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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. t 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 mail, $5 00 a year. Payable in advance. The Panama Canal Is the Property of the United States A Democratic Congress Should Not Permit England to Dictate How We Shall Con trol Our Domestic Possessions* The Democratic House of Representatives furnishes another evi dence of its lack of patriotism in rejecting the senate stipulation that ALL American vessels shall use the Panama canal free of tolls. The grave blunder of the house consists in recognizing the right of England to interfere in a canal built entirely with our money and ENTIRELY IN OUR TERRITORY. In some of the provisions of the conference report on the Canal bill passed Friday by the senate, the house has done well, notably: First. The granting to American coastwise vessels of exemp tion from tolls. Second. Admitting to American registry foreign-built vessels owned by Americans. Third. Prohibiting railway-owned steamships from use of canal. Fourth. Forbidding use of canal by vessels engaged in trade in violation of the Sherman law. But in the main thing, which is the recognition of the Ameri can right to control an American canal, the house has failed ut terly. American vessels now engaged in foreign trade, and denied free tolls by the house, are pitifully few. The difference in the tolls would have been slight were such ships admitted free. As business it is trifling. AS PATRIOTISM IT IS MOMENTOUS. The Democrats in congress had already denied the country a navy. Now they surrender the country’s right to its own pos sessions. A policy of abandoning the navy, abandoning the Philip pines, abandoning the Panama canal, abandoning everything but the political jobs that its adherents have managed to get is a policy of poor patriotism and small Americanism. The question of our right to operate the canal that has been dug by American money through territory as much American soil as Alaska or New York is as great as the Venezuela question, in which Cleveland's splendid patriotic action was such as to atone for all his faults and to write his name in history as one of the great American Presidents. The canal is a domestic possession. In his message of De cember 21, 1911, President Taft points out: “We own the canal. It was our money that built it. We have the right to charge tolls for its use.” And Mr. Taft, be it said to his credit, has from the first contended that the canal was for Americans, and that means should be found to give to American ships, whether in the coastwise or in other trade, the right to use the canal free from the tolls charged for vessels of other nations. Clubbed to their weak knees by a dead and abandoned treaty, the Democrats in con gress have taken an action utterly unworthy of men pledged to carry out the will of a patriotic people. The Clayton-Bulvver treaty, the one argument used to frighten the house weaklings by the British and British lobby at Washington, is now of questionable value, even as an exhibit in a museum. And the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, in force in its stead, expressly omits the clauses in the Clayton-Bulwer agreement which restricted the right of Americans to deal with the canal— then still to be dug—as they chose. When this treaty was pending Mr. Hearst, fearing that an attempt would be made to interfere with the rights of the United States—as the House of Representatives has now permitted them to be interfered with- sent to Washington a corps of correspon dents and cartoonists to fight for the exclusion of the objectionable clauses. The fight was made. The clauses wore excluded. And years later a dead and dried treaty is dragged from a musty pigeon-hole and cited as an argument that Great Britain should have the same rights in a canal built by the American people as the American people themselves! Tamely to submit to this kind of sale of the rights of Ameri can citizens is wholly un-American. This newspaper has begun and WILL CONTINUE a persistent fight for the restoration in the bill of the clause admitting al] American vessels to the canal toll-free. In lhe meantime write to your Congressman, be he a Demo crat or a Republican. Tell him that you are an American and you want him to he one, or, at least, to act like one. Tell him YOUR money paid for the canal, and you want ships flying YOUR flag to use it. Be earnest and persistent about it. and. perhaps, you can persuade him that American sentiment is a more important thing, as far as he is concerned, than British’argument and the argu ments that are advanced by selfish so-called American interests that are controlled by British sentiments. It is worthy of note that in the matter of the canal, as in the matter of battleships, the senate acted bravely and wisely. The Republican president of the United States in his advocacy of free tolls set an example for a Democratic house which it would have done better to follow. But though every possible argument, not only from a patriotic but from a common sense point of view, has been laid before the house, its action on the canal almost at the close of the session has been the culmination of a series of political mistakes which justify lhe cynical opinion President Grant ex pressed of the party years ago. This is no question on which there can be two American opin ions. On the one side is the American people, on the other a foreign power which has sought to be the aggressor in every quarter of the globe, and which has succeeded whenever might made right and it met with a weaker nation. The canal is our domestic possession It has been built ex clusively by us. The negotiations that led up to our possession of the canal strip were approved by the people. The land through which the canal runs was bought by the United Slates, ami con gress voted the money to pay for it. Domestic territory it will remain, unless the time has come when the voice of the people of Great. Britain is more powerful in the National Congress than the voice of the American people. The Atlanta Georgian * * A Giant Ant Hill * * A Wonderful Mound of Earth Built by Tiny Insects fir - . mßmi R * hO * /a *7 / S7 ■ a ujSßjjjr I' jt SR f if I HIS photograph, taken In one of the South Amer- 1 lean countries, shows a deserted ant hill, one of the largest ever discovered. it was built by :: A GREAT EMPEROR :: Mutsuhito, the Late Ruler of Japan, Brought About Many Reforms as the ' Kaiser of the East.” ctaHE late emperor of Japan has I been called the kaiser of the East. The story of Japan dur ing his reign Is the story of a country that has become modern ized at a remarkably rapid rate. A few- years ago Japan was a land of feudalism; today it stands for all that Is included under up-to date civilization. The Emperor Mutsuhito was called to the throne when he was fifteen years of age. in February, 1867. Before Mutsuhito’s time the emperors of Japan were figure heads. In 1889 he brought about the end of the monarchy, and gave to his people a constitution. Thus, he became a ruler in the truest sense. One of the first forward steps of the emperor was to grant audiences to the ambassadors of foreign na tions. This had never before been done. Next, he undertook to bring bls country into a single unit of polit ical strength. The two provinces of Japan w ere united, and Tokio was made the capital. This was not accomplished by merely raising the royal hand and saying. "Let it be done.” It created a rebellion, and the emperor's enemies were powerful. But he skillfully brought order out of confusion, and instead of beheading those who had op posed him. Mutsuhito promoted many of them to offices of responsi bility. Educational Reforms. With these preliminary steps taken, the emperor sent represen tatives to all foreign courts, and established consulates. Then the material welfare of the country be gan to take its place. Where once only feudal rights were recognized men began to think in terms of telephones, dockyards, modern transportation, telegraph, electric power and the like. Large numbers of Japanese were sent to foreign countries to get the new learning and bring it back to Japan. Insti tutions for educational purposes were increased at home, and tol erance toward all religious creeds was established. Even with all this accomplished, there was still much to be done. The emperor is not subject to the laws of marriage, but this did not throw his mind out of focus. His wife, the first empress of Japan, was his confidante and companion. I Tiny lived a life of mutual inter- MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1912. Bv THOMAS TAPPER cst- in a great question—the de velopment of their people. Instead of taking her tneals in the back room, the empress w ent to the table of her husband to exchange ideas with him. This means that women in Japan have a chance. It also shows that to change conditions through the whole social structure one must begin at the top. That pitiful old rascal, Abdul Hamid, with his suspicion and his harem, missed it by a whole life time. So did all his people. It soon became necessary- to give J Call of the Wheat By CHESTER FIRKINS. J With a bumper crop on the fields. ! i the farmers of the Northwest can ) ’ not get-enough men to harvest it. < (A'T'XHEV cry for bread, they cry for < I bread, < When Winter walls them j ? 'round. ? The city sees her hungered dead I ? Borne to the burial ground. ? They look in wonder on w orld ? That can not give them food; They sleep in icy alleys, curled i Like beasts within a wood. ? I cry for men, I cry for men > When rolls the harvest wain > And far upon my fields again S Waves bright the ripened grain. ! $ I look in wonder on the wavs s Os them that can not give S The little labor of few days < To let their children live. < They cry for work, they cry for I work < Within the smothered town, ( Where miseries of ages lurk < To erush and cast them down. < I cry for aid. I cry for aid. < I call for them to come And glean the riches God has laid J : Upon my prairie home. < And 1 will give them life and heart, ? Will they but lend a hand 5 And hasten from their sordid mart ? To save my golden land. ) i >)i, come! Oh, come, ye blinded men! > And take the gift I hold. i That when the hunger < omes “gain J Thy sin shall not be told. white ants, and is of such strength that it can bear considerable weight, as the picture shows. A great many of these ant hills are to be found in the interior and furnish interesting sights for tourists. strict business attention to the sub ject of national defense —that is, to a competent army and navy, big enough and well equipped. In po litical circles there was disagree ment on the question. Mutsuhito examined the matter for himself. The proposition w-as extensive and expensive. He looked around for the necessary funds to pay the bills. The result-was the announcement that “from this day and for six years the household expenses of the emperor will be reduced so that 300,000 yen may be contributed an nually- toward the national de '? sense.” in the course of time the I Russians arose to a point of order, and Japan replied. Born in 1552, the emperor’s six tieth birthday would have fallen on November 3 of this year. In 45 of > these 60 years a new nation has i emerged; has come forth for the i people to take its place w-ith other ( progressives. Japan seems to have gone Into ? business with the motto: "Begin ? and keep going!" Sometimes we are inspired by the S biography of a man. We begin to i see that other men's struggles in- ? dieate that by struggling, we, 100. < can come out into the light. We S can learn the same from the bi- lography of a nation. Too many men from 40 to 50 let go of the progressive life and slip back Into the absolute monarchy of let it go. There are no return passports from that country. Neither emperors nor other w ide awake thinking men ever wear out ? the easy chairs of the palace. The 5 Abdul Hamids do that. Out of this s difference springs a good many < conditions. When Mutsuhito had ! quelled a rein Ilion he offered the ? ringleaders places of trust in of < flee. When Abdul caught an ene- > my he gave the royal nod and the > gentleman was dropped into the S Bosphorus. The Moral in Business. it is the same in business. The > real man moves on and forgets his ' enemies. The others forget every < thing else. Thus the emperor became a great t world figure. He set an ideal for ? his people to be pursued long after ? he is gone. An ideal is a sort of ■ never-maturing bond You can S < ash yo-ir coupons regularly, but i the principal must always be de- 5 ferred or you go out of business. When the pinch comes, cut down household expenses and set the yen <i.- ide for your proper defen»e. THE HOME PAPER Dorothy Dix Writ e s — OF — The Reason Why AIIH usbandsll and Wives Lie to Each " Other By DOROTHY DIX ALL husbands and wives He to each other. Otherwise Reno would be the largest city on the map. It is the more or less white, or gray, or black fib that makes domestic life tolerable. Probably every married couple regrets this necessity of dallying with the truth and of diluting it down to the degree that makes it sit comfortably on the family stomach. Certainly it is not the high Ideal with which a bridal pair start out. They are strong for ve racity and perfect frankness, but after one or two run-ins with the plain, blunt facts they go quietly and secretly and unostentatiously off and qualify for membership in the Ananias and Sapphira clubs, for they perceive that speaking the truth is a luxury that we can in dulge in freely only with our ene mies. and occasionally with a friend, but never, never w’ith our husbands or wives. Unless, of course, you are one of those born fighters who are never happy except when he or she is in a scrap. And most of us are poor spirited creatures who like some degree of peace at home —which Is not compatible with too much truth. As a matter of fact, neither hus bands nor wives will endure the truth. Each forces the other to lie. Each is actually driven into pre varication when he or she would much rather tell the truth. A Man Doesn’t Really Enjoy Lying to His Wife. For instance, a man doesn’t real ly enjoy lying to his wife about staying downtown of an evening. It hurts his self-respect, and degrades him in his own eyes to have to con coct a fairy tale about having to work overtime, or a man from Osh kosh having come on to see him about some important trade, or having to sit up with a sick friend, and he despises both her and him self as he goes into a telephone booth and tries to put the weak fabrication over the wire. He would much prefer paying: "Hello, is that you, Maria? Well, this is John. Say, I’ve met up with a bunch of the boys and I’m going to stay downtown and have dinner and play poker. Yep. We’ll have plenty to drink, and I am staying because I want to. and because I’ve got a right to enjoy myself in my own way occasionally and I expect to have a bully time, and goodness knows when I'll be home. So don’t sit up for me." That’s the truth that the man would like to tell his wife, but he doesn’t dare do it. So he tries to subdue the joy in his voice, and whines out something hypocritical about wishing he could come home and be with his darling little wife, and how he hates to be kept away from her, and so on. And Maria has forced him to be a liar because she wouldn't stand for the truth for a minute. Any man who would admit that he had spent an even ing enjoying himself outside of the bosom of his family would meet such an ocean of tears that he would be drowned in it. Therefore, the prudent man puts on the life preserver of falsehood before he approaches the briny deep. And women force their husbands to be liars regarding other women. Ninety-nine wives out of a hundred will naively remark to you: "It is so queer, how unobservant my hus band is. He never notices how a woman looks, or what she has on. or anything about her. I will say to him, ‘Wasn't that a beautiful woman we passed just now on ths street?’ or ’lsn’t that woman a stunner in that opera box?’ And he’ll say: ‘Oh, I suppose so. I never noticed her.' Honestly, I believe all women look alike to him. I never saw a man so indifferent” Wifey Is Responsible For His Mendacity. And you smile as you reflect what a gorgeous liar her hubby Is, and you know perfectly well that wifey Is responsible for his mendacity. He acquired that vice after his first incautious remarks after the wed ding about some peach that he re ferred to in terms of admiration. He hasn’t forgotten what occurred on that occasion, and henceforth it Is discretion and lies for his where other women are concerned. If men are driven to the use of subterfuges in matrimony, how much more so are women! An ab solutely truthful wife is an un . thinkable proposition. She never has, and never will exist. All even moderately veracious women are old maids. No man will endure the truth from any woman. Still less will he put up with it from his own wife. Men require to be bamboozled by women. They like it, and demand it as their right. Every woman who gets along tn reasonable peace and comfort with her husband has to do it by art and diplomacy, and not by plain above-board dealings. She has to pretend that things are true that she would have to be a fool to believe. She has to act the hypo crite, and keep it up, or else there 1s trouble. Women don’t enjoy this. They would far rather speak the truth if their husbands would let them, but they won’t. A woman would like to come out flat-footed and tell her husband that she wants a new dress and intends to have it, and that she thinks she earns about nine times more than she ever gets by the cooking and sewing and mend ing she does, and that it makes her perfectly sick to have to wheedle every cent she gets out of him, and that she thinks he's a self-conceited, egotistical old mush because he can be worked by a lit tle soft soap. But She Doesn't t Tell Him the Truth. But she doesn’t tell him the truth. On the contrary, she lies to him about how grand and noble and smart and big he is. and how gen erous she thinks he is to give her a dress, and how lucky she is to have such a husband. And as she fin ishes she says to herself: "There, you made me do it. And the sin's on your sou), not mine.” Nor does she dare tell him the truth about how tired and bored she gets of his society, and of how glad she is to go away in the sum mer and leave him, and she pities him for how he's going to miss her and the children, and then both of them wonder if the other is as big a fibber as he or she is. And so it goes, and the more gifted the romancer the more es teemed is he or she as husband or wife, for truth has no place in the domestic circle. It is ever the most unwelcome guest, and the minute that a husband and wife begin tell ing <aeh other their real opinions and the unadorned facts In the case they are hevled for the divorce court.