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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. 1879
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, $5.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
You Agree That the People
Should Choose the Pres
ident—-Don’t You?
» » ».
If You Do, You Are in Favor 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
manage things in the regular old way.
Ordinarily, 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, no mat
ter how thev might feel, would have nothing whatever to say
about it.
But this year something different has been done. The peo
■ pie have been permitted at primal',' elections to express their
preference. They have had a chance to say what particular
man they wanted for president of the I Hited States.
’ Therefore, the choice of a president has not been left ex
clusively to corporations, bosses and political hacks on the pub
lic payroll. Those that want Roosevelt have had a chance to
sa' that they want him. Those thatLwant Taft have had a
chance 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 thex can't do it 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 are 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 he 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
election.
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 sax. "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
machinery is ready under the initiative for the people themselves
to start what they want and put it through.
This countn 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 SELFISH MEN. KNEW ALL ABOUT THOSE THINGS.
Corporations and bosses knew every candidate, just what he
would do. and therefore they took the right kind for themselves
AND THE WRONG KIND FOR THE PEOPLE.
It is no wonder that the people were not interested in gov
ernment, since they had nothing, to say about it. We are not
interested in the management of China or of the planet Mars, for
we have no power there and consequently no interest.
Now that the people haw power, interest in politics, in gov
ernment and in the character of officials, we will develop. The
excitement over this convention will be a ven 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. PREFERENTIAL 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 YOU 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, to ex
plain to your neighbor the meaning of the preferential primary,
the meaning of rhe initiative, the referendum, the recall, and to
show him that the time has come for the citizens of this coun
try to govern the country. ..
The Atlanta Georgian
HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE
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 Ui I, *
uiiM Mill
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c’;Y' ■/f*'. . J , j y
Vii riiffnt 1 i >'
• .-Vk 1 II! I I/lilhlil ilTniH;.il ImTuiTikili
ii
-
No. 12.
Yum made his headquarter-, in 1 he 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 hits of lunch 4 and
allowed him to sleep on the stairs.
The regulars kidded old 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
To Be Continued.
The Pathways of Empire a
tGood 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 'ong,
on which one may start from New
York in his motor ear. or. if he
chooses, in his buggy, and. rapidly
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 Utah, "half a w orld be
hind each back," as Bret Harte put
it. at the junction point of the
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,
tba' the railway should precede
the highway in surmounting the
crest of the continent.
And now the highway, whose ad
vance is an expression of the set
tled purpose of growing people, fs
following the lead of the road of
iron A few w eeks ago, as you may
real! in the June number of Motor
magazine, there was organized at
Kansas City the National Old Trails
Road association, whose aim is the
realization, at the earliest possible
moment of the project outlined
above. The fact must be recog-
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1912.
Bv GARRETT P. SERVISS
nized that this project has grown
out df 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
years have elapsed, it will be pos
sible to make the trip comfortably
between New York and San Fran
cisco.’ in an ordinary touring car,
wdthin the space of a week.
The name "Old Trails" awakes
recollections of some of the most
romantic scenes \n the history of
the great West. The Cumberland
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
those names, by recollection of the
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
West, with no stop this side of the
Pacific shores? To follow, on a
magnificent highway, borne in a
swift, smoothly ryhning 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. We
have 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 are improved—i. e..
built upon scientific principles and
kept in repair—while in Europe,
which has, all told, less than half as
many miles of road as the United
States, practically all the roads are
Improved. There are historic rea
sons 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 some sympathizer. He was living;
that was enough.
have ceased to apply, and now, at
'last, the tables are beginning to
turn, for we are spending more
' money annually on road improve
ment than France, Germany and
England combined. But we must
spend more yet, and wo are rich
enough to do it.
The narrow-minded idea once
entertained by some persons that
the making of improved roads is
simply a benefit to the fortunate
owners of automobiles, is fast giv
ing way 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.
Tiie stimulus that would he af
forded by a great trans-continental
highway would be incalculable. It
would give rise to Improved roads
on all sides. They would branch
out from tne main artery’ in every
direction. To say nothing of the
practical 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
states 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 and
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 the workers are inter
ested in what they are doing. All
work and no play may make Jack
a dull hoy. but al! play and no work
makes him a duller boy , even on a
holiday.
THE HOME PAPER
Dorothy Dix
Writ e s
-of-
The Friendship J
of Man and
Wife ! ’
—AND- r
What the Phrase
‘‘Friend Wife” WgMy.
Means
By DOROTHY DIX
THERE Is one slang phrase
that always, makes a hit
with me, and that is "Erlend x
wife.”
Do you get that? FTiend 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
whole of the law and the prophets
as regards how to be bappy 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
matiy 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 wffh him. if he can help him
self. when he wants to have a good
time.
Can Pick Married Couples
By Bored Expressions.
If you 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
sittinggup 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
married couples. You can pick I
them out by their bored expres
sions.
Then did you ever notice the pit
iful paucity of conversation in t lie
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 abaut it. Yet the hus
band may be famed as a wit and a
raconteur in society, and his wife
considered as unusually bright and
vivacious in company. Both of
them have plenty to say to other
people, but they have nothing to
say to each other because they are
not friends.
They may be lovers. hut the
lovers’ litany te short, whereas the
repertoire of friendship is exhaust
less. You soon weary of asking tlie
adored one "Ooose 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 but a mirror
in which you see your own
thoughts glorified, and who touches
no subject but to turn a brighter
and more entrancing light upon it.
What is a friend? A friend is
the one to whom you 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 patrimony that one of the
first things that the average hus
band finds out is that he can’t even
be frank with his wife xvithout 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 fell 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 ladies, 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 bis real con
fidante in "friend wife."
Nor are women any more for
tunate in this respect.' It doesn’t
take long for a clever 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 f
on him as little as possible.
When a woman wants to discuss
a problem play, or a new novel, nr
her clubs, or the suffrage move
ment, she is rarely fortunate
enough to be able to do so with
her husband. Uor the average man
isn't interested in the things that
his wife is. and h<= doesn't even
make a pretense of being. There
fore, the wife's friends are of her
o\j/n sex if she is a good woman,
and of the opposite sex if she is a
foolish and a flighty one. but her
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 fieauty 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 bard labor unless they
have a friendship for each other
that makes this enforced compan
ionship a never-ending joy to both.
Therefore, when a man hails the '
partner of his bosom as "F’riend
Wife' we know that he has given
the high .-ign anti the password
to ; h<. Lodge ~f -he Happib ilar
rie(4 _
