-laborers Servia and Greece; the
latter resented and then resisted such a program
and soon the peninsula was trembling again with
the clash of battle. The result is that today we find
the Turks militant and ready at a moment’s oppor
tunity to snatch back the lands they had surrendered.
The Balkan alliance seems hopelessly broken. Bulga
ria has fallen from her rapidly won pre-emienee to a
position of pitiful inferiority. None of the Balkan
States is able unaided to retain the fruits of the com
mon victory against the Turk.
The great Powers thus far show a disposition to
let the smaller ountries fight out their differences.
Austria and Germany are eager that such a policy
prevail, for, they are naturally alarmed at the pros
pect of a strong Slavic union on their flank. Indeed,
with the possible exception of Russia, the Powers
seem to be of the opinion that the most satisfactory
condition which can obtain in the Balkans is that
which existed prior to the recent war, when the bal
ance of power lay ,n the hands of Turkey, a govern
ment which because of it very weakness was unlikely
to breed international trouble.
It is scarcely credible, however, that Turkey will
be permitted to re-invest any considerable portion
of the territory she has lost, even should she be phys
ically capable of doing so. While t. e Balkan States
are now relatively weak and are divided, their rights
and interests nevetheless command consideration.
Russia is peculiarly concerned in the fortunes of her
Slav neighbors and present omens indicate that, she
will throw her in-uence to the side of peace. In
such a movement she would doubtless be supported
by England and France.
, Certainly, It is to the interest of the Balkan
States and to the larger cause of ogress and civili
zation that the differences among Bulgaria, Greece
and Servia be composed in order that they may pro
ceed to the great tasks of development and emancipa
tion which lie before them. Turkey has proved her
self unworthy of place or power in the affairs of
Europe. The people and the countries that have
been freed from her withering influence should re
main so.
It’s easy to fool the man who thinks he knows
it all.
Fortunately for the summer girl the hammock
cannot talk.
The vagrant straw hat shows which way the
wind blows.
The young man who is looking for promotion
should consult a promoter.
Aeroplanes will be more of a success when the
aviators are able to control the weather.
Most of us would accept the burden of enough
wealth to draw down a big income tax.
The Man of the World
BY DR. FRANK CRANE.
(Copyright, 1913. by Frank Crane.)
The Man of the World Is the noxious triumph of the
disease called civilization.
Fvolhtion wears him as a little poison flower in its
buttonhole. He is exquisite in
is dress and in his food. Is not
ihe meat more than life, and rai
ment than the body?
He is so completely the crea
ture of fashion that he is creator
of fashion.
He is utterly sophisticated. He
is considered interesting because
nothing any more interests him.
The two things that make life
worth living and the two things
he considers most ridiculous—
wonder and enthusiasm.
He is proud of his ignorance of
till that is useful and of his fa
miliarity with all that is use
less. He knows the flavors and smells of expensive
cigars and the bouquets of wines, but would consider
it a disgrace to know a hickory tree from an elm, and
a calamity to know how to run a locomotive.
To him true and loyal love is a joke, and all virtue
hypocrisy.
Love, which alone is the fountain of youth, is dried
up in him. The bats and lizards of lust' inhabit his
heart.
His heart is a thousand years old.
He is farthest removed from that childishness
which makes sound souls, and his keenest pleasures are
Mephistophelian.
His religion is a witty pessimism.
The most enjoyable things to him are subtle sins.
He attracts women as a serpent lures birds, by the
fascination which anything utterly cruel possesses.
He has a certain tranquility of soul, for he is never
worried by temptation, he always yields.
He is a weasel before whose assurance lions trem
ble.
Anything important he studiously neglects, and is
serious only in trifles.
If he has a wife she detests him; if he has a mis
tress she fears him; if he has children they hate him;
if he has a mother she is ashamed of him.
He moves in the narrowest of provincial worlds,
the/smart set.
He lives in terrible isolation, for where there is no
loyalty there are no friends.
He has no inseparable companion but himself, and
himself he hates.
When he dies he will be no different from when he
is alive; he will b e dirt then as now. The only change
will be that he will cease to wear a polished shirt.
His epitaph shall be the words of Margarete;
“Es steht ihm an der Stirn geschrieben,
Dass er nlcht mag eine Seele lieben.”
(It stands writtten upon his brow
That he could not love a human soul.)
An Acquired Habit of Unfairness
(Albany Herald.)
The fact that Congressman Bell had his nomina
tion of Editor Hardy for the Gainesville postmaster
ship turned down, plus the other fact that Senator
Hoke Smith, for good reasons of his own, declined when
called upon by the congressman to go to his rescue,
does not, when fairly interpreted and taken into con
sideration with some other well known facts necessa
rily impU, as some of the factional organs are assert
ing -With great show of indignation and resentment,
that “no Underwood man need apply" for appointment
to a federal office in Georgia.
it is perfectly natural that Congressman Bell should
feel a little sore over having his nominee for the post
mastership at his home town‘turned down, but it must
be admitted that h. was unfortunate, to say the hast
of it, in his selection of one for either Senator Smith
to indorse or President Wilson to appoint, assuming
that they are both “just human” and have loyal friends
who have some claim on their good office* to serve.
Congressman Bell’s “statement” which ’-e gave out
to the press made tne assertion that some “hidden in
fluence” seemed to be at work in Washington to deny
any patronage to any in Georgia who had not sup
ported President Wilson in the primary, and this as
sertion was made in a way to create the impression
that that “hidden influence” was tucked away some
where in the person of Senator Smith.
What a big man the political enemies of Hoke
Smith make him out to be, and how they do magnify
his power and influence when Jt suits their purposes
to do so!
Certain newspapers and politicians in their power
to belittle and discredit him ever since he has been in
politics now seem to be engaged in an effort to have
it appear that he is all-powerful, exercising an Irre
sistible influence in Washington, and that he is, there
fore, responsible for the defeat of every man in Georgia
who apnies for a federal job and fails to get it.
But some newspapers and politicians in Georgia
seem to have acquired the habit of being unfair to
Hoke Smith, and they just can’t shake it off or live it
down.
Protection That Is Sorely Needed.
OUrtTRY
T1MELV
OME T0PIC3
V'Comocva Brians, uairam
SPLIT-UP SKIRTS.
If our fashionables feel obliged to wear dress skirts
so narrow and skimpy that they are in constant dan
ger of falling or being tripped up, then I can see a rea
son for slitting the skirt to the knees to promote loco
motion. As we are living in an athletic age for young
women, they surely need to be loose and easy when
they are chasing a golf ball or racing over tennis
lawns. But why should this necessity be upon them?
Why not w’ear enough cloth to move about easily or
otherwise wear bloomers?
When I saw the lay figures of women in New York’s
fine stores with anklets of gold set with jewels or bril
liants, I understood there was no intention of hiding
the jewelry. The anklets were worn to be seen, or they
would have been made into armlets, rather than to be
worn on the lower limbs.
c
We may expect with the slit skirt to be favored
with elaborate garter adornments, and then there will
be only a short step to a danseuse costume in full.
I never could see why it was considered stylish to
take all coverings from a fashionable lauy’s shoulders
and arms. The strap across the top of the arm is
no sleeve, but an appendage to hold up the meager
waist arrangements. I see these almost nude busts
even at winter receptions, where the ultra-fashionable
are to be seen. A man with his body uncoveVed would
not be allowed in a ball room at all, and while he may
wear knee pants »n royal assemblages tne chap who
would bare his knees and uncover his shoulders and
arms at an American dance party would have what
might be grossly called “a — of a time” while wa?
thus “displaying his charms.” Do you see the point?
And we are informed that our gayest young wom
en, when they uncover their shoulders and arms while
exhibiting the contour of their thinly veiled legs are
“displaying their charms.” Are we going away from
or are we retrograding into bai baric habits and cus
toms?
* * •
BLIND BEGGARS ON THE STREET.
One of the hottest days of last week, as I crossed
the Whitehall street viaduct, I found a blind elderly
woman with a basket and a few pencils and shoe
strings therein. The woman was squatted on the hard
hot floor of the viaduct trying to keep in the narrow
shadow cast by tad parapet. Just a little further I
came upon an aged man with his little basket and
some trifles. The woman was asleep apparently, but
the man was awake and looking miserably in the tor
rid heat that prevailed.
■When I reached home I found a circular letter that
set me to thinking about what the state owes to its
dependants, thos e who are afflicted with blindness and
are unable to follow any sort of business to make a
livelihood. The circular tells in plainer words than I
am capable of writing the difficulties that pertain
and the conditions that prevail.
Macon Ga., July 4, 1913.
That old blind man on the street corner begging—
np asylum for him. He is no ward of the great state^
of Georgia. In the greatest government the ’world
ever saw only four states provide for the old blind.
English laws are based on the Bible. We read that
only three classes were allowed to eat the shew bread,
they were the priesthood and their families, the lame
and the blind. The purpose of government should be
to protect the weak.
(2) Blind Bartemius called pleadingly unto the
Master and was -ealed. Blind Homer wrote the Epic
poems. Blind Milton dictated the writing of “Para
dise Lost.” When shall we realize Paradise regained?
The incumbent Oklahoma statesman is said to be the
brainiest man, in congress, but God endows but
few With capacities like these, else, we sighted, why
don’t you be Jeffersons, Lincolns, or belong to the
House of Fame?
Who will let the people know? Who will be our
champion? We must find them! Make it popular,
then the politicians are ever ready to love the “dear
people.” We don’t want to beg on te stretts, sell pen
cils or discourse plaintive tunes. Sympathy becomes
monotonous. Many blind will join our ranks—you may
be one.
• 9
HOME-MADE FEY FAFER—WHO KNOWS ABOUT IT?
Dallas, Ga., July 10, 1913.
Dpar Mrs. Felton;
Having seen a recipe in The Journal for making
home-made fly paper and having lost paper it was in
I decided I would write you about It and get you to
have it republished. I put up the paper, but can’t find
it. Yours truly,
MRS. J. A. BROWN.
Route 7, Box 21.
SINCERITY.
Give me the everyday sort of a man—
The feller who laughs when he’s glad.
Give me the open-faced, big-hearted man—
The feller who weeps when he’s sad. ,
Give me the man who says just what he thinks—
The feller who’s word is pure gold,
Give me the man who can always be found—
The feller who’s not bought and sold.
Innocent Moses Primrose who bartered away a
good horse for a bushel of worthless green specta
cles with tortoise shell rims was no more gullible
than many honest folk of the present time who fall
into the wiles of our “Quick-Rich Wallingfords.” In
deed, it has been conservatively reckoned that the
people of Georgia blandly surrender five million dol
lars a year to the promoters of flimsy or fraudulent
investment schemes. It is not to be inferred that
the persons thus deceived are unusually simple or
venturesome, for, in this as in other instances the
Tempter often appears in a guise so angel-like as to
dupe the very elect. The shrewdest business men
are not infrequently the easiest prey to wild-cat de
vices; even J. Pierpont Morgan, seasoned and mas
terful financier though he was, is said to have pur
chased stock in a number of visionary cohcerns.
The public needs protection against such snares,
especially in Georgia, which now has no law to this
effect and which naturally, therefore, has become an
inviting field for all manner of financial adventures.
In justice to honest business interests, if not as a
shield to the rank and file of the unwary, an ade
quate law of this kind should be enacted. Georgia,
like the South at large, is developing by leaps and
bounds. Scores of thoroughly safe and legitimate
enterprises call for promotion. But if irresponsible
or merely bubblin,. affairs are permitted to continue
unchecked, rightful and trustworthy undertakings
will fall under the shadow of suspicion; and further
more properly conducted interests will suffer at the
hands of unscrupulous rivalry.
A measure popularly known as “the Blue Sky
bill” is now before the Legislature, having been fav
orably reported by the House committee to which it
was referred. Its purpose is to prevent such condi
tions as those" we have described. Its enactment
and enforcement will mean a saving of hundreds of
thousands or, perhaps, millions of dollars annually
to the people of this State and the protection of
legitimate interests. This bill has the hearty in
dorsement of business men and commercial bodies
throughout the State. It is in line with the progres
sive action of other Legislatures in various parts of
the Union. Let it be made a law at the present ses
sion of our General Assembly.
\
Give me the man who stands up to the rack-—
The feller whose spirit ne’er bends,
Give me the man who is there with the goods—
The feller who stands by his friends.
He may not be cultured or dandy in dress,
His learnin’ may be purty slim,
But if he has got the red blood in his veins,
You can bank your last dollar on him.
Give me the man who has hit all the bumpn—
The feller who’s traveled with truth;
Who knows what true pain and true anguish <-an jyiean.
And is not discouraged, forsooth. x
He may be a rougnneck and cuss just a bit,
And be some uncouth in his tone;
But after the judgment, I’ve got an idea
You’ll find him quite close to the throne.
—Brooklyn Eagle.
7 he Sense in Cursing .
Two men entered a train at a small station out
west and took seats facing an elderly man. Thfey fell
to telling hunting stories with great animation and
many oaths.
Noticing that the old man was an interested listen
er, one of the men spoke to him and asked whether he,
too, were not a hunter, with a story or two worth
hearing.
The old man thought he could tell one and this is
what he said:
“One day I thought I would go hunting; so I took
my tin pan tinder oox gun and went up into a tin pan
tinder box woods on the side of a tin pan tinder box
mountain, and I waited a tin pan tinder box long time;
and then I saw a tin pan tinder box fine buck coming
toward me, so I put my old tin pan tinder box gun to
my shoulder and fired. And that tin pan tinder box
buck fell right in its tin pan tinder box tracks; and it
was the finest tin pan tinder box buck I ever, killed.”
After a pause he said, “How do you like my story?”
“Oh, the story is, all right, but I don’t see what all
that ‘tin pan tinder box’ has to do with it.”
“Well,” replied the old man, “that is just my way
of swearing.”
“I don’t see much sense in swearing that way,”
said the other, with manifest disgust.
To which the old man responded-: “There Is as
much sense in my way of swearing as there is in yours,
young man.”—Youth’s Companion.
Christian Endeavor Work
By hrederic J Haskin
Nearly 5,000,000 young people will be represented
in the twenty-sixth annnual international convention
which will meet in Los Angeles beginning July 9.
England and all her colonial possessions, as well as
each of the large countries in which English speaking
missionaries are engaged, will be in some way repre
sented at tnis mammoth convention wh ch will demon
strate an unparalleled growth in Christian developmnt
among the young people of/the English speaking world.
* * *
The first Christian Endeavor society was organized
in the Congregational church of Portland, Me., in 1881,
by Rev. F. E. Clark, D. D., who had the honor of being
elected the president of the World’s Union of Christian
Endeavor at the triennial conference h Ad in Washing
ton in 1S96. Twenty-five years ago, in April, 1888, Dr.
.Clark, spurred by the wonderful enthusiasm with which
the Christian Endeavor movement had spread over his
own country, set forth to England in “‘the first serious
effort to plant Christian Endeavor in a foreign land.” His
reception there and tne tnousands of Christian Endeavor
societies which sprang up in England as the result of his
visit were beyond his highest expectations. Despite
the fact that the Christian Endeavor organizations are
supposedly confined to evangelical churches and that
the English government in the British empire has
been second only in growth to that .of the United
States. . t has been cariied to South Africa, to India
and to Australia, as well as to Canada, where its
growth came naturally from proximity to Maine where
the first society was qrganized.
• • •
The Christian Endeavor movement seems almost
limitless in scope. The distinctive feature is its work
among the young people, leading them to consecrate
their -lives to active work for God. A weekly prayer
meeting whi !h each one pledges him or herself to at
tend unless unavoidably detained, and the consecration
meetings at which special efforts have been made to
ascertain if the members have been faithful to their
pledge, tend to keep up a live interest in the spiritual
work of the organization.
...
There is m lack of practical work also. The Chris
tian Endeavor society usually is responsible for the
social life of the church. It has committees to look
after the interests of strangers, not only those com
ing to the church but also those who come to the
community and are not in attendance upon any church.
In many ton ns its strongest influence has grow out
of its efforts to aid strangers. The aid may take any
practical fo:m Sometimes a committee will procure
employment for any one in need. A practical aid
committee of Christian Endeavor society in a town
where a grtat industrial strike was in progress was
able to do much to alleviate the suffering of th®
strikers’ families by securing temporary work of
many kinds that did not interfere with any of the pro
visions made by the union which had ordered th®
strike.
...
In large cities much social settlement work is done
under the auspices of the Christian Endeavor socie
ties. In many instances the entire relief work of the
church is dispensed through a committee of the Chris
tian Endeavor society, the young people in this way
being given practical experience in aiding those in
need. In many towns a civic committee of an Endeav
or society has grown into a village improvement club
which has taken up clean streets, public library, pure
water, a curfew law and numberless other civic move
ments which have tended toward the practical better
ment of i he community. All of these activities If
properly conducted are simply demonstrations of the
applied Christianity which is the basis of the Chris
tian Endeavor movement.
...
The growtli of the Christian Endeavor work has
been largely aided by the amount of literature which
was issued even in the early days of the movement.
Live periodicals devoted to the extension of Christian
Endeavor activities supplied also with interesting arti
cles upon v&rous subjects apt to interest young peo
ple, together with many well written books on many
subjects, are being constantly issued for the benefit
of workers in Christian societies. No other religious
or humanitarian movement ever has been aided from
its earliest beginning by so large and varied a supply
of literature often supplied directly for the movement
from the pens of the ablest writers.
...
Music always has been a strong feature in ‘ Chris
tian Endeavor work. In most societies a song serv
ice precedes each Sunday evening meeting. The pub
lication of the first Christian Endeavor hymn book
nearly twenty-five years ago mide special provision
for Christian Endeavor music which must have spirit,
rhythm and melody to be really attractive to young
people. Many of the songs and tunes written for that
first hymn book were contributed gratis. It was felt
that the selec tion of the music had much to do with
the attractiveness of the Christian Endeavor meet
ings, as ,t introduced a livelier spirit than was to be
found in most of the regular hymns of the church to
which the society belonged. The selection of music
pleasing to young people, at the same time dignified
and in keeping with the highest religious feeling has
not been ar. easy task. The degree of excellence which
has been attained by Christian Endeavor music will
be demonstrated throughout the great convention by
the choruses, anthems, and other special selections, in
addition to the splendid congregational singing which
will be heard at each session. This music has been
supplied not only through American societies but
throughout the world. At one of the meetings of the
Los Angeles convention a song service will be given
by the Chinese, the Japanese and the Hawaiian dele
gations.
Social purity work will rceive a strong forward im
petus from the convention as in most of the societies
special committees for this work lately have sprung
into active service. There will be separate confer
ences upon this subject for women and girls and for
men and boys In which specialists will give advice as
to the best methods of increasing interest in the pre
vention of the social evil. The consideration of what
the Christian Endeavor movement has done and can
do for the spread of the peace propaganda will occupy
one meeting and there will be a strong Influence to
ward the lessening of race prejudice evidenced
throughout the convention. Several prominent colored
bishops and clergymen are included in the list 02
speakers.
• • •
One reason for the success of the Christian En
deavor movement from Its beginning was the organ
ized efforts to make'the weekly meetings of interest
to the members. With this in v 4 ew a systematic pro
gram has b«-en arranged by means of which even the
inexperienced leader could not fail to secure th co-op
eration of the attendants. A topic or subject is pre
pared for each meeting and suggestive outlines of the
leader’s talks are provided. Recitations are some
times given to lend variety. Each meeting has some
distinctive ftature carefully prepared and its details
worked out by a committee of the United society
which publishes it each week in order that all of the
societies may have the same subject each week.
Usually a monthly or quarterly topic card is provided
by each society.
Quips and Quiddi ies
_j v
One of the us»iers approached a man who appeared
to be annoying those about him.
“Don’c you like the show?”
“Yes, Indeed!’*
“Then, why do you persist In hissing the perform
ers?”
“Why, m-man alive, I w-wasn’t h-hissing! I w-was
s-s-simply s-s-s-saying to S-s-s-sammie that the
s-s-s-singing is s-s-s-superb.”—Magazine of Fun,