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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.