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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN I
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.
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lhe High Cost of Living
Throughout the World
* r »
Suggestion That Congress Investigate It. A Good Idea. But
the Explanation Is Not Very Complicated.
Mr. Crawford in the United States senate and Mr. Sulzer
in the house of representatives advocate an international inquiry
into the cause of the high cost of living throughout the world.
If the Crawford-Sulzer hill is passed the president wiH in
vite foreign governments to take part in a conference or investi
gation with a view to explaining the causes of increasing prices
of food and other necessities.
The Crawford-Sulzer idea is a good one. The more light
the better. But the average citizen knows fairly wel] why the
' ' cost of living has gone up.
It has gone up principally because those that PRODUCE the
things that we eat and wear and must have are getting more
money for their work than they used to get.
The cost of living has gone up also because distribution is
badly managed, the middlemen are too numerous and too ineffi
cient, and too costly.
Between the food produced on the land and the consumer
of that food there are too many red automobiles and trips to
Europe, and bank accounts, and boys at college—all paid for by
the middleman’s profit, all added to the cost which the con
sumer must pay.
The excessive charge for distributing products, extortionate
freight and express charges and lhe very great profits of the man
who does not produce and only HANDLES the goods have beep
features of life for ages.
But until recently this was the arrangement. The man who
produced that which we eat, the farmer, was willing to work tor
just as much as would barely keep him alive. In the old days he
was a serf, tied to the soil. In more modern days he was a farmer
also tied to the soil, tied to a mortgage, tied to worries. His
wife did the cooking for the men ami her day started at three
in the morning. An,d when the daughters were old enough, and
the mother died at about forty if monotony and overwork
didn’t send her to the insane asylum in the meanwhile -the
daughters look up Ihe work.
In the good old days that are still quite recent, the farmer
was content barely to keep alive and drive his tired horse into
the village once a week. Ami the man in the city who worked
for a living was content to get along with very little more than
- would keep him and his family alive. And the profit, the com
fort. the luxury went to those that stood between the producer
and the consumer. --
Now things have changed.
The farmer has his automobile, and his daughter with both
feet is working an automatic musical instrument. And the boys
are at the agricultural college. And the wife “takes in help.”
And the man at the other end who eats what the farmer
produces is not content to keep barely alive. He wants the best
kinds of meat, and the best of everything.
He also has his luxuries ami his amusements or tries to
have them.
.\pd the middleman still wants what he had before any
where from a hundred per cent to two hundred per eent on the
cost of the article for distributing it.
Naturally SOMEBODY HAS HOT TO PAY MORE.
Hogs and oxen are fattened on corn. Corn costs a hundred
per cent more than it did ten years ago.
Sheep and steers eat hay in winter. Good hay was bought ten
years ago at prices ranging from six to ten dollars a ton. Now
the price ranges from twenty to thirty dollars a lon
A horse that draws your butcher’s wagoii eats hay at thirty
dollars a ton
Oats that used to sell for twenty-one or twent.y-two cents a
bushel have been selling this winter for more than sixty cents a
bushel.
A horse that draws your grocer's wagon eats oats at sixty
cents a bushel.
When you feed animals on hay or corn or oats costing
twice and three times as much as formerly you have got to pay
twice and three times as much for your meat
Everything after all is the result of natural wealth I’Ll'S
HUMAN LABOR. Human labor used to be lhe cheapest thing
imaginable—you <mh gave the human being enough Io keep
him laboring—and not enough to keep him alive for more than
half the time that he might have lived
Now, the human machine which makes the clothes on your
back, cuts the hay in the fields, grows the corn and the potatoes,
does all the manufacturing demands and gets more. And when
human labor goes up. and life tiecomes more complicated and ex
pensive. when the farmer g< ts fair prices and shares in the com
forts of the world SOMEBODY JIAS GOT TO PAY MORE.
Everybody has got to pay more.
You know that miners' wages have just been increased, and
they deserved the increase The price of coal has been increased
twenty-five cents a ton in consequence. More high cost of living.
The driver of your ice wagon used to get nine dollars a
week. Now he gets sixteen dollars a week and he ought to
have more—more high cost of living in your ice hill. That would
not he so bad. but the man who does not drive an ice wagon
forms an ice trust, on a get-rich-quick basis, and you must pay
interest upon millions of ice stock--more high cost of living.
The proposition is to distribute prosperity, wages, all the
products, in such away as to enable the different classes to exist
—doing away with wasted labor, preventing extortion by xmid
dlemen or by others, using intelligence so a< to supply the con
stantly iucr< asing demand
Continued in Last Column
The Atlanta Georgian
IFhe never had a chance 1
That Is What Nine Men Out of Ten Who Are Failures Say. Look Out That You Don’t Say It Yourself.
By TAD
i i b
jCAFE'I )
H I
' y \ / iitk
a-Mate.
SEfOl i
IS -
NO. 8.
The stick man in a crap game must have
some ability, and the ability to make quick
and correct change is quite, necessary. Yum
held the job down until his mistakes were so
common that a new man was taken on and
Yum let out.
Once more he was forced to tread the ard,
‘ard ighway, as Boston Jimmy remarks.
The world seemed colder and more cheer
less than ever. Yum drifted from place to
place and finally wound up in the tough quar
ter. where the repeaters and small time poli
ticians congregate. He knew one or two. and
in a few days knew quite a bunch.
Yum lounged about the case getting an
YOUR WORK AND YOUR PLAY~
If Your Mind Is Interested You Can’t Tell the Difference
—■■■w-" 1 ■ " 1— '
EVERY father and mother
should read an article in the
June number of GOOD
11 ••I■S El< E EDI NG M A(IA 7.1 NE. by
Dr Gulick, on the educational value
of summer camps for boys and
girls Without repeating anything
that that article contains it may be
pointed oui that when children are
placed tn direct contact with na
ture. and are called upon to look
out for themselves, they re-enact
the history of the human race in its
struggle upward from savagery,
apd become so interested in what
they are doing that they would not
exchange it for any play that
could be offered to them.
A month in a summer camp, in
the woods, along the streams, by
the side of a lake, is worth a thou
sand times mote for the health, the
well being and the physical and
mental development of either a boy
or a girl than a whole summer, or
many whole summers, at a fashion
able watering place or a summer
resort, where golf and tennis and ■
card patties and dancing and styl
ish boating and costly dinners con
stitute tlte daily round. People who
go into the country and carry the
city along w ith them do not see the
real .country and gain none of its
bent tits.
A boy who has once been In a
summer camp, where he has had an
opportunity to do things for him
self. to make his own shelters, to
manage his boat, to fish, to shoot
(under proper guidance), to cook,
to see the cooking of his own game,
to help make the tires becomes so
fascinated by the discovery of his
own powers that he would laugh at
a suggestion to spend th< next
summer amid the comparative idle
ness. the conventional restrictions
and the stale ami tiresome amuse
ments of a big fashionable <ara-
| vanserie.
Nature Demands Occupation.
Human nature demands contin
ual, occupation for body and mind
during the waking hours The more
we work the better we, are, pro
vided that the work interests us.
and it always interests us if wc see
that its results are for our own
benefit. That benefit is .lust as
great whether it puts money in our
pockets or simply satisfies the in
born desire to accomplish some
thing with our own hands and
brims The boy who builds a hut
THURSDAY, .JUNE 6, 1912.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
in the woods gets a better educa
tion in the essentials of archite< -
lute than any book can give him.
He can learn a great deal about
navigation if he fnaanges his own
boat. Every step he takes serves
to open his eyes hnd cultivate his
powers of observation and reason
ing.
1 remember when a. boy an ex
ploration with a companion of my
own age of a winding, tree-bor
dered stream Joining two small. Is
land-dotted lakes, in the outskirts
of the Adirondack region, where w e
made camps on the shores' rowed
around the wooded islands; shot
squirrels and cooked them over our
own tires; took refuge during a
storm in a woodcutters’ aban
doned hut. and let our fancies have
free range as we explored bays and
inlets, gave names to them from
our geographical store, and sound
ed their depths with a stone at
tached to a fish line. Occasionally,
to our great Joy, we found shoals
and concealed roclfs, w'hifh we duly
marked ami charted. We examined
the nature and productions of the
shores; landed with shouts of de
light on long, beautiful, shaded
promontories; imagined inhabi
tants, and sometimes savage tribes,
in these strange lands, and gave
them names, too, drawn from our
limited historical lore.
Wonderful Adventures.
We found places where small
streams entered the lakes, winding
down from the woods behind. They
seemed rivers to us. and promptly
received names—Mississippi, Oro
noco. Amazon—while we sought out
the sites of mighty cities of dream
land on the banks neai their
mouths new Londons. Babyions
and ('alcutl.'is. V. e discovered lit
tle bights and coves w here the sun
fish sported, and yellow perch lurk
ed. and named some of them from
the kind of fish that we saw there;
we found a. little round, lonesome
lake, a hundred yards broad, with (
gold-hued water, as smooth as a
mirroi, and completely inclosed
with overhanging trees, whole .we
took a swim, disregarding the
leeches that fastened upon us, we
had :'n exciting adventure in the
largest of the lakes, a quarter of a
mile from shore, where a terrible
storm and mountainous waves
J consisting in reality of a summer
breeze with wavelets six inches
high) threatened us. as we chose
to imagine with Instant destruc
tion; and finally we went back to
earful of news about soft drinks. He could
make quite a piece of change if he would reg
ister from 5 or fi places before the primaries.
Other fellows did it and got away with it.
The boss told the gang it was a pipe, so
Yum tried it, too
Easy money, with very little risk. He had
nothing to do hut sit around all day, vote a
few limes and get the change. That was softer
than the stick man job. In fact, it was the only
job in sight, and Yum grabbed it.
lie knew a bunch of politicians now, and
he was promised a pretty soft little job if the
boss got away with the election.
(To he continued.)
the sawmill hamlet from which we
had started, feeling as if we had
circumnavigated the earth with
Drake and Magellan. I have got
my chart of those unutterably fas
cinating lakes and streams yet
somewhere, and I would sooner lose
the memory of almost anything
else in my life than that of" those
delightful adventures where na
ture and the imagination met.
Similar delights are open almost
anywhere in the country; one need
not go to the Adirondacks or any
half-wilderness to find them. The
essential thing is to be face to face
with nature, and to throw yourself
upon your own resources. A sum
mer camp is nature’s school for
boys and girls. Many things that
they have learned from books and
teachers for the first time become
real to them there. .
Do Not Interfere.
Let them have guidance and
oversight, of course, but interfere
with them us little as possible.
They will learn all that they real
ly need to know about trees, flow
ers, streams, rocks and animals a
hundred times faster and better
than they can learn in school. They
will see how the essential things in
the world s work are done, and do
them themselves, taking endless
pleasure in the doing.
This is the best of all ways to
start budding men and women in
life. The person who has not
learned to take care of himself to
do his own work, to meet his own
emergencies, tn youth, will never
be able to do so later. And. then,
a summer camping expedition
need not be costly. One does not
have to go very far. New Jersey,
the shores of the Hudson, the
Highlands, the Catskills, nearby
Connecticut are all full of delight
ful hills, woods, streams and lit
tle lakes. A small party of boys
and gills, with two or three older
persons in charge—persons who
p have common sense and sympathy
with the needs, desires and ambi
tions of youth—can easily be form
ed. The outfit should be inexpen
sive—a few utensils, a few tools,
perhaps a boat, fishing tackle,
tents, rough, strong clothing—not
much else is needed. Parents who
give their children this kind of
outing will do far more for their
present and future happiness than
by* taking them to Europe, or
dressing them up like dolls to be
admired and waited on in some
glittering summer hostelry.
THE HOME PAPER
——— —1
cSa To Men i
Bv -ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner.
SIRS, when you pity us, I say «
You waste your pity. Let it stay j
Well corked and stored upon your shelves, * i {
Until you need it for yourselves. I
We do appreciate God’s thought
In forming you, before He brought .
Us into life. His art was crude,
But. oh. so virile in its rude
Large, elemental strength; and then'
He learned His trade in making men;
Learned how to mix and mould the clay
And fashion in a finer way.
How fine that skillful way can be
You need but lift your eyes to see;
And we are glad God placed you there,
To lift your eyes and find us fair.
Apprentice labor, though you were,
He made you great enough to stir
The best and deepest depths to us,
And we are glad He made you thus.
Ay I We are glad of many things.
God strung our hearts with such fine strings
The least breath moves them, and we hear
Music where silence greets your ear.
“We suffer so?’’ but women’s souls, \
Like violet powder dropped on coals,
Give forth their best in anguish. Oh,
The subtle secrets that we know.
Os joy in sorrow, strange delights
Os ecstasy in pain-filled nights,
' And mysteries of gain and loss
Known but to Christ upon the Cross 1
Our tears are pitiful to you?
Look how the heaven-reflecting dew
Dissolves its life in tears. The satld
Meanwhile lies hard upon the strand.
How could your pity find a place
Eor us. the mothers of the race?
Men may be fathers unaware,
So poor the title is you wear;
But mothers?—who that crown adorns,
Knows all its mingled blooms and thorns;
And she whose feet that path hath trod
Has walked upon the heights with God.
No. offer us not pity’s cup.
There is no looking down or up
Between us: eye looks straight in eye
Born equals, so we live and die.
The High Cost of Living
Throughout the World
Continued From First Column.
We used to pay the president of the United States twenty
five thousand dollars —that was General Grant’s salary after he
saved the Union. Now we pay the president of the United States
seventy-five thousand dollars a year. We allow him twenty?five
thousand dollars for his traveling expenses. We spend fifty or
a hundred thousand dollars helping him to entertain and keep
the White House going—at the top of the nation prices have
gone up.
And in the White House kitchen the scullerymaid used to get
fifty dollars a year—or even twenty-five dollars a year in Jef
ferson’s time. And now that lady gets at least twenty-five dol
lars a month, which is three hundred dollars a year—and so it
goes.
The woman who usecl to do her own housework now has two
other women to help her —and her husband must see to feeding
them, and that means increased cost of living.
We all pay rent, and our houses, hotels, apartments and
business offices are made of steel.
Mr. Morgan took the steel business at a price of three hun
dred millions of dollars from Carnegie. He made a fifteen-hun
dred-rnillion-dollar corporation out of it. The steel business had
to pay interest from that time on fifteen hundred millions—and
that increased the cost of rent.
The man who lays the bricks and fixes the plumbing and
nails down the floors and does the painting in the house that you
live, in gets at least as much as he got a few years ago—that
comes out of the rent or the price of your home.
And in the cities taxes go up—for the bosses that steal
their share need a constantly bigger share. They run automo
biles and yachts and golf links now, whereas formerly they only
drank whisky and stole in a small way—more high cost of liv’ng,
for you pay the dishonest bosses through taxation.
When Carnegie in a few years makes three hundred mil
lions out of your steel, and the Havemeyers more hundreds of
millions out of your sugar, and the Rockefellers a thousand mil
lions out of oil and the Vanderbilts a hundred millions out of
your railroads—somebody has got to pay. for all that, and that
is part of the high cost of living.
So it goes in all directions.
Workers, servants, bosses, presidents, judges, policemen, fire
men. school teachers, typewriters—workers of all classes, from
the farm to the city, are paid more liberally. And as the cost of
living depends upon the price of the labor that produces the liv
ing, of course, the cost of living goes up.
And it will continue to go up. AND IT OI’GHT TO CON
TINTE I’o GO UP. There is no reason why the man who raises
your potatoes should not share in increased prosperity
There is no reason why the man who makes your overcoat
or your shoes .should not get his part of the extra pav.
The bill introduced by Crawford and Sulzer will bring out
some interesting facts. It may enable the wise gentlemen of the
different nations to give suggestions for distributing wealth,
equalizing wages, standardizing the value of a day’s work.
It takes no ghost to come from the grave to tell whv the
cost of living has gone up
It has gone up because the work that creates the living has
increased tn price and in value