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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Excent Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
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The Panama Canal Is Ours,
Not England’s
The English government protests against our using the Pan
ama canal as if we really owned it. There is an English theory
that Americans have no more rights in the canal than the Eng
lish have.
They point to a musty document and say to the American
people: “See, yon have forfeited your ownership ol the gigan
tic labor of your hands. You have paid the enormous tolls of
sweat and blood, but the canal belongs to anybody and every
body as much as it does to you. And whatever other tolls re
main to he paid for the upkeep of the great waterway yon must
pay, cent for cent and farthing for farthing -«tvlth h* English
and all the rest of the world, who have stood by at ease and
watcher! your herculean labor and gigantic expense at the Isth
mus.'’
Certainly, if there is anything on earth more colossal than
the Panama canal it is this impudence. The London Daily Mail
says:
r’ "It 1b Impossible to see on what grounds of law or ethics the United
/T-State* senate can defend the proposal to grant free tolls to American ships
passing through the canal. The United States may claim the right, exer
cised by other nations, of subsidizing its merchant service, but a general
subsidy Is not the same thing as a special refund of tolls paid for passages
through a canal in which the ships of all nations have equal rights; nor is
it practicable, without injustice, to exempt coastwise traffic, which, under
the navigation laws of the United States, is already reserved exclusively for
American ships.”
This statement is typical. The English press is unanimously
supporting the protests made by Ihe English government, and—
as always happens when questions of American rights are in
volved—not a few Tory New York newspapers aid Great Britain
and adopt her view. They not. only deny our right to lei Ameri
can transoceanic ships go, toll-free, through the canal, but even
our right Io pay the lolls out of our public purse—and also our
right to refrain from laying an embargo upon our own domestic
commerce!
The simple truth is, of course, that the Panama canal is
American property. We have bought it at a great price, and
paid for it. In the use of it we are under moral as well as
treaty obligations to treat all foreign nations alike and to fix
equitable tolls.
The senate has announced that it will consider Panama leg
islation this week. The senate will, of course, treat the protest
of the British government in the matter of Panama tolls with
such politeness as is due to a formal communication from any
friendly government on any subject.
Rut the American people will have no patience with the con
tention that we are precluded by the Hay-Pauncefote treaty from
letting our ships go toll-free through the canal —if we want to
do that. To the American people this whole agitation can hard
ly seem to be anything else but a stupendous British “bluff." It
recalls to mind the spectacular effort that the English made
when the Hay-Pauncefote treaty was pending to get into that
document a formal renunciation of our right to fortify the
canal.
It will be remembered that that earlier gust of British
bluster was met and silenced by a storm of American indigna
tion raised by the agencies of publicity which the Hearst papers
represent. It was the Hearst newspapers alone that aroused the
people—and through the people compelled the senate to see the
pusillanimous character of the proposal that the Panama canal
should be built at an expense of $300,000,000 and then left with
out defense. The Georgian feels itself impelled to voice the
rights of the American people against an amazing assumption of
the British government. We have no doubt that the patriotism
of the senate will make the same response in this ease that it did
when it compelled Secretary tiny to change the treaty to which
he had already agreed.
From the moment that our government took steps to fortify
the canal it was settled that we could not entertain any question
as to our right to defend our proprietary rights there and to
levy such tolls as we please.
In effect, the position taken by our government is as fol
lows :
First, that the Hay-Pauncefote treaty when it says that the
canal shall be “free and open to vessels of commerce and of
war of all nations on terms of entire equality” means substan
tially what an inkeeper would mean if he agreed that his house
should be open to all comers on equal terms. He would NOT
mean that he himself had no special rights in his own house. Tty
the same token, it is to be observed that every interstate railroad
which is now legally hound under the law to carry passengers
and freight without preference or discrimination is not precluded
from carrying its own employes and supplies free of charge
and is forbidden to carry other traffic free of charge.
Second, if the treaty had any other meaning than this, when
there was question of a canal through the foreign state of Nica
ragua, that other meaning certainly can not apply to the pres
ent canal—since it runs through our own domestic territories,
and is. therefore, to all practical intents, an inland waterway,
as truly as the Hudson river or the Mississippi.
■ To Theodore Roosevelt, more than to any other man, is
due the gratitude of the natron for the freeing of the canal from
all foreign entanglements. It was his courageous action in cut
ting a tangle of diplomatic red tape that brought about the ac
quisition of the canal zone and made the American title to the
canal forever incontestible. President Roosevelt deserves the
undying gratitude of his countrymen for this prodigious achieve
ment. By his own acts alone and solely on his own responsibility
he acquired the Panama zone for the I'nited States and made
the canal possible, just as President -lefferson made possible the
Louisiana purchase.
The pretensions of the British government tire divested of
even a specious semblance of cogency because the canal runs
through ou!’ own land.
The logical position of our government is that if Great
Britain insists that the Hay-Pau mefote treaty ties our hands.
I then we will put an end to that t reaty.
There is no canon of the law or comity of nations that van
prev-nt our abrogating a compact that has ceased to serve a
mutually useful purpose. And as between the denunciation of
th> old treaty and the vanv'Jlaiion of our ownership of the
'’anal the nation should not hesitate a moment.
The Atlanta Georgian
OVERBOARD!
Copyright. 1912. by International News Service
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fa Lthe whibitioh 1 I T / '
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Prohibitionists east Demon Rum into the briny deep at Atlantic City while
-asting about for a presidential candidate.
MATRIMONY DE LUXE
Bv DOROTHY I)LX.
HOW big a bank account should
a young man have before he
asks the modern maiden to
marry him'.'
A millionaire Chicago father,
whose daughter’s marriage to a
poor young man has been broken
off, has been expressing his views
on the subject, and this is what he
says: v
"If a young man expects to mar
ry the daughter of a well-to-do
family he should be prepared to
furnish her with the comforts of
her father's home She should have
tlie best food, clothes, amusements
ind friends, and her husband
should have a sufficient reserve
fund for any sort of sickness or
misfortune.
"In other words, when a girl
leaves her father's home to go with
a husband she should feel that there
has been little change in her life
-either in her habits, ideals, hopes,
ambitions, or material comfort. It
is the violent transitions that you
should avoid in marriage."
It is to be hoped that not many
fathers hold such expansive Views
of what a young man should be
able to give his wife when he mar
ries her as does this Chicago fa
ther Otherwise there is likely to
be a record-breaking crop of old
maids in the country.
Singular Lack of Sense.
Cor what this father demands is
that the young husband shall begin
where the father leaves off. that the
young man just commencing his
career shall be able to supply a
young woman with as many lux
uries as does her father, who has
hud a lifetime in which to make a
fortune.
No young man. unless he has in
herited money, is able to support a
wife in the comfort and style to
which she lias been accustomed as
the daughter of a successful father,
and any man who expects that of
a son-in-law is asking the Impos
sible, and also displaying a sin
gular lack of sense and judgment.
The young husband who can take
his bride to live in a tine house
with a host of servants, who can
give her automobiles and trips to
Europe, and the gowns and jewels
such a.-, site has been used to must
be the son of rich parents, accus
tomed to living on an allowance
himself, and the commonest ob
-ervation will show that not one
out of a hundred rich youths is fit
fm any woman to marry. As a
general thing they ao- idle, spoil
ed, worthh:., di ; -tpued. with no
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1912.
W .J I
dn ‘ljr It
DOROTHY DIX.
knowledge of money save how to
spend it.
It Is said that in America it is
but two generations front shirt
sleeves to shirt sleeves. Cot a girl
it may be said with equal truth that
when she marries she may decide
whether she would prefer to be
rich when she's young and poor
w hen she's old, or poor w hen she's
young and rich when she's old.
That is about the way it goes, for
the woman who marries the son of
a rich father usually dresses in
silks when she's young and is glad
to get homespuns when she’s old,
while the girl who married a poor
and ambitious young fellow and
pushed her own baby carriage when
she was young rides in her own
limousine when she is old.
Should Be Making Living.
.lust as a financial proposition,
and taking matrimony for the long
pud. as they say on Wall Street, it
is a better invesunent for a girl to
marry a man who is getting 42,500
a year as a salary that he Is earn
ing himself by his own ability than
one who has an income of $25,000
a year that he inherited, and that
represents somebody rise's intelli
gence and industry .
I do not advocate the folly of
marriage on a shoe string. Before
any man asks a woman to be his
wife he should be making a decent
living, enough to provide them with
the ordinary comforts of life,
enough to keep the w olf reasonably
far from the door, but if he can
do this, and if he has shown that
he is a real man who can stand on
his own feet and take care of hi*
own, the girl's father should be sat
isfied. He should ask no more
money of the suitor.
Nor should the girl. Any woman
who does not love the man she
marries well enough to do without
some of the luxuries she has been
accustomed to in her father's house
for his sake, has a pretty poor and
lukewarm brand of affection. If her
happiness depends on her having
as many clothes, and going to as
many plays, and giving as fine din
ners as she .has always done, the
man who misses getting her ought
to go down on his knees and thank
heaven for his escape.
She isn't a woman. She is a doll
baby. She hasn’t a heart. She is
stuffed with sawdust. She wouldn't
make a man a helpmate. She
would be a millstone around his
neck to the longest day of his ex
istence.
It Is. perhaps, natural that a fa
ther who has pampered his daugh
ter all of her life should desire that
she should always be kept in pink
cotton in a satin-lined box. but he
hasn't got any right to shunt this
burden on another man's shoulders.
It is nothing more than simple jus
tice that if he demands luxuries for
her he should supply them himself.
Dot System Is Good.
In this democratic country men
do not demand doweries with their
wives as they do on the continent,
but there is much to be said in fa
vor of the dot system. If a girl has
been raised up to be helpless, ex
travagant. with no knowledge of
how to cook or sew, it is no more
than fair that her parents should
furnish the money to gratify her
tastes and hire somebody else to
do the work they have not fitted
her to do, instead of demanding
that some poor young husband
shall slave himself to death to sup
port her.
The father who does not want tils
daughter to marry any but a rich
man deprives the girl of the great
est happiness that can come to any
woman, and that is of helping the
man she loves; of being the com
rade who stands shoulder to shoul
der with him while he fights his
battle for success, and who shares
with him every interest, every am
bition, and so becomes one with
him in a sense that no woman is
over one with the rich man she
marries.
That Is the great American ro
mance. It begins in two rooms and
a cook stove, and ends in a pulace:
whereas the marriage that begins
in an automobile and a bridal tour
to Europe only too often ends in
Reno.
THE HOME PAPER
Dr. Parkhurst’s Article
An Early Sermon of Mine
on Parsimony
—and—
Progress That Lasts Is PWI|
Slow
Written For The Georgian
By the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst
THE opinion that a man gains
of any moral quality by
reading about it or thinking
about it is very different from that ■
which he gains by practicing it.
This was very vividly illustrated
to me many years ago in the case
of a member, an esteemed mem
ber, of my little church in the
country. I had planned to preach
a sermon on parsimony. In prepar
ing a discourse of that kind it is
helpful and stimulating to have in
one's mental eye some personal rep
resentative, some embodiment of
the quality that is to be expounded.
In my parish there was one that
suited my purpose and who was
easily available.
I kept him imaginatively by the
■side of my study table during the
entire week in which the sermon
was in course of preparation.
The pen picture, so drawn, cut
pretty close to the vitals, and when
it was finished I was startled, and
not only startled but alarmed, by
its resemblance to the original, and
hesitated about taking it with me
into the pulpit.
For he was a center-aisle man,
which means a good deal to an im
pecunious minister who depends for
his meat and drink upon voluntary
contributions.
As Sunday drew on I trusted that
the day might prove rainy, thus se
curing the absence of my living ex
ample. But it was his habit to wor
ship rainy days as well as sunny
days, and he was there.
His Pew Was in Front,
So I Talked to Galleries.
His pew was well to the front,
and I took care to address myself
to the galleries rather than to the
auditorium proper. But even so, I
was quite sure that the public serv
ice would be followed by an after
meeting of a more private nature.
Hardly had the benediction been
pronounced when my anticipation
was realized.
My friend stepped to the front,
his face lit up with a singular (and
to me) bewildering kind of illumi
nation. He extended his hand with
an unusual warmth of hospitality,
which I shall never forget, and
greeted me with these words: “Mr.
Parkhurst. I thank you heartily for
that sermon, and I do hope that
those old fellows will put it on.”
He had a very definite idea as to
what generosity was. but he had
never gotten an Inside view of it
by practicing and working it.
• • •
WE were climbing one day in
the mountains over a
rock-arrete shaped like a
knife edge, not quite as sharp, but
almost, with the ground falling off
on either side a couple of thousand
feet and the possibility of fatal dis
aster. therefore, within easy reach,
when my guide addressed me in
words to this effect: "We are in no
danger and are going to get to the
top. All that is necessary is that
you do this thing leisurely, avoid
making any movement that is spas
modic. keep your head on your
shoulders and your legs moving in
dustriously. but steadily and quiet
ly.”
There was an entire volume of
philosophy in my rough guide’s
THE FLAG *
By MINNA IRVING.
a s *' ' rt - a soldier’s eoat,
* * And strips of flannel made,
I’pon the smoky battle breeze
The flag was first displayed.
Combining in its brave design
The midnight and the morn,
Behold! It barely covered then
A nation newly born.
Rut since it put the foe to rout
Its stars of glory bright
Have grown so fast that every land
Is guided by their light.
The dauntless stripes of white and red
Kort Stanwix saw unfurled
Above a few intrepid souls i
Now shelters all the world.
prescription, and it is as applicable
on flat land as on ground that is
turned up on edge.
Os course, we arrived at the sum
mit whole and unworried, and re
turned In the same placid state of
mind and undisintegrated condi
tion of body. My mountaineers
view of the situation was of an
optimistic cast, but his optimism
was not of a silly order, but found
ed on reasonable conditions.
To be hopeful merely because one
is determined to be hopeful is child
ish and quite another thing from
being so because taking the steps
by which it is rational to believe
that one’s hopes will be realized.
His Optimism Founded
On Reasonable Conditions,
Os course, my guide made no
promise as to Sow much time would
be required to complete the ascent.
That was left indefinite; has to be
left indefinite in every man’s pro
gram. It might have required all
day; might have required all day
and all night.
The only certain thing was that
we were going to get there because
we were going to pursue a policy
of quietness, persistency and self
control.
And that is a picture of the wav
in which results generally are ac
complished, if they are accom
plished. It is not done by revo
lution, but by evolution; by taking
one step steadily and sanely on 'he
top of the preceding steps.
When things move wholesnmelv
and in such away that the ground
gone over does not have to be re
traced they move not by leaps and
bounds, nor by any short cut. but
by a progress that is conservative:
that is to say, a progress that
shows a respect for the past as well
as a zeal for the future. Revolu
tion may sometimes be necessary.
.Perhaps that was the case In
France in 1793. We think it was in
our own case in 1776. But, in gen
eral, as Victor Hugo once said.
“Revolutions are the BRUTALI
TIES of progress.”
Even the Socialists have thl« m
their credit, that in the face of
Haywood's advocacy of revolution
ary methods, the Socialists in con
vention at Indianapolis last month
voted by more than two to one to
adopt conservative, evolutionary
methods in terms of the following
resolution: “Any member of the
party who opposes political action
or advocates crime, sabotage o'
other methods of violence as i
weapon of the w-orking class
aid in its emancipation. shall be
expelled from membership in the
party.”
It Takes Time to
Retrace One’s Steps.
Such action, especially when
taken by men socialistically in
clined, is a clear indication that, as
a, people, we are arrived at such a
condition of intelligence and re
spect for righteous authority that
no results can be regarded as per
manently achieved unless secured
by due process that is untainted by
lawlessness or blinded by passion.
Whatever is done otherwise will
have to be done over again Re
tracing traversed ground costs
time, but there is no other com
modity of which there is such am
ple abundance.