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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, 1379.
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Men Like Suffragettes
M *. *
Because They Admire Women That Can Think. The Clinging Vine
Is Ornamental, but Does Not Last.
Women must not be discouraged by the fact that the woman
suffrage cause was defeated in Ohio. Some years must pass and the
most intelligent and most earnest women will continue to fight an
uphill fight before the mental slavery of woman shall disappear.
BIG THINGS ARE ACCOMPLISHED SLOWLY, and the fight
for woman’s rights is a very big thing.
While waiting for victory, it may he some comfort for the
earnest, thinking women, loyal to their cause, to realize that men
worth while respect and admire the suffragettes.
Needless to say, certain men do not care very much about the
women able to think—and such men are not interested in suffrage.
The savage wants a woman to obey orders, cook, dig and brush
the flies from him while he sleeps.
Certain kinds of “civilized” savages want a woman to lead the
Idle life of a lap-dog, wearing pretty colors and saying to her owner,
* ‘ How can you be so great and wonderful ? ’ ’
Ignorant men, with the bigotry and brutality of ages ground
into their dull brains, object to thinking and voting for their
women on the ground that voting and thinking are irreligious or
immoral.
Feeble men like feeble women, and feeble women are not suf
fragettes.
The man worth while realizes that the best thing about any hu
man being, man or woman, is the brain.
And men worth while admire women that stand up for their
rights, women with intelligence enough to demand the vote and use
it when they get it, because such women have brains, character and
the power to attract and keep the interest of thinking men.
Superstition, tradition, bigotry, ignorance keep a certain class
of women and of men hostile to woman suffrage. But time will end
that, as time has ended the rack, the thumb-screw and other brutali
ties.
Silly, foolish, characterless craving for second-rate admiration
makes certain women oppose the suffragette movement.
These woijien are usually between forty-nine and sixty-six years
of age. And they are usually trying to look as though they were
between twenty-nine and thirty-six. They are lackadaisical, sim
pering, thoughtless, would-be “clinging vines.” They lack all
power to control men through intellect and, therefore, try to control
them through flattery.
The anti-suffragette woman usually has a sad, woe-begone look,
and folds her hands in ecstasy looking at some tenth-rate man as
she moans, “I'm sure I don’t want the vote while I have a noble,
god-like creature such as you to think for me and defend me.”
And the foolish man says to himself, “That is a very fine
woman”—which she is not.
The woman who wants to vote.is the woman who thinks and
who wants to use her brains.
The woman who does not want to vote is the woman—with a
few honorable, old-fashioned exceptions unable to think, and,
therefore, appalled at the idea of fresh demands upon the intelli
gence which she has not got.
The man who opposes woman suffrage is some kind of a sav
age—usually rather a weak man—MEN ARE ALWAYS WEAK
WHEN THEY ARE AFRAID TO DIVIDE POWER.
The man worth while and the woman worth while want to live
together, think together, plan together AS EQUALS.
The ballot will develop the minds of women and the character
of men—and it will gradually eliminate the “clinging vine, dear me,
I don’t want to vote, water-eyed” type of women and the egotisti
cal man.
Women will have the ballot everywhere. For the best women in
the country are determined to have it. Defeats will not discourage
them—THEY WILL WIN.
Making Sense of the Panama
Contract
It is an established rule for the interpretation of contracts that
they should be so construed as to make not nonsense, but sehse.
Thus it should be a sufficient confutation of the British view of
the Hay-Pauncefote treaty that it is a view that is inconsistent with
American sanity.
The British foreign office holds that we are precluded by this
contract from treating our own Panama commerce as well as for
eign countries may treat their Panama commerce. It holds that the
English. French or German government is free, under the contract,
to remit to its own ships any tolls that they may pay at Panama—
while we, who built and own the canal, are not free to do so'
The British foreign office, with all its foolishness, has at least
the sense to perceive a plain fact that most American lories have
overlooked, to wit —the fact that taking tolls from our ships and
afterwards remitting them is precisely the same thing as not taking
them at all.
Perceiving this point, the British have been driven, by the logic
of their absurdity, to claim that we have no right to offer subsidies
or concessions to our Panama commerce m the shape of remitted
tolls-—in spite of the fact that all other nations will have an tin
doubted right to do that very thing
There will be a day of awakening in which everybody will see
that the British content ion should not be referred to TJie Hague,
. but to a coiuiuissiu de lunatico inquirciidu.
The Atlanta Georgian
BILL!
He goes out to get the Blues, and he gets them. But it might have been worse.
Copyright, 1912, International News Service.
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The Matter of Age W 5
AMAN who Is forty years old,
and who is going to be mar
ried, asks this question:
"What should be the difference
between the ages of a husband and
wife, taking into consideration
their happiness and the good of
the children that may be born to
them?”
To answer the latter part of this
question first, it may be said that,
as a general thing, the healthiest
and strongest children are usually
the offspring of women who are in
their twenties and early thirties.
That is the ideal time for mother
hood. because then a woman Is at
her prime physically, and she is
old enough to have intelligence
enough to take care of her children
properly, and yet young enough to
be in sympathy with them.
The children of an over-young
and undeveloped mother are apt to
be weaklings, and they are almost
sure to suffer in the rearing from
her lack of knowledge and expe
rience of life. There are few sights
more pitiful than that of a sickly
little child-mother wrestling In
competently with a sickly little ba
by. and the man who possesses
such a combination has smalt
chance of anything but misery. On
the other hand, the too-oid mother
is apt to have children who are
"queer," and to be overly Indulgent
and fussy about them, or else to
raise them inhumanly according to
some system she has dug out of a
book.
No Regular Law.
Os course, there are many excep
tions to this rule, but, speaking by
and-large, it will be found that the
most normal children are the chil
dren of youthful, but not too young,
mothers.
Nor can any hard and fast law
be laid down as regards the dif
ference between the ages of hus
band and wife It depends upon the
temperament and personality of the
Individuals concerned Nothing is
really more foolish than to measure
age b;> years, because there sir
people who are senile in tile cradle,
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1912.
By DOROTHY DIX.
and others who are children at
four score years.
The consensus of matrimonial ex
perience of the ages is that it is
. best the husband should be older
than the wife, but this only mat
ters when there is any great dis
parity of years. Formerly it was
held that a woman at the same age
as a man was really much older
than he, but this is no longer true.
In these strenuous times when men
work so hard, and live so high,
and w hen women take such good
care of themselves, and devote so
much thought and consideration
not only to preserving their youth
but to keeping themselves mentally
alert and fresh, it is a question if
they are not really younger at the
same age than men are.
There Can Be No Objection.
Certainly there van be no ob
jection to a man marrying a woman
of his own age. so far as her look
ing as young as he does, and being
able to keep step with him in his
pursuits and pleasures. Nor 'does
a year or two more of age on the
woman's part make an insurmount
able barrier between them.
It is. however, a suicidal thing
for both of them when the woman
is fifteen or twenty years older
than her husband. Such marriages
are invariably unhappy, whereas
marriages in which the husband is
that much older than the wife are
generally most successful.
There are many reasons why,
l “what is sauce for the goose is not
sauce for the gander” in the mar
riage proposition. One is that the
man who marries a woman almost
old enough to be his mother is in
variably ashamed of her, no matter
how brilliant, and charming, and
handsome she may be. He knows
that people laugh at him behind
his baek.
And the elderly wife is even mo r e
secretly ashamed of her boy hus
band. and mote sensitive to the rid
icule she knows her choice excites.
More than this, it is not in human
nature so- a grizzled, fat old wont
an not to be frantically jealous of
a young husband. He may be as
faithful as the house cat. but she
I never secs him with a beautiful,
lissome, fresh girl w-ithout having
her heart torn with the bitter
knowledge that youth calls to
youth, and without suspecting that
he regrets his bargain.
On the other hand, the old hus
band’s vanity stands him in good
stead when he marries a young,
w ife. He thinks any girl ought to
be glad to have gotten him, no mat
ter what age he is. Even seventy
year-old millionaires never suspect
that girls of twenty do not marry
them for themselves alone.
Naturally, fifty or sixty years, or
even thirty, between a man and
woman is a chasm that only gold
ever bridges over, but twenty years
is not an insurmountable obstacle
at all. Indeed, those twenty years
in a man are sometimes just the
gilding thatx- gilds gold, and that
gives him a little touch of paternal
tenderness tow'ard his young wife
that makes him the best, the ten
derest and the most considerate
husband in the world.
Perhaps as good a rule as could
be formulated in the matter of ages
would be to say that the man
should be from eight to ten years
older than his wife. This would
fulfill the convention that the hus
band should be the elder and have
the wider experience or life, but it
would still keep them in the same
class, and give them a chance to
develop along together, to settle
into the same ruts of age. with
the point of view of the same gen
eration.
A Matter of Temperament.
The young woman whose feet
still ache for the dance, who wants
to laugh, and make merry’, and to
go about, can have no happiness
if she is married to an old man who
only wants to sit in the chimney
corner and nurse his rheumatism.
Neither can the young man who
loves pleasure and society, and who
is keen about outdoor sport, find a
weary old woman a congenial com
panion.
Rut these things are a matter of
temperament and not age. and the
years are not tn be consideied w hen
one finds one's affinity—the one of
whose society one never tires, and
who has the same tastes and ways
of looking at things as one's own.
THE HOME PAPER
MRS. W. L. PEEL
Writes on
The Rule of the I
Expert
Let Atlanta Take in the
Whole of Fulton County,
She Says; Plan For a
Greater and Better City.
AN article entitled “City Sense”
by Frederic C. Howe in a late
number of The Outlook might
be read with great interest by At
lanta just at present. Mr. Howe
begins by saying:
“It was a rude shock for four
score business men from Boston,
New York. Philadelphia, Chicago,
Denver, Seattle, and a score of oth
er cities, to be entertained last
summer by eouncilmen who were
business men like themselves in the
city halls of Manchester and Liv
erpool. It was an even greater
shock to be received with the dig
nity and ceremony of ambassadors
by the most eminent bankers, man
ufacturers and professional men
serving as city officials in Paris,
Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfort,
Berlin. Munich, Vienna,' Budapest,
Prague and a half dozen other cities
on the continent of Europe. It was
a transition from the unabashed
democracy made up from all na
tions painfully finding its way to
self-government in the cities of
America; to the , most efficient,
most finished, and most highly or
ganized municipal life in the mod
ern world.”
He goes on then to speak of the
rule of the expert. While English
cities are governed on much the
same plan, the German municipal
ity is considered ideal. When they
want a mayor they advertise for
one, and experts from all over
Germany compete for it. It goes
without saying that the qualifica
tions for office read something like
this:
Qualifications for Office.
First. High character, position
and integrity which is naturally
expected of the head of any kind
of enterprise.
Second. Judgment and ability as
manifested by his personal success
in life.
Third. Expert knowledge of mu
nicipal affairs.
The burgomaster is elected for
twelve years, has a targe salary,
and at the end of that time he, if
satisfactory, is re-elected for 25
years, and finally pensioned.
Baek of the burgomaster is the
city council, elected by districts,
as is our own. It is made up of
eminent busines* men, of lawyers,
doctors, and, in the university
towns, of pfofessor* as well. Mem
bers of the council are paid no sal
ary, but they devote a large part
of their time to city business. It
is a distinguished honor to serve
on the council, and men aspire to it
as an honorable career. Service,
too, is obligatory, for a man who
is elected can be punished if he
refuses to serve.
But the directing spirit of the
city is the burgomaster, although
the council members, who enjoy
considerable permanency through
a six years term, have the .same
kind of pride and enthusiasm in
their work that the burgomaster
himself possesses. The burgomas
ter has a number of expert as
sistants. elected by the council,
who form the magistral. They,
too, are permanent trained men.
About one-half of them are sal
aried; the other half are not.
The council is a taxpayers' and
not a people’s council. That would
seem to leave the control of af
fairs in the of the rich. But
behold what is the result? Filth,
disease and poverty have been
wiped off the map. No crowded
tenements. They expand. In the
environs of the cities are plant
ed colonies of working people, with
up-to-date sanitary city houses,
with flowers and parked streets
and nothing unsightly or unwhole
some. The first care of these city
fathers is the welfare and pros
perity of the laboring class. Back
of the German city, therefore, are
the business men, the bankers, the
merchant classes.
The German city has no charter
and is free and independent. In
the matter of corporate towns it is
the exact reverse of the American
city.
But we have a habit here in
America of getting what we want
by indirection. Rarely do we
frankly face a problem and cor
rect it by reforming the evil it
self. Our reforms have away of
coming in through the back door.
Milwaukee has discovered a
means of -ecui’ing the city expert
without regard to residence, poin-
By MRS. W. L. PEEL
ical affiliations, or relation to ;
city. Milwaukee has organized a
Bureau of Economy and Efficiency
It sent to the state university for
Professor John R. Commons, who
organized a municipal clea mg
house of experts. When the city
want? advice on a paving, health,
engineering or harbor problem, the
bureau makes a study of the sub
ject with the co-operation of the
best experts that can be found in
the country, and reports its find
ings to the city. Such studies have
been made on garbage disposal, th 9
incineration plant, on a harbor, on
health and hygiene, on pure milk,
as well as on a variety of other
subjects. Standards of cost have
been established and departmental
efficiency secured by letting tn the
light.
Expert Ability Available.
We have the same expert ability
that Germany and England com
mand. But it Is excluded from city
politics. And as long as questions
of policy or partisanship are de
termined at the polls we can not
hope to displace the political mayor
by the trained official. The Mil
waukee plan for a permanent bu
reau of experts offers a means of
securing that which our cities have
heretofore lacked.
But the reform that has dons
most to simplify our municipal ma
chinery is the commission plan of
city government. It is a short cut
to efficient, to responsible admin
istration. It sweeps away the com
plexity of the long ballot and ths
confused charter, and enables the
public to locate responsibility. It
reduces the number of elective of
ficials to three or five. Through the
initiative, referendum and recall, it
destroys the power of the boss and
the privileged interests behind ths
boss. The commission plan may
not be the final form that city gov
ernment will assume, but it will
enable our cities to establish them
selves in the confidence of the peo
ple, and that is what we most need
just now. It was impossible to de
velop a city sense so long as the
city was distrusted, so long as the
public felt it should be shorn nf
power and limited In its activi
ties. A healthy municipal life could
not exist under this distrust.
This gives but an idea of Mr.
Howe’s delightful article.
Rule Applied to Atlanta.
Now. if we had any experts In
Atlanta, selected by taxpayers to
say what should go with their
money, does anybody think they
would have discarded our garbage
plant for w’hich we had just paid
$39,000 for one that cost over $300,-
000? No. An expert told me he
would have recommended that our
plant run day and night (it has
only run by day) and that well-to
do people be required to consume
their own garbage. The up-to-date
plan is very simple—a little gas
arrangement in the kitchen which
eats up anything from a dead dog
to its own ashes. When we get
our $300,000 crematory, ft will take
SIOO,OOO for an outfit to haul the
garbage, which must now be
brought from Brookwood and
Westview and Kirkwood and the
end of Marietta street —my! Talk
about congestion. When this cara
van takes the streets people will
all have to sell their automobiles'
Let's turn over a new leaf righf
now. Let’s get a clean, live, suc
cessful, up-to-date business man
for our burgomaster. And then let s
away with our little old antiquated
charter, and our little old anti
quated methods. Let the city take
In the whole of Fulton county and
compel every landlord to furnish
decent housing for his tenants,
black or white. No wonder we rank
third in the typhoid cities of
America when we think of the
thousands of human beings in this
city herded like cattle. When we
know that the servant In the
house comes to us from these loath
some dens, shall we not in the
name of humanity demand a
change? |
The city of Trenton, N. J., has
tried the commission form o'’
government for one year. Although
heavily handicapped by a debt
nearly as large as Atlanta's will
be next year, left by the outgoing
administration, they annminre
that they have already saved up
ward of SIOO,OOII of the taxpayers'
money. '
A i