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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. 1879
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail. 16.00 a year
Payable in advance.
You Agree That the People
Should Choose the Pres
ident—Don’t You?
KMX
If You Do, You Are in Fayor of Preferential Primaries, Initia
tive and Referendum—And Control of the Public Generally.
There is an interesting condition at Chicago. The regular
politicians, owned by the regular corporations, are not able to
nianagr things in the regular old way.
Ordinarilv. they would have gone quietly to Chicago. Ne
gro delegates and white delegates, controlled through the power
of national government and patronage, would gather at Chicago
and name Mr. Taft for the presidency. And the people, iro mat
ter how thev might feel, would have nothing whatever to say
about it.
Rut this vear something different has been done. The peo
ple have been permitted ar primary elections to express their
preference. Tin .' have had a cham-■ t<> say what particular
man they wanted for president of the I’nitcd States.
Therefore, the choice of a president has not been loft ex
clusivoh to corporations, bosses and political hacks on the pub
lic pavroll. Those that want Roosevelt have had a chance to
say that they want him. Those that want Taft have had a
chame to express themselves.
In the Democratic camp, without the preferential primary
and the chance which it gives to the public, the bosses might
have named the distingushed advocate of Chinese labor. Profes
sor Wilson. But jhey can’t do if now. since the biggest Demo
cratic cities have declared that they would have nothing to do
with Wilson, and that they wanted Champ Clark.
The conventions arc interesting, worth while. They have a
meaning this year, because back of them and preceding them
there is the expressed will of the people.
In the past the man who wanted to be president stayed
quiet and silent in his own house. The great thing was not to
talk, not to be known, not to do anything or say anything—and
then at the last moment convince the corporations and the bosses
that you were a safe man and would safely serve them after
elect ion. •
That is changed now the thing to do. now that the peo
ple have a chance to express their preference, is to do some
thing that will interest the people show interest, show activity,
show power and integrity.
The man who can now prove himself powerful, honest, re
sourceful and a real democrat is able to go before the people
and say. “I want to be president if you want to have me.”
In the past, when the bosses did the whole thing, that
could not happen.
The preferential primary, which is part of the general idea
of REFERENDUM, or referring important matters to the peo
ple. will extend in all directions.
The referendum, in the shape of the preferential primary,
lets the people say whom they prefer for president. The ref
erendum. regarding laws, constitutional amendments and other
important matters, will give the people a chance to say what
they prefer to do in regard to all such matters.
And when the bosses hold back, and the politicians hold
back, and matters are not put before the people, then THE IN
ITIATIVE gives the people the right and the opportunity to begin
legislation or any public enterprise on their own account—the
machiner.' is ready under the initiative for the people themselves
to start what thev want and put it through
This country has suffered because the citizens, as a whole,
WERE NOT INTERESTED IN GOVERNMENT.
They knew little about their rulers, little about the men
chosen for office, little about the laws passed.
Whereas THE CORPORATIONS, THE BIG. DISHONEST
AND SEI,FISH MEN. KNEW ALL ABOUT THOSE THINGS.
Corporations and bosses knew every candidate, just what he
would do. ami therefore th. v took the right kind for themselves
AND THE WRONG KIND FOR THE PEOPLE.
It is tm wonder that the people were not interested in gov
ernment. since they bad nothing to sa\ about it. We are not
interested in the management of China or of the planet Mars, for
we have no power then and consequently no interest.
Now that the people hav power, interest in polities, m gov
ernment and in the character of oftieials. we will develop The
excitement over this convention will be a verv small thing as
compared with the conventions that are to come
Intelligent men AND THE WOMEN As WELL of this
country will choose the employees to look after their welfare and
do their big work in office. PRE EE K ENTI AI. primaries, the RE
CALL, which allows you to put a dishonest official out of office;
the REFERENDUM. which refers things to the people, and the
INITIATIVE, which lets the people begin their own legislative
and other work those are the things which will make this a
real republic and make the word democracy a reality instead of
a corporation joke.
It is not sufficient that AOl should understand this It is
not good citizenship to say. “Oh. I know all about that. I have
it all by heart." It is good citizenship to talk to others, m Px .
plain to your neighbor the meaning of the preferential primal".,
the meaning of the initiative, the referendum, the r.-.-all and to
show hyn that the time has come lor the citizens of this eouu
try to govern the country. n _
The Atlanta Georgian
HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE
That Is What Nine Men Out of T*n Who Are Failures Say. Look Out That You Don’t Say It Yourself.
By TAD
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No. 12.
Yura made his headquarters in Ihe Bowery
saloon, as he knew of no other place where, he
was as welcome. For two years he was there
helping out on odd jobs. He couldn’t do much.
He swept out, ran errands and washed the
windows. The boss gave him bits of lunch and
allowed him to sleep on the stairs. ■
The regulars kidded nld Yum now. Gray
hairs began to sprinkle in among the black,
and once every week regularly Yum got a
black eye in an argument. He was seldom
without a shiner.
Some of the gang liked Yum, however. He
The Pathways of Empire
. Good Roads Are the Arteries That Carry the Life Blood of a Nation.
ONE of the greatest projects for
the advancement of the power,
wealth and civilization of
America is the plan of a transcon
tinental highway, running uninter
ruptedly from the Atlantic to the
Pacific —a highway 3,200 miles long,
on which one may start from New
York in his motor car. or, if he
chooses, in his buggy, and. rapid!?
or leisurely, as he may prefer, go
all the way to San Francisco, trav
eling continually on a hard, smooth,
perfectly kept road, whether the
way lies through the Appalachian
hills or the plains of the middle
West, or the snow-topped peaks of
the Rockies.
Highway Now Follows
Lead of Iron Road.
Forty-three years ago the en
gines met in I'tah. "half a world tie
hind each back," as Bret Harte put
It. at the junction |>olnt of tlie
first transcontinental railway ever
constructed anywhere on this plan
et. It was characteristic of Ameri
can enterprise, which seizes the
newest and the swiftest things first,
ilia' tbe railway should precede
the highway in surmounting the
crest of the continent
And now tlie highway, whose ad
vance is an expression of the set
tied purpose of growing people, Is
following the lead of tlie road of
iron A few weeks ago. as you may
read In the June number of Motor
magazine, there was organized at
Kansas City 'he National Old Trails
Read a-rociatlon. whose aim Is the
r*ali.ation at the earliest possible
moment of the project outlined
above. Tlie fact must be recog- 1
MONDAY. JUNE 17. 1912
To Be Continued.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS
nlzed that this project has grown
out of the wonderful development
of the motor car. which has done
more than any other influence for
the improvement of the roads of
this country. Perhaps, before many
yerfrs have elapsed, it will he pos
sible to make the trip comfortably
between New York and San Fran
cisco, in an ordinary touring ear,
within the space of a week.
* The name "Old Trails" awakes
recollections of some of the most
romantic scenes In the history of
the great West. The ('umberland
pike, Braddock’s road. Boone's
Lick Road, the Santa Fe trail.
Kearney’s road—whose imagina
tion is not stirred at the mention of IS
those name?, by recollection of the 1
adventures and perils of the early
pioneers, who braved the hardships
of the wilderness and the dangers
of Indian attacks, to spread Amer
ican enterprise over the marvelous
W est, with no stop this side of the
Pacific shores? To follow, on a
magnificent highway, borne In a
swift, smoothly running car, the
weary trail of the "Argonauts of
Forty-nine.” lured by the golden
sands of California —what could be
more romantically interesting?
But 7 Per cent of American
Road Are Improved.
But this trans-continental high
way has better claims than mere
romantic or scenic Interest upon
the people of this great nation. W'e
hove always led the world in rail
way construction, but we have
hitherto been behind in road mak
ing. Only seven per cent of our
American roads arc improved— i. e..
built upon Scientific principles and
kept in repair -while in Europe,
w hich has, all told, less than half as
man' miles of road as the I'nited
States, practically al) the road; a l ®
improved. There a'e hi. tori, rea
sutia for this, but those reasons
could tell funny stories and do card tricks. He
“ mooched ” drinks when one of the rounders
decorated the mahogany with a piece of
change.
Yum was a good-natured boob. He was the
butt of most of the jokes, and the bartenders
used to point him out as the guy that never
had a chance. Yet Yum had to eat and sleep,
and there was his home.
He picked up a dime once in a while doing
a small errand and occasionally got a hat or a
coat, from soing sympathizer. He was living;
that was enough.
have ceased to apply, and row, at
last, the tables are beginning to
turn, for we are spending more
money anjiually on road improve
ment than France, Germany and
England combined. But we must
spend more yet, and we are rich
enough to do it.
The narrow-minded idea once
entertained by some persons that'
Ihe making of improved roads, is
simply a benefit to the fortunate
owners of automobiles, is fast giv
ing w ay to a more enlightened view
as farmers begin to realize the fact
that the good roads help them even
more than they help the motorists.
Stimulus of Cross-Continent
Highway Incalculable.
The stimulus that would be af
forded by a great trans-continental
highway would he Incalculable. It
would give rise to improved roads
on all sides. They would branch
out from the main artery in every
direction. To aay nothing of the
practical advantages, mere shame
would soon banish all the mudhole
roads in the country traversed by
the great highway. To understand
what enthusiasm the cause of good
roads Is capable of awaking, read
the accounts in Motor of the cele
bration of "Good Roads Day" in the
suites of Washington and Colo
rado The people turned out for a
new kind of holiday—a holiday of
'work. Whole brigades of volun
teers set to work with picks ant
shovels and teams and road-mak
ing apparatus, and they had one
of the most enjoyable times of
their lives. And why should they
not? There is nothing so delight
ful and nothing so healthful as
work, when ihe workers are inter
ested tn what the' are doing. All
work and no play may make Jack
a dull boy. but al! play and no work
makes him i duller boy, e'en on a
holiday.
THE HOME PAPER
Dorothy Dix
Writes
...of— ; XdiWWib.''
The Friendship
of Man and '
Wife
—and-
What the Phrase
“Friend Wife’’
Means
By DOROTHY DIX
THERE is «w slang Phrase
that always makes a hit
with me, and that is ''Friend
wife.”
Do you get that” Friend wife!
It's what every man should be able
to call the woman to whom he is
married, and yet not one man in
ten thousand could truthfully use
the phrase. There are wives who
are sweethearts, wives who are af
finities. wives who are sparring
partners, wives who are. debating
opponents, wives who are tyrants,
wives who are slaves and domestic
drudges, but how seldom a wife
who is a friend! Yet the best thing
that any woman can be to her hus
band is to be his friend. It is the
n hole of the law and the prophets
as regards how to be ha.ppy though
married.
What is a friend? A friend Is
the one of whose companionship
you never weary—the one without
whose presence no pleasure is com
plete. How many men do you
know who feel that Way toward
their wives? The average wife is
many admirable things to her hus
band. but she is seldom a compan
ion. He esteems her for her noble
qualities, but he doesn't take her
along with him. if he can help him
self. when he wants to have a good
time.
Can Pick Married Couples
By Bored Expressions.
If j’ou desire to get a line on how
little companionship there is be
tween the great majority of hus
bands and wives watch them at the
theater, or at the restaurants, or
any of the other places of public
amusement. You will see them
sitting up In a silence so thick that
you could cut it with a knife,
yawning in each other's faces be
tween the acts of the play, and
stuffing themselves on bread and
butter at the restaurant while they
wait for their order to be served.
Not a word have they to say to
each other unless they get Into a
scrap about what they shall have to
eat, or whether they put the cat
out of doors when they left home.
In any company you do not need a
diagram to show' you which are the
man-led couples. You can pick
them out by their bored expres
sions.
Then did vou ever notice the pit
iful paucity of conversation in the
home? Husbands and wives seem
to have literally no topic in com
mon except the bills and the chil
dren The average family circle
might be composed of mutes for all
the cheerful and interesting talk
that goes about it. Yet the hus
band may he famed as a wit and a
raconteur in society, and his wife
considered as unusually bright and
vivacious In company. Roth of
them have plenty to say to other
people, but they have nothing to
sav to each other because they are
not friends
They may be lovers, but the
lovers' litany is? short, whereas the
repertoire of friendship is exhaust
less. You soon weary of asking the
adored one “Goose ducky is oo?”
and telling a woman how beautiful,
and wonderful, and angelic she is.
but you can talk forever to the
friend whose mind is but a mirror
in which you see your own
thoughts glorified, and who touches
no -object but to turn a brighter
and more entrancing light upon it.
What is a friend? A friend is
the one to whom vou can go with
every joy and sorrow, certain of
understanding, sure of sympathy
and help. How many men find
such a friend in their wives? How
many women have such friends in
their husbands? So few, so trag
ically, pitifully few!
Wife Becomes Hysterical
If Husband Is Frank.
It .Is one of the heartbreaking
facts of matrimony that one of the
first things ,that the average hus
band finds out is that he can't even
be frank with his wife without her
going into hysterics. He has to lie
to her when he wants to stay
downtown of a night and play a
game of cards, or go to dinner with
some man. He wouldn't dare to
tell her that he had happened to
meet some woman he knew near
the door of a restaurant and had
asked her to lunch with him. He'd
only tell these things to his friends
and not one of them would be
"friend wife.”
Why. the great majority of men
Are not Sufficiently friendly with
their wives to even talk over their
business with the ladles, or to open
up their hearts to them and show
them their hopes, and plans, and
ambitions. When they want to
talk about real things like that they
go to some man. It's mighty sel
dom that a man finds his real con
fidante in "friend wife.”
Nor are women any more for
tunate in this respect. It doesn't
take long for a elever woman to
discover that if she wants her
household machinery to move
smoothly she must keep most of her
real thoughts and ideas to herself,
and all of her troubles, and that
the best way to work her lord and
master is to make him comfort
able. and obtrude her soul longings
on him as little as possible.
When a woman wants to discuss
a problem play, or a new novel, or
her clubs, or the suffrage move-
- ment. she is rarely fortunate
enough to be able to do so with
her husband. For the average man
isn't interested in the things that
his wife is, and he doesn't even
make a pretense of being. There
fore. the wife's friends are of her
own sex if she is a good woman,
and of the opposite sex if she is a
foolish and a flighty one. but her
j best friend is not. as it should be,
friend husband.
It is because there is so little
friendship between husbands and
wives that there is so little marital
happiness, for the last estate of
married life must either be friend
ship or ruin.
Home Goes to Pieces if Not
Founded On Friendship. '
Ihe romance of courtship Is a
tissue of chiffon that wears to rags
and tatters with a year or two of
married life. Passion dies of sa
tiety, and then the home must go
to pieces like a house of cards un
less it was founded on the solid
rock of friendship. After the
glamour and the thrills of youth
and beauty and desire are gone
wedlock becomes the ball and chain
that bind two prisoners who are
linked together to do a life sen
tence at hard labor unless they
have a friendship for each other
that makes this enforced compan
ionship a never-ending joy to both.
Therefor . when a man hails the
partner of his bosom as ‘Friend
Wife” we know that he has given
the high sign and the password
to the Lodge o£ Happily Mar
nec<i fewfiUail *