Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, November 07, 1912, HOME, Image 20

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

editorial page 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. 1879. Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week. By mall. J 5.00 a year. Payable In advance. ItlsNOT Drink That Causes the High Cost of Living The High Cost of Living and Other Kinds of Anxiety, on the Contrary, Cause Drunkenness and Drive Men to Drink. Eugene Chafin, who was the earnest and interesting presiden tial candidate of the Prohibition party, made a remarkable state ment the other day. He said : “Liquor is the real cause of the high cost of living.'’ Liquor is nothing of the kind. Nothing is more foolish than to say that drunkenness is respon sible for all the ills of society. The ills of society, on the contrary, are largely responsible for drunkenness. Men drink to excess when they are underpaid, underfed, wor ried and distressed. * Those that are foolish say that drink causes poverty. It is pov erty that causes DRINK. When a man lives in a state of anxiety and whisky holds out temporary relief, the man is apt to lake whisky. When the high cost of living drives men to despair, and they find it difficult to provide for their families, aiyl when whisky holds out temporary happiness and contentment too many of them take whisky. - It is not drink that causes poverty so much as poverty that causes drinking. And the same is true of dirt, disease and ignorance. Ignorance causes drunkenness. Dirt is caused by poverty, and dirt and poverty combined cause drunkenness. Take away the high cost of living, tight ignorance with educa tion, abolish poverty with opportunity, good Mr. Chafin, and you will be surprised to find how quickly you will diminish drunken ness, and how rapidly you will solve the problem presented by “the demon rum.” Important Directions For < - Mailing Parcels The people of this country have at last obtained the much de sired parcels post system—or at least an excellent beginning of the complete system. > It is difficult to realize what this will mean to the country in convenience, in time-saving, in direel economy and ultimately, in greatly reducing the cost of living. We have received today from the postal authorities the com munication which we print here conspicuously. We earnestly re quest readers to co-operate with the postoffice and to utilize the par cels post system in accordance with the postoffice regulations. Postoffice News Item DOMESTIC PARCEL POST REQUIREMENTS. The United States postal authorities invite the special attention of the 'public to the following features of the proposed domestic parcels post resu lt tions which will go into effect on January 1 next: That distinctive parcel post stamps must be used on all fourth-class matter, beginning January 1. 1913. and that such matter bearing ordinary postage stamps will be treated as "held for postage." That parcels will be mailable only al postoffices, branch postoffices, let tered and local named stations and such numbered stations as may be des ignated by the postmaster. Thai all parcels must bear the return card of the sender; otherwise they will not bo accepted for mailing. It is of the utmost importance that those requirements be observed in mailing parcel post packages In order that such packages may be promptly handled and dispatched, as failure to so comply will result jn inconvenience and annoyance to the public. :: Sympathy :: By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. < < —— s Copyright. 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner. I S the way hard ami thorny, oh, my brother? 1 Do tempests beat, and adverse wild winds blow! ■> A .\n<l are you spent and broken at each nightfall. Yet with each morn you rise and onward go? | Brother, I know. 1 know! 1. too, have journeyed so. s , Is your heart mad with longing, oh. my sister* Are all great passions in your breast aglow? Does the white wonder of your own soul blind you, And are you torn with rapture and with woe? 5 Sister, 1 know, 1 know! • V h too, i lave suffered so. Is the road filled with snares and quicksand, pilgrim! < Do pitfalls lie where roses seem to grow? And have you sometimes stumbled in the darkness, i \ 'And are you bruised and scarred by many a blow! ■ \ Pilgrim, I know. I know ! I \ I, too, have stumbled so. Do you send out rebellious cry and question. As mocking hours pass silently and slow. Does your insistent “whe’refor'’ bring no answer. While stars wax pale with watching, ami droop low* I, too, have questioned so, But now 1 know. I know ! To toil, to strive, to err, to cry. to grow. To love through all—this is the way to know The Atlanta Georgian At Last! Drawn By HAL COFFMAN. I > - ll A, £ s. 1 L' r - " WxX'isw XxT’-w i . •/> tflWßlWiiiarar jT i f aWm. F 'D-'t" zFsSir ’O 'I ■ \ X, WsU. ; ’ll ■-* -* - As, wi' l\ -. • . • “American Fashions For American Women” A CAMPAIGN that should have the support of every intelli gent woman in the land has been inaugurated by Mr. Edward Bok for the suppression of the Paris label on gowns and hats, and the substitution therefor of the home grown one. rhe battle cry of this holy war is, "American fashions for Amer ica women.” Its appeal is to the good sense, the pocketbook and the patriotism of the women of the country, and here’s wishing the new crusade success, and that the time will not be far distant when a re spectable American woman will no more think of getting her clothes from Parts than she does her mor als from there. 100 long have we been under the thralldom of the fallacious idea that all sartorial glory not only originated in Paris, but stayed there, and that because a dress or a hat was made in Paris if was bound to be a marvel of beauty and taste, and have points of excellence about it that no other dress or hat made elsewhere, and especially in America, could possess. Paris has had us hypnotized to that degree that we have taken whatever she handed out. and have worn it, no matter what freaks it made us look like, without daring to criticise or question. Time to Wake Up. But the time lias come for us to make a few passes at ourselves, and wake up. and face the truth, and that is that the superlative artistic touch of the French dress maker and milliner is nothing but a myth, and that there is no other such sloppy dressmaking extant '■as that executed on the banks of the Seine, and that when we buy a French frock we pay about SSO ex tra on it for the pleasure of de ceiving ourselves, and as long as we wear it we have the continual pleasure of sewing on hooks that were merely pasted on, and catch ing up drapery that ripped if we looked at it. Our blind devotion to the French fashion fetich is silly enough, heav en knows, when we get the real ar ticle that is actually made in Paris, but it becomes grotesquely humor ous when we find women willing to pay nearly double for a hat or a gown that is made in New York, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, because it has a bogus Paris label sewed on it. Yet they do this every day, and 90 per cent of the “imported” clothes for which women spend their husband's good money were THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 7, 1912. Bv DOROTHY DIX. v imported from Sixth avenue, and are no nearer French than is the , French accent of the Mary O’Gradys, and Sally Joneses, who I masquerade as “Madatne Therese,” or “Clothilde,” or “Fifines." A Trade in Labels. Recently a pawn shop that was investigated by the police in New York city was found to, have tens dHisi z BSr / Zmbll KA DOROTHY DIX of thousands of the labels of cele brated French dressmakers and mil liners that it sold to enterprising dressmakers and milliners there. Further, a man interested in this subject was told by the head of a large millinery house in New York city that 80 per cent of his im ported French models were made right in his own work room, and the French labels pasted in. Now, there is no use in blaming the merchants for this duplicity. The fault is with the women. They demand French goods and they are supplied with what they ask for. If they would ask for American made hats and gowns, the merchant would be glad to furnish them. Nobody leads the double life for choice. Paying Paris Prices. Os course, in millinery and dress making. as in other things, to suc ceed you have got to be able to de liver the goods, as Mt* Devery would say. And that American milliners and dressmakers can de- ■ liver the goods is sufficiently prov en by the fact that this substitu tion of the domestic article for the foreign one goes merrily on. and women are perfectly satisfied to pay the Paris price for a home-made dress or hat, provided they have the French label. They are simply slaves to the old idea, and the woman’s clubs can do no more effective or patriotic work than in bringing to bear their tremendous influence in combatting this hoary superstition that de cadent Paris, and not inventive and young America, is capable of prop erly clothing American women of refinement and taste. We like to boast that we are the most ingenious people in the world, the most practical, the quickest to see a need, and to supply it, and, this being the case, we stultify our selves if we admit that we have nobody among us capable of origi nating clothes that are built on beautiful and harmonious lines, and composed of artistic combinations of colors. A Fashion Originator. That Americans can not only originate fashion, but that the whole world will accept them, is shown by the short skirt, and the shirt waist, which emanated from the land of free women, and which Paris at first derided, and then ac cepted, and which fashions were so practical and sensible that they haVe come to stay for women just as much as coat and trousers have for men. Also because American women, refused to wear the clumsy and ill fitting foreign shoes, the American shoe has the earth for its own, and on the most fashionable shopping streets in London and Paris there are huge signs which proclaim "American Shoes Sold Here.” It is absurd to say that we can't make as pretty hats and gowns as are made anywhere else in the civ ilized world. We do. But we sell them under a French label, at a higher price, than if they had their own honest American trademark on them. That brands us as being both snobs and easy marks. Let's quit, right here, sisters. Let’s take up the slogan, "Ameri can Fashions for American Wom en." and let our milliners and dress makers know that we are ready to encourage home talent and home industry. It will be money in our pockets, and it will show that our patriotism amounts to something more than belonging to t'olonial L>ames and D. A. R. societies. THE HOME PAPER Thomas Tapper Writes on The Man Who Really Works For the Boss A Word or Two Con cerning Tact and the Value of Team Work Which Produces Re sults. By THOMAS TAPPER. i. SOME boys, at work in a large department store, were asked to write a letter to the Man ager, stating what they do from the time they come in, in the morn ing, up to the hour of closing. The letters were very much the same, with one exception. The boy who wrote the excep tional letter, pointed out that when he reached his department, and left at night, the man in charge "shakes hands with me.” Effect of Tact. A man in charge who wears a Prince Albert coat every day, and can boss 20 or 30 persons, may act like a king on a throne, or he can step down and shake hands with the boys. It pays to come down and say, “Good morning, Joe; how are you today?” It pays, because it makes the boy know that he and the boss are on the same job, working in the same interest, with no kingly haughti ness separating them. This is an instance of the benefi cial effect of Tact. It has been said of salesmen that they can get a man’s attention by striking him on the head with a big stick: but, having gotten attention in that manner, they can not sett him any goods. He is too sore to buy. This is an illustration of the bad effect of Tactlessness. / n. 'J'HE main proposition that con cerns many people working for one Boss is this: Every one, from Manager to boy, is working tn one interest. The spirit of that interest must be this: How can we do the best Team work and produce the best results? You may think this is giving too much to the Boss. On the contrary, it is the only way known to man, after centuries of trying, by which Geoffrey Chaucer By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. Geoffrey chaucer, the Father of English Letters, died five hundred and twelve years ago. The sun went down, but its glory remained behind. The poet departed, but his fame is everlast ing. In the Pantheon, where dwell the company of the Immortals, no name is brighter than that of the author of the "Canterbury Tales" and the "House of Fame." Men seem to be born Into the world for various purposes—some to make fortunes in money, some to found empires, some to write constitutions and laws, some to demonstrate great problems In mathematics or to make astound ing discoveries in science, or to give to the world the inventions upon which depends the material conquest of the planet, but Chau cer appears to have been born for a higher end than any of these— the founding of a literature, and that literature the English. It has been well said that a na tion’s literature is a nation's life. All that a nation is, in thought and in its action, in Its form and substance, is mirrored in its litera ture. Upon a nation’s literature its children must feed, either to be poisoned or refreshed ami reinvig orated. Upon a nation's literature depends very largely the question: "Shall the nation live and grow?” To create a literature, then, or to take a moribund, slipshod literature and breathe into it a new life, and impart to it a new beauty and power, is to do one of the greatest things that any one can possibly do in this world. And this is what Chaucer did. Rescuing his native tongue from Jr r ’* Joe, or any other boy, can get abil ity out of himself. To get ability out of one’s self !» to increase one’s efficiency, and to increase one’s efficiency is to raise one’s value. The man with the cheerful view of things and the habit of greeting Joe pleasantly in the morning can raise the value of all the people in his department. Cheerfulness is contagious. When Joe feels cheer ful he works better and he works more. Watch any man of a glum and dark-complexioned disposition, try ing to get work out of twenty other people. Everybody 1= rebellious. .- Work goes hard. Nobody looks happy. They are all taking short gasps of breath through the mouth. The whole equipment is like a six cylinder motor with five cylinders out of commission. It pays to be cheerful. TH. QNE of the greatest merchants tn America, a man who employs more than 10,000 people, goes among them and passes the cheer ful habit along. He calls them by name, asks some personal questions that shows he Is interested in the one to whom he speaks. No criticism, no com plaint, no “hurry up now and keep busy.” He knows that a word of pleasant greeting makes burdens lighter, while hurry and complaint tangle up the entire business. Radiate Cheerfulness. AU this means that one person can be the center of enough cheer fulness and good nature to change I the atmosphere of the whole de partment. You can be that one person by casting your vote for yourself. Some men are so full of it that even a stray dog will come trust ingly to sniff at him. This is bet ter than radiating an influence that makes stray dogs and one’s own friends want to make a mile a min -- ute in the other direction. its "Babylonish confusion,” he es tablished for it a literary diction, banished from it the superannu ated and uncouth, and softened its churlish nature by the intermixture of the polite and gentle terms of the South. As a high authority upon English letters remarks, he "created a new versification, and by the su perior grace, correctness and har mony of his style became the first model to succeeding writers.” What Petrarch did for Italian literature, and Montaigne for French, Chaucer did for English— made it, first, alive, then attractive, then powerful. Chaucer brought the dawn—a dawn that has been spreading and brightening ever since, so that to day it is flinging its glory all about the earth. The English language is the most amazingly prophetic fact to be found in the world today. The speech of the two greatest nations on earth, and steadily growing growing faster than any other two or three tongues put together—it promises to be, if not the universal language, then, certainly, the lan guage that is to color all other lan guages under the sun. The thought of the English speaking men of today is destined to be the thought of all mankind in the generations to come. There is no doubt of it. It is written down in the Book of Fate, and nothing can stop it. And then as the millions look biek toward the morning time of the glorious day they shall see, as the preceding genius of it ail the *-»eoffrey Chaucer,’ th* turv 1 ' IJOe ' t ' lo fourteenth cen-