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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. 1873 Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mall. $5.00 a year. Payable in advance. First Stupendous Blunder of the New Demo cratic Party *? r. m Members in Congress Have Voted to Degrade the United States From Third Place as a Naval Power to Fifth Place. The Democratic caucus in the House voted Wednesday night, 70 to 62, NOT TO AUTHORIZE THE BUILDING OF ANY MORE BATTLESHIPS FOR THE NAVY. By a majority of eight votes the Democrats in Congress have thus definitely decided to degrade the United States from third place as a naval power to fifth place. The American navy is now excelled only by that of Great Britain and Germany. The Democrats in Congress have voted to make it inferior to England’s, Germany’s, France’s and Japan’s. The Democrats have voted to make the Mikado’s fleet mistress of the Pacific Ocean. In any future diplomatic controversy with the ambitions, ex panding, restless, scheming, conquering race, and in the defense of the Panama Canal, we shall have a nation to depend solely upon the art of diplomacy, in which all Orientals excel, but we shall be without a proper fleet to maintain our rights or to protect our possessions. To oppose strength with weakness at sea is to make a present of our guns and ships to any strong Power that combats us. To refuse to build new battleships is NOT economy, as a few ignorant and small representatives believe it; it is wasteful in the highest degree, for it throws away the hundreds of millions already wisely spent to bring our magnificent navy to the present splendid condition of adequacy and efficiency. It is like building forts or factories at enormous expense and then closing them and allowing the machinery to rust and decay. A navy that is not maintained is destroyed. The decision of the Democratic caucus Wednesday night is the first stupendous blunder the party lias made since it regained con trol of congress. It will greatly weaken the party in the coming campaign, and Governor Wilson will—if he is wise—mitigate the blunder in his speech of acceptance next month. Not to do so is to put a dangerous weapon in the hands of Mr. Taft and of Mr. Roosevelt, who will say that the present modern navy, founded by the Democratic party in 1885 by Secretary Whit ney under President (’leveland, was FOUNDERED by the Demo cratic congress in 1912. Money Hunger Aids the Slick Swindlers Government reports show that $120,000,000 has been stolen from the public during the last year by swindlers operating through the mails. I'he old fraud order method of stopping these swindles has proven useless, 'fho.se against whom the order was issued merely changed their names and their addresses, and then stole more mon ey from the great American seeker after wealth. The government is now trying to protect people from their own folly by bringing charges against the swindlers. This may. and probabh will. lAve a deterrent < fleet, and, perhaps, it will curb some of the cruder sorts of swindlers But the trouble about this is the fact that those who are swindled are in Ilm main themselves responsible for the condition that tb.e government faces. Those who part with their money are mon am! woin-ii who are seeking an inordinale return from a small investment, Tiii-v are people'who listen to the fairy tale of 50. 100 and evil 500 per cent dividends. They are people who want to invest a thousand dollars and get two thousand dollars a year income from it. In France. England and Get nany. where such swindles are a rarity, investors are satisfied with fl or 4 per cent, and elaborate investigations are made before money is risked in anything outsid ■ of government securities. But in the United States the hunger for money is so great that the victim readily falls a prey to any specious promise from a crim inal, and that is the reason why green goods w ire tapping, fake stocks and other get rich-quick methods are popular and profitable to their vendors. Uncle Sam a Keen Real Es tate Dealer Have you ever thought of Uncle Sam as a real estate dealer? Do you realize that he has bought about two and a quarter millions square miles of good land at an average of a little more than five cents an acre, and incidentally ousted from North America every nation except England ? All his business has been done on a big scale. Baek in 1803 he hung out his shingle, and his first client was Napoleon, who sold him 875,000 square miles for $15,000,000. The territory then pur chased was eighteen times larger than the Empire State, and con tained some of the richest mines and prairie lands in the world; yet it went for a trifle less than three cents an acre. From Ferdinand VII, of Spain, Uncle Sam acquired Florida for five and a half millions, or a trifle more than twelve cents an acre. In 1848 Mexico ceded to Uncle Sam land embracing the present states of Arizona. California and New Mexico for four and one-half cents an acre. Along in 1853 Mexico got $10,000,000 for an additional 36.000 square miles, the top price- ever paid. Fourteen years later we pur ' based Alaska from Russia. Uncle Sam s latest acquisition was the buying of the Philippines for twenty cents an acre. Has the buyer made money? Every square mile of this land which has been homesteaded yields a profit of $lO4 an acre, or “'■arly 200 p,- r cent. ■ d< " n ß ,,r can good land be bought at bargain figures, which F ’ - ’ha' Im b- sain has been a good investor. The Atlanta Georgian Bill: The Simple Life and Honest Folks Drawn by TOM BOWERS, the Famous Cartoonist. Copyright. 1912, by International News Service Bill I Want youro (Sure! I would like Vfflo IS THAT OLD SEA Doc I come down Tn MN To meet some ovlrNonper / PLACE. AND LIVE TflE. HONEST SIMPLE - —Z SIMPLE LIFE, WHN I Z FOLK ~ BUT I OONT T Znu WES A GREATS NEVER. LOCK MN DOORS I I LIKE CANNED FISH CPU 1 / OLD CHARACTER \ At HiQHT! all honest Folk —y z come alonq ill _ I introduce \ou, HE J Y I G mtS f LEADS THE SIMPLE/,. I (Z*? O Z € Z ’ZU II AWL R'W ■ PB TK r fcßJfc / JUST TKfINCi To FIND BEFYcu $2. \ ( WALL \OU LOST s fHELLO "S THE PEBBLE UNDER.ONE g. u \ JUST HAND OVEKTHES2-. GnclehepJ of these here three ICAH rIHD k WHAT AKE I CLAMSHELLS ) THE REB3EL Z W K —-v— — 7 ( AJ k ABOUT? J I fDONTSFANI V y—y- I Too Lon q / A'"" KWlOwll mF (confound The T f Lost acain! reckon illA G 543 gcN Kuh ouerToThat) (^^t* see I aeadt bill; XCt ft B1K: i' L * Giving a Little I ime to 1 houghts of Life to Come I By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. I ■j Tis gr. it thi:.:; to give a por- I tivn of cavil day to tliougiits of tin' life to come, ami to realms wl'.ich lie all about us. mar, while invisible. It is fertilization of the spiritual nature to think of i!>o“e who have pas.- .1 on. ami to picture regions i of beauty and glo’.i immortal. Hat to do tills to the neglect of t'tis life, and the living i . aple of earth, is sinful. How c.iti a r>■..s..n; ; t>’e human be- | ing x| <at to dv.ell in heaven, in continual felicity with angels, who* ; i- dwelling on earth in constant discord with friends and relatives? I Wc must practice the heavenly i role ight In re on earth, and we mast make our homes and our gar dens beautiful before we can expect to be given gleaming mansions and golden streets above. We must be tender and tolerant ami patient toward the living, or we will not find peace and joy with tile dead. And we must broaden our minds on every topic which tends toward making the earth more agreeable for the living. It is a crying sin against the hosts of suffering human beings to give .so much valuable fertile soil to the use of dead bodies. If all the cemeteries of New Eng land were plowed up and the soil given to the poor to cultivate, there would be no need’ of alms houses. Cremat ion does cleanly, quickly and kindly what burial requires years to accomplish, in a disgusting, slow and dreadful manner. Burial of bodies pollutes the earth and tm n< pollzes it. Eortunateli, the progressive anti sensible minds of the world are all in favor of cremation. Recently tn England the body of the Kight Rev. Charles William Stubbs aas’ cremated, and the urn containing the ashes was placed In the niche of Truro cathedral. It was an epoch of progless of England, as It was the first time a bishop had been cremated. One of th- prominent English dailies said of this -V- nc MONDAY, JULY 29. 1912. AA~ ~Tw<ar ' ~'N\ w'-- RO/ Aj ft ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. "The growth of public opinion, especially the intellectual side of it, In favor of cremation as the wisest and most sanitary means of disposing of the dead has been most striking in recent years, and nowhere more so than among the clergy of the Church of England and ministers of other denomina tions themselves. Even at West minster Abbey it is now the rule —due to lack of space—that only the ashes of the distinguished deail shall be placed there. Since the Cremation Society of England was first formed in 1885, the remains of many distinguished people have been cremated. To take the names of a tew clergy men and ministers we find the fol lowing: "The Ven. Archdeacon W. H Tribe, the Ven. Arehd-'acon A. S. Ag! n. 1> D.. Canon Henry Shut tleworth, Canon Robinson Duck worth, Canon W. H Cooper, Canon G. 1‘ ttt- mien, tin H-'V. Brooke Lambert. M A . the Bev H K. Haweis, ?l A the Itev. Norman Mae! U. tt.-t -. D D.. tla Bev. Hl lb ! f.-rtl, I > l> the H- \ . .1 1‘ Ib-pps, the Rev H. C Marriott. "The records also contain the names of many titled persons and officers of the army and navy.” The ceremony of cremation robs th- last rites given to the dead of more than half their horrors. The imaginative mind, however religions, is tortured by thoughts of the body of a dear one slowly rotting beneath the mound of earth, and such thoughts must, and do. distract the mind from ideals of the spiritual home of the depai't- d soul. When there is nothing remain ing of the corporeal frame but a little heap of ashes, the thoughts must soar to planes beyond the earth to find a resting place with the beloved one. Cremation leaves the earth for the uses of the living, and does away with the expensive and use less monuments which cumber valuable ground and do no good to living or dead. Those who desire to erect some monument to the tnenioiy of their dear dead can find useful and humane and ornamental ways of doing so. An arch which will beautify a city street; a drinking fountain for thirsty and toiling animals; a scholarship in some college; a free bed in some hospital; a playground for poor children, are a few of many ideas which can create a no ble memorial to the dead and still leave our mother earth elean and sweet to nourish her living chil dren. Jf a little child of wealth passes on. what better monument to her memory could her parents make than a permanent contribution to the fresh air fund, which -would send the child of some poor mother out of sweltering cities to enjoy country life? We can not expect every ceme tery to be done away with in this generation. But it is to be hoped that public sentiment will be edu cated after a few generations so that no more - emeterles will be nee,led, and that the territory, money and time now dedicated to th- decaying bodies of the dead will bi- used for making happy the living. THE HOME PAPER The Education of the Voter SHEPHERDS AND THEIR SHEEP . Weigh the Spellbinder’s Arguments Carefully Ere You Vote the Way He Directs ANYONE who promises much for little gets the attention of the crowd. The reason why we pay promot ers of fake investment schemes a million dollars a day is because we expect two millions, or more, in re turn. tomorrow or the day after. One of the oldest games in the world is to catch a man and his money by promising him something he wants. And the farther away the gold mine is, the richer he feels until he finds out. later on, how far, far away the promoter is who took the money. It is just as easy to bunco a man out of his common sense as it is out of his money. And a bad phase of this trick is that, while a man who loses his mon,ey always misses it and knows he has lost it, he can be robbed of his reason and never suspect it. This is why a man should be everlastingly asking questions, not only about what he does not under stand. but also about what he feels sure of It is so easy to dream that some dreams look like the real thing. These Men Always Talk About Prosperity. All this leads up to the silver tongued spellbinder who tells you how well off you can be by taking his view in politics. He is gener ally an interesting man, and that be can make voters follow him like sheep trotting after a shepherd shows that he is a man who knows how to sell his goods. These men always talk about Prosperity, because they know that every human being is Interested in it. It is the one thing all people want. No matter what a man has. he wants more. Hence, the shep herd and the sheep. Lots of men, thousands of them, will tell you exactly how the affairs of this nation should be run to bring prosperity to all. And yet these min are themselves not al ways prosperous. The rules that slip off their silver tongues seem not to work in their own cases. Do you imagine that the framers of the constitution who added their names after that of George Wash ington winked at one another when they introduced such expressions as "justice," "domestic tranquility” and "blessings of liberty” into that doc ument? They did not. They had in mind the sublime fact that a citizen has powers for ambition, industry and prosperity conferred upon him by the Creator; while rights and privileges for their development were conferred upon him by the constitution of the United States. All these work to gether for the glory of the man if he has any pride in them. Let us imagine the case of the Battle of the Pyramids By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. THE battle of the Pyramids was fought 114 years ago and ended in victory for the French. It made Napoleon the mas of Murad’* palace in Cairo and placed in his hands the sovereignty of Egypt. Pointing to the venerable and imposing piles in which reposed the ashes of the once mighty Pharaohs, Napoleon cried out to his men: "Soldiers, from the sum mits of yonder monuments 40 cen turies look down upon you,” and, inspired by this eloquent intima tion of the "glory" that awaited them, the French lines sprang for ward and the Mamelukes were scattered. In the shadow of the* Pyramids they had met their fate, and a greater than they made a fresh advance in the stadium of his destiny. While meditating upon his vic tory midst the golden Minarets of Cairo, there came to Napoleon some bad news. Nelson had destroyed tiie French fleet and he was bot tled up in the land he had just won. The army of Egypt, without any means of returning to Europe, and, worse yet. cut off from the source of its supplies, was tn a bad fix. But Napoleon, the man of infinite resources, was there, and the sol diers were soon put in motion. Anything but the rust of inaction; and so. in expedition after expe dition. the men were kept busy. And then the march for Jaffa, and Acre, and Aboukir. with its min gled victory ami defeat, the defeat Vastly in excess of the Victory, and the retreat through the burning By THOMAS TAPPER. average voter to be something like this: He has a family and a job. He gets money for his labor, and he spends this money. He moves through life year a.'ter year, his wife by his side ai d his children about him. He makes some sort of a home, and acquires some kind of a reputation among his friends. There Are Two Ways Open to Every Man. This man wants prosperity, for every man does. He wants it not for himself alone, but for his fam iiy. How is he to get it? There are two ways. The first is lovely, rosy and inactive. The second is sure to work every time though it does not look as rosy ag the first. The first way is to work when you feel like it; let. things at home run along any way they may, save nothing; do little to make a proud and happy family—meanwhile, wait until we have a decent government and every MAN gets a square deal. The second way is to work to ' the limit of endurance alt the time, to stick to the job until a better one can be had; to take pride In the home; to make wife and children feel that the affairs of their little home-republic are absolutely safe in your hands. With this, a little frugality and good management, which means something set aside for the rainy day; and what is the result? You may answer: A man who has found prosper ity. This is only half right. The real answer is this: A nation that has found and Ijossessses a citizen who contributes prosperity to it as a whole. A Republic Is Made Up of Units. A republic is made up of units. When every one is interested in prosperity in his own behalf, pro tecting himself against the spell binder that wants him to invest his intelligence in a fraudulent princi ple, the whole matter of national prosperity takes care of itself. They do not make prosperity in Washington, D. C., nor at the na tional conventions of the two great parties. They may promise it. But so far as you get it, you make it for yourself. Your family is a republic, and you are president of it. Keep that picture in mind. Your term of of fice is lifelong. Serve it with all the efficiency you possess and you will have done more, in the end, to make prosperity a real thing than if you had followed the political shepherds all your life, bleating at their heels like a helpless lamb for a little odd change to send home to wife and children. sands to the shadow of the Pyra mids. The Mamelukes were extin guished, but those stubborn Brit ishers that met him at Acre were «. different proposition, and the Egyptian expedition, whatever may have been its original designs, was knocked sky high, and the man who originated it.must sneak back to France as best he can, trusting to Providence to provide some way of escape for the army he leaves behind. And what were the original de signs of Napoleon In the expedi tion of Egypt? Perhaps the answer is to be found in his words to hi» secretary, Bourvienne: "Bour vienne, I do not wish to remain here in France. There is nothing to do. Everything wears out here. My glory has already disappear’ d. This little Europe does not supply enough of It. 1 must seek it in the east, the fountain of glory." H>‘ called Europe a "mole hill.” and de clared that there had "never been any great empires except in the east, where there are 600,000,0dd people.” Likely enough, then, th? womb r ful man intended making his Egyp tian expedition the first step m the establishment of an empire P •: should include the entire Orient. ! : >it not yet is the thought compht’ 1. for Guigot was probably e.irr' when lie wrote of the "Man of I’ l * tiny" that "In his secret tnouc' ’ he nursed tile hope of pushing ward to Constantinople, sei:: t k that city and making himself : ter of Europe by attacking it fi- m the east. It was to the conqU' ' ‘ the world that he marched in lu " vam Ing upon Jaffa."