Newspaper Page Text
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 postortice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. 1873.
Subscription Price —Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week. By mail, la.oo a year.
Payable in advance.
Root’s Brief for the British
on Canal Question
V. M •?
He Thinks That Congress Is Presumptous in Attempting
to Legislate on the Subject of Canal Tolls.
Senator Root has espoused the contention of the English gov
ernment that the United States has no right to favor its own ships
in the matter of canal tolls at Panama.
It is not to he supposed that Mr. Root is a mere sentimental
Anglomaniac—blindly eager to do whatever they do in London. 1 he
sudden and eloquent Toryism of his speech last week in the senate
must be attributed to other impulses.
It should be borne in mind that the cause of the British in this
case is the cause of the Shipping Trust and the transcontinental
railroads. And to such a cause every fiber of Mr. Root s mentality
instinctively responds. Said Mr. Root: (
"I am reluctant to make an argument against the rights of the United
States. . . . But it is certain to me that if the provision now before us,
making the discrimination against which Great Britain protests, Is enacted
the question raised will be one for arbitration under the Hay-Pauncefote
treaty. . . . This is a question we can not finally decide. . . . Our right to
legislate may be decided against us by The Hague tribunal. . . . No one can
tell what a vast burden of debt would be piled up if we collected tolls and
the decision of the court required us to repay them. . . . We may be subjected
to a ruinous demand upon the treasury.'’
In short, Mr. Rodt is moved by some power, which seems to
him greater than the United States, to deny the sovereignty of the
United States over the canal zone. He thinks that congress is pre
sumptuous in attempting to legislate on the subject of canal tolls,
and that such presumption may be severely punished—-with
“ruinous” consequences to the United States treasury.
Mr. Root has the reputation of being a great corporation law
yer.* He has. however, no very great reputation to lose as a con
stitutional lawyer—else it is likely that not even the strong tug of
his sympathy for the transportation trusts could have drawn him
into the preposterous position he has taken in the matter.
It should be perfectly clear, as a matter of constitutionality
and international law, that the Panama canal is an American in
land waterway; that the government of the United States has ab
solute sovereignty over it; that congress can legislate in the matter
as it pleases—can destroy the canal, if it likes, or open it to the
world's commerce on its own terms, and that if the Hay-Paunce
fote treaty stands in the way it can be put out of the way in a
manner conformable to the custom and ciynity of nations.
The complete answer to Senator Root's brief for the British
is, first, that the Hay-Pauucefote treaty contains nothing in dero
gation of American sovereignty over the canal, and, second, that
we should immediately denounce and abrogate the treaty it it did.
Senator Lodge offered fresh and convincing confirmation of
the first point in his speech in the senate the other day. lie re
called the fact that he was himself the member of the foreign
relations committee who reported to the senate in I'.XM) the ap
proved draft of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty with (treat Britain. Mr.
Lodge declared that the United States had retained by the treaty
full rights to form its own policy toward American vessels. He de
fended the principle of free tolls tor American ships, lie said:
"1 was of the opinion, at the time I brought the report, that it left us
in complete control In determining the position of our own vessels. 1 did
not suppose that any limitation was imposed, and did not believe that the
United States was included among the nations to be ’treated with equality’ .
under the treaty terms.”
Our right, or England's right, to denounce and abrogate this
treaty—or any treaty—when it ceases to be mutually useful to the
contracting parties is equally clear.
There is nothing about a treaty that makes it more sacred
than the constitution. And the constitution gives the government
of the United States sovereignty over all the lands and waters of
the United States. It is the custom of nations that a treaty may be
changed or annulled when it ceases to be just and equitable to one
of the parties
Commercial treaties are bargains in which privilege is
matched against privilege Such conventions as the Hay Paunee
fote treaty rest upon the idea of reciprocal advantages, each partv
obtaining an equivalent for what is yielded. The life goes out of
them when one of the parties fails I<> obtain such an equivalent.
We made, for example, a treaty with England in 1834. with
reference to Canadian reciprocity, ami we annulled this treaty in
1863—without straining in the least our friendly relations with
England. In the last ninety years we have made reciprocity
treaties with forty-two countries, and we have amended them,
continued them or terminated them without question of our right
to do so.
The simple fact is that the Hoot theory of the present situation
is a baseless fabrication, invented and propagated by private in
terests.
Representative Knowland. of California, explained to the pres
ident last week how the Canadian railroads, prompted by inter
oceanic railroad interests on this side of the line, have instigated
the protest of the British government against free Panama tolls
for the ships of the United States.
Mr. Root may not have had any personal initiative in this in
trigue. But its purpose has aroused the latent sympathies of his
heart and spurred him to a championship that is congenial to his
habit
The Atlanta Georgian
What Shall It Profit a Man?
By HAL COFFMAN.
Ate
? ’co A
taji lifeSWoA \ 1/
i hi .Il ji| 1
« THE WISE WOMAN M
Dear wintered black:
"What do you think of a
«Oman 40 years old who
is so dpad in love with her hus
band that sjhe can’t wait for the
mail to be distributed, but stands
in front of the postofiice window
like some love-sick girl of sweet
sixteen ?
"There’s a woman like that here
at this summer resort. She’s the
joke of the whole place and I feel
sorry for her, for she is a nice
woman in every other way, and a
sensible one. too. Do you think I
ought to tell her mit to let every
body see what a goose she is about
her husband?
“WELL MEANING.”
What do 1 think of a woman 50
years old who is dead in love with
her husband ? I think she’s a worn-
Questions in Science
By EDGAR LUCIEN LARKIN.
QIS it true that a physician
can diagnose diseases in
* his ofH.t e when the patients
are in a distant hospital by means
of electricity?
\. A physician in a distant of
fice. if lie ijas tin proper electrical
devices, can count pulse, and also
hear the systols and diastole of the
heart in its beating. A stethoscope
can be connected with a transmit
ting telephone, and sounds in the
chest magnitlod and transmitted.
Air rushing in tile lungs can then
be heard by the distant physician.
Q. Atlantis, the* submerged land
between Spain and Central Amer
ica. has been mentioned quite fre
quently of I<ite in some of tile pe
riodical.- 1 read. Was there ever
such a continent?
A- There is no rigid scientific
proof of the existence of the tradi
tional continent now supposed to
be at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Remains of prehistoric plants, like
thos. now growing in Central
America, Cuba and Venezuela, have
been discovered in islands now ris
ing above the waves of the Atlan
tic ocean. The stories told to
Solon and the Greeks by the an
cient Egyptians are familiar to all.
Hut a very r< markable series of
books purporting to be accounts
of Atlantis are in existence. A new
book on this fascinating subject is
announced from tune to time-—the
last being a huge volume of SO7
pages, it is hop, <1 that some in
scription or writing of some kind
will be discovered in the ruined
THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1912.
By WINIFRED BLACK.
an of sense and a woman of brains
and a woman who knows how to
get the good out of life, and if I
were you I’d stop feeling sorry for
her and feel sorry for myself and
for every other woman who is fool
ish enough to let the girls of six
teen and the fascinators of 30 or
so have all the fun of things.
Do you know the sort of world
that woman you laugh at lives in,
you poor, blind, stupid, "well mean
ing" soul, you?
She fives in a world of sweet sui;-
IVises, glorious discoveries, splendid
faiths, and joys that are as far be
yond anything the nice little girl
(who thinks she's dead in love with
Claud because Claud wears such
perfectly lovely tennis clothes)
knows that there's no comparison
between them at all.
temples now being excavated from
beneath the site of ancient Mem
phis, the great capital of ancient
Egypt.
Q. Please deline the word ener
gy.
A.—l can not. Suppose that I
should be asked: "What is the
cause of light moving with the in
cessant. specific speed of 186.383
miles during each successive second
of time?" I would be utterly un
able to reply, ( First, I can not
think of the cause of this unthink
able velocity. How answer.’ The
fact is, science does not know what
anything really is.
Electrons are the vanishing
points; they ate on the limit of
knowledge, of even hope of thought.
All are agreed that they are elec
tricity, but that does not help in
the solution of any riddle of the
universe.
It does not seem possible that
science will come to an end in any
attempt at explaining. Some new
discovery surpassing all others may
yet be made. Really, such a dis
covery inust be made, or science
will come to an impenetrable wall,
for we can not at present think of
mind, life or an electron. How
progress or advance in search of
anything if we are unable to think
of it? This is a gloomy outlook;
but just nott it appears to be hope
lessly Impossible to discover any
fact as to what mind, life and elec
tricity are. I have printed during
30 years that the human mind is
illimitable in its powers; but I may
be obliged finally to admit that it
can not find what itself is.
Ten o’clock in the morning! What
does that hour mean to you—there
at the resort where you are spend
ing the summer, tatting or crochet
ing? And you gossip there on the
front piazza, don’t you?
Lovely, uplifting, inspiring, thrill
ingly exciting, that sort of thing,
isn’t it? The woman you laugh at
doesn't hear one word of it, she’s
waiting for her mail.
A fool—that woman? She's the
only sensible one among you all.
There's that friend of yours, the
"wise woman”—oh, how
is. So wise that her tired eyes look
al! the time as if she were in the
most terrible torment, and she
can't smile a natural smile to save
her life.
That husband of the wise wom
an—she’s always making fun of
him, isn't she? and taking the
greatest pains to show every one
tljat she doesn’t care the snap of
her finger .about him.
He’d like to be in love with his
wife, and he’dWlike to believe that
she is in love with him. if he is 40
years old and not particularly
handsome.
He’d like to remember the Wise
Woman as she wafc when he first
met her. when they were both
young and happy. He'd like to. put
a little halo of sentiment around
her rather stupid little head, but
the wise woman can never be
“fooled” by any such gammon as
that, not she.
Qh, she knows him. she knows all
men, they are all frauds, every one
of them, all gay deceivers.
She lets her own particular gay
deceiver see quite plainly that she
doesn’t care a rap for him, but
does care for his cheek book, and
he is gradually growing to be the
very thing she expects him to be—
just because she does expect it.
She’s the one who leads the laugh
at the woman who is in love witlt
her husband, isn't she? —poor, silly,
dull-witted thing, she’s missed all
that is best in life and is bragging
about it.
"Hurrah!" cried the blind man.
“I'm stone blind, I don't have to be
bothered seeing sunsets and moon
rises. A rose looks just the same
to me as a blackeyed Susan. I
never care whether it’s dawn or
dusk it's all the same to me. I'm
wise, really wise; I am blind, stone
blind, and I'm proud of it.” *
That’s what the "wise women"
are like poor, blind things—and
they dare laugh at any one with
the blessed gift of sight!
Sit at the feet of the woman in
love with her husband, well mean
ing one. if you really are "well
meaning." and learn wisdom—the
only wisdom of all the ages, the
wisdom of love.
THE HOME PAPER
The Education of the
Voter
THE QUESTIONING CITIZEN
The Well-Paid Man and the Well-Equipped Citizen
Are in the Same Class. They Both Get There by
Asking Questions.
By THOMA S TAPPER.
A COLLEGE president, speak
ing about the well paid
man, said:
‘‘The man who is wanted is the
man who can DO the thing. Some __
may guess at it; some may have
read about it. This man can DO it.
He has learned his lesson. He kept
doggedly at it. He paid the price.
He saw things-far off that others
did not see. Therefore, the world
now wants him. Therefore, he has
his chance.
“But the man who achieves is
not simply the man who CAN do
the thing. He is the man who
WILL do it. His mind is not on
the pay. His eye is not on the
clock. He is not counting the dif
ficulties. His business is to see
the thing done. He stops when he
has finished.
‘‘And the man who achieves does
not need to hunt for a job. The
job hunts him. And life’s best fun
is its work well done.”
The well paid man and the well
equipped citizen lire in the same
class. They both get. there by ask
ing questions. If things as they
are seem wrong, they do not wor
ship things as they are, but they
begin to examine into them.
$75,000,000 Might
Have Been Saved.
The United States government
is, in some things, a type of Ques
tioning Citizen-body. In 1911, the
questions of the postoffice depart
ment addressed to gentlemen who
sell securities by mail to the public
drew forth the information that
practically worthless goods were
exchanged for $77,000,000 of good
money. The government was able
to put some of these promoters in
jail.
But it did not get them all.
The NEW YORK AMERICAN,
quoting Mr. B. F. Harris, president
of the Illinois Bankers association,
states that the people of the United
States (citizens and voters with
rights and privileges) are annually
swindled out of $300,000,000 through
the sale of fake securities of one
kind and another.
In other words, it costs the citi
zens $1,000,000 a day NOT TO ASK
QUESTIONS.
They worship on Sunday. They
feel proud of the public educational
system on week days. They read
papers seven days a week. They
pay up promptly—a million a day.
Meanwhile, it is hard to meet
bills, for wages are low. Mean- .
while, the citizen finds it difficult
to prosper becatTse of the high cost
of living; but, meanwhile, regularly
as the day dawns, out goes a mil
lion dollars to the wildcat gentle
men who have families to support.
H.
Xo be a good citizen, your ear
must be to the ground. It is your
duty’to yourself and your family
to know who is coming up the
street—arid what he wants.
:: The Forecast ::
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
(Reprinted by permission from Good Housekeeping Magazine for July.)
F I may bp that I dreamed a dream; it may be that 1 saw
1 he forecast of a time to come, by some supernal law.
I seemed to dwell in this same world, and in this modern time;
\ et nowhere was there sight or sound of poverty dr crime.
All strife had ceased; men were disarmed; and quiet Peace h;
made
A thousand avenues for toil, in place of War's grim trade,
from hast to West, from North to South, where highways smool
and broad
Pied State to State, the waste lands bloomed like garden spots i
God.
1 here were no beggars in the streets; there were no unemployed,
For each man owned his plot of ground, and labored ami enjoyed.
Sweet children grew like garden Howers; all strong and fair to so
And when I marvelled at the sight, thus spake a Voice to me:
“All Motherhood is now an art; the greatest art on earth;
And nowhere is there known the crime of one unwelcome birth.
From rights of parentage the sick and sinful are debarred;
I*or Matron Science keeps our house, and at the door stands gua
know the cure for darkness lies in letting in the light;
And Prisons are replaced by Schools, where wrong views change
right.
The wisdom, knowledge, study, thought, once bent on beast and so
We give now to the human race, the highest work of God;
And, as the gard'ner chooses seed, so we select with care;
And as our Man Plant grows, we give him soil and sun and air.
There are no shims; no homeless poor, all men are opulent,
For Mother Earth belongs to them, as was the First Intent.”
It may be that I dreamed a dream; it may be that I saw
The forecast of a time to come, by some supernal law.
No man is a good citizen who
does not demand of humanity what
he can justly have. There is no
statement in the Federal or state
constitution that you shall be pros
perous. But there is a distinct
statement that you MAY be. Now,
the lack of prosperity results from
two causes:
1. Political conditions produced
by men in office.
2. Personal conditions produced
by yourself at home.
As a rule, the lack of prosperity
is invariably a personal matter.
This means that you a’re, to a great
extent, responsible for what you get
or do not get.
Main Thing Is
To Keep Awake.
The main thing, however, is to
keep awake. Do things as they are
seem to put you out of the race?
Ask questions, and find out where
the fault lies.
Are you spending all you egrn on
necessities? Ask questions; per
haps you can spend more wisely, if
you examine your own methods.
Has a gent knocked at the front
door, a gent with securities sticking
out of his pocket? Ask questions.
It is costing a million dollars a day
not to do it.
Several conditions make prosper
ity hard to secure. I mean the
prosperity that you yourself enjoy
in your own family. Generally we
blame the trusts, the shortage of
crops, the party in power, and so
on. Well, theyWnay deserve it, or
they may not. But there is no
doubt about prosperity being influ
enced by three things:
1. The Easy Mark side of human
nature that pays three hundred
million dollars a year for nothing.
2. The willingness we all show in
paying taxes—not to the tax as
sessor, but to the saloon keeper, the
slot-machine man, the cigarette
maker and all the rest of that jo
vial company,
3. The refusal to be introduced to
Frugality. Self-denial, and Econo
my, and the insane ambition to run
up and down the streets of the
town with Prodigality, Waste and
Extravagance.
Ask Questions
When You Hear Him.
When the spellbinder stands on
top of a barrel and tells you that
the government is the cause of the
high cost of living and the low rate
of wages—ASK QUESTIONS.
Before you adjudge the govern
ment guilty of the crime, try your
own case.
It may flatter your vanity and
raise your expectations to be told
that if you had your rights -you
would be better off.
Well, you would be better off if
you had your rights. And you can
have them by asking questions OF
YOURSELF.
It is largely up to you.