Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

EDITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday y By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY At 20 East Alabama St.. Atlanta. Ga. Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. 1873 Absurdity of Half-Cent Piece in Coinage Tho vote in the house of representatives for the coinage of one half cent pieces will strike the thoughtful public, ns puerile anti antiquated. It is in response to no demand and is to meet no situation. It is the least intelligent piece of legislation that the house has passed. It is simple the return of a progressive, modern nation to the ridiculous basis of Chinese currency. Chinamen carry pounds ot copper pieces with a hole iq the center, and when they go out to buy five cents worth of rats they hand the seller a long, heavy string of copper coms in payment. Is that what the American congress would bring us to in this age and country? Is our progress in currency reform to be measured by a return to a system which prevails only in China or Egypt or among the beggars of the < trient ? Surely the house must have been napping or without thought when such a foolish piece of legislation got through. All modern nations have grown out ot rather than toward the attenuated division of coinage. The centime is banished from France and the farthing from England, and file centessime from Ttalv The smallest coin in France is the sou. which is five centimes, and the smallest in modern England is the ha - penny, which is one cent. Why should America go backward when all other progressive nations are going forward? What a spectacle the average future American will make with his pockets bulging with copper and haggling with tradesmen over the matter of one half of a copper cent ' \nd what an absurdity to suppose that such a farce in coinage could reduce thf high cost of living Would it make tilings any cheaper that a man has to pay for the minting of two pieces of copper instead of one’ The copper pennv as it is. is an abomination to the American pocket, but to double tlw number of copper pieces in the small shopper's purse is simply a slap in the lace <d financial civilization. Such legislation as this would have been an excellent diversion on some first dav of April, but it is worse than a waste of time in serious assemblies We trust the deliberate senate wdl promptly sit down upon the house folly An Indefensible Breach of (Contract st w » (Editorial in Today s Constitution.) Notwithstanding the walk out of the union pressmen of The Atlanta Georgian lust Saturday , that paper has suffered little or no inconvci’once It is now issuing regularly. on time and with practicalh the normal complement of news and features But tlw pressmen' union has itself sustained a severe blow as an organization that may be depended upon to live up to its solemn contractual obligations. Its individual members having viol.', rd a bindiiw agreement absolutely without cause or shadow of iustifmation. find themselves regarded everywhere as men whose r-entraetu.'d obligation must dwi's be regarded with suspicion. In t'bi( .igo. '-yen, where* th- di-.agreement originated, there was ii" just ground for the action that L'lnpoianh embarrassed all tlw papers of that city The details haw already been told, and they must -adden every \tlantau who sympathizes with tlw moi - exalted phases ot' union labor and its mission. In Atlanta the walkout wa .. and is. v holly indefensible Th' pressmen themselves admit that they had and haw now. no cause for complaint against The Georgian They have been well and promptly paid, tin* questions of wages ami hours were never in dispute and. above all. they were, collectively and severally, hound by a written legal document to the discharge of certain specified duties Ont of mistaken sympathy for men who haw themselws set aside a contract of their own making. The Geor gian pressmen elected to break also their contract and abandon a charge to which the,' were sworn at a moment no less inop portune to the public than to the publishers Their course is shown th' more regrettable b\ the fact that only in two oilier ■ fu> t’hicag" itself and San Francisco has their action been . mifirmed h,y their confrere-:. In other cities and even upon, the alleged offending Hearst newspapers, the pressmen righteously regarded a legal and deliberate contract in preference to breaking it in olwdiew-. to dl advised orders issued as a. palpable attempt at unfair intimidation In this connection, it is refreshing to note the upright and eons- rxative loyalty to eon tract of the powerful typographical union, which refused by a heavy vote in Chicago and elsewhere to upset tin r pledged Word and join in a sympathetic strike. In any business, in any rail'*. at am time, and unless abro gated by bad faith on the side of either party, olwdii nee to a w rit ten contract is the first and indispensable principle in success and the maintenance of self-respeet. Wantonly disregarding this law, the pressmen on .The Georgian haxe brought disrepute upon their order, and alienated lhe sympathy ot th. oyerwhelming majority of law-abiding and pledge k<-< pmg union men in tliir country. The Atlanta Georgian A DYING GRIP Bv HAL COFFMAN. ■<- fejW ; o w' | 1 C- T'- . . B Aww- < Ic'oG W" I,'.- G ■, | J u - A ■ - A'A'-. ( H \ /A z-Xf- G A v v w X • s , o • y1 / DOROTHY DIX WRITES OF The Child as the I Unanswerable Argument Against Divorce one unanswerable argu- I ment against divorce is the child We may say that each of us has a right to bis or her own happi ness We may say that an un worthy husband or wife forfeits whatever claim they have upon us. We may say that when we make a mistake in marriage there Is no more reason we should be botir*'! forever to ft than there is why w» ■ hould continue to be the victims of any other error of judgment. We may say that to be forced to live with a husband or wife whom we hate and who brings out a’l tli .t is worst In our natures, is de moralizing to our characters —that it condemns us to live tn an atmos nhere in which all that is beautiful and ideal in life withers and dies a- if blown upon bv the blast of a si tn non. Thi= Is true There is no other such blighting influence in the world as discord However pa tiently borne, it turns the very soul into an arid desert, and nobody can blame the Individual who seeks to escape from this death-in-life. Children Must Always Re Considered First. Then* is no answer to thp.ronten tion that we bavp a rigrht to sav** ourselves from the purgatory of an unhappy marriage except the wail <»f ,i child, weeping over th* 3 wreck <>f its home That is nature’s* r* 8 - leutlr s reply to the sophistries of philosophv Thu ic duty's stern cah tn us to at our posts, whatever the cost in suffering, and fulfill the obligations wp have taken upon ourselves When we have chil dren wp have given hostages to fortune, and are no longer free to seek our own happiness, h is they w ho ai e io he considered first The childh ss may be divorced, if it seems best tn them, but above the noise of warring couples with children comes the cry of the help less I'ttle who are left father less or motherless in the breaking up nf a home. Tz'sten to this pathetic, curious, unchihlish letter that comes to me TUESDAY. MAY 14. 1912. By DOROTHY DIX. from a litt’e girl. She writes In a little, round, schoolgirl handwrit ing Pathetic Letter of a Girl Whose Home Is Threatened. "Dear Miss Dtx—l am thirteen years old. and I read al! your ar ticles. Now, I want you to tell me what you think of my case. My home is about to be broken up by a woman. Os course, she Is younger than my mother, but not any bet ter looking nor one-.half so good Tell me, please, is that the way the world is going? Are there no more happy homes" My brothers and sisters and I have made up our minds that we will never get mar ried No one could have been more devoted than my mother has been She has been a. slave to us all. and tliis is what she gets. Please an swer me soon What do you think of a thief who robs little children of their father? Poor little girl who at thirteen has seen ail of the gold rubbed off of Cupfd s w ings, and who has wit nessed so many family spats that she has resolved never to get mar ried! Poor little girl, who at thir teen, judges between mother and father and contemptuously con demns father! Poot little girl, whose childhood has been darken ed by the sad and sordid knowl edge of th" world, who discusses affinities and broken homes with her babv sisters and brothers, and who bears on her litt’e shoulders the burden of her parents' weak ness and sin! Doesn't the mere thought of her bring stinging tears to your ryes" And don't you fee! that nothing can justify th? parents in the way they a-e doing" Is it not the plain duty of that father and mother to keep a home together for their children, and to make their children happy, and give them the chance in life that only children have who are brought up in the environment of decent family life? Compared to the welfare of these little on* s what is the lure of some other woman to the man? How small a matter even the wife's jeal ous' and righteous indignation! The real victims of dtvorc ai = the children, not alone because they are made half orphans and home less by it, but because it destroys their faith in ail that is good and tru°. How can you teach purity to a girl whose mother has the slime of the divorce courts on her gar ments? How can you teach honor to the boy who knows of his fath er’s dishonor? How can you teach steadfastness to' duty to children who have seep their parents turn cowardly awav from a hard situa tion? How can the weak breed strength into the little ones? Os course it will be said that w'hen a father and mother can not agree, and life is perpetual discord with each other, the children are better off with either one than with both; that no home at all is better than a home divided against Itself To this argument one can only say that parents have no right to make such a home. No matter how deep they may feel in their own breasts that they have gotten the wrong life partners, and that some other man and woman are the real mates, they are bound by every law of decency to hide this from their children, and to keep the doors of their skeleton closet fast locked against inquisitive lit tle eyes. To be tempted* is the lot of all. To yield to temptation is the act of the craven. Duty of Parents to Protect Children From Themselves. It is the paramount dutv of pa rents to protect their children even from themselves, and for fathers and mothers to drag their children into their squabbles is as bad as if they threw the helpless little crea tures into the midst of a battle where they would be trampled upon and mangled. For a father and mother to lot their children become cognizant of their amours is worse than taking them Into a leprosy camp. It defiles the little minds beyond the power of cleansing As- for the woman who would lend herself to the breaking up of a home in which there are children, the curse of God is upon her. Truly it were better for her that she should tie a millstone about her neck ind cast herself into th-= sea. than that she should offend c-ne < f these little ones. THE HOME. PAPER Dr. Parkhurst’s Article °? ■ The Audacity of Prof. L.-O* Arthur Drews fe —and— How Seventy Is Some- times a Kindness l Written For The Georgian / By the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst / ON entering, some years ago. the city of Stratford-on- Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, almost the first object that arrested my attention yvas a volume exposed in a shop window and bearing the title, “Bacon Was the Author of Shakespeare." Although there are five points in the life of the dramatist, stated, by so good an authority as Tennyson, to be absolutely trustworthy his torically, yet there is a cast of mind that finds a peculiar and cranky Jgnd of delight in arraying itself against the combined and estab lished opinions of the age and in discrediting conclusions that have been long and confidently cherished by men yvho have been most con servative and judicious in their proccesses of judgment. Since the time when, according to the Bible story, Adam presumed to raise a query as to yvhether It was, after all. obligatory upon him to obey the command of the Lord, there have never been wanting peo ple who. either out of conceit or out of distrust of human intelligence and belief that every mind but their own was a lying mind, have taken absurd and mischievous comfort, in wantonly seeking to cut the ground 1 out from under convictions that have been impregnably established in the general mind and that have • borne the test and secured the in dorsement of many long and thoughtful centuries. Professor Who Tries to Prove Jesus Did Not. Exist. A late example of this is afforded by the recently published work of Arthur Drews, professor of theolo gy In the technical Hochschule at Karlsruhe. Germany, who. in a-vol ume of 300 pages, sets himself to what is to him, evidently, the very ♦ ongenial task of proving that ther? has never been such a person as Jesus Christ. Now, there is a kind of impudent audacity in the undertaking that is almost fitted to fascinate us by its immensity. Commonplace presumption we simply resent with quiet contempt, but arrogance that is so colossal and cyclopean as that of the pro fesaor is staggering by the very fact of its monstrous proportions. To stand up serenely in the face, of twenty centuries of Christian in telligence, Christian scholarship and Christian experience and to challenge that whole mass of mind as being the collective dupe of a bodiless idea and a silly delusion involves on the part of our author a degree of intellectual immodesty and impertinence that should se cure for him the title of psycho logical freak rather than that of theological professor. That a building as vast in its proportions and as immense in its pressure as Christianity < an stand the tempests and the quaking of twenty centuries is all the proof that a reasonable man either needs or wants to persuade him that un derneath there is foundation com mensurate in breadth and solidity with the structure that it upholds. ♦ M » Severity Is Often Necessary, to Maintain Dignity. * NY person possessed of a gen- Z-X erous and sympathetic spirit “hrinks from the exercise of severity, and yet severitj is very often necessary in order Io main tain the dignity of authority, and not only that, but is quite likely to prove, in the long run. the finest form of mercy. That is the fact in the case of a father dealing with his child. The time is almost certain to come when the young boy. realiz ing that he has a wiH of his ow n. sets it in opposition to his fath er's will. • Now. there are two parental pol icies that under such i-ireumstances can be pursued. The child can be coaxed into I obeying, and perhaps have some privilege allowed him in return for obedience. 'Jr the father can then and there settle the question for all time as / to which of the two is to be mas- / ter —a result that is never reached / by lollypop or any processes of Z* . barter. / A conflict to be decisive may wring the heart of the father and be full of cost to the body of the child, but when it is once done it is f done for always, and one thorough whipping may save the pain inci dent to a hundred half-way whip pings. The current policy of affixing small fines to the violation of cer tain statutes ts another case where the desire to be merciful results in ten times the hardship that would result from the resolution to be severe. , | A part of this is the fault of the laws, and a part of it chargeable I to the unealculating sentimental!- j ty of the magistrates. / Dealing out petty fines both Im- 1 pairs the dignity of the law and tempts to its violation. Automobiles have, during the past two years, been driven in such away in New York as to result in 263 deaths. Petty Sentence for Speeding Causes Death tn Innocent. Now. undoubtedly so far as those deaths have been the result of care less driving, at least a half, if not three-quarters, of such mortality would have been avoided if the flrgt violations of auto statutes had been dealt with in a manner propor tioned to the enormity of the crime. As a rule, people who can afford » ( to own an automobile have so much money as to care no more for a fine of ten dollars than a rhinoceros cares for a pin-prick. 1 The pettiness of the sentence en- ' e courages speeding, so that judicial sympathy with the criminal is the author of death to th“ innocent. This "slaughter of the innocents" would have a stop very promptly put to It if a scale of fines ade quate to the criminality of the of fense were established legislatively, and if our magistrates would agree to put their warm sympathies in cold storage and deal with offenses with a severity commensurate with the seriousness of the offense and the just demands of the general public. Safe Hits A girl thinks a young man who spends his money freely is the whole thing —but if she marries him and finds he has. spent it all she changes her mind. Once in a while a woman buys some thing at a bargain sale, only to dis cover after she gets home that it was just what she wanted. ——v— When a man begins by saying, “Os J course, it is none of my business"—you i I may as_ well stand aside and let him f JI butt in . | Perhaps rhe lime may come when a vast army will strike in the midst of a /’•«! great battle for more pay and hours. , A man's wif** is always willing to agree with him—when he declares h* has the best wife in the world. It's usualh much easier for a man's fool friends to get the best of him than it i? for his enemies. It takes a woman to tell other women how she trusts her husband, just as if she really did. If a book bores you it s an easy mat ter to «hut it up—but it's different with a human bore. Instead of laughing at the mistakes of others, try to profit by your own. A man always has well trained chil dren if hi.: wife attends to it. 'Ac are al! entitled to something in this world, if it's only a lemon You may have noticed that a kicker Is usually head't'ong also Hi- satanic maje, ty loves to fish in troubled waters. J ,