Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, August 28, 1912, HOME, Image 16

Atlanta Georgian., August 28, 1912, HOME, Image 16

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Newspaper Page TextEDITORIAL PAGE • THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday Rj THE GEORGIAN COMPANY ' ' At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. Entered as second-class matter at postoftice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. 1373 Subscription Trice—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. Ry mail, $5 00 a year Payable in advance. ’ A Man Without Ambition— Is a Watch Without a Mainspring ' But Don't Be Like the Toad That Swelled Up Until He Burst. L—— ■■■■■■> ' ■"■" '■■■' ■■■■■■■ A reader sends in this letter, which we answer: Editor The Georgian: Dear Sir —You praise work and ambition in a man. Yet, Is a man not happier and more contented if he remains in the bumble place and station of his birth? We are told a man should make the most of himself and be successful and ambitious. Wouldn’t our prominent men be far happier if they chose to he poor and unknown'' Anyhow, after they are dead, what differ ence does It make whether they were prominent or rustics'.’ Kindjy give your views as to a man’s attitude toward ambition and contentment and happi ness Is it a man's duty to advance in the world instead of remaining In the humblest station? Yours sincerely, INTERESTED. That two-legged animal in charge of this earth, called man. is wound up in a complicated fashion. Twelve pas sions. or instincts, or attractions name them as you please animate and control him. Os these twelve passions. NINE are actual moving forces, THREE direct, and control the other nine. Among the nine MOVING forces in man there are three that dominate—we will ignore the others for the present. First, and most necessary, is THE INSTINOT OE SELF PRESERVATION. That instinct kept men alive, forced them to continue living on this earth under horrible conditions of cold and hunger and brutality. Nature’s wisdom made the instinct of self-preservation very powerful in primitive man to keep him on this earth to do his work here. In the savage man of thirty thou sand years ago. and of today, the instinct of self preservation is all powerful. You see that in a burning theater, a sinking ship A or elsewhere, when the real nature of man comes out. H The second great moving force in mankind is the PATER- Sj NAL INSTINCT, the instinct, of reproduction. This guarantees that there shall be no other human beings on earth to follow each generation as if passes away. In the savage, brutal man the in ~, stinct of reproduction is the strongest, next to the instinct of * self-preservation. The third great passion of the human mind is AMBITION, our desire for change, for improvement. As we have told you before and shall often repeat, the in stinct of SELF-PRESERVATION keeps us on this earth, the PATERNAL INSTINCT provides others to carry on our work after death. AMBITION PREVENTS STAGNATION. BRINGS ABOUT PROGRESS. The friend whose letter wo quote is one of many that ask whether ambition is really worth while, what sort of ambition a man ought to have, etc. The first question may bo disregarded. If yon have ambition, YOU’VE GOT IT. It’s like the measles, and it doesn't make any difference whether it is worth while or not—it must run its course. Every human being has ambition in youth. The young man or woman without ambition is a creature almost unthinkable. As we advance in years, however, our form's diminish in in tensity—for we have not yet reached the real stage of develop ment which will bring about, constant increase of intellectual force and interest, at least for the first hundred years of life. Ambition is the human emotion that dies most quickly. It is attacked and devoured by just such questions as our friend puts in his letter. The stomach says: “Why not feed me well and enjoy my digestive delights, instead of wasting your energies tri ing to do something you never can do?’’ Vanity says: “Why don't you give up your foolish ideas of duty? Pile one dollar on another, dress well, cultivate the good opinion of your neighbors, be liked and approved by little minds, die fat and happy.’’ The mind gets tired of repeated failures, it wants rest and begs for it Every little opportunity in life, every little comfort, fights against man’s ambition, if his ambition be really high The average man at thirty begins already to put aside his dreams of eighteen and twenty. At forty he has settled down Into a little rut that moans no more growth. At fifty he has reached a stage where he looks pityingly down upon the men who possess the ambitious force that he has lost, and that he now calls “foolish dreamings.'’ Onr friend asks:“ Anyhow, after they are dead what differ ence does it make whether Ihev were prominent or rustics?’’ In our opinion, it makes a great deal of difference. It can not be possible that the self-conscious soul doing the work of cosmic wisdom in the care of this globe should be perishable. It is not believable that, in a universe, where we know MATTER and FORCE to b t indestructible, the one thing to be de stroyed should be that higher compound force which we call the human soul, which has within itself the power to applv and to distribute the force and the matter attached to this globe. The soul MUST be immortal, for all through the govern ment of the universe we see justice and kindness. It is not be lievable that men should be allowed to suffer as they have suf fered without recompense hereafter It is not believable, espec ially. that the passionate desire for immorialit.x should be placed in men only to he disappointed. If we are immortal and we MI ST be there is sureh a re ward for the soul that tries The soul m which ambition per sists must be a higher soul than that which gives in. and its slate must be higher when it leav s this both. Various religions reward deserving men in various wavs with happy hunting grounds, with well-stocked seraglios with the peaceful nonentity that the worn out Hindoo craves, with the golden crown and the home of solid wold and precious stones which seemed desirable to the primitive civilization of the East Rewarded we SHALL be—presumably along lines of natu rnl growth: along the 1 n- s of our own desert. But taking the gloomiest possible view of the question that is asked, and assuming that ,i do.s NOT make an\ difference to a man hereafter whether he did well or I on earth, we ask in turn : How about the man that lives selfishly, tills the little stom ach, decorates the foolish body fanciful!;. lives onl\ for him self? # What good will that do HIM a’l. r h< is dead What good will it do him. aft, rln -<1 ad. Io cav. ■al n and so much Lit. passes a second. and it nagmaliic " I* l ’ B'licves that this ]ij’< ends if ~ m h u .|| J, runtie Continued in Last Column The Atlanta Georgian The Use of a Great Man One Hus Recently Died tn France, and People Are Inquiring What He Good For By GARRETT P. SERVISS. A GRAND funeral was given in Paris some week- ago to Henri Poincare, of whom, probably, many readers of these lines have never heard. The pro cession to the grave was imposing. There inarched, bareheaded, through the streets, between side walks crowded with spectators, most of whom also respectfully re moved their hats, a long double line of the most distinguished living I renchmen. When the grave was reached Impressive discourses were pronounced by M Guist'hau, who spoke for the government and the university; by M? < 'laretie, who rep resented the famous Academic Francaisa; by .VI. Painleve. who was the mouthpiece of the Academy of Sciences, and by many others whose names are better known to the public than was that of the subject of their discourses. All the newspapers were filled with praise of the dead man, and all the illustrated journals printed portraits of hint, Everybody was assured, and the assurance was re peated front mouth to mouth, that France had lost one of her great est lights whose renown would il lustrate the pages of her history. Everybody felt proud because his country had produced so mighty a genius. But a singular fact soon became evident, viz. that among the hun dreds of thousands who repeated the praise of this immense genius hardly any one had a definite Idea of what he was or of what he had done. They only knew that, some how. ho had been A GREAT MAN. Dilling his lifetime It was said that, there were only two or three men In all Europe who could com prehend him. It Is almost certain that among those who pronounced eulogiums at his tomb there was none w ho could follow his work with complete un derstanding. Most of them did not know even the A-B-C of It Who He Was. For Henri Poincare was a very great mathematician, perhaps the greatest since Laplace and La grange, whom Napoleon, with his vast practical genius, could not un derstand. For most people mathe matics, in its higher forms, is a closed book. Naturally, then, after the first sensation caused by the departure of this great genius had died away, the question began to be asked: "What was he good for, after all?" The question has been asked, and rather Indefinitely answered. In nianv newspapers. It can not be answered by giving a list of hfs 1,500 works, for even the most pop ular of them, like the book on “Sci ence and Hypothesis," are full of things which only the expert can read understandingly, while most of them are addressed to the ELITE of science, the narrow inner circle, Courtesy in Business By ELBERT HUBBARD Copyright. 1912, by International News Service. 1 t >!■'. are ruled by our habits. V/V'’ First wo form our habits, and then our habits form us. We are what we are on account of what we have thought, said or done. After having done a thing once, there is a tendency in the brain to do it again. If continued, we get the habit; that is. we do the thing without thinking, just as a matter of course Thus does habit become second nature. "What kind of people will we be in Elysium?" they asked Socrates four hundred years before Christ. And Ins answer was. "You will be the same kind of people you are to day. because this life is a prepara tion for the next just as today is a preparation for tomorrow." Any man with the grouch habit, t he’"piker” habit, the frown habit, the cigarette habit, the dope habit, the booze habit, is on the greased chute, and he himself is swabbing the slide Also, there Is a sort of general disposition on the part of everybody to give him a push down the road to Davy Jones' looker All Good Things Are Catching. in the heart of all of us is the tendency to pass back everything that is handed to us. Cnee there was a man who said. “If 1 had been arouqd that day when the Creator was making the world I would have made a few sug gestions." And one of the auditors said. "What would you have proposed'."' ”1 would have made good health < atehing instead of bad.” That is just where the critic lapsed The fact is. good health is catching All good things are catch ing. If a man smiles, waves his hand at you as you walk down the street in the in uning. you wave your band back and smite in return uncon sciously. and often one tittle expe rience like this will key for you the day joyously. • 'ourtesy. kindness. good-will, generosity, liberality are all catch ing. Nothing I- so contagious a.s a Trx it on he first man you last thy bread upon lite waters WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 28, 1912. ■!■"» —>■■ll- r.—— I HT’” JJ ffK Km? f T T'tL: —w TMII mu jl \imMMiL - to enter which requires extraor dinary talent and years of applica tion. But it rloeswiot follow that some answer can nWt b“ given. The best answer is twofold. in the first place, one great use of such a man as Poincare is the stimulation which lie imparts to the average human being. He awakes the am bition of tlie race by show ing of what ft is capable. He is lite man on the top of the apparently inac cessible mountain, who, by his mere presence there, shows to others the possibility of ascending it Hr is like the late Edward Whymper, waving his cap from the summit of the terrible Matterhorn. Anybody with good wind and strong muscles can ascend the Matterhorn now. because the way is known. But Poincare would never have given an impetus to his fellow be ings if he bad not, like Newton before him, and like all great men, disclaimed the possession of any superhuman power. Newton said that all he had done seemed to him but as the picking up of a pebble on tlie shore of the boundless ocean of knowledge, and Poincare de clared that the mind of man ’• only a flash of lightning, illuminat ing for a moment a part of th* illimitable expanse around. But these flashes succeed ont another, ami the race, as a whole, retains a little of what each re veals and adds to it that which has already been acquired. What was revealed to the gerrfus of the great French mathematician was not al- and it shall return after many days buttered, and sometimes with jam ■ on it. The advantage and benefit of tel ephone courtesy is beyond compu tation. But the use of the telephone re quires a certain amount of pa tience. You must have faith that the man at the other end of the line has something to tell you that is worth saying. In the big central telephone of fices operators are selected w ith es pecial care as to then- voices A girl may have brains all right, but if she has a voice that screams, screeches or purrs, to that degree she is incompetent either as a tcle- Ballade of Bugs By JACOB .1 I.EIBSoN \ A T HEN. seeking joys of solitude, I VV 1 stretch my self beneath a tree. A fussy insect, rough and rude. With buzzing wings, alights on me, I drive him off, and then a bee. I'pon my Adam’s apple sings. A beetle bites where I can't sec 1 hate these bees and bugs and things. I quickly change my attitude And hide my face within the grass. A joyous jigger, seeking food. 1 Across my nose attempts to pass. A most ingenious bug. alas! Now beats my eardrum with Ills w ings. I wonder when they get the brass, These most obtrusive bugs and things Then speedily my patient mood And spirits gay depart from me. I will not be an insect’s food, A centipede'.- collation free. A hornet spies me from a tree And all his fond r, lations brings ■I can not bide their company; They bore nit so, these bugs with stings. * I.'Envoi. Prince, peasant, de k. w hoe et you be, Though natur. s joy- the poet -ings lust take this humble tip from me You'll find no joy in bug.- and things. HENRI POINCARE IN HIS STUDY ways perfectly clear, even to him self, w hile for the majority of men It was but a flash in the night which showed them nothing. His successors, guided by the glimpses he had, will make it all clear, and thus the domain of knowledge will he extended. Additions to Knowledge. In the second place, the useful ness of such a man as Poincare consists in the actual additions that he made to knowledge. These additions were purely mathemati cal and incapable of popular ex planation, but there are men who can understand them, and who, with IHEIR successors, will, upon the basis which he left, erect a new edifice of science which all can en ter and admire. There was a time when Newton’s “Prlnctpia” was as far beyond the intellectual reach of the average man as Poincare’s most abstruse work is today, but now, thanks to the advance which it, itself, inspired, any boy in col lege, with a mathematical gift and proper application, can read the whole “Principia” understandingly. In fact, it has been displaced by more recent work, just as Poin care's achievements will be super seded in the future. Great men of this stamp are the pioneers of the human intellect, and happy is the country that can pro duce one in a century. It is the Napoleons, whose work Is easily understood, that get the great monuments: it is these other gen iuses, whose own times hardly know them, that uplift the race. phone operator or as a salesman. To apeak distinctly' and pleasant ly is a fine art. A good speaking voice Is not so much a matter of training as it is of right thinking. A person who thinks well of himself and of other people has a voice that assures. People who are anxious, nervous, irritable, harassed, tired, reveal impatience in their tones. Any one who uses the telephone, he he operator or patron, aristocrat or plebeian, should practice tele phone courtesy. He should speak neither too loud nor too low, but should endeavor to put a smile Into his voice, and not tears, doubt or accusation. Many people, on taking down the receiver, will shout. "Who's this?" Then, not getting an answer, will say. "Who are you, anyway?” This is followed up with "What do you want"" All of which is quite dis courteous. absurd and inoppor tune. \ny one taking down the re ceiver should announce who he Is. If you were a salesman, on enter ing an office you would not shout at the first man you met. "Who is this? or "Who are you?" \\ hen you call on a person you have never before met. you cer tainly do not demand that he should reveal his identity until you have first revealed yours. You moderate vour voice, and you speak pleasantly. On Good Terms With Public. *in taking down the receiver, either to answer a call or to put one in. when you get your party, say. I his is Mr. Brown who is speaking." Just assume a pleas ant attitude of mind, and your voice will follow. I have noticed that trainmen on certain railroads for the most part have pleasant voices. They call the stations in away so they are understood, and they do not appear to be bawling bad names at their enemies. They are the voices of men who are well nourished, who g-t eight hours sleep, who think well of themsalves. who are proud of their jobs ami proud of the road for w hich they work. Thus are they placed on good terms with their colleagues and with the public. TTHE HOME PAPER Thomas Tapper Writes on How To Build a For tune No. 6.-—Getting Rich in a Hurry ' I iHE statement has recently JL been made that in one year the Anterfcan people con tributed about seventy-seven mil lions of dollars to various fake in vestment schemes. This means that they dropped the money down a hole, expecting it to rush up again In a golden shower. Instead of that, there was a group of busy men at the other end of the hole carrying away the precious stuff In baskets —for they, too, have fami lies to support. The seventy-seven millions of the preceding paragraph was not the entire annual crop. This sum was paid over to the get-rich-quick concerns that were closed up by the postoffice department. There were many others that did business without using the mails and were undisturbed. Why is it so easy to sell worth less paper? Answer No. 1 People want to get rich tn a hurry. Answer No. 2 —Golden promises make golden dreams. The thing is so bright we actually are fasci nated by ft. So we put real money into a golden dream, and then we wake up. IT. A promoter was talking one day to an humble individual who did not seem to know much. “How do you invest your sav ings?" asked the promoter. “1 put them in a savings bank,” said the man. Never Get Poor, Either. “Well, you will never get rich that way,” the promoter said. "No.” answered the humble indi vidual, "probably not. but I’ll never get poor that way either." In view of the countless ways of investing money which promise nothing less than "marvellous re turns," it takes a good type of mind to stick to simple, direct ways of saving. The seventy-seven millions, of which we have been speaking, was not the money of rich men. It belonged to those who could not af ford to lose it—to widows, and to wage earners of all classes. A Man Without Ambition— Is a Watch Without a Mainspring Continued from First Column. tn do at least the best work possible during his little moment on the stage. There are two strange hours for each human being— The painful hour of his birth, when he comes into this world, all unfitted for it. The responsible hour of his death, when the man who is conscious looks back over that which he has done. Be sure that the man who has wasted his time, thought only of himself, neglected his duty and pushed aside his ambj tion. can suffer enough self-reproach in that last hour to maks. up.for many days of eating and drinking and of empty self-in. diligence. The only man worth while is the ambitious man. The only child or woman worth while is the ambitious child or rvoman. Ambition moves the world, as the mainspring moves the watch hands. And the human being without ambition is like the watch without a mainspring. Such a watch and such a human being, looked al from the outside, are quite satisfactory —smooth and pleasing. BUT THERE IS NO USE IN THEM. The business of every human being is to cherish the spring of ambition within him. and do what little he can to move forward the world in general—if he be big enough—or. at least, that little corner of it in which his life is passed. The thing to do is to have THE RIGHT AMBITION. Don’t mistake foolish egotism for ambition. The frog in La Fontaine’s fable was ambitious in the wrong way. He wanted to be as big as the ox. and he swelled himself up until he burst. Vanity—not ambition—was his mainspring. We should like to write to the friend whose letter we publish a few words as to the proper character and direction of ambition, as we see them. 1 hat. however, must be reserved for another editorial. This one is long enough. There is a hackneyed quotation which says: “I charge thee, throw away ambition." The wise man will do just the reverse. He will keep alive the spark of ambition as a shipwrecked crew would keep alive their smouldering tire. Once that spark goes out. J man might as well be dead -he is only a shell, eating, drinking am! ' waiting to die. The sooner he dies and makes mom iur •—-»iher, the better Bv THOMAS TAPPER. When any one wants you to put your money into a proposition that will make you wealthy in a few weeks, refuse, to have anything to do with it. as a matter of princi ple. It can not be done. Rosy as the dream is, it is still a rosy dream and nothing more. One of the fundamental rules of investment is, the higher the inter est yield, the greater the risk. Bonds of the most conservative character, with the highest guaran tee as to safety of principal, yield in the neighborhood of four per cent; sometimes a fraction less or more. When some one quietly slips you information that you can come in, on the inside, and get 30 per cent, or thereabouts—don't go in. All the doors are locked, and when they throw the victims out of tlie back window their pockets are turned inside out. ITT. The banker puts it this way: Judicious investment is the art of making the most of your money WITHOUT EXPOSING IT TO THE RISK OF LOSS. “Be Patient,’’ the Great Rule. That kind of safety has to be paid for in small Interest returns. You may feel that at the rate your surplus funds get into tlie bank you will never get rich. Re member the remark of the humble individual—you will never'get poor, either. The great rule is “be pa tient." In an interview recently, Mr. An drew Carnegie is reported to have said this: "The trouble with many men of small means Is that they will never make a beginning, and keep putting off the time when they have a nu cleus for investing. The goal of the wage-earner in saving should be to acquire SI,OOO. PRUDENT INVESTING OF SMALL SUMS will help him to obtain this first SI,OOO. Money grows surprisingly, and if you have none now try the experiment I suggest of getting SI,OOO and see if I am not right." Notice that Mr. Carnegie speaks of PRUDENT investing—of what? Os small sums.