Newspaper Page Text
EDITTORIAU PAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoo* Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St , Atlanta, Ga.
Entered as second-class matter at postoflice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. 1879.
The W ills of Three Rich
Men—Harriman,
Sage, Astor
And the Lesson They Teach as to Marriage and Wealth.
The whole world feels admiration for John Jacob Astor.
He died a brave man. and under the heavy handicap of inherit
ed wealth he lived the life of a good citizen, volunteering his services
in time of war, always ready to share in any public-spirited move
ment.. .
It is. therefore, with the kindest feeling that the world dis
cusses the will of John Jacob Astor, and the lesson that it teaches*
concerning lives that are idle and husbands and wives that live
apart, contrasted with the lives of a husband and wife, working
hand in hand, living together, and winning success by helping each
other.
Recently in this country three very rich men have died.
Russell Sage died. He began with nothing except courage and
a belief in the old-fashioned idea of marriage as a permanent insti
tution.
He and his wife worked side by side for nearly half a century.
He LEFT EVER Y DOLLAR HE HAD TO HIS WIFE.
His will said in substance to the world that he had accumulated
the millions and tens of millions year after year—that was HIS part
of the work. .
And now he gave the money to his faithful, life-long companion
to use in accordance with her unselfish and wise nature.
Most nobly Mrs. Sage has devoted her life and her fortune to
her husband’s trust.
Next came the death of E H. Harriman, a giant in nation build
ing, one whom this country will remember as a builder of roads aud
an opener of new lands, long after his detractors shall have been
forgotten.
E. H. Harriman was a poor young man when he married. His
wife, on the contrary, was well-to-do. It did not seem to the world
a very brilliant match for her when she married the penniless.son of
a poor clergyman.
That was a marriage in which the husband and the wife lived
and worked together. Genius in the brain of Harriman built thou
sands of miles of railroads, simplified management, practiced wise
economies, increased profits—and when Harriman died at an age
when his real work should only have begun, he left giany scores of
millions.
AND HE LEFT EVERY DOLLAR TO THE WIFE WHO
HAD LIVED WITH HIM AND WORKED WITH HIM
His will was the shortest great will on record.
It told the world that in death, as in life, his one thought was
for his wife, the mother of his children, the friend of his whole life.
And Mrs. Harriman, intelligently and wisely, for the good of
the public in endless directions, is spending the great fortune that
her husband left her.
There you have the lives and the wills of two American citizens.
Now comes the will of John Jacob Astor.
The young man was born with a load that few can carry suc
cessfully—tremendous wealth.
Hr- was inevitably the object of the pursuit of scheming moth
ers and of cold-hearted social parasites.
He married twice. ,
From his first wife he was* divorced.
HIS WILL LEAVES HER NOT ONE DOLLAR.
He married again, a voting and attractive girl. HIS WILL
LEAVES NOT ONE DOLLAR TO HER.
Before each marriage, of course, he made suitable provision in
accordance with his ideas for the woman he was about to marry.
Every dollar that he owned goes to his children. Not a cent to
either wife.
There is a text for those that discuss the question. “Is Mar
riage a Failure?” and for those that wonder whether the marriage
institution is to endure.
There is a lesson also for those that are interested in the effect
of inherited wealth upon the average human being.
■Not one marriage in one hundred can stand the blighting effect
of wealth unlimited and self-indulgence unlimited from the mar
riage day. and not one human being in a hundred can endure the
load of wealth inherited.
Praiseworthy and unusual is the man who in spite of wealth,
and the absence of all necessity driving him to work, still works
and does his share.
And honorable the man born rich, flattered and encouraged in
egotism, who retains his capacity for affectionate devotion and his
fitness for marriage and its deep responsibilities.
The world need never worry about the institution of marriage
or think that it will end
The only problem is. HOW SOON WILL HUMAN BEINGS
-BECOME WORTHY OF THAT INSTITUTION?
You see the best men. the ablest and the greatest, living faith
ful married lives, and proving at the end absolute devotion to the
wife left behind.
As human beings improve, marriage will improve, becoming
sacred, universal and permanent.
MY FRIEND
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner
UT’HEN first I looked upon the face of Pain
I shrank, repelled, as one shrinks from a foe
M ho stands with dagger poised, as for a blow.
I was in search of Pleasure and of Gain;
I turned aside to let him pass in vain;
He looked straight in my eyes and would not go
“Shake hands, he said. "<>ur paths are one. and so
We must be comrades <>u tin* way, 't is plain.”
I felt the firm clasp of his hand <>n mine;
' ' Through all my veins it s* nt a strengthening glow
I straightway linked my arm in his and lo!
He led me forth to joys almost divine;
With God's great truths enriched me in the end,
TU And now I hold him as my dearest friend.
The Atlanta Georgian
THE LATE HOMER DAVENPORT AND ■
SOME FAMOUS MEN HE HAS SKETCHED
■•if' zaSiF n _ ~
'flu ip \ AtWra
F ' T -111 Uw
W* Ik'
■ >Y ** F
b\ v\\ J. ’' 4. ,
00-rcW®! d®L MwJr
I1
NEW YORK. May 6.—-Hundreds ot the most
famous Americans were among those who joined
in tribute to the genius of Homer Calvin Daven
port, the cartoonist, who died Thursday. Some of
them Avert” at one time and another the victims of
the vitriol in which Davenport dipped his pen, but
as with Mark Hanna most of the men cartooned by
him became his friends.
Davenport’s work for the Hearst papers in the
1896 campaign gave him international fame. His
cartoons of Hanna, upon whom he put the' suit of
clothes with the dollar marks, were copied far and
Avide.
Davenport and Hanna never met until after
that bitter campaign was over. They Avere intro*-
duced in the Republican national headquarters a
few days after the election of McKinley. Cornelius
N. Bliss, Vice President-elect. Hobart and Murat
Halstead were present. The successful chairman of
the national Republican committee held out his
hand and said;
“Mr. Davenport, I’m glad to meet you. I ad
mire your execution, but damn your conception.”
This AA-as? the beginning of a friendship betAveen
the pair that ended only on Mr. Hanna's death.
Davenport did a great Avork. There is no laurel
Avreath Avoven or editorial fame and usefulness
which the great cartoonist does not share. Under
the strong fingers and the virile touch of this mas
ter artist history is made and altered and great
reforms are fought and Avon.
It takes a large soul to grasp the meaning of the
Letters From Georgian Readers
THE SWEEPING EVIL.
To the Editor of The Georgian.
Atlanta, Ga.:
Dear Sir—-A few days since I ob
served in one of your editorials a
reference to the custom prevalent
in the business district of sweep
ing out stores and sidewalks be
tween the hours of 7 and 8 a. tn.,
and was very much pleased to note
that this evil had drawn attention.
It hds always been the source of
considerable speculation to me.
since I first commenced to notice
the matter, that the city authori
ties should lay so much stress on
screening and other sanitarx meas
ures. and entirely overlook probab
le the greatest danger of all- the
s-e. eping of the Sidewalks and stir
ring up dried sputum, at the very
hour when the indoor workers
should have the benefit of fresh
air. Great stress is laid on the
value of fresh air. and rightfully
so. but I sometimes walk from the
residence section to the edge cf
MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912.
master movements of the age—and Homer Daven
port had it.
It takes a master touch to trace in lines of
clearness and of power the incarnated virtues and
abuses of the age—and Homer Davenport had that
touch—satire, scorn, praise, endorsement, advocacy
and stern denunciation in a fetv virile lines without
words that rang where editorials were not heard.
It AA-as a simple, loyal, lofty soul Avhich animat
ed the brave dust, qoaa- laid to rest —a comrade in
shadoAs* and sunshine, a lover of life, of animals
and of men—a child of the desert and of the plains
—a lone man in simplicity, and a cosmopolite in
breathing pictures that epitomized and inspired the
stirring times.
Many a machine politician, holding government
and destiny in his hands, has writhed under the
fearful laceration of the DaA-enport'cartoons. Many
a great trust, throned in gigantic poAver, has trem
bled at that magnified and monstrous figure Avhich
incarnated the power and the tyranny of pluto
cratic plunder, and many a great cause has taken
heart and hope Avhen the softening lines of the
artist pencil made matchless appeal to the better
sentiment of all human life.
The figures of the mighty surx'ive. Politicians
and magnates, chastened and defiant, go on their
way. The straining arms of the helpful or the
hurtful hold their grip upon society.
But the virile hands of the great editor-car
toonist —than Avhom the Avorld has knoAvn no great
er—are powerless and still forever —their mission
done, their fingers folded in eternal rest.
the business district, and then take
a clos>d c,lr to traverse the few
blocks to the office, in order to
avoid the sweeping. It seems
criminal that shop girls and clerks,
who work long hours and need all
their powers of resistance to dis
ease, should be daily subjected to a
spray of all the deadly bacilli.
Stores and sidewalks must be
cleaned, and it may be difficult to
build up sufficient sentiment to re
quire the business houses to invest
in dust-laying preparations, but the
thought has occurred to me that
every store , could be required to
provide a pipe connection for a
hose, between the glass windows
and lb. sidewalk, when* it will be
inconspicuous, and compel them to
wash the sidewalks each morning,
instead of sweeping. It would
really be a time-saving device and
would doubtless prove an economy.
Tlie city now cleans a number of
streets by washing, and this should
be extended to. the sidewalks, only
the property owners or tenants
should be required to do it. in
stead of sweeping. This is a com-
paratively simple measure, and a
great good would be accomplished.
I have mentioned this suggestion
to both Dr. Gilbert, the president
of the board of health, and to Dr.
Smith, the city bacteriologist, both
of whom apparently considered it
meritorious, but probably in the
press of other crusades this idea
has lain dormant, and it apparently
needs crystallization through the
press.
Yours truly.
A CITIZEN.
Atlanta. May 3, 1912.
WANTS BETTER SANITATION.
To the Editor of The Georgian:
Please accept my sincere thanks
for the picture and remarks on the
method of handling the city's re
fuse in your paper of the 2d inst.
I wish you would keep up the line
you have started till it produces
action. Get the people interested
till they make demand for better
methods in the handling of the
city's garbage.
H SANFORD.
Atlanta, Ga.. May 3, 1912.
THE HOME PAPER
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
The Reproduction
of the Human
Species
—-and-
The Care Exercised in
Breeding Animals
'Written For The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner.
Mr PENDLETON DUDLEY
has sent to this column
some interesting inclosures,
which, he says, are forwarded with
doubts as to their suitability for
popular reading. These extracts
refer to the great time, thought,
care and skill bestowed by the gov
ernment on the breeding of fine
stock, particularly horses.
The United States- department of
agriculture demands that mothers
of desired trotting horses shall be
free from “curby hocks" or other
decidedly faulty conformations.
They must be free from “draft
blood’’ and from “bone spavin,”
“ring bone,” “lameness of any
kind.” “side bone.” “heaves,”
"stringnalt,” “roaring,”* “moon
blindness" or other blindness.
Os course, the sires have been
carefully selected, and are pure in
blood and free from all disqualify
ing flaws.
It is by such persistent and sci
entific means that perfect speci
mens of horse flesh are produced.
In opposition to these methods,
Mr. Pendleton places the harum
scarum methods, as he calls them,
governing the reproduction of the
human species.
Professor Brewer, of Yale, tells of
a case in Connecticut, some years
ago, .where a feeble-minded pauper
woman, kept as a public ward, was
admired by a half-witted farmer
living in an adjoining town. A se
lectman of the town maintaining
the woman, “to get rid of her sup
port.” encouraged the marriage.
His short-sightedness, even from
the standpoint of Immediate money
economy, to say nothing of racial
economy, became apparent when, a
fe-.'- years later, she any her hus
band and three idiotic children
drifted into the poorhouse of the
husband’s town. *
Interesting records exist of two
families of criminals, the so-called
‘'Jukes” and the “Tribe of Ish
mael." From the one man who
founded the “Juke” family came
1.200 descendants in 75 years; out
of these 310 were professional pau
pers. who spent an aggregate of
2,300 years in poorhouses; 50'were
evil women, 7 murderers. 60 habit
ual thieves and 130 common crimi
nals.
Dugdale has estimated that the
“Juke" family was an economic
loss to the state, measured in terms
of potential usefulness wasted,
costs of prosecution, expenses of
maintenance in jail, hospital and
asylums, and of private loss
through thefts and robberies of
$1.300,n00 in 75 years, or over SI,OOO
of reach member of the family.
Similarly the ‘ Tribe of Ishmael,”
numbering 1.692 individuals in six
generations, has produced 121
known evil women, and has bred
hundreds of petty thieves, vagrants
and murderers. The history of the
tribe 'is a swiftly moving picture
of social degeneration and gross
parasitism, extending from its
seventeenth century convict ances
try to the present-day horde of
wandering and criminal descend
ants.
Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale,
says, in his most interesting bulle
tin report on “National Vitality,
Its Wastes and Conservations:"
“It is well known that cultivated
plants and animals have been
greatly changed and developed by
breeding. 'The original apple, as
offered by nature to mankind, was
the small, sour, bitter crab of the
forest, unpleasant, indigestible, in
nutrlnous.’ In 1710 Dr. Davenant,
a writer of political economy, es
timated that ihe average weight of
dressed cattle did not exceed 370
pounds. In 1846 McCullock stated
The King of Mankind
By PERCY SHAW.
HAA'E you ever met
On your daily way
. The mightiest King
In the world today?
Who owns to vassals
In every clime,
AVho knows each language
And scoffs at time?
To the farmer's boy
In the field he goes.
And he cries: "Make haste,
Swift your life stream flows
Cast away your scythe.
Through the wide marts fart
The joys of triumph
Await you there.”
AA'ith the sage profound
In his wordy lore
He lingers to sav:
“Will you study more
AA’hen your nature longs
For the fields and trees.
For the hills and streams,
For the days of ease?”
•Wl,. I
that ’at present the average weight
of cattle is estimated at or about
800 pounds.’
"Human heredity is now depend
ent on haphazard selection. Little
attention is paid by those who con
template marriage to the question
of how much stamina will be trans
mitted to the next generation. The
story was told of a famous dog fan
cier who, when asked why he paid
so much attention to his dogs but
delegated the care of his children to
nurses, replied: 'My dogs have a
pedigree.’ Human pedigrees, no
less than canine, rest on a physical
basis; yet genealogical records of
human begins, while they have
much to say of social position, have
very little to say of physical ca
pacity or intellectual ability. Those
who, like Galton and Pearson, be
lieve in a science of eugenics, hope
that the day will come when pride
of inheritance will include as im
portant, if not as the chief Items,
physical, mental and moral stami
na. A tendency in this direction
can be discerned. When the nobili
ty commanded the reverence of all
classes, quite* irrespective of abili
ty, commoners, however well en
dowed by nature, could never ob
tain the same respect. But today
the English house of commons is
more honored and respected than
the house of lords.
"Once the importance of a phys
ical pedigree comes to be rated at
its true value, a man’s pride in his
own inheritance will show itself in
a correlative feeling of responsi
bility for future generations. For
the sake of children yet unborn,
men and women will set for them
selves physical ideals of the high
est order.” ,
It is npt, of course, possible to
obtain the highest results in breed
ing humanity by the same means
we obtain such results with fruits
or animals.
. Men and women possess senti
ment, constructive brain power
and wills, which would prevent ob
taining ideal offspring if they were
selected as animals are selected,
purely for breeding purposes. But
were it to become a law that
MEN AND WOMEN MUST UN
DERGO A CAREFUL EXAMINA
TION BA' SKILLED SPECIAL
ISTS before they could obtain mar
riage licenses, and that a heavy
fine would be enforced if chil
dren were born of people who had
not passed successfully such exam
inations, it would soon become the
passion and the fashion for young
men and women to be strong in
body and mind.
Our government ought to offer
prizes to the men and the women
who can pass the best physical ex
amination at the age of twenty
five.
A building lot would be an ad
mirable prize to offer a young man;
and a similar gift to the young
woman would not be unsuitable.
Both give an invitation to out
door life, and offer a good income
in reward for industry. Unoccu
pied land, large enough to admit a
house, will soon yield money
enough to build the house if prop
erly cared for.
The first born of two such prize
winners should also be dowered by
the government: and both parent's
should be obliged to pass another
examination before a second child
came into the world. Our country
is waking to the great need of su
pervision over the increase in pop
ulation.
After one or two hundred years
it will take as much interest in
good specimens of men and women
as it now does in good specimens
of fruit and horses.
To the monarch proud.
When the courtier sleeps,
He comes like a ghost
From the midair deeps;
Would you paint inspired?
Would you famous be,
AA'ith palette and brush?
Hasten forth, be free!
To the country girl
AA'ith the rosy lips,
Full of joy of Hf P
To her finger tips,
He whispers of fame: '
"You shall reign," he cries,
“Away where the path
Os your glory lies."
Can you guess his name?
Do you think you know
AVhnse torch lights the world
AA'ith its subtle glow?
Whose voice stirs the soul
AA'ith a fixed intent
This King of mankind?—.
He is Discontent,