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EDITORIAL RAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta. Ga
Entered as second-class matter at postolTice at Atlanta, under act of March 3, 1379.
The Titanic Wreck and In
i vestigation Appear Hu
morous to Certain
Englishmen
R R R
Perhaps Verdicts for Damages Rendered by American Courts
Will Make the Titanic Murders Seem Less Funny' Even
tually.
1 ' * * ————-
Certain British newspapers began fheir comment on the
crime of the Titanic by complaining of unfairness on the part of
the American investigating committee. There was complaint that
our senators investigating “lacked technical knowledge of the
sea.’"
That sounded highly appropriate, -nm'ing from spokesmen of
a steamship company that had just drowned sixteen hundied
persons and brought one shivering, pale-faced Ismay safe
ashore.
Tt would seem that Englishmen might be modest in their
tone within a f PW days of murdering sixteen hundred men.
women and chlildren in an accident that certain!} emphasized
the stupidity of some English sailors and the cowardice of
ONE English manager.
Ortain Englishmen- a minority, fortunately--have a choice
capacity for self-approval, and they have now reached a state of
mind in which it seems to them shameful to criticise the blun
dering. reckless incompetents to whom the lives of thousands
are entrusted at sea.
Some of the more degraded among the English newspapers
even find cause of mirth in the Titanic disaster and in the in
vestigation of that crime They are rehearsing “choice, funni
bits” in the evidence given before the commission.
Americans, whose fellow citizens were murdered in hundreds
by stupidity, incompetence and cowardice, do not see the humor
of the Titanic achievement. And Americans hope, before they
h>ve done, to make the whole affair seem less humorous to the
Englishmen who now joke about it.
The collecting of a few millions of dollars damages from
the White Star Line would do good and make unpopular the
kind of seamanship that kills passenger- and run- awiy.
We believe that the courts of the United States will find a
way to establish responsibility, with due regard for international
law. and fix damages that will make the killing ol so many
Americans seem quite* serious when the dax comes to pax the
moneji. •
Unlike Ismay—saved with women and children—the White
Star Company can not run away. It must face and meet court
decisions here, for it has property here. Its big ships MUST
come here and they can be held to make good American court
decisions, sad as that may '-eeni to English owners.
The courts will ha\e abundant facts proved thanks to an
American investigation which did not. whitewash.
Knowing that they were among icebergs, the captain of the
ship and the managers of the line were going at top speed and en
joying an elaborate banquet lhe night of the disa ter.
The captain was not on the bridge. The man in the lookout
had no glass.
No general alarm was sent by wireless until too late al
though one of the ship’s builders on board declared that the boat
would sink within an hour
The bulkheads were not closed, and COULD NOT he closed,
and th« shin was not fit to be sent to sea.
Passengers were not told the truth, and no intelligent effort
was mad* to save Ih*m
More than five hundred steerage passengers were locked be
low in a ship known 1o be sinking, and THEA were murdered.
There were not life boats enough for one third the passengers
and crew Such as there were had no lights, no compass, no xva
. ter Two or more had plugs out of the bottom and sank at once.
While th* British seamen in charge of so many lives were
rushing Io destruction, hlindlv and stupidly, at least one other
British sea captain was within reach AND MIGHT HAVE SAVED
EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE TITANIC HAD HE NOT
BEEN TOO MUCH OF A COW ARD TO RISK HIS LIFE IN THE
ICE NEAR THE TITANIC.
So we have one British seaman killing hundreds of Ameri
can citizens because recklessness or orders from Ismay , who want
ed a record, induced him to run bis ship at full speed among ice
bergs—KNOWlNG that the ice was there. And we have another
■ British seaman getting signals of distress from the sinking Titanic,
and refusing to go to her aid because he feared the ice.
•-. A nice choice British seamanship offered to travelers on that
disastrous day.
One British captain, reckless to the point of insanity, rushing
hrs passengers to destruction.
And another British captain, camions as .oily cowardice can
make a man. refusing to help a sinking ship b sl he might damage
his vessel.-.
And English newspapers complain because this country ven
tured ♦<> investigate lhe killing due to these two types of British
seamanship.
. . When these facts are put befor, our courts in suits for dam
ages. we have no doubt that our British cousins will see less humor
in the disaster than they see at present
And when the public realizes that White star ships are un
safe- —a fact that we shall he charmed to emphasize at intervals
when tiade shifts to the <>erman ami otii-r ships that arc
NOT manned by captains reckless or t imid. ami to companies that
are not managed by an Ismay with 'h- automatic ( |i saxiug brain
. falling dividends and fading prosperity will ,»;,k- tbo English
-* realize that killing “blasted Yankees <■>■! "!<>i" and does not
paw
Sincerely we hope that for ei’ery third- ! : pc. ?ngi-r locked
The Atlanta Georgian
THE THREE CHAIRS
By HAL COFFMAN.
— I , I '■■■ 1— ■■ ■ I—— " ■■■■ I ■■ ... . * „■ „
L ? M v ■ A- Q
t-il itiff AJrO
I 1 ,<1
wM* st
‘“l'hi; ’."ilii! - ■'i /
■.•“minm.iliiiiil 111
Ba WILLIAM F. KIRK.
'T'HE first '-haii was tiny—a high chair— •
’ A baby was-tied in the seat; v
A fat, hungry child, he ciowed and he smiled,
While waiting for something.to eat,
A mother kept watch o'er this diner
Foi feai lie might make the chair fall,
And now we me done with Chair Number One,
The first little chair of them all,
The second chair, thirty years later,
Held a boy who was handsome and strong,'
In a gilded case, with roysterers gay,
He let the swift hours slip along,
below ami murdered by the White Star Line suits
for heavy damages will be brought, and won. by
surviving relatives. We trust our courts to teach
the White Star Line that even third class people
can not be cheaply killed where our courts have
jurisdiction.
For every person killed in that disaster of blun
ders and of cowardice the highest possible damages
should he a warded - especially to the impoverished
steerage survivors and the relatives of the dead
steerage passengers.
There should be lawyers to take up each ease and
obtain lhe highest possible damages against the
shamefully mismanaged, technically incompetent
and idiotic White Star Line, that drowns its first
class passengers through ignorance and negligence,
and murders its third-class passengers by locking
them below t he decks.
The English declare that this collection of in
competent and reckless ship managers has been
treated unjustly in this country.
THEY HAVE BEEN TREATED FAR TOO
GENTLY. WITH FAR TOO GREAT CONSIDER
ATION.
If lhe English admire a man like Ismay,
whose third-class passengers are locked below the
• leeks while he runs Io safely, if they hold np as
an example of British technical skill ami courage
a gentleman who saves his life while women and
children drown, they are welcome to the national
pride that they feel in such a person.
But this country prefers to tjike him. and ex
amine him. get the truth out of him if it can. and
through him ami others to discourage murder by
neglect, murder by recklessness, ami deliberate
murder on th< sea by locking men and women and
children belou the decks in time of danger.
Onr lesson of the Titanic d’.-aster is this:
No man should lie tool enough to trust him-
THURSDAY. MAY 9. 191-2.
A waiter kept watch o'er this diner
For fear he might make the chair fall,
* And now we are through with Chair No, 2,
The merriest chair of them all,
The third chair was back of a barroom
In a coiner all dingy and dark;
A man worn and thin had pleaded tor gin.
Because it was cold in the park,
No soul kept a watch o’er this outcast—
They knew he had met with his fall,
He was sleeping, you see, in Chair No, 3,
The last little chair of them all,
self to a White Star ship until convinced that the
company has changed methods and managers. Try
a German ship.
The Germans are sane and b\x el-headed—not
reckless destroyers of human life, not cowards in
time of disaster.
While the English captain and the English
manager of the White Star Line in blind reckless
ness were running their shjp to death on the ice
bergs. the German captains were turning south
and saving their passengers. 'The German lines
arc manned by 1 rained seamen. The Germans do
not send a great floating city out into the ocean,
commanded by an individual indifferent to ice
bergs in the path or put jabove that individual an
Ismay, whose life, any insurance company would
probably gladly insure for a nominal considera
tion against risk based on self-sacrifice or cour
age.
We invite the excited and indignant British
editors and shippers to bear in mind the fact that
the boats that they operate carry American pas
sengers principally. And these passengers and
their government are entitled to protect fheir lives
against reckless captains and against steamship
company managers of the Isnmy type, exceeding
in capacity to protect-their own individual safety.
We control these American pints and the docks
that make the British steamship lines profitable.
We lake the view, however offensive it may be
to British prejudice, that the lives of American
citizens are more important than the technical sen
sitiveness of British seamen.
And we propose to'show these British seamen, if
necessary, by cutting their'carrying trade down
to a minimum in favor of more careful lines and
more competent nationalities, that killing first
class passeng°rs by neglect and carelessness, and
murdering third-class passengers by locking them
below the decks, can not be permanently profitable.
THE HOME PAPER
Dr. Parkhurst’s Article
on
The Socialistic Tempest
That Is Brewing
—and—
Coffman’s Clever Car
. toons in This Paper
Written For The Georgian
By the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst
IT is indiscreet to -put exeessive
emphasis on the dark side of
things, and there is just as lit
tle discretion in throwing upon the
dark side a light that is artificial
and, ostrichlike, to thrust our heads
into the sand and argue that be
cause there is no enemy immediate
ly in sight, therefore there is no en
emy.
Because there is peace in our
homes, and the machinery of social
life continues to run without jolt or
jar. we easily become insensible of
and therefore indifferent to the
tempest that is brewing
It is very often the case that in
nature the sky is for a long time
full of sunshine, even after a storm
of great fury has begun to develop
near the horizon.
Certainly to the observant eye
the signs of tempest are already in
the air, and to one who looks across
the world with a glance that, takes
In the whole collective scene it is
not easy and it is not reasonable to
maintain one’s self in perfect se
renity of mind.
It is not simply that there Is
more or less of skirmishing going
on in our own country, as among
the miners and the textile workers,
or that Socialism is asserting itself
on American ground with a tone
that is increasingly distinct and de
termined.
The more serious thing to consid
er is that what we listen to here is
but a few notes of the general con
cert of discontent that prevails both
sides of the sea, and that that dis
content is everywhere declaring
itself In tones that are increasingly
confident and bold.
And. so far as appears, nothing
essential is -being done to stay the
forward march of dissatisfaction.
Mutterings of Another
Civil War Now Audible
We had civil war half a century
ago. and the mutterings of another
civil war of an economic kind are
distinctly audible.
And in some respects the war
that is threatened now is«of a lower
grade than that which we expe
rienced in the sixties, for while that
was waged over a principle, this is
war over a dollar.
This struggle, into the edge of
which we are already entered, is
simply a quarrel over the division
of the spoils of labor.
There is not a redeeming feature
nor a touch- of nobility in the whole
business. ...
It is like the snarling of two dogs
over the division of a bone
This is not saying that there is
not involved a question of rights—
rights on both sides.
But in the last-analysis the entire
scrimmage reduces itself to this,
that one side or the other—or both
—wants more than belongs to it.
It Is shyiply the case on an en
larged scale of two boys fighting
over a bag of marbles, each trying
to see how many he can get. with
out much caring how many or how’
few will be left for thS other boy.
The Average Income
By A. G. CHITTICK.
THE average income is sorely tried
In the struggle to make ends meet—
To pay the wages of those who help.
And the bills for the food we eat.
For butter is up. potatoes are up.
And meats were never so dear;
But the average income just stands still,
Or else grows smaller each year.
The cook in the kitchen asks for more,
And so does the serving maid;
And then, perforce, as a matter of course.
The increase must be paid.
We are told that coal is about to rise—
The gas bills are twice as large—
And for every strike which threatens the land
The consumer must pay the charge.
So. what are the people going to do,
And how are they going »o live.
When the average income is stretched and
Beyond what it s able to give?
PC
It is a disgrace to Christendom
that after 4.000 years of civilization
and 2.000 years of Christianity the
progress of the world has to be
blocked. institutions imperilled,
quietness and assurance destroyed
bv leaping at one another's throats
over a matter of five cents a day.
This is not saying where that five
cents belongs
It may belong to the employer, it
may belong to the operative.
That is not the point.
Dog With Biggest Teeth
Gets the Bone.
The point is that the prevailing
condition of mind and tone of
character is euch—notwithstanding
the age of the, world in which we
live—that humans have to go at
one another dog-fashion in order to
effect the settlement of their rela
tions and the adjustment of their
differences, and that the dog that
has the largest'''capacity of howl
and the biggest capacity of teeth
and claws is the one that gets
away with the bone and the five
cents.
• • «.
rwOFFMAfJ'S . cartoons are a fea
ture of The Georgian. They
are both clever and high-toned.
There is tn them a certain power
of appeal that makes a paragraph
ist wish that he were a cartoonist—
so much more can be said by a
stroke of the brush than by a stroke
of the pen.
-There is a sermon in that work
of his, depicting the comradeship
of the boy and his father;
"Hand in' hand through the weods
they go,
The'father and little lad;
Happy are al! the youngsters who
' know
. That a boy’s best chum ia his
dad ”
• If all fathers would look at that
picture and absorb'the gentle, gra
cious meaning that is In it it would
make them better fathers and the
boys truer and manlier boys.
Application of Principle of
How to Help Others.
The lesson told by it Is a special
application of the principle• that in
order.to be a means of benefit to
others we need to be not only our
selves, but also the person that we
would uplift.
The man must be also a boy and
'have the feelings of a boy if he
■would make the boy a man. The
.freeman must have a sense of what
it means to be a captive if he would
help to enfranchise the captive.
The teacher must be able to real
ize in himself the limitations of his
pupil if he would be effective in
releasing the pupil from those lim
itations.
*
This is just a part of the evan
gelical conception of Christ, that
while remaining divine He had also
to become a man in order to redeem
man.
The truth depicted is a great one,
and Coffman has done it apprecia
tively and well.