Newspaper Page Text
EDITORIAL PAGE
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 postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3, 1873.
“The Initiative” Means—
rhe Beginning.
“The Referendum” Means-
Letting the People Decide.
“The Recall” Means—Per
mitting Voters to Dis
charge Unfaithful Serv
ants.
r r r
A Good Many Citizens Haven't Taken the Trouble to Get Those
Simple Words Clear in Their Minds—and More's the Pity.
Every surveyor knows what you mean when you speak of a
theodolite.
Every engineer knows what you mean by the piston-rod.
Every chauffeur knows what you mean by transmission anti
ignition.
Every farmer knows what you mean by ensilage
Every tailor knows what a goose is, and that it is not alive.
We all of us know the words, the terms and the peculiar mean
ings referring to the particular thing which interests us.
It is true ami disgraceful I hat a great many American citizens
do not understand the terms, simple and plain, referring to public
affairs FOR THE REASON THAT TOO MANY CITIZENS \RE
NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
The distinguished Peter Dunne tells of a genial old Irishman
who was quite content to spend fifty years “voting for things that
he did not understand." But he was absolutely determined not Io
vote for t hings that he could not PR< »N< >l' Nt 'E.
He referred to the initiative, the referendum, et eetcra.
Every American ought to understand thoroughly the words
which express determination of the people to rule in a country
which IS SUPPOSED to he ruled by the people.
Therefore, byway of beginning another series on the initiative,
the referendum and the recall, we publish, and we ask you Io im
press upon those of vour acquaintance that are ignorant or indiffer
ent. VERY SIMPLE DEFINITION’S OF THESE WORDS •• Doti
nissions nos termes." as a great man said.
The people of the country want. THEY NEED, and they will
have the INITIATIVE. THE REFERENDUM AND THE REC ALL.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the two first words were chosen
by men using the written language rather than the spoken language
of t he count ry.
It is sad. but it is a fact that such simple words as “initiative
and referendum’ appall and displease the minds of certain citizens.
However, the words are HERE, they are going to stay. AND
WHAT IS MORE. THEY ARE GOING TO BECOME REALITIES.
Therefore, it is the duty of you who understand thoroughly
the principle, the idea. THE PUBLIC RIGHT AND JUSTICE back
of the three words, “initiative, referendum and recall." to make
those words plain to all near you.
What about the “initiative?" This word comes from the Latin,
initio, which means “to go into, to begin, to start."
Somebody has to start new law-making. Somebody must go
into the field where new laws are required, and begin, or initiate
the new laws.
Hitherto we have had our corporations, our big and selfish men,
and our corrupt politicians enjoving a monopoly of THE I NITI A
TIME, or BEGINNING of law’s.'
It is time for the people TO INITIATE some of the law-mak
ing. It is time for the people to say “we want certain laws, we are
taking THE INITIATIVE in putting those laws on the statute
books and we propose to have them there."
The initiative means that the people shall be permitted them
selves to START the making of laws, to initiate or begin new
thoughts in legislation The initiative means that the people shall
have the power of framing, voting for and establishing laws, in
stead of leaving this important task I<> the gentlemen so often
elected by the people, oulv TO REPRESENT THE CORPORA
TIONS
The ’referendum is a word simple enough to the man who
has read about the referee in a prize fight, or the umpire in a base
ball game
Referendum comes from the Latin, refero. which means. “I
carry hack "
With the referendum in existence, the gentlemen in the legis
latures making laws <>r proposing laws would be compelled to refer
them. OR ( \RRY THEM BACK TO THE PEOPLE ’
I nder the referendum, the people could keep to themselves.
X as they should do, the tight to pass upon laws started in legisla
tures or in congress \nd the laws referred" or “carried back"
so the people would he passed upon In the people, \ND THEY
WOULD NOT BECOME M Tl \| LAWS ON THE ST\TI TE
BOOKS UNTIL THE PEOPLE UNDER THE REFERENDUM
HAD GIVEN THEIR APPROY \|.
In other words, with the referendum the people SUPPOSED
to govern, to own the nation and the government, would do for
.themselves exactly what the owner ot a lug factory would do for
himself.
A man owns a factory ami has a lot of men hired to work for
him. I hese men ha e various ideas, plans, suggestions, notions,
rules and so forth.
They work out th-ir plan, write it out clearly, explain it thor
oughly. and then the owner of the factory savs “REFER THAT
TO ME. AND I'LL PASS ON IT. ’
I ntil it Jias been reterred to the head oi the firm, until it has
been passed on by the head of tie- firm, it isn’t a law in the factory.
The United States is a big laetorv. AND THE PEOPI F ARE
OR SHOULD BE THE HEAD OF THE FIRM
I he people, the owner ol this national factory, einplov mattv
men in congress, in the white house, in the various legislatures and
hoards of aldermen. And these hirelings of the people are pul
there to make suggestions, to think up good new laws, or abolish
bad old laws, to invent new ideas, and w ork them out carefully and
present them plainly TO THE HEAD OF THE FIRM WHICH IS
THE PEOPLE.
If you owned a factory, you wouldn’t permit anybody under
von to make rules governing that factorv I NTIL YOT H YD \P
PROVED
Continued in Last Column.
The Atlanta Georgian
What Is Life? By Garrett P. Serviss
PROF. STEPHANE LEDUC HAS MADE THIS QUESTION MORE PUZZLING THAN EVER BY PRODUCING IMITA
TION LIVING BEINGS
? ' wB
*
r * '**•*“" 4'l
W Si
O‘?'l; F' • Wv
2 JMfe i#WSM& AsAU-r : v V- ‘ ' ' »*
wWir > F v •’- x *’«
fN» ,<<?> i 5 1W < Wkjt
*ttL^lliM~ii_Jni i imwfciiiß -.
Some take the form of branch
ing corals.
WHAT do you think of the
photographs reproduced on
thia page .’ No doubt, if
you simply trust vour eyes, you
will tak* them for pictures of real
plants, animals, shells and corals.
In fact, they are PHOTOGRAPHS
OF PHANTASMS. A phantasm is
something lino appears Io the eye
and the imagination Io be what it
is not. ' Phantasms of the Living,"
an English s< i< ntifie writer has
called them.
But the strangest thing about
them is that they wore not made
by hand, or drawn by pen or pen
ell, bul THEY GREW into tin
forms which you see. Nature made
them, as she makes actual animals
and plants. Rut she did not do it
in her regular wav. Man inter
fered with the cunning devices of
chemistry, and caused nature lo be
come AN IMITATOR OF HER
OW N WORKS.
These marvelous ercnfTlros for
creatures they ate, whether they
really have any kind of life or not
imitate living things not only in
form, but also in growth, in de
veloping according to organic law.
in absorbing nourishment, in move
ment, and in •‘irritability," which,
in a scientific sense, means re
sponding to excitement, or provo
cation, like a caterpillar which rolls
itself into a ball when it is
touched.
Some imitate mushrooms, others
worms. Some grow tall and put
out leaves like grasses or (lowering
plants. Some take the form of
branching corals, or of sea shells.
Some crawl over solid objects like
spreading moulds. Vet none of
them were born from seed, or from
roots, or from eggs. All, as far as
\V(‘ cun see, ai’p composed of inani
mate. or non-living, substance.
Proses-or Stephane Ledue produced
most of them by simply putting
fragment!? of calcium chloride i a
well knowtvchemieal. a kind of salt,
w hich is often used for drying pur
poses! into a solution of water sat
urated with carbonate, or phos
phate of potash, and bringing the
dissolved '-übstame into contact
with a membrane composed of
parchment. or sorm similar mate
rial. through which it parses by
means of "osmosis." which is the
scientific name lor the strange
property, or temleiu v, of fluids of
different kinds and sel’silics to be
come diffused through a membrane
Ihe Pose of Helplessness
SUFS j den’ sweet, innocent
girl- but hrlpUsc . nh. VC!"-
help!. .-
ntterlv ig.i'i. am of tb- ". a? -
•>f the ... :l h.-oltltf !\ unable
to take care of li- rsetf.
She has . f rien.i-- surb ( good,
devoted, iitiselttsli frietrl - -not a
thing x. "tit; with him- on l ' h>
married
And he i’a- written to tn> *!l
about it.
H rt >s va't of what th. ,men
-avs in his h ttej'
■f ti’ar for her inh- - ’ nt near
n.s-, m lot u si> the inahllii to
t.ik. ear- ol herself She "an n.t
st .nd alone I think it . t
element of dependence that .ttra.t
ed my interest in the first p!:i<
and al " my world , know •••!<• >f
tlie men whom we both f.r.o-e.
Please don’t imagine I .in- '.'.bins' a
’halo’ position. 1 am trying to be
strii tly In"" -t. I nev< r h
signs on tin girl, evt n if tie had
evidenced «i.-i>J’or anything o'n
cr than what we were. whi< ti he
did not. I may have 'thought
things but thete was no eiiemit
ageinent I km.n she is .is trui a
i»irl : - one . oi l til; ! R. X. L."
Tut. tut, my dear str. is it possi
ble that you can so deceive your
self. and really make yourself think
that the tiling v "li want to do is
the right tiling no mailer if Ito is
hurt, or forsaken when you.do it ?
It. pie-.', indeed: I’ve seen lots
ol tb.n sort . f “helpless" girls, and
many, man? of the same sort of
"It. inless' |'"|i-grown women.
Tbe> ;o ;.■?<..ii "helpless" that
tin t can’t aleh their "helpless"
lands mt" liie . oat of some good,
tbit- b"di> L d man and make him be-
MONDAY, MAY 20. 1912.
z i\ i nZxO
i ‘ Jm/ / *b <»: NJ r\‘y
.•t i K \\
< a ! 114/ ><'/
Siiin.e grow tall and put out leaves like grasses or flowering
plants.
separating them. He calls them
"eamotic growth," but neither he
nor anybody else knows exactly
how or why lite thing occurs.
To see' these apparently living
forms grow and develoit out of a
chemical solution must be one of
the most amazing' and startling
sights that could be imagined. If
Professor l.educ had lived a few
hundred years ago and done that
he would either have been burned
at the stake as a wizard of wor
shiped :is a god. But science is not
sitp. ist il imis. When it sees some
thing unknown bel’dr.' it. it ex
plains it if it < an. ai'l if it can
not, ii waits for the explanation,
and in the nvanllnte tries experi
ments.
At present most men of science
di' rv Pi nfessoi' I cduc’s com lusion
that THERE IS A LOW FORM OF
lieve that it t- his duty in the sight
of Heaven tn take care of them—
until they’find another man w ith
more tnonev or t greater knack of
spending if. z
Heines, ‘" A girl like that
HEI PLESP. innocent, true Hart
v m peor good sir. There never
\>-t lived a woman, old or young,
'■ b > didn’t ba - . ’ o-n- enough tn
know just one thing, no matter
how helpless and innocent she may
b. or bi ph a • i to -cent to be.
And that th’ng is that she has no
< taim, and can have no claim
0.0 ot ' ev on any other w omc.n s
!>-,0-.e the faithful woman who
ii i-ne you i hildten and mat t y
' ■it' ■ tinging Innocent" it you data
- and t- i ti v .Hi h bet being "help
hen you see another "help-’*
bj -r- •" who appeals to your
■n < o*' chivalry.
B’ lul' S. ' ' She will soon show
■ o and tb" other woman, too, how
w <,ik mH |'l> Ifr-eiesi. sh- was when
It < >ntt t" a on ■■monos her own
cotnfor: and pleasure.
Ii • i in, .--.ot t of eirt who w ill
-teti on •■ver the preeipici because
you. a married man show her that
•you are too busy at home to con-
■ rt: yourself with her absurd lit-
I tie affairs, do you imagine for one
mo'i.tm. that a plain, evety-day ma.i
like you <an keel her in the straight
ami narrow patli?
Why?
1 tow ?
Si e shows i " such great prim i
I i t- where you are concerned: why
slmuld you think she would t>e
h.it' different y tinder any ot’" r
iTreumstances? Tnt not a bit
sorry for the ’ helpless ’ girl, nor
1 for you, either.
LIF’E about these things. Still,
they can not explain them, beyond
saying that they are "curious re
sults of chemical action." Their
d-iscoverer, however, is bolder. De
claring that these “phantasms" ex
hibit tlie power of nutrition, of as
similation (the utilizing of imbibed
substance), of elimination (the re
jection of useless substance), and
of irritability, he goes on to specu
late on the possibility that they are
related, in some way. to actual life.
If only lie could make his myste
rious creations REPRODUCK
THEMSELVES, lie would probably
establish his contention, for then
tie would have, in addition to the
other characteristics of living- be
ings, which he urofesses to have
found in them, the one missing es
sential needed to make them really
I -alive.
You are nld enough to have some
nlain. pvery-da' common
ou must be. or you couldn't have
grown children You've earned your
own v. ay in the world for years;
wh\ <i ’O 1 n-e -omc of the
practical principle that have
taufchr ybu su r ce'r- in business,
lighi here in thi absurd case of
yours'?’ •
of 'ou'-e. i <ierk might take
nvnc\ t. >■" tin *t \-.-ur f’icrds
• shop ’ "J ■'! " • o’ he- » mode! of
h-*r • /»nd trustworthiness for
but a hat a»» th» chances in
the
Tin < ■’ -•-Itvh, cab ulating
\ciip !>• i '>'!-» ha- found your
'Ac* pent an ov<” weaning be
lief -n youi strength or influence
on oth*-’ —and -h» - making a
rlait'. » v d-n goosf of you.
that’-
Loo! at her as she i? f or once.
Xrd sci ■.)->dne'“ s H mv friend,
look ?»t 'ourself a- ■ou are. You
i'<. no romantic high souled
Lancf ’ot. wiUJng to die for an irt®af;
you jo- just a rmjn who's being
used by a designing giii on
ar? in 1<»\» with her. that’ <HI.
Fap ' tit of love ,< fi v t a you
can T.’m horn# and a k tb.it good
win ot voijt »■- foivi-.M ynu, aixl
be a man and not • »-ir
hypoci •• to
You h* ft tii- ou.'’* ag«‘
and you bound to full in love
niff) --.Dm*' '‘in Moll. V'-i/ve done
u g‘ l d'»m ith it anri be
That ■ ho -<t!i\ . t- -hi « arth you
< tn > .' i -»«• I 'l’i-v. and " th” only
AH' a <ju 'an ever make tin \\<«inan
who h ; • ft*- down in - th*- va!b >
of (h* had<- • of d* Ith for your
tk- ! “‘the t and that - real
ly worth v. I n t it?
THE HOME PAPER
< The Bottle
By WILLIAM F. KIRK. ’ •
HT TE seen some pizen critters,’’ said my Arizona friend.
1 ‘‘l watched a pal near Tombstone till I knowed it was th»
end.
A scorpion bit him on the thumb while he was clawing sand
Looking for water, maybe, in a maybe-water land.
I handed him my liquor and he drank about a third—-
You should have heard that little flask, the way it purred and
purred
Yes, and it kept on purring till my old pal’s soul was free—
A bottle always seems to purr," said Fhoenix Phil to me.
“Another time,” said Phoenix Phil, -“I mind when Jim was
drunk,. *
And got his elbow nibbled by a hydrophobia skunk.
The skunk was like the scorpion—he didn't want to fight.
All pizen things give warning just before they sting or bite.
I handed Jim my liquor, too—the poor hoy drank it all. •
Tt tastes good. Phil,' he mutters as he flops agin the wall.
It sounded good, it murmured, like a kitten full of glee.
A bottle always seems to purr," said Phoenix Bill to me.
"That's why I'm scared of liquor," said my Arizona friend,
“There's something in the red stuff that a guy can't comprehend.
H don’t fight fair and fearless like the other pizen things
That crawl around this ball of mud with all their fangs and stings.
A rattler sounds rattles when he hears a fellow's feet.
H's easy dodging reptiles if you're only .half discreet. .
A bottk. though, is different, and that's why I let it be—
A bottle always seems to purr,” said Phoenix Phil to me. ’
“The Initiative” Means—The Be-
ginning.
“The Referendum” Means—Letting
the People Decide.
“ The Recall” Means—Permitting Vot
ers to Discharge Unfaithful Serv
ants.
Continued From First Column.
You that do the voting OWN the United States, you hire all
the employees of the country from the president down to the dog
catcher. Why not make those employees in the national factorv
refer their ideas for approval to the owner of the factorv, the
voters, the people?
I hat is all there is to the referendum—very simple.
As for the recall, that is so simple that it is hardly worth while
to talk about it. . x
A firm sends a young drummer traveling on the road to sell
goods. It has hired the drummer and fixed his salary, thinking
that he would work. The firm discovers that the young drummer
is flaying poker and drinking cocktails instead of selling goods
THEN THE FIRM RECALLS THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN AND
PUTS SOMEBODY ELSE IN HIS PLAUE. That is al) there is to
the recall.
The public hires a man. puts him on the bench to act as judge,
puts him in the governor's chair, puts him in the white house, or
puts him in charge of the public pound where they take the stray
mules and pigs.
This judge, president, governor or pound keeper is hired by
that big firm, THE PEOPLE, to do certain work.
As things are now. when the public official hired is unworthy,
dishonest, useless, drunken, corporation-owned? or otherwise unfit
THE PEOPLE CAN DO NOTHING UNLESS THEY CAN PROVE
FACTS IN A COURT OF LAW.
But we all know haw hard it is to prove in a court of law that
a judge has done something that he ought not to do. Judges hang
together, as doctors hang together, and as others do.
I he idea ol the RECALL is that the people who hire a judge'
should have the right to recall him. just as the man who hires a
chauffeur or a drummer or a gardener has the right TO RECALL
such an employee m hen he doesn't do his work properly.
Do you say that the judges are above the people, and that the
people are not FIT to recall a judge .’ Then, you also say that-the
people are not fit to govern.
The child is until to discharge an engineer or an architect—
RUT A CHILD IS NOT ALLOWED TO HIRE AN ENGINEER OR
AN ARCHITECT.
A baby in arms is unfit to discharge its nurse—hut the baby
doesn't hire the nurse.
It the people of this country are babies, if the public as a
whole is an infant unfit to discharge a faithless employee, then the
publie also is unfit to HIRE an employee.
II is preposterous to suggest that the people have sufficient in
telligence and honesty to put a man ON the bench, and that they
have NOT intelligence and honesty enough to take a man OFF the
bench when they find him unfit.
\t this moment we S pp in the case of Judge Archbald, of the
court of commerce, a gentleman who put men in jail when they
were poor, and let them off when they were rich—that was in the
smuggling case.
A.nd he dismissed with trivia] fines big rich men convicted in a
trust case. t
And nov . because he happened to be extremely foolish and fur
nished the information to convict himself, he is being kicked out of
office in a slow and deliberate way because while he was passing
on matters affecting the Erie railroad, his partner was buying prop
erty from th< Erie railroad for a tenth of its value—AND DIVID
ING WITH the judge
We can't always wait until a judge goes as far as this distin
guished Judge Archbald.
And we ■ an't always wait for other public officials to make it
absolutely plain that they are rascals before getting rid of them.
The people must have the recall, so that when they find that
th°y have mad l a mistake m electing a man to office they mav have
the power to put him OUT of office. That is all there ’s to the re
call ' ' ‘
Th< TNITI \T!A E. which permits the voters to start legislation;
Tim REFERENDUM, which compels the hirelings of the peo
ple to < arrv back or refer important legislation tn the people ;
'nd th. REC ALL, which gives the. people the right to dis
charge those that they have hired when they find the hirelings un
worthy.
I very sane man in th.p country who understands these three
simple terms, who really believes in democratic government who
demands no special priml ge for himself and who wants honest
government, MI ST BE IX FAVOR OF THE UNIT] \TTVF tuv
REFERENDUM \>'D THE RECAI I ’ * ‘ *
Impress that on your friends, please.