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EDUTORIAL 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. 1373. Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, J 5.00 a year. Payable in advance. r- 1,1 ——' ' Under a New Congo Rule Only MEN Are Flogged * r r But in This Country, Parents That Are Savages, Still Flog and Frighten Little Children. Read an announcement of reforms in the Congo. Sir Ed ward Gray, the British Foreign Minister, issues the following interesting piece of news regard'ng the punishment of natives: “FLOGGING IS LIMITED TO TWELVE STROKES, OLD MEN. THE SICK WOMEN AND CHILDREN BEING EN TIRELY EXEMPTED. AND IF FAINTING OR THE AP PEARANCE OF A WOUND SUPERVENES AS A RESULT. THE APPLICATION OF FURTHER PUNISHMENT IS FOR BIDDEN.’’ In these civilized days, with flogging forbidden in the navy and in the, prisons, it seems shocking to read of Congo negroes flogged. Even limiting the whipping to twelve strokes and ceasing punishment if the beaten man faints or a wound ap pears does not mitigate the horror of it. Almost every man and woman reading the paragraph abont “milder punishment” in the Congo is horrified to think THAT THERE SHOULD BE ANY FLOGGING AT ALL. But among those that are horrified at the idea of flogging full grown Congo natives, there are unfortunately not a few parents brutal and ignorant enough TO WHIP THEIR OWN CHILDREN. A full grown Congo native with a tough skin, a tough body, and a more or less toughened nervous system is pitied when he stands up, helpless, and receives the blows that fall upon his back. What about the delicate, nervous children, feeble in body, suffering the. intense agony of fear, whipped by the fathers and mothers one moment anti told to love the father and mother the next moment. What could be more horrible, more disgraceful than the sight of an angry man or woman beating a defenseless child? FOR BEATING IS ALWAYS DONE IN ANGER. The father or mother pretending to beat the child “for the child’s good.” and pretending not to he angry when the beating is administered, is untruthful as well as brutal. Every blow is given in anger. There is no other blow. There is a story of a child that had been saying its pray ers listlessly. One evening after being beaten severely by its mother the child was eager to pray and said to the nurse. “I want to pray, because I've got something to say to God.” And then the child prayed that God might cut off both of its mother’s arms "so that she can not beat me any more.” Such a prayer would shock mothers and fathers, but such a prayer unspoken has boon in lhe heart of many a child, cruel ly beaten and the prayer was justified. The beating of convicts, the beating of adult Congo na tives, the flogging of sailors such things are horrible. Infinitely worse is the beating of children. Il hurts the body and stunts the mind. It kills courage which alone takes a hu man being safely through life. It makes the child a liar and a hypocrite. It makes the child hate its father and mother. AND IT SHOULD HATE THE FATHER OR MOTHER'tHAT STRIKES A COWARDLY BLOW THAT CAN NOT BE RE TURNED This world will be civilized when we are able to exercise in our own homes and for the benefit of our own children the sympathy that we send now to the Congo to the tall, six-foot black man crying under the lash. Think of your own children first. If you strike a child you are a savage and a coward. © Possession © By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX • 'op'right 1912, bv Amprican-Journal-Exanilner. r T"'HAT which we bad we still possess. I Though leaves may drop and stars ma.' fall. No circumstance can make it less. Or take it from us. all in all. That which we lost we did not own We only held it for a da.' A leaf by careless breezes blown . No fate could take our own away W» tjhixdi we lose when we most gain , We call joys ended ere begun; When stare fade out. do skies complain Or glory in the rising sun? No fate could rob us of our own. No circumstance can make it less What time removes was but a loan. For what was ours we still posses: The Atlanta Georgian FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1912. THE OLD COVES HAVE THE NERVE By T. E. POWERS. • Copyright, 1912, by International News Service You Nbeon't Comb home is say &iu-.ftf gußp \ DINHEXTS-HIGMT THB Cook ) IVE A NltjHT I / AIIKE / ’T'ft . HAS QUIT OfF£OME AND I ' z-r (AuxighA pine with ME . ILL BET A AWQ I I OEAX. | you A|. ’ “A* (A OVER ah D 1W? LyU ex ZY-., speak To That; , . .— x rtft* )' -rH X "h (TO • fftE® Vft MHI iJMuV PARE H IL -1 ft WI ft Pau ' 5 hsuhbza Do You mind IF] Lpok.HAROLD, Y UFTCKALL A MARS PtACEI 10 1° £ /ft WAS KIND ENOUGH LIKE MY r ■ / IWwTwTft ToStTBYME (W 4ft [iLOVfToTALK -ft’ A kV « M7 Z® 3 ' 7ft f I Ir!T, wV Alßr Phe Great Kaleidoscope Overhead Opening of the Summer Night Spectacle That Nature Offers Free to All W r HEN I am tired, worried, worn out. and uninspired by the least thought or ambi tion. I go out, if the evening is se rene, and pause long under the stars. 1 get a rest for the head, and stay staring at the spectacle above me with more interest and wonder than a child experiences at an exhibition of motion pictures. The heavens are the most mar velous of all kaleidoscopes. That word is not heard much nowadays, and the little instrument for which it stands is seldom seen. When I was a boy almost every household had one. The derivation of the name from three Greek words KALOS, "beautiful;" EI DOS. "an appearance," and SKO PEO. "1 view"—reveals its nature, and tells its story. Three strips of black glass, two inches wide and six or eight long, are set edge to edge, lengthwise, making a triangular enclosure. They are then fixed in a round pasteboard tube, with a peephole at one end, and a pair of transpar ent glass circles, placed a quarter of an inch apart at the outer end. The outside circle is of ground glass. The space between these cir cles is partly filled with broken bits of varicolored glass, which tumble about among one another as the instrument is turned on its hori zontal axis. Reflects Many Images. The polished sides of the long tri angles reflect multiplied Images of the bits of glass when the kaleido scope Is held with its outer end to ward a bright light, and marvel ously beautiful combinations of col or and exquisite forms are revealed to the eye looking through the peephole. As the instrument is turned the bits of glass fall con tinually Into new shapes, so pleas ing and surprising that they often call forth cries of admiration. It is hardly possible to give a child a more entertaining, and at the same time useful, toy than a kaleidoscope, and it requires very little skill to make one. It is said that makers of artistic designs sometimes employ kaleidoscopes to stimulate their invention, and suggest novel combinations. To the discerning eye the starry heavens are a gigantic kaleido scope. But we, whose lives are but a glimpse, see only one of its in finite combinations. All is in mo- Bv GARRETT P. SERVISS tion, but all seems at rest. The three-score years and ten of a mans lite afford him but a single peep into the wonder tube of the universe. We know-that it is end lessly turning, but we should need to live and watch for a million years in order to see its many-hued and infinitely diverse stars falling in ceaseless showers from one com bination to another, and the con stellations rqlling from form to form like clouds or sparks. Here the marvelous power of the imagination, guided by science, aids us. We can look both backward and forward in time and see the heavens us they have been and aS they will be. Sights of the Sky. When you look at the sky tonight you will perceive, low In the west, Leo the Lion, with its principal stars forming the figure of a sickle. High overhead you will catch sight of the "Big Dipper," in Ursa Major. No name could be more truly de scriptive of the figure shaped by its seven stars. Just in the south, well above the horizon, shines the beautiful white star Spica, which would be a far grander sun than ours if we could approach near to It. Spica is surrounded with many stars which the ancients imagined to resemble the figure of a white robed maiden. Virgo, and they had a legend that Virgo represented the goddess of justice, tied from the earth, where she reigned in the golden age. and finding refuge in heaven, where alone justice now rules. Between the Dipper and Virgo, but eastward of a line joining them, glows the magnificent Arcturus, a star which turns red when seen through the mists of the horizon, and w hich was worshiped for ages in less enlightened times. Arctu rus is the chief of another constel lation called Bootes, or the "Bear Driver," because he seems to chase the huge bear, Ursa Major, round the pole. East of Bootes Is a splen did circlet of stars named the. Northern Crown, or Ariadne's Dia deip. It is a constellation whose mythological history runs away back to the expedition of Jason in search of the golden fleece. You will find not the slightest difficulty, in recognizing it. Below the Crown in the northeast is the const? !!<T tion Hercules, and below that again Apollo's Lyre, adorned with one of the most beautiful of all the stars, the diamond bright Vega, or Alpha Lyrae. Half round the pole, be- tween Ursa Major, Hercules and the Lyre coils the great dragon, Draco, a figure that stirred the im agination of the ancients to its depths and gave rise to many leg ends that will never disappear from literature. Low in the northeast, rising with the Milky Way, you wiH see the shapely form of the North ern Cross in the constellation. Cygnus. Such is the night sky of June. It is a single, brief glance into the kaleidoscope of the universe. Now, call science and imagination to your aid. and you can represent to yourself the revolution that it has undergone, and. will undergo in the future. Not one of the splendid constellations which we now admire will remain a few hun dred thousand years hence. Apollo’s Lyre will dissolve, and men will no longer admire the Intertwining rays of its stars, which now seem the glittei of silver strings, trem bling with the music of the spheres. The Big Dipper will flat ten out as if the millstone of the ages were rolling over it. Draco will unwind his coils, and flit away like a wisp of mist. The Crown will fall apart and all its gems will be scattered. Arcturus will ' fly away from Bootes, and the whole constellation will drift into some other shape. The virgin goddess of justice will flee again, as if an iron age had dawned in the heav ens. And the great Lion, which has looked down, apparently un changed. upon the whole course of known history, measured by Its petty centuries, will vanish like the vision of a dreamer. Constellation of the Future. But 'there will be constellations in the far future, as there hav4 al ways been constellations. Many of them may be more beautiful and wonderful than those that now ex ist. The possibilities of this vast kaleidoscope are illimitable and it rolls forever. The astronomer can. even now. foretell some of the shapes that will be formed by the stars in future eons, for he has measured the speed and ascertained the directions in which many of them are traveling, at a velocity which sometimes amounts to hun dreds of miles in a second. Can anything afford a better proof of the immensity of the uni verse and the insignificance of the earth? Let us not think that these remote things do not concern us. Everything Concerns us. because there is something in us which transcends both time and space. THE HOME PAPER War and Common Sense Bv ELBERT HUBBARD. Copyright, 1912, International News Service. THE modern nation is a totally different thing from the an cient empire or the medieval monarchy. > The idea of the king or monarch was that he was the viceroy of Deity. This kind brooked no rivals. The interests or rights of other na tions were never considered; neither were the rights of indi viduals. The court of the king was as splendid p.s he could make it, and his palace al sumptuous as he could afford. The limit of his mag nificence was his ability to tax the people, and the extent of his power was his ability to subjugate. An army of trained fighting men. ready to use at any moment, was needed. First, he must be able to sup press any possible revolt at home. Second, he must at all times re veal a glamour and splendor that would excite both the adulation and the fear of Ills subjects. Third, he must be able to fight off a foreign foe. Fourth, he must be able to take advantage of any opportunity that might pccur to acquire new terri tory should any rival kingdom re veal a weakness. Today, the strength, prosperity and perpetuity of a nation does not turn on its ability to fight, but on its ability to render a service to other nations. • It is productive skill that counts, not destructive ability. The army of the modern state is a medieval appendenda vermifor mis. It is the most costly and fu tile item in the government “over head," the most dangerous thing in point of national health —and the chief cause for dread as a disturber of our national peace. Nations today are Interdepend ent. Each one fulfills a certain economic purpose. Permanent prosperity for all nations turns oh permanent peace. Our solicitude is for the happi ness and prosperity of the indi vidual, not the ambition of the so called rulers. > And happiitess. health and pros perity for individuals demand dis armament. The United States, in point of wealth, leads all nations. Yet the © Truth in Print ® Bv CHARLES FERGUSON IF newspaper men were subject to governmental prosecution and possible imprisonment for every honest mistake they might make in their criticism of an ad ministration, the government would soon cease to be democratic. Few journalists would be found to take the inevitable chances of error and of the failure of their witnesses. The luxe of the finan cial and social rewards of the news paper business would lie altogether on the side of a studied sycophancy in the praise and promotion of the political pawns as they exist, and the money pawns that, stand back of them. There would be but a short run back to that political absolutism— that w’orship of power in spite of every defect of title —from which modern society has so painfully emerged. Shall we say, then, that the thing to do is to declare for absolute freedom of speech and print, and to go abroad through the land stir ring men up to flaming indignation against every restriction of tongue or pen? I heard a brilliant man make a speech to this effect at a club din ner of literary men in New York the day. The speaker called himself an "anarchist” indeed, but his doctrine was not so very different from that expounded so classically by John Milton in his famous essay, “On lhe Liberty of Unlicensed Print ing." And it was hardly to be distin guished from a notion entertained by many scholastic people concern ing what they call the rights of academic freedom. It is said by these theorists that teachers in colleges—if they will but invoke the sacred names of art and science—ought to be permitted without hindrance or accountabili ty to say anything they please. Now, this freedom to say any thing one pleases—in a well en dowed moral vacuum—may be an academic ideal. But to practical men it has always seemed too aca demic. And modern society is likely, in accordance with its own genius, to become not less but more insistent in holding people responsible for what they say. A society that passes the title to a million dollars by a, single word uttered in the exchange, and that sets great enterprises afoot by the faith in a signature, is likely tn acquire a new and vivid sense of a size of our army is less than that of any of the so-called seven Pow ers of the first class. In numbers we have one-sixteenth of the pop ulation of the, world; but one-thU* of the weaiyi of the world is ours. This wealth has come through the peaceful industry of our peo ple, not through the destructive ability of our army. Yet 72 per cent of the govern ment revenue of the. United States goes for war, war purposes and the results of war, and only 28 per cent. Is used for furthering the arts, the sciences and commerce. Ninety-six of our farmers out of a hundred flounder to market through almost impossible mud during certain seasons of the year, but all the time we are building dreadnoughts and recruiting men to man them. Arrangements are now under way for an International Congress of the Nations. The first session is to be held in San Francisco in 1915. when plans will be effected for the permanence of the congress. It will be made up of 100 of the very best and strongest men In the world. And its membership will be so distinguished that any individual who is nominated can not afford to decline to serve. The first intent of the congress is to'bring about a. federation of the twelve great PoYvers, to the end that disarmament shall follow. Today we have generated a world spirit, and It. only remains to give the world spirit a voice, through an international congress, to make It effective as a counsellor and a con ciliator. In 1899 we rushed to war with Spain to right a wrong. An inter national congress that could have turned a cosmic megaphone on Spain would have caused her to right her wrong herself. Our In terference was meddlesome, costly and in great degree ineffective. When great commercial institu tions can eliminate competition and get together on a community of-interest basis, and one institu tion minister to the world instead of doing business through a hun dred little, warring, fighting fac tions, surely the question of four teen great world Powers getting together on a mutual understand ing is not an idle dream. . man’s responsibility for his uttered word. And in general, as human relations become more delicate and intricate in their adjustment, words acquire a prodigious power to hurt or help. It might be safe to set down the rule, provisionally, that it should "be lawful for a man to propose and recommend by speech and print the doing of anything that It is lawful to do. Thus it should, of course, be a crime to advise the commission of a crime. And it should be unlawful to use words in such a manner as tends to subvert the meaning and purpose of the law. But such precepts need to be pressed closer home before they ■can amount to much as working principles. We need to clear our minds as to what is the genius and spirit of modern law before we can judge what kind of speech should be con demned as libellous or against pub lic policy. Now the actual social order in America is industrial, and is based on property rights. This is a working society and its master aim is to put the people in possession of the materials of ex istence. This aim is not to be thought of as necessarily sordid, for the process of earth-subdual and material production is seen to involve the tine goods of art and all the spiritual issues. Therefore, it is not and should not be lawful in America for a man to use his tongue or pen to destroy rights of property so far as they are genuine and legitimate rights. Speech and the press can not be too free or too bold In attacking ostensible property rights that are . not authentic. The whole battle for freedom of utterance is likely to be waged around the question of the authen ticity of certain contestible prop erty rights. When tlie battle is over we shall probably settle down to the general conviction that property is inviola ble. whatever Its amount In the hands of an individual, so long as the manner of its use and tenure tends to diffuse property through out the whole community, and that otherwise It has no legitimacy. A man may be as rich as he can, if his being rich helps to make everybody else rich. But if his riches make the community poor he will be fair game for anybody with a barbed tongue or a trenchant pen.