Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, June 26, 1912, HOME, Image 18

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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-claws matter at post off c at Atlanta, under act of March 3. 1*73. Subscription Price- Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week. By mail, $5.00 a year. Payable in advance. — t A Conceited, Shuffling and Insipid Platform Any living num who should completely embody in the flesh the qualities of I lie Republican platform, just published from ( hi cago, would show in bis face and figure such piisillanimoiisness of character that he would certainly be added to the number of the unemployed. It may be too severe to say that this ambiguous and cowardly document reflects the eharactcrW the gentleman who presided over the Republican platform commit fee. Let us rather say that the. character of the platform is the character ol Mr. Fairbanks —car- tooned. It is Fairbanks exaggerated and raised to supernatural degree of flubdub and forcible feebleness. It is boastful of the past, wholly self-salislied with the present, ard weak and vacillating in everything but standpatism for the future. If has no definite program on any public question. It dis misses every living, pressing issue either in silence or with vague terms which mean nothing. To analyze the contents of this document seems a little like describing the anatomy of a tub of lard. But a few specifications may be attempted. To begin with, the platform is very notable for the things it docs not contain. Il is, of course, wholly vacant on the subject of the vast transforming national movement for direct primaries— since the direct primaries came pretty near putting an everlasting end to the kind of convention that made this platform. All refer ence to direct legislation is also eloquently absent. A tepid article deprecating the ideas that misbehaving judges should ever be re called is buried in a flourish of phrases about “the integrity of the courts." aud so on. Concerning all the defaults of the Taft administration in such matters as conservation, parcels post, merchant marine and the en forcement of pure food laws the plat form brags—but promises uoth ing. The party has no program. Ou the subject of the tariff, which could not be avoided, the platform is so blind to the dreadful record of the Republican party and so barren of promises of repentance that it first glorifies lire present tariff and then admits in a single sentence that some tariff taxes are too high and ought to be reduced ; but it makes no promise to reduce them. Indeed, it clearly promises the favored interests that if the Re publican party is again entrusted with power, nothing will be done to the tariff for at least four years, for it demands the continuation of the tariff board. Mr. Taft's excuse for vetoing the tariff reduc tion hills sent to him l>v the present Democratic house and Repub lican senate passed in obedience Io an overwhelming public senti ment was that his tariff board, which had been at work nearly two years collecting information on which to recommend changes, had uot at that time reported. I'bo Tait tariff board has since re ported and confessed its inability to recommend any definite rates. The Republican platform demand lor the continuation of the tariff board is. therefore, a sufficiently definite promise to the privileged interests that their tariff favors shall not bJ withdrawn or curtailed Ss long as Mr. Taft is president. Again, the plank on “monopoly and privilege’’ is a study in the art of offending everybody by a too abject subservience to a privileged class. The machine politicians who ruled the Republican convention were so anxious to avoid any lightest suggestion that the great corporate combinations should be legally controlled that they have committed their party to the absurd doctrine that there ought not to be any combinations at all and that every check put upon com petition is criminal. The insincerity or hypocrisy of this is plain. Nothing is plainer than the fact that public service corporations and many other cor porations that are not usually called by that name can not possibly he regulated bv competition, Bl’T MI’ST BE REGULATED BY LAW But, of course, the employers of the bosses who will approve the Republican platform know that the Chicago epistle, however imperfectly worded, is full of love and devotion. Not only in its tariff plank, but in every line and between the lines, it is a faithful promise to the favored interests that the party will do as little as possible to bother them in the future. The failure of the Republican platform to touch even with the lightest hand certain matters that the people are determined to have and that “the interests" arc trying desperately to keep from them, such as the direct election of Inited States senators and the income tax, leaves the high road of politics wide open V> the Democrats at Baltimore There can be no question that the new party that Mr. Roose velt is nursing into life will seize upon these great popular de mands Tlfey are strong in Hie East, but in the West they have achieved’an overwhelming power The Baltimore convention would miss the greatest opportunity that has been offered to the Democratic part} in half a century if it failed to commit itself with utter simplicity ami clearness to the whole great cause of popular progress. Higher Pay For Teachers of the Nation Or. Claxton, I nited States cojnmissioner of education, has COine out with a plea dor higher paid and more thoroughly equipped teachers. For th* past ten tears he shows that the average annual income of our teachers, inclusive of those in the high schools, has been less than Solti 1 . In eleven states the average is less than S4OO, in eight less than S3OO, in two less than $250: and he remarks: “For salaries like this it is clearly impossible to hire the services of men and women of good ability and sufficient train ing scholarship and experience. More'over. the large majority of the teachers are men and women under t wentv-one. ’lhe ex penditure for public education is less than $5 per capita in twenty-five states, and less than halt that in ten states. No wonder with a tax burden so comparatively light, does the commissioner urge more liberal salaries for those who shape the destiny of the nation through the .schoolroom. The Atlanta Georgian When Did Mind Begin? * By Garrett P. Serviss .1/ Least Twice (),000 Years Ago Man lias Already an Artist and a Mechanic (The e pictures are reproduced by p» rmi:---inn f ••m The (’".'■•nopolil an Magazine 0" Jul-, i • PROFESHoR ALFRED HER TIG. Ihe distinguished di rector of the Peslalozzi insfi- I ne ip Zurich, opens lip, in The Cosmopolitan Magazine for July, one of tiie most wonderful glimpse-' Into the beginnings of human his tory that it is possible to imagine. We have got past the days when, misled by a. mistaken chronology all but a few progressive thinkers believed that man’s first appear ance on tills earth was made sud denly' 6,000 years ago. Science no longer refers to Adam, ft lias dis covered no facts about Adam. But ii lias discovered an abundance of facts about men who lived so long anterior to the traditional time of Adam that he seems quite a mod ern instance. Millions of men and women were dwelling about the Mediterranean sea. amt in the val leys of the Nile and the Euphrates, and developing civilizations which 4'f **y f*4/jB - 2r A "x* 4 HR^' :r^riß|W^l^M l V& ’A*' Ww*- -- z S z ’ SllliESflUi -_«r*v The top picture shows workmen employed in the stratum of La Micogne in the near vicinity of Les Eyzies, while the center picture shows the complete skeleton of a huge prehistoric man found at that place. arouse our admiration, much more than 6,000 years ago. They were erecting palaces in Crete perhaps ® ns long as MOO years ago. Rut even these people seem mod ern tn comparison with other early men that we are beginning to learn something about. In the sunny land of southwestern France, as recent exploration shows, men lived in large communities at least 12,000 years ago. Yoh may see the illus trations of Professor Hertig’s ar ticle, photographs of skulls and skeletons of some of these people, and also of Ihe beautiful bone nee dles, with perfect eyeholes for thread, which they made, and the great rocky hill which they turned into a subterranean city, and the pictures which they drew', with ar tistic skill, on stones and walls, rep resenting Ihe horses, deer, buffalo, birds, wild hogs and other ani mals of their times. How Many Years? Taking these together with other remains of man found elsewhere, which represent several long stages of progress, and noting that even the earliest skulls of men were plainly superior to those of any other Animal, one asks himself: How many tens of thousands of years must not man have existed, as a peculiar species, higher than all others on the earth, and how far back must wo go in order to find a type of man not character ized by an intelligence vastly great er than that of the brutes? That man did not begin every where at the same time in the same stage of evolution seems clear enough from the fact that in simi lar epochs early man showed dif ferent degrees of devehtpmcnl in different countries, or in different parts of the same country. This Is exactly what we see today. Some favored parts of the world are now Inhabited b\ men who have at tained a marvelous ivillzation, while other parts are the homes of men who an- relatively mere sav ages. Every body knows that man kind is divisible into a considerable number of different races, vary ing in color, in physical make-up. in in tellectual power, in ideas but no- Editorials by Readers ot The Georgian COUNCIL'S ECONOMIES. To the Editor of Tito Georgian: I noticed a few days ago that tile council had held up vouchers for trips of some of the officials to conventions, among them being that of the adult probation officer. It strikes mo that it was one of the smallest things 1 have seen them do -and that's saying lots. Other officials had made their an nual trip to their respective asso ciations and retmn. when all of a sudden, without any notice what soever to the expectant officials, the cmtnell was seized with a fit of (vimoinical virtue and hollcted out WEDNESDAY. JUNE 21 i. 1912. /> // I I // JBo '' \\ // * I / j|i // // body has ever yet been able tn dis cover the real origin of any’ one of these races. Their history ante dates all records. We can mix the races, mingling their blood and com pounding their characteristics, for they are all alike, men and women, but how did they acquire their dif ferences to begin with? The Power There. Yet, in one respect they arc not different. They ah possess similar feelings, similar emotions and sim ilar minds They all carry' the common birthmark of intellect. In some it Is but little developed, BUT THE POWER IS THERE, and it is always at least sufficiently- devel oped to make its possessors in comparably’ superior to any other kind of animal. You can make a savage comprehend the idea of justice, but you can not. by’ any effort make it comprehensible to a gorilla. It is impossible to find a tribe of human beings, However low in the scale of eivilizatiftn, who do not manifest the common qualities of humanity, although they may be distorted, or latent, or covered up. When and how- did these qualities originate? / Think for a moment what those pictures, drawings, paintings in ochre, and carvings, found in the once man-inhabited caves of France, and made at least 12,000. and perhaps much more than 12,- 000 years ago, mean. Notwith standing their lack of artistic skill, thc.v show, that the artistic instinct was already alive and In full oper ation Those early men not only SAW what the brutes did not see, but they invented away to REP RESENT WHAT THEY SAW. Consider those bone needles, ob serve how well they are made, and look particularly at the eye-holes. It Is a vast, almost immeasurable chasm that yawns between the power of thought and of reasoning tlie making of those holes implies and the dull instinct of lire mere animal, w hich never learns Io do a new thing, but continues, for thousands of generations, to follow the same ways pursued by its an < estors. The first troglodyte who thought of making a needle and thread for his wife to make and mend his garments with was as that 'twas wrong, anyway, atft it sounded very sincere coming on the heels of their .gross negligence, carelessness at* indlfferenco-to expense-for value received school building deals. HARDY J CI.ARK. Chauncey . Ga \ INSANITARY CONDITIONS. To the-Editor of The Georgian I beg the privilege of making a complaint against the city sani tary department for permitting the mammoth livery stable on the Washington street bridge to dump its manure in the open, where it G7 'IKS ex, ’ I ''h /\x lSmb* ! *’ ‘IwV mXxJgg Le Moutier cave, where evidences of earliest civilization have been found. groat ail inventor as Edjson -and even greater, in the sense in which Archimedes was greater than all the physicists who have since, with growing light, improved on his discoveries. Suppose we could call back to life one of those artists who painted pictures, with powdered ochre, mixed in his blood, on the walls of the grotto of the Font de Gaume, and lead him into the Metropolitan Museum. Do you think that he would not recognize what our pic tures essentially mean, and that if we put a palette and brushes into his hands and trained him for a few years he would not be able to turn out very good modern pictures himself? Not So Out-of■ Date. Suppose we could revive one of the mothers of that early race and put a modern baby in her lap. Do you think that she would not quickly show that, she understood lhe. nature of a child and how io soothe and care for ii and how to amuse it? How long do you imag ine it would he before she could ■wear a hobble skirt and a rowdy hat as gracefully as any of her Twentieth Century sisters? She might even give them lessons in the art of leading a dog by a '--trine We must learn not to look down 100 contemptuously upon the cavo dweller of 12,0(10 years ago, for lie was a great man in his day and Im worthily upheld the traditions, whieh-in.-iy already h;»ve been an cient. of Ihe '-uperioriry of the hu man mind. Is exposed to this prolific June weather, rots and reeks and incu bates flies by the trillion! The poor people of this city wore made to spend something like SIOO.- oi'o for garbage cans with lids to them, and other strenuous efforts wi re made to swat the (badly flv; early in the spring a number of poor washerwonjeti were fined the limit for not cleaning their prem ises promptly, but all rtr efforts hav > been defeated by the big sta bles ind the indifference «f our p; mpered sanitary department. The deadly fly is mo. numerous taan ever. Very truly, A I’ll >N EER CITIZEN. THE HOME PAPER Dr. Parkhurst’s Article Ajudge’sDecreeAgainst F Hy a Socialist ---and— The Profession of Voca- tional Tailoring Written For The Georgian Rv the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst A SORE spot is not healed by being rubbed with acid: neither is bitterness of spirit sweetened by being treated to doses of vinegar and nutgall. There is a kind of s-qppresston that operates as stimulus and it lias become a proverb that the . blood outlie martyrs is the seed of the church. In this we are thinking of Judge Hanford's attempt to check So cialism by canceling the naturali zation papers of Leonard Oleson. Qleson confessed to being a Social istic advocate of radical changes in the institutions of the country, and the judge undertook to scourge Socialism over Oleson's shoulders. It does not appear that the Swede had been guilty, of any ylisloyal act or of any treacherous sentiment as toward the interests of the coun try; but only of having opinions of his own as to the way in which those interests could be best promoted*- opinions, by the way. with which those of Judge Hanford did riot coincide. He is not charged with having broken any law, or with having in any way violated the constitu tion, but only with cherishing the belief, and with a (tempting to prop agate the belief, that there are re spects in which the constitution can be improved.! No Advocate of 6-Year Term Fit To Be a Citizen. His attitude, so far forth, is the attitude of evej-y man who is the advocate of any constitutional amendment, or who propagates the doctrine of a six-ycar term for the president. The Chicago Herald remarks that "Oleson has as much right to ad vocate Socialism as other citizens have to advocate the recall of judges, government railroads or the single tax.” Socialism may be more sweeping in its effects than the lengthening of the presidential term, but in one case, as in the other, the attack made is not against the country, but against particular methods of caring for its interests. It is a question whether the situation is not one that calls rather impeachment of the judge fhatFfor depriving the Swede of his natu ralization papers. Whatever rtuy be said for nr against Socialism. Judge Hanford's method of dealing with it is more calculated to make Socialists than to unmake them. There are certain kinds of weed of which it is said that the smaller the pieces into which one cuts them the more rap idle they propagate. »» * • ANEW profession has recently been opened up. which might take the name of "vocational tailoring.” which has for its object to fit people out with Publicity and Pragmatism By ELBERT HUBBARD. Copyright, 1912. by International News Service PUBLICITY eliminates pretence. The faker can not work in a club. * Falsehood makes for friction. Truth and love are lubricants. Where many people are involved nothing goes but truth. The sunlight of publicity de stroys the ptomaines of fraud. The faker withers before the fact. As Ihe planets are held in place through 'opposition of forces, so *are mon held in the straight and narrow way of truth through pub- , li'- opinion. The ad clubs of America are great and important factors in the process of making mefi unionists. The ad crafters stand for ethics in the highest sense, and also they stand for effectiveness and effi ciency. < The ad clubs form, in them selves. a university. The public meeting once a week for a midday lunch of an ad club will, in the eoulse of a year, evolve every nicinber from a villager into a cos mopolite. No man can get into an ad club and wrap his ignorance about him. rind_,tuek in his prejudices, feeling safe and secure. Srnugosit.v dies a-horning. Foolishness is given the smile audible. Selfishness flies out through the window. An advertising club is a pooling p oposition. Everybody puts in al! he knows, and takes out all h" can carry away. And what he takes away is in reality what he puts in. We keep things by giving them away. Thus we get a practical ■ monism, or a scientific pragmatism. And pirfgmatism is simply the science of a senSihk selfishness or. if you prefer, (-all it enlightened self-interest. Pragmatism is the law of self px -> (ration illumin' d bv loti of kind. the kind of business, trade or pro fession that is bet fitted to their individual temperament, talents and general aptitudes. Expert Has Accomplished Practical Results. It also undertakes to correct mis fits, as when a man goes to a ready made clothing shop, purchases the first article that offers, then has if worked over to a shape suited to lits physical stature and propor tions. Lnder the auspices of the New Vock V M. ('. A. some rather prac tical results appear to have been already accomplished along' this line at the hand of an expert Im ported front across the water. There is nothing unreasonable In the idea and there is certainly a wide field for its operations, con sidering the hit-or-miss way in which Hie majority of young people drop into their employment and their life work. Wo should be funny looking peo ple if we took no more pains to se lect our garments with reference to age. sex. dimensions and general contour than we do to choose our employment with a view to its adaptations to us personally. Some people have no ph'yslcal figure to speak of. and one style and shape of garment will be as becoming as another, and no style and shape becoming at all. • So there are people that appear to have no particular aptitude for any kind of service and will do one sort of work as well, or rather as poorly, as any other. But even 'in such case it may be that the trou ble is simply that while the apti tude is there it is so concealed as to escape discovery. It is a. pleasant doctrine and rather a reasonable one that every one is particularly fitted for some thing. No two leaves are dupli cates. no two trees, no two faces: and it lies close by to suppose that ■ no two individuals have exactly the same quality or quantity of talents and that each one’s peculiarity, if only it can be detected, furnishes the key to the special work he can best do. The expert omploymd by the New York V. M. C. A. claims to have an eye enabling him to take the tailor measure of the inward contour of people. May Do Something To Diminish Misfits. As above said, results seem al ready in a degree to justify his claim, and he is being profession ally’ consulted by those who either have not decided upon their calling or have stumbled into one to which they are not adapted. If there is as much in this idea as we would like to hope, and if pat ents and school teachers would turn towardjt an earnest attention, it may be that something will be done toward diminishing the amount of present misfits and con serving a part of the talents that are misapplied and run to waste. Righteousness is a form of com mon sense. Business is the science of hu man service. t’ornmerde is eminently’ a divine calling, and the word commercial should never be used as an epithet save by the man with a guinea hen mind. The creed of an ad club is short and concise. It runs something as follows: CREDO: I believe in myself. I believe in the goods 1 elf I believe in tin ti in for whom 1 work. I believe in my colleagues and helpers. I believe in American bu Inc a met hods. I believe in the officiengy of printers' ink. 1 believe in producers, creators, manufacturers, distributors, and in all industrial workers who have a job and holfl jt down. I believe that truth is an asset. I believe in good cheer, and in good health: and I recognize the fact that the first requisite in suc cess is not to achieve the dollar, but to confer a benefit: and the re ward will come automatically and as a matter of course I believe in sunshine, fresh air, spinach, apple sauce, buttermilk, laughter, babies, bombazine, chif fon. always remembering that the greatest word in tin- English lan guage is ''suffi 'iency.” I believe that when I make a sale I must make a friend. And I belieX'- that when I part wit Ii n man I must do it in such ii way (hat when lie secs me again lie will be glad and so will I. I believe in tin- bands that work, io iln- brain- that think, and in th® hearts that low. Amen and amen.