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EDITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday 2; THE GEORGIAN COMPANY East Alabama St., Atlanta. Ga. lettered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March J. IS7». Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week By mail. J 5.00 a year. Pavable In advance. “The Government Is Help ing the Banks” a> » v Yes, Indeed, Helping the Banks TO ROB THE FARMERS BY CHARGING FROM EIGHT AND ONE-HALF TO TWELVE PER CENT INTEREST. “Eminently respectable” newspapers, always filled with joy when “those that have" get a little more, comment approvingly upon the fact that, as they put it. “the government is helping the banks." They mean by this that the government of the United States is taking money which belongs to all of the peo ple and sending his money on deposit to inland banks through out the nation. The crops are in ami must be “moved." The farmer must pay his freight, pay his bills for fertilizer ami the wages of his men. HE MUST HAVE MONEY. , He gets the money—and he gets it. at shamefully usurious rates —because the monet that belongs to the people of the United States is handed over to the banks, which in turn bleed the farmers. When we tell you that "the farmer has to pay on the average eight and a half per cent for the money he borrows,” we are NOT GIVING YOH IMAGINARY FIGURES from a soft hearted muck raker, we are quoting B. F Yoakum, president of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad, president of other railroads in the past, interested as director and stockholder in banks AND INTIMATE LY ACQUAINTED WITH THE METHODS OF ROBBING THE FARMER, WHO PRODUCES. RY THE MONEY LENDER, WHO PRODUCES NOTHING. You wonder that the cost of living is high, but you need not wonder. The farmers of this country owe the banks six thousand millions of dollars—these are Mr. Yoakum's figures and they pay in interest EVERY YEAR FIVE Hl NDREI) AND TEN MILLIONS of dollars. The amount would be much greater, except that many of the loans are paid off by the farmer as soon as his crops are sold, so that the vast sum of five hundred and ten millions, which would build two Panama canals every year, which in five years would put good roads in front of every farm in this country, repre sents only the interest that the farmers pay for the use of the money FOR A LITTLE WHILE, no for a whole year. Nothing is more demoralizing than the payment of exorbi tant interest. It discourages the man who pays, it makes him reckless and discourages careful economy. The cost of the food that you eat represents the money that the farmer must spend to produce that food, plus his profit AND THE INTEREST ON THE MONEY THAT HE BOR ROWS. Here you have the banks. THAT PRODUCE NOTHING, tak ing from the farmers in interest every year five hundred ami ton millions of dollars, and that vast sum is added at once to the cost of the food you eat. Do you realize that the money which the banks loan to the farmers is government money? Do you realize that the banks pay nothing for the use of this money, and that, as Mr. Yoakum testifies, they charge the farmers on the average the usurious and criminal rate of eight and one-half per cent interest" Do you realize that this money which the government uses “to help the banks” is money that the farmers and other citi zens have paid to the government in taxes taxes on imports, on cigars, on beer? Can you conceive anything more outrageous and shameful than a system of government which taxes the people heavily and then deposits the taxes in the banks and permits the banks AGAIN TO TAX THE PEOPLE IN THE SHAPE OF CRIM INAL USURY? A national bank buys government bonds. The government pays interest on those bonds to the bank. Then the hank can issue money of its own against those bonds. For this money thus issued it pays not one cent of inter est. Its own money is sate.ly invested in government bonds, and the artificial money which it issues against those bonds is loaned out at usury to the farming ela-ss. it is a wonder that, instead of worry ing about the high cost of living, our country is not in actual want. And it is a wonder that we are not in a continual state of panic, instead of merely having panics every few years. The farmer would not try to work a horse with blood suckers hanging to him and draining his vitality How can the farmers he expected to work and enrich the country and make the cost of living reasonable when the blood of the banks bb< d them to the tune of five hundred F and ten million,- <,f dollars . cry year m the shape of usury fcnd use tm- people's money in making their loan*l The Atlanta Georgian MONDAY. OCTOBER 7. 1912. The Great Political Show By HERSH FIELD. 7* • - ~ - = ' • / ' ~ T ~~~~~~ 1 " -L--- — „’i 1 — _ Ji c ry. - '&£RSW-feLi>' ~— i There was an Old Man in a boat. Who said, “I’m afloat! I’m afloat!” When they said, “No, you ain’t!” he was ready to faint, That unhappy Old Man in a boat. From Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense. J HAVE received a letter which "Will you kindly help i wom an with an artistic t mperatment to see lhe bright side of a life that she is doomed to spend with a man who cares for nothing in. the world but business. Ho is not in terested in polities, religion or lit erature. He plays no games. He does not care for the theater or opera. He reads nothing but the stock reports. He docs not can for automobiling except to get moi" swiftly to his business. Ho dots not even care for his children, but gives them anything they w in! to keep them from bothering him and taking up his valuable time. When he is at home, which isn't very oft en before II or 12 o’clock at night, he Is absorbed in thinking over his business plans, or as cross and grouchy as a sore-headed bear be cause he is exhausted, mentally and physically, by his labot. He's No Companion. "Literally. I have no husband. 1 have a generous provider, but no companion, no chum, nobody to go out with me or to enjoy things with me. "1 know there is so much misery in the world, so much real suffer ing for the necessities of life, that I should not complain of my lot. There must be a bright side to my case, and 1 know if there is x ott w ill be able to see it Will you kindly point it out to me?" Os course, there is a bright side to your lot. sister. Your cloud is literally silver lined, and what you want to do is to get a pick, and go mining for it. Believe me. there are worse hus bands than a cash register, and the woman who is lucky enough to be married to a man who has the gift for making money, and the energy to do it, should sii down and con trast het luck with that of those wives who have to take in washing to support lazy. loafing. ne’er-do wells. who are born too tired to work. The woman with a husband who is a good business man can, at least, respect him because he is able to hold his own in a world of men. because he has the intelligence to plan and scheme, and the grit and backbone to tight ami ichievt tiling Would you trade that kind "fa husband off so a pool. xvishy washy, helpless in.th ct>ature. so hhnd he can net. - • opportunii' inilfl if i gott •np <■ f I' n. .so in - thing h< undertake.*, so weak he The Silver Lining By DOROTHY DIX •I* can not stand alone, but has to be always helped by somebody else? I trow not. and before you quar- I rel with your cake just consider how hungry you would be if your husband was one of the men who could not provide you with even bread and butter, to say nothing of angels* food. It is, of course, unnecessary to call your attention to your mate rial possessions, and to say that the woman who is married to a man * 'O 1 - / DOROTHY I.'IX. who can provide her with a luxu rious home, with an automobile, with money for trips and theater and opera, and good clothes should be down on her knees, knocking her forehead on the ground, and returning thanks for her good for tune. She has got the stuff to make happiness out of. She has got the means of entertaining herself, and if she doesn’t have a .lolly time it's her own fault. < if course, you shrug your shoul ders and say that houses and au tomobiles and Paris gowns arc not lux i and 'hrilltf and all of the bal .iiic' of the romantic flub duo that 'oil thought that marriage was go i agio mi ar Xias sisl . noboex I i* at iinut a 1 iftci ■ h;. v i been a a i -, \ months, iml th< re Is 1 never a tnriii gets past tin honey* •* moon. Then, when you settie down to the long pull of married life, it makes all the difference in the xvorld whether you glide over it in a, 90-horsepower limousine, or have to haul a handcart yourself. You. who are married to a plain business man whose greatest heart interest is the »rise and fall in the grocery trade, think how wonder ful it must be to be the wife of some long-haired poet, or dreamer, who could palpitate with you over a sunset, or delve deep with you into the psychology of the last problem novel. Kindly reflect, be fore you get green with envy, that Mrs. Poet doesn’t have time to palpitate over anything but the cook st and that the burning subject of discussion in their household is how they are to get enough money to settle the butch ers bill 4it the end of the month. Also if you could look Into the breast of Mrs. Poet you would find that she would like to trade off I about a barrel of her husband’s soulful thoughts for your hus band s ability* to make money Without doubt, the woman whose husband neglects her for his busi ness has just cause of complaint. It would be .far better for the hap piness of all concerned if men worked less and played more, if they gave their families fewer lux uries and more of their society. Point lace over a woman s breast doesn’t ease the ache of her lonely heart, nor does a string of pearls make up to her for never having his arms about her neck. It’s Easier to Preach. But it is easier to preach mod eration in business than it is to practice it, for it is a strenuous race in which you must keep in the lead or else be trampled out of existence. But the wife of the man who is absorbed in making money has at least the consolation of knowing that her rival is a bodi less one, and that at the back of all her husband’s seeming neglect the real motive that inspires all of his labor is his low for her. and his desire to lay the best of ever*- thing at her feet. In reality the supreme test of love is whether a man is willing to work for a woman or not. Judged by that the checkbook husband is ace high, and the wife who is mar ried to such a man and is rmt har py is a. worthy successor to the I’airy Princess who was such a *e< ker a ft» ■ t rou hie ha t *he delx eci iimi-r het to matin .-••- of rase nu ll *hc found < single crumpled rote leaf. THE HOME PAPER Thomas Tapper Writes on How to Beat the Cost of Living and Provide For a Savings Fund Strict Management of Family Finances Can Defy Presidential Changes and Result ant Periods of Unset tled Conditions. TO make a success of himself, the average man must have these things: 1. A job. 2. A place to sleep. 3. Some clothing. 4. Food. 5. Ambition. They are all necessary, and they ifll figure in the Cost of Living. The job yields so much Income, and takes so much Time. Out of the Income the worker buys shel ter, clothing- and food. Out of the Time he has left over after his day’s work is done he buys ths possibilities of Ambition. The Cost of Living may be high, and the way the government runs affairs may be wrong, but the av erage man can do nothing in the next 24 hours .that will materially change either of these things. But he must begin, say, about 7 a. m., and get down to tbrass tacks —down to doing his day’s work that he may have shelter, food and clothing of his own earning dur ing the day and night. And, besides this, he must spend a little of his spare time in firing the engine of Ambition, in order to be able to afford tomorrow, or next year, the things that he can not afford now. We grumble a good deal about conditions as they are about us. And. grumbling, we forget to east a cold and critical eye upon conditions as they are. Tiie Mental Scientists tell us that by holding the proper attitude toward life all good things will come to us. This is true. But there is a joker in the pack age. It lies In the words “proper attitude.” The whole game of life, includ ing the Cost of Living, is up to the individual. There is no likelihood that the government will make us rich pen sioners, however we may vote. But there is every likelihood in the world that it will protect the man who undertakes to run a job and a lofty Ambition at one and the same time. This is life, lib erty and the pursuit of happiness, which are free gratis to all who have the “proper mental" attitude toward them. 11. The value and worth of the daily paper is that it continually shows us our possibilities. Here is a news item from a New York paper that reports the opera tions of a. man who, after 75 years of age. made over Two Hundred Thousand Dollars. He MADE it, mind you. The government gave him nothing—except liberty to be ambitious. Here is another that tells about a man who owes over Ten Thou sand Dollars because he could not The Three Tenses By WILLIAM F. KIRK. \A7 HAT d° wp k now of the wondrous scheme * * That sages and serfs have tried to know \\ hy do we look at the stars that gleam At the a sad day’s afterglow? Why gaze we up and never below? All Logic tries for replies—and misses. But this is so. and shall ever be so: The Future applauds: the dead Past hisses! Future ami Past—what an ill-inatched team! Biting and fighting to and fro. Always a mock and a menace they seem Io the Present that sees them come and go. 'I he Present is neither fast nor slow: She is just a dream, like a sunbeam's kisses. But she senses this, as we know a I'oe: Ihe FWure applauds, the dead Past hisses. Ulf &■'' I If Jr I iCit*— — | By THOMAS TAPPER. change his mode of living. even his income fell below his expenses Now, the government did not get him into trouble. He probab charges his misfortune to the Cou of Living. That is right. But it was the cost he bought that wrei k ed him. not the cost that was form! upon him by any power except his own bad judgment. in. I talked with a hotel waiter » few days ago about the Cost Living. Here Is this case: Salary per month. Twenty-eight Dollars. Tips about the same. The hotel gives him all his meal? except three per week. He has held his job for twelve years. He is married, and has on. boy, aged nine. Against this: Rent, Twenty-two Dollars p.-r month. Habit expenses, smoking a pipe Insurance, a Five Hundred-Dollar Endowment Policy, costing Twen ty-one Dollars per year. A wife, who handles all the mon ey and keeps a record so carefully that it balances to a penny every montn. This record shows two weak points: Too much Is paid for rent —near- ly 40 per cent. An endowment policy is a mis take, because considerably more straight life insurance could be carried for the same premium. But this record also shows some strong points: 1. The man has kept his job con tinuously for twelve years. 2. He and his wife know exactly what they do with their money. 3. An examination of their record shows that the wife has put into the savings bank, in twelve year-, a total of Four Hundred and Thir ty-eight Dollars. Small amoun; have occasionally been drawn out to pay unexpected expenses. They have tn hand now. Three Hundred and Twelve Dollars as an emergen cy fund. What does it all mean? It means this: By strict management, ly finance can beat the Cost of Liv ing. It can defy change of president every four years. It can do business on little mid still secure a savings fund. Referring once again to n ’ Items: Some consternation - ex pressed in high society because there is to be a scarcity of crntim: expensive kinds of perfumery ’ season, A small amount that fo> merly cost Ninety-five Cents ' :o be One Dollar and Thirty five Cents, or something like that This is going to raise the Cost of Diving for many a struggling family, but It is safe to say that won't hurt the affairs of the waite