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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 postoftlce at Atlanta, under act of March 3, 137*.
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, $5.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
This Campaign Has Made
People Think and Discuss
Public Questions
*! *
That Is More Important Than Any Individual Success. Public
Thought in the End Must Govern, NOT INDIVIDUALS.
“Give light, and the people will find their own road.’’
The campaign which ended in yesterday’s election was a cam
paign of light giving. It was a campaign of thought, of dis
cussion. The old lines were broken down, one new party came
to the fore, and the two old parties were rejuvenated.
Discussion that, was once confined to old prosaic general top
ics was broadened. Women were in the field taking pari.
Protection of the lives of children. Ihe welfare of the weak
and the helpless were emphasized in every platform.
The bloody shirt was buried, Ihe old-fashioned, meaningless
oratory had disappeared.
Men, and women, too, actually said something in the cam
paign.
Millions of citizens had been thinking for themselves, and
voted as they thought best.
Party lines were broken down. Some Democrats went into
the Republican party. BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IT BEST
FOR THE COUNTRY. Many Republicans went into the Demo
cratic party, because they believe that that party best represents
what a majority of the people want.
Some Democrats and many Republicans went into the new
Progressive party, looking to that party for light and better gov
ernment.
And a number larger than usual voted for the Socialist party,
which in this, as in other campaigns, has done much to stimulate
thought and compel the older and more conservative parties to
deal with new questions.
It was a useful campaign of enlightenment, and the nation will
be the better for it.
The important thing was not the success of this or that can
didate or party, but continuous progress on the part of the
body of the citizens. /
No matter how brilliant the leader may be, no matter how
elevated the principles of a party, the nation does not improve
unless the inass of the voters share the qualities of the leader and
sincerely adopt and believe the principles that inspire the leader.
No leader, no party, no principles could make of a herd of
savages anything more than a herd of savages. Cunning, com
bined with force, might rule and help them, they could not be
lifted above the low plane.
And no principles, no leaders, no party, can do anything for
this country, except stimulate thought and direct THE PEOPLE
in the right road.
As the people progress the country progresses. And as the
people think. Ihe nation grows.
Yesterday’s election settled one question, put an end to one
discussioin. one struggle. The work of thinking and discussing
must go on.
This will really be a republic worthy of the people when the
average individual shall have knowledge and interest in public af
fairs, equal at least to the knowledge and interest of the best
leaders today.
Swift Judgment Upon the
Turks
The Balkan allies, righteously dripping with blood but
' flushed with an amazing victory, stand knocking at the gates of
Constantinople. The people of the civilized world look upon this
spectacle with sympathy and even with elation of spirit.
But the chancelleries of Europe are whispering upon the wires
from capital to capital, in anxious conference. It is feared that
the statesmen are trying to And means to cancel the amazing vic
tor?'. so far as it can be cancelled, and to build up out of the
ruins of the old tyranny a new empire of blood ami tears.
\The people of the United States can not ami will not repress
their feeling of indignation and scorn at the endless cruelty of
the European diplomats in their dealings with the Eastern ques
tion.
European Turkey contains less than a million real Turks,
men, women and children, all told. For this handful of Tartars
nominally the European powers have submitted to a century of
barbarity and shame. In reality Europe does not submit. She
enforces and perpetuates the barbarity and shame simply to
maintain territorially a weak empire.
From the middle of the fourteenth century to this present day
Christian Europe has. in one form or another, paid tribute to the
Turk in the blood and bones of its own children. The earlier
of tribute was quite undisguised; Christian boys were
turned over to the Ottoman power, to be made into Janizaries. In
modern times Christian Europe has veiled its shame under a tis
sue of diplomatic falsehoods, but it has never failed to pay its
toll of Christian blood.
For a century and more the Turkish Empire has been piti
fully weak. In strictness of speech, it has been no government
at all. It has been a tottering house, shored and patched into a
look of wholeness by the mutual jealousy and fear of the Eu
ropean Powers.
In the middle of the nineteenth century Englishmen and
Frenchmen fought side by side with the Turks against Russia.
The Treaty of Paris closed the Crimean chapter of disgrace
but it did not settle the Eastern question. Twenty-two years later.
At of tile Russo-Turkish war. a congress of the powers
at Berlin attempted to establish the Turk on a fresh basis of mini
mum butchery, but with disastrous results, as the slaughter of our
missionaries later proved.
Ihe Turkish rule in Europe should have been utterh abol
■she<l long ago. Certainly it should be abolished now.
The <lay of vengeance has come at last. Even the brazen
fheek of European must blush at the thought that the
baud of just judgment may now ly stayed.
The Atlanta Georgian
Will It Be Like This Some Day?
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In this picture the artist has endeavored to depict a scene in a war of the future. Here one
sees an airship hurling death-dealing bombs upon a city which has been reduced to ashes. Re
cent army maneuvers in England proved that the aeroplane and airship are contenders to be se
riously reckoned with, and it is not unlikely that the next war between advanced nations will
show scenes as terrible as that conjured up in the artist's imagination.
Monopoly Responsible For High Prices
I.
/-r->HE cause of the high price of
j food is monopoly. All down
the line from producer to
consumer there are organizations
of men who pass the necessities
along, each knocking some profit
out of it, and collecting the whole
bill from the party of the last part
—the man who eats the food.
The fewer middlemen between
producer and consumer, the cheap
er is the article.
Middlemeh are non-producers
and profit takers.
They put up toll gates, and col
lect profits, coming and going.
And yet with the present organi
zation of society the middleman
has become a necessity. It would
bother a good many families in a
large city to dispense with him.
The Simple Way.
But many a family can do so tn a
very simple way. That is. by be
coming their own producers.
Twenty years ago, in a certain
community every family used the
land about the house for practical
purposes, it raised ,all the vege
tables required for summer and
winter. In some cases it supported
a cow, a pig and some chickens.
Today, while the street has
changed little in, other respects. It
is inhabited by’ pA>ple with newer
ideals. They do not trouble to do
garden work. The vegetable man,
the egg man. the milk man and a
whole procession of men, drive up
to the houses along the street, and
sell the things that the land itself
used to raise and can still produce.
This would be entirely justifiable
if wages had advanced, or if the
fortunes ?f the families were such
that the householder’s time could
be better employed than in doing
garden work.
But this is not the case. In this,
and in many other places, the little
gaulen as an aid to family economy
hii.- ijoin out of ta>hior.
In the grout i \ Mod, down th«
street, the men discuss political as-
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1912.
By THOMAS TAPPER.
• fairs, national finances and the ball
game.
No one talks about the maximum
yield of the garden patch.
The telephone and the trolley car
have widened the circle of their
vision, and they live in the metro
politan way. City restrictions are
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THOMAS TAPPER.
throwing their tentacles of high
cost w’here they have no business
to reach.
11. ,
It Is amazing what fortune a fam
ily in humble circumstances can
attain to by’ developing all the re
sources at hand. Thrift, labor and
good management are as forceful as
they were in old-fashioned times.
It Is the Small Worker.
Thousands of families crowd the
cities and barely exist, families that
could eliminate every middle man
between producer and consumer,
and take all the profits themselves.
Why do they not move into the
country
Probably because t u- crowds, tiie
| picture sliows and the excitement
are mote interesting at a high price
' than a cabbage patch is with money
in hand.
State departments of agriculture
and the department of agriculture
at Washington have published val
uable documents on all aspects of
farming. Quietly It is becoming
recognized that the foundation of
national prosperity is not'the large
farmer in Kansas; it is the small
worker of the soil everywhere.
These documents may be Jiacl for
the asking. To read them and to
learn how to make the soil under
one’s feet contribute to the cost of
living is, in the long run, a better
proposition than living w’here you
can see the trolley cars pass by.
When you plant a package of
radish seeds, and later on eat the
radishes fresh out of the garden,
you can estimate accurately what
they cost. But if four other pairs
of hands handle them between the
garden and your table, there are
four more items to be added to the
expense of affording radishes, and
the cost estimate is not so easy to
determine.
Can Eliminate Middleman.
Tlie middle man has been called
, all kinds of h;rrd names.
He does not deserve them, for he
is a product of the way we live.
If we do not want to get along
without him, he gets our money.
If we begrudge the money he gets,
we have only to begin life again
as producers, enjoying the fruits of
our own industry.
No man, single-handed, can
change the present organization of
affairs. If he has to depend on the
middle man that gentleman will get
his price.
But any man can change the or
ganization of his own affairs, and
cut out the middle man by becom
ing a producer of the things he and
his family need.
Such a change, if he makes it,
does not, however, sever his con
nection with monopolies.
Water and air will be fie. , but
coal will hue. to be brought to his
door by forces In can not control
directly—unless the garden is lo
cated over a mine
THE HOME PAPER
Elbert Hubbard
Writes on
Texas Siftings
To Say That the Lone Star
State Is Prosperous Is
Putting It Pianissimo; It
Is Microby W ith Money.
By ELBERT HUBBARD
Copyright, 1912, by International News Service
I HAVE just completed a three
weeks tour of Texas. I stop
ped in twenty-one towns and
cities, dispensing the oratorical ca
loric, under the kindly guidance of
tlie ad dubs.
To say that Texas is prosperous
is putting it pianissimo. Texas is
microby with money.
The buying power of the people
is revealed by the business done in
the department stores. A pioneer
people buy things that are coarse
and strong, and always the intent
is to make the dollar go as far as
that famous dollar which George
Washington once threw across the
Potomac.
In the Texas department stores
you will find the latest fashions—
modes from Paris and styles from
London. Texas has passed out of
the pioneer stage.
The thing that has caused the
■welling waters of prosperity to flow
is the demand for cotton. Cotton
is king. Cotton clothes the world.
Texas produces one-third of the
cotton crop of the United States.
Cotton is raised in Texas at a less
cost per bale than anywhere else in
the world.
In most states you hear of “cot
ton patches,” but in Texas there
are cotton fields—fields seemingly
limited only by the horizon.
Source of Its Prosperity.
The discovery that cotton will
grow on the prairie is a new one.
Texas, in this year of grace, 1912, is
producing four million bales of cot
ton. This cotton, including the va
rious products of cotton seed, is
worth three hundred million dol
lars. And yet cotton is only one of
nine great products that Texas pro
»
duces.
However, only half of the people
are engaged in farming in Texas.
And about one-half of these raise
cotton. The result when figured up
would show that in some districts
whole families will receive in cash
a thousand dollars for each mem
ber of the family.
At one place of a thousand in
habitants I counted over two hun
dred teams that had come to town
with loads of cotton. A wagon load
is anywhere from one bale to five;
so each farmer went back home
with from sixty to three hundred
dollars in cash, or its equivalent.
The tendency of the cotton farm
er is toward the small farm, simply
because labor conditions are such
that the farmer has to do the work
himself, and with his own imme
diate family. As for hiring a great
number of men and systematizing
the business, this is getting more
and more of a problem. The help
ers are not to be had. A big fam
ily in Texas is an asset.
Cotton pickers get a dollar and a
quarter a hundred pounds. When
they were hired by the day they
picked a hundred pounds of cotton
a day. And so the idea of piece
work came in, and a dollar and a
quarter was fixed as a fair rate for
picking a hundred pounds of cot
ton.
The result has been that piece
work has quickened the process. I
saw girls of twelve that would pick
a hundred pounds a day, and here
In Texas in the country all the
children work. And working out of
doors, with plenty to eat, in a sa
lubrious climate, they are healthy
and well and strong brown,
bronzed, happy. They can sleep all
right, and they certainly eat.
Some expert women pickers do
their 300 pounds a day. and I saw
a few men who could pick 400
pounds a day. A great number of
negroes make from $3 to $5 a day.
I ■
• When pay day comes, and they get
SIOO apiece, there is a great temp,
tation to go to town and rest up.
This vast amount of cash being
distributed through Texas for her
cotton crop is not without its
drawbacks. Comparatively nothing
is being put b|ck into the sol] in
the way of fertilizer. How long
the black dirt will produce a year
ly cotton crop no one knows, but
there must be a limit.
No Sectional Lines.
There was a time when the Texas
steer held the center of the eco
nomlc state. Now the value of
the entire number of cattle i n
Texas Is about $150,000,000, and the
number of cattle shipped out of
Texas brings back in cash, annual
ly. say approximately $30,000,000.
At Fort Worth are immense
packing plants conducted by the
Armours and the Swifts. These
concerns, I saw, were paying East
ern prices for hogs, cattle and*
sheep. That is to say. the price#
the farmers receive In Fort Worth
for hogs and cattle were the Iden
tical prices being paid by Jacob
Bold & Co. in Buffalo.
I saw carloads of ham and ba
con being unloaded at these pack
ing houses. And when I asked
where this came from they said:
"It is shipped in here from Kansas
City and Chicago.” So, behold the
curious fact of Texas depending on
Illinois, Missouri, lowa and Kansas
for food products.
I saw mules sold In the stock
yards at Fort Worth at from S3OO
to S6OO a pair—bought by farmers
who had the good cash to pay for
them. Good horses brought S2OO,
and ejtra choice gaited saddle
horses sold for S7OO and SBOO apiece.
Texas Is neither North nor
South. European Immigrants, and
the Influx from the North, have
broken down sectional lines. You
get a good deal of the hustle of
Denver in Dallas. Yankee enter
prise is everywhere noticeable.
Long years ago we were told that
Texas lacked two things—society
and water. You will find both of
thefee here now in abundance.
The two things that Texas really
lacks are transportation and labor.
There are no double-track rail
roads In Texas. Melons, peaches,
yams, sweet potatoes have been
rotting in the fields for lack of
transportation.
The black dirt means fertility of
soil, but it also means impassable
roads at certain seasons. It cost#
big money here even to get the
product from the farm to the rail
road station, and just now there is
a dearth of freight cars.
Suffers From Over-Legislation.
Texas has suffered from over
legislation. The provincial mind
fears big business. Much of this
fear is temperamental, and ha*
come down to us from the remote
past, when power was polite pil
lage—and not always especially po
lite.
Texas laws have made it ditto
cult for the railroads to butld »«*•
operate. The railroads have been
overtaxed, oversupervised, and sub
jected to many harassing and ex- I
asperating exactions.
The tide seems to have turned. ,
however, and the people of Texas
now realize that the prosperity o
the state turns ou being broad ai
generous rather than small
suspicious.
Texas Is an empire in herself bu:
her resources will be practically ui
guessed until the state joins hai ■
with big business—say as Cana 1;
aoet—and then, indeed, will
desert blossom like the rose,
the waste places be made gr»*n.
Texas could feed the world.
