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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, 18T3
Subscription Price —Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, J 5.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
The Heartlessness of a Cor
poration
The dreadful story of the barbarities practiced upon a harmless
and industrious Indian tribe in eastern Peru by an English rubber
company should serve as a blazing commentary on the familiar
truth that a corporation has no soul of its own. and must there
fore depend, for the humanity of its operations, upon the private
souls of its directors.
It appears that the operations of a corporation may become
absolutely infernal if the directors merely shirk their human re
sponsibility and neglect to put any soul into their business. The
directors of the company that perpetuated the unspeakable out
rages of Putu Mayo seem not to have meant any harm, and to have
sincerely regretted that their dividends were derived from Bor
gian atrocities.
They were and are as innocent as any other board of directors
that simply turns its business over to agents and overseers—with
the injunction to make money.
The tremendous moral of this affair does not'apply merely to
corporate deeds done in the inaccessible Andes. It applies to every
corporate organization on earth. A corporation is impersonal. But
human beings can not divest themselves of personality by going
into corporate business. They are bound in common decency to
take their hearts as well as their brains along with them.
Otherwise they are not innocent of the unpunishable crimes
that may result.
The Toll of Life in the High
;■ Cost of Living
With business conditions fairly favorable, with no very great
disaster or serious political catastrophe recorded, a wave of self
murder swept over the land during 1911 that is puzzling the statis
ticians of life insurance companies.
Figures drawn from various sources show that, while there
was a marked decrease in the ratio of suicides in cities of 250,000
and more, the increase of suicides in cities of less than 250,000 far
outstripped the decrease and has given the country a slightly in
creased average of suicides.
What is the reason for this? Why should the smaller cities feel
the pressure of life more than the greater towns?
Actual physical causes, such as bodily disease, insanity, alco
holism, etc., can be dismissed at once, for these are fairly constant
factors. One theory is to be found in the slightly obscure phrasing
of a report submitted by Frederick L. Hoffman, statistician of a
leading insurance company.
lie says: “This voluntary tribute of human lift' to early death
is equivalent to a contempt for a tolerable existence without a
parallel in history.’’ In other words, he says Americans are
so well off that it is amazing they should kill themselves.
Another view is that the prosperity is specious and that the
increased pressure on the individual through the increasing cost ol
providing for the family is growing so heavy that men and women of
tense balance are unwilling to see themselves thrust backward
from the advanced position their struggle has won for them.
And this is probably the real explanation of the increase of
suicide. It is not that, we are too prosperous. It is because the
prosperity is taking too heavy a toll on those who seek a livelihood.
I Why Not a Bounty For
j Merely Living?
The Susan B. Anthony club, of Cincinnati, has passed a resolu
tion demanding a bounty for mothers. The club wants the state to
pay every mother who rears a child to 21 years of age the sum of
SSOO or SI,OOO.
While the idea is not exactly new, every fresh proposal of this
kind comes with a shock to the old-fashioned mind. To pay a
mother a bounty for rearing a child should be considered the same
as paying a bounty for eating dinner. If such payments are made
to mothers, why not an equal one to fathers? Or a public dowry
for the bride to induce a man to marry her? Or a bonus to children
who care for their parents in old age? Or a bigger bounty than all
for just merely living in those I nited States?
The Dump Cart in Parade
All hail James Ewing .Mifflin, of Philadelphia. This gentle
man. who bears an historic name, is not ashamed of his ancestors.
Whe.’t the plans for the historical pageant to bo held in Oc
tober in the Quaker City were annonne. d Mr. Mifflin at once in
formed the committee in charge that he would appear in the
parade driving a dump cart. “My ancestors." said he. “made
their money in the dump cart business, ami I will celebrate Hie
fact by appearing on the seat of a regular cart, handling the
reins myself.”
Now, glory be that there is a man risen to fame and fortune
■vho will celebrate the humble hod or cart from which his for
tune rose. And shame upon the narrow minded men of the com
mittee who declare that no dump cart shall spoil the glitter and
gold of their “historic” pageant.
Yet we are inclined to think that if the parade is really to
revive and celebrate the memories of the past Mifflin's homelv
cart and horse would more nearly represent the origin of manv of
the aristocratic families than would the cloth of gold ami pow
■ dered wigs that the Philadelphia committee seems so keen to
kLuw,
The Atlanta Georgian
The Terror Beasts s>?<3 c& o?<3 By Garrett P. Serviss 5
Monsters of Teutonic Folk-Lore Belittled by Fossils Found in Germany
NEAR the old city of Halber
stadt, famous among travel
ing Americans for its beau
tiful specimens of ancient wooden
architecture, there has lately been
discovered, in digging for brick
clay, a cemetery of mon
sters, of the tribe of the dinosaurs,
which has not only aroused the en
thusiasm of German paleontolo
gists (a paleontologist is one who
studies the life and remains of an
cient creatures of the earth), but
has also attracted the special at
tention of the emperor, who, de-
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lighted with Mr. Carnegie's gift of a
plaster of parts model of the gi
gantic American diplodocus, is now
pleased to find that German soil is
capable of showing up something of
the same kind, if not of equal mag
nitude.
The photographs reproduced
herewith enable the reader to un
derstand the startling nature of
such discoveries. To see the enor
mous feet and claws of these mon
sters suddenly protruding from tho
ground, as it Is opened ap at a
great depth in the peaceful pursuit
of clay digging, is an experience
calculated to thrill the nerves of
the most Indifferent onlooker. One
can comprehend the enthusiasm of
the paleontologists when such a
discovery is made. Their’delight is
of a higher order than that of the
gold-seeker when his pick discloses
a huge nugget of precious metal.
They are digging up history which
may he millions of years old. They
are uncovering the old earth as
it was in the days of the flying
dragons. They are treading upon
some of the very soil that was trod
by the monsters themselves.
The Dinosaur.
T.et us consider the dinosaur. He
was the wonder of tho planet in
his time. His modern name means
“terrible lizard.” from the Greek
words DEINOS. "terrible," and
SAt’ROS, "lizard." because he had
some of the physical characteristics
of the innocent little lizard of our
day. Sometimes, in some of his
forms, he attained an almost unbe
lievable stature. The diplodocus
was 75 or SO feet long and 30 feet
tall. Others were probably as large,
such as the brontosaurus, "gitnt
lizard," from BRONTES, "a giant."
These creatures, varying in size,
but always terrible in appearance,
were scattered widely over the
earth in very ancient times. They
have been found in America, Eu
rope and Africa, but as far as we
know at present the American spe
cies held the precedence in size.
Hut so much would not be gained
for knowledge if the paleontologists
were content simply to dig out the
remains of these tremendous beasts,
and to put their skeletons together
and set them up to be gazed at tn
museums. The most astonishing
discoveries have been made by
studying their structure, and com
paring it with that of other ani
mals. Thus it was found that some
of these gigantic creatures were
apparently predecessors of the bird.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1912.
A gigantic | T’ f
skeleton foot I ' I r
of a dinosaur., | A*? I
Excavated
bones ready
for removal.
Some of them had feet like those of
birds. Others bore many resem
blances to the modern ostrich. Aft
erward there arose species of birds
which had jaws and teeth, showing
their reptilian origin.
Wonderful Bones.
One of the most significant facts
about the dinosaurs is that some of
the largest of them had bones filled
with cavities, the apparent reason
for which was to insure relative
lightness together with strength.
Nature know the great strength of
a hollow tube before man had rea
soned it out. A dinosaur with hol
low bones could grow to a great
size without becoming so weighty
that he could not run. Some sci
entists believe that the running
birds of today were derived from
some of these creatures. The reaL
flying dragons of ancient times
(and the remains of some have
been found in the rocks) were not
of great size—but their ancestors
may have been veritable giants,
though unable to lift themselves
from the ground.
One of the things which most
strikes the mind in studying these
creatures of the past is the evi
dence that nature, as well as man."
proceeds by means of experiment.
She has not developed her creatures
suddenly, full formed, but by long
S: The Soda Clerk
By MORTON BIRGE.
Whenever I am anxious to behold a ehap at work
1 stand and watch the movement of the soda water clerk,
Especially in summer, when the temperature is high
And people swarm up to him and impetuously cry:
“Gimme a choc‘lit sody—draw me a lemon lime—
Gee, hut this dump is crowded—been here an awful time—
Couple <>’ sassaperillas—strob'ry collig ice—
Say, on the level, Lizzie, isn’t verniller nice—
Got enny maple walnut—here you are, over here—
No, 1 don’t want no banana, told you I said root beer—
Whadd’ly ’have, try coffee—say, this ain’t orangeade.
Don't talk to me, young feller—l know how the drink is made.’’
And thus they keep on coming, with insistent, brisk demand.
The soda clerk keeps moving, as he works with either hand.
He’s fast enough in winter, but the summer makes him fly.
It’s then he demonstrates the hand is faster than the eye.
processes of evolution. There is no
evidence that man-like animals
lived in the time of the dinosaurs.
Those giants were then the masters
of the earth. They had small
brains but big bodies. Yet they
had SOME brain, and they form an
unquestionable link in the chain of
life upon this globe.
Never was the power of the hu
man intellect better displayed than
in the forecast which the great
French naturalist Cuvier made con
cerning the former existence of gi
gantic reptiles, such as the di
nosaurs. Cuvier declared, as the
result of his studies, that there had
been a period when our planet was
inhabited by reptiles "of an appall
ing magnitude.” possessing many’
of the features of modern quad
rupeds. Almost nobody believed
him. People thought he was draw
ing too much upon his imagination.
But he knew that the imagination,
when kept under proper control, is
the surest guide to new knowledge,
and it was not long before discov
eries were made which fully estab
lished the truth of his opinion, and
then all men of science recognized
the fact that there had been an
“age of reptiles.” It was during
this age that the dinosaurs flour
ished, and every stroke of the pick
disclosing a giant skeleton in the
diggings near Halberstadt is a
fresh confirmation of the foresight
of Cuvier, when that vision of a
wonderful lost chapter in the his
tory of the earth arose before his
masterful mind.
THE HOME PAPER
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
How Parents Should ig||||S
Bring Up Their Children
---and—- KL
Child Ideals Should Be Ssf > B
Formed First Ten <
Years of Life
Written For The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner.
ALL the fathers and mothers
in America who believe
themselves to be in any way
decent and respectable people con
tinually deplore the prevalence of
graft, dishonesty and every form
of thievery in our land.
And yet not one pair of parents
in ten bring up little children with
careful, high ideals respecting the
rights and property of their neigh
bors and their associates.
It is during the first ten years of
a child's life that such ideals must
be formed in order to become a
part of the character.
An especially bright, intellectual
boy of ten years of age was heard
commenting, with regret, on the
dishonesty of American politics.
He declared his opinion that all
politicians were thieves, pocketing
the money which belonged to the
people for their own usage. Yet the
very same day this small boy had
stopped by the roadside and picked
flowers from a garden which be
longed to a neighbor.
He at first surveyed the ground
with a watchful eye, to see that no
gardener was in sight; and he had
glanced up at the windows of the
mansion to assure himself that no
one was looking; then he hurriedly
helped himself to a bouquet and
passed on.
To be sure, the garden was load
ed with flowers and those that he
had gathered would never be
missed. NEVERTHELESS, HE
HAD VIOLATED A PRINCIPLE;
HE HAD INFRINGED UPON THE
RIGHTS OF OTHERS; HE HAD
TAKEN PROPERTY WHICH DID
NOT BELONG TO HIM.
The only reproof administered by
his mother when she learned of the
fact was; “Oh, you shouldn’t have
done that.” Then she put the flow
ers in a vase and set them on the
center table.
It was a childish act, she said —
the sort of thing that every boy
does some time in his life. Yet the
act was petty larceny; nothing
more and nothing less. Similar
thefts occur in every neighborhood
where there are fruit trees.
A gentleman who has been most
generous in the privileges he has
granted neighbors, friends and
strangers in the use of his sum
mer home planted a few cherry
trees some years ago, thinking it
would be a pleasure to eat cherries
from his own trees.
So far he has been denied that
privilege because his neighbor's
children have helped themselves to
the cherries before they were fairly
ripe. They have not done this
openly, nor presence of the
owner; they have sought occasions
when they thought no one was
looking, and they fled from the
premises as soon as observed; yet
their parents consider this mere
“CHILDISH MISCHIEF,” and do
not see that it calls for any serious
consideration. But this is a spe
cies of vandalism, and trains the
Letters From the People
ENFORCEMENT OF LAW.
Editor The Georgian:
After over 30 years in the prac
tice of medicine and twenty years
observation along sociological lines,
I am more than ever convinced we
need laws to regulate men’s habits,
and legislation to restrict the use
of alcoholics. It is puerile and folly
to say ‘‘you can not legislate morals
into men,” so long as we have
cities, counties and states with leg
islative bodies to enact laws. If
laws do not prohibit crime and
vice, then nullify your laws against
murder, theft, arson, seduction,
adultery, etc. Everybody knows
that we have laws against such,
and everybody knows that they are
violated. Even In Atlanta the laws
regulating the running of automo
biles are violated every day. Shall
we repeal all such laws because
they are not universally enforced
and entirely prevent such crimes
and vices? Such a course would be
folly and result In chaos.
All laws are enforced according
to the standard of moral and in
tellectual development of each
community. Are near-beer saloons
and alcoholics necessary for the
physical and moral development of
mankind? If not, they should be
prohibited because the evidence is
incontrovertible that they tend to
producp disease and degeneration.
Statistics teil us that crime, vice,
insanity and physical degeneracy
are on the increase. If Atlanta and
Georgia have inebriates, imbeciles
and intellectual, moral and physi
cal degenerates, she is responsible
for their existence. You and I
mind of a child to wrong ideas re
garding the rights of others.
The same child would probably
be ashamed to enter his neighbor’s
house and steal cherries from the
pantry shelf; but flowers and fruit,
growing on the property of a neigh
bor, are just as’ much his own as
though they had been plucked and
carried indoors.
These fine distinctions of what
constitutes honesty, refinement and
good breeding should be taught by
every father and mother who de
sires children to become desirable
citizens of the United States. They
should become a part of the
teaching of every public school. It
is much more Important that chil
dren should be. impressed with
these principles of high honesty
and fine breeding than that they
should be taught drawing, anato
my or Latin. We will never have
cleaner politics or fewer criminals
and law-breakers in the land until
we have more parents and more
teachers who make it a business to
impress upen the minds of little
children the necessity to consider
the rights of others in the small
daily matters of life.
A peddler of cakes and condi
ments found his cart nearly empty.
As he emerged from a house where
he had been delivering packages a
bevy of screaming youths, under
fifteen years of age. ran out of
reach, laughing at his look of con
sternation.
They were children of respecta
ble, church-going residents of the
little suburban resort.
It seemed to them an excellent
jest to steal the man’s cakes and
cookies, and feast upon them,
while his back was turned.
A child’s mind should be formed
before It reaches six years of age
to regard other people's property
with respect.
This can be done by daily chats
and pleasant conversation of the
parents, fashioned to the under
standing of the child.
Little boys can be made to con
sider another boy’s marbles and tin
soldiers as personal property, not
to be used, or touched, without the
owner’s permission and knowledge,
and never to be marred or injured.
Little girls can be made to re
gard other children’s dolls and toys
in the same light. The impression
should be indelibly fixed upon the
delicate mind texture that any vio
lation of this rule is vulgar and in
dicates lack of good breeding. Chil
dren so taught, by tactful and con
siderate parents, will never become
thieves; and will never be guilty of
petty purloinings of neighbors'
flowers and fruits.
Schools and Sunday schools may
profitably employ a few moments
three times each month, at least, to
direct young minds to high, fine
ideals in these small matters.
It will save work and expense for
courts of justice in years to come.
And it will make the world a.
sweeter and more comfortable
place for growing generations.
have a hand and part in their
production. Some men are willing
to assume that great moral respon
sibilitity for a few dollars. I am :
not, and I raise my voice against
such an action.
I challenge any citizen of Atlanta
or of the state of Georgia to prove
that we have any moral right to li
cense any near-beer saloon to . Ci 'll
alcoholics that tend to produce dis
ease and degeneration of the race.
Atlanta, Ga. R. R. KIME.
FREE DRINKING WATER.
Editor The Georgian:
I read your article of July 6 rela
tive to the destruction of fli> ~ as 1
protection to health, and I enjoyed
it, just as I do many of your edi
torials.
There are other reforms I
needed as a protection to health. ;
and I sincerely hope you will
your paper and influence to bring
them about. To my mind, one 0
the greatest needs of At'inta is 1
public sanitary toilets. Oth- r gr
cities of the world have th- m. - !l
I think the city fathers shomd
up the matter at once, with '
to establishing such for the con'
lence of the citizens. . h
There is another matter " ' ’
needs attention. I find the:
no places where the public :
free drinking water, in th
of the old artesian well t * l ‘
to be public hydrants on T-'.TA
the downtown corners. > ■ .
thirsty person wishes water J,
she must beg it of a soda " 4 ; .
man or store keeper. b!" ,
should provide free
drinking purposes in the I
section of town. . m I
JOHN H. JOHN-’* I
37 Savannah St., Atlanta, Ga. ■