Newspaper Page Text
EDITORIAL PAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANT
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
Entered as second-class matter at postofltlce at Atlanta, under act of March 8. U7».
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail. $5.00 a year.
Payable In advanca
The Turks Have Humiliated
Women—for That Reason
THEY ARE HUMILI
ATED
», » l»
A Mother Can Give to Her Sons Only the Qualities That SHE
POSSESSES. And a Degraded Motherhood Like That of
Turkey Means a Degraded, Miserable and Beaten Nation.
•lust at this time the advocates* of votes for women will find
their h. st argument and strongest sermon in the recent defeat of
the Turks, the disgraceful flight of the sultan’s army, driven like
leaves before I he wind by the hardy fighters of the Balkans.
The Turks are a failure as a nation, they fail as fighters, they
are degraded and down BECAUSE THEY HAVE DEGRADED
THEIR WOMEN AND PULLED THEM DOWN.
It was not so in the days of Mohammed, whose religious empire
once extended so far and threatened to conquer all Europe.
Thirteen hundred years ago. when .Mohammed fled from Mecca
and ehangwl from a religious dreamer to a savage fighter, he was
guided, advised and to a groat extent bossed by a WOMAN. He
changed his doctrines for that woman’s special benefit. He realized
tin power, tin- intelligence, THE EQUALITY of one woman, at
least, and he lived a::d died a great and successful man.
h. ten years from the date of his “hegira” he conquered Mecca.
And when he died, in he had started his fanatical cohorts, in
cluding the highly intelligent Arabian tribes, on a career of con
quest as marvelous as any in history.
Persia. Syria. Egypt, North Africa. Spain and for a while the
plains of Gaul north of the Pyrenees were in the hands of the Mo
hammedans. and all Europe was in danger. As Draper puts it, “The
< \ sent, h ing in a vast semi-circle upon the northern .shore of
Africa and the curving coast of Asia, with one horn touching the
Bosphorus and the other the straits of Gibraltar, seemed about to
round to the full and overspread all Europe.” •
Great. was the power of those average Mohammedans, driven
with all the force of fanaticism AND BORN OF WOMEN THAT
THOUGHT AND LIVED WITH THEIR HUSBANDS AS
EQUALS equals in the realities of life then, although not in the
teachings of a preposterous religion.
One hundred years after Mohammed left Mecca to fight against
his own tribe, the caliphs, Gibbons tells us, “were the most potent
and absolute monarchs of the globe.”
Little In little all this power and glory vanished. The wonder
ful science, the extraordinary contributions to knowledge of the
Arabs ceased and died away under the deadening influence of
Mohammedanism,
Why did the power of the caliphs melt " Why are the armies
of the great Ottoman empire flying like murderous cowards before
a handful of poor, disorganized mountaineers? Why is Turkey
about to be driven from Europe?
BECAUSE THE RELIGION AND THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE TI'RKS TAUGHT AS PART OF RELIGION AND PART OF
GOVERNMENT THE INFERIORITY OF WOMEN. THE SLAV
ELY OF WOMEN. THE DEGRADATION OF THE MOTHER.
Four r I s the Koran gives for those that desire possession of
the four "e: rdinal virtues.” or duties. One of them, which requires
almsgiving is well-meaning, but without effect. The other three are
foolish.
Five times every day ihe believer must pray with his face to
ward Mecca.
Each ? car he must keep the feast of Ramadan, which lasts a
whole mont It.
And before he dies he must make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Th 'se hi dish “virtues.” one of which resulted in making Mecca
a center lor the distribution of Oriental diseases, might have been
survived by the Mohammedans.
But. iiu ortunately tor them, more and more they made of the
deveadaiii > . d enslavement of women a fifth “cardinal virtue.”
The Mohammedan who could keep the greatest number of
wi in slavery in his harem was the big man.
Ami want is the result ?
T s t 1 it should be leaders among the Turks are THE SONS
OF SLAVE WOMEN.
The wretched, deposed sultan, who movffs about dragging his
n isi rable han in with him, is the sou of a slave.
And the doddering half-idiot that succeeds him on the throne
of Turkey is another son of a slave.
Ami the leaders of thought in Turkey—those that hold power—
arc also sons of slaves, born of women that live locked up like pris
oners. ith brain and body both living in slavery and darkness.
A 'iimd gets his qualities FROM HIS MOTHER, and he can get
from her only the qualities that she possesses.
Turkey is humiliated, degraded, lowest of all the nations in
Europe because m Turkey woman is humiliated, degraded, lowest
of all the women in Europe.
In the Balkans the mountaineers live in the open air, with their
wives beside them. The mothers go to and fro free and share in
their husbands' councils. There is one wife to each house, and the
children of that wife inherit the freedom of thought and the lofty
patriotism of the Balkan mother.
The Turk is born of a poor creature bought and sold, brought
from Cashmere or some other market of women—bought like a dog
or a horse.
Little wonder that the sons of women thus degraded and op
pressed run like frightened dogs before the sons of the free women
of the Balkans, the Bulgarians, Servians and the others that so long
in that dreary region have held back the Turks and their brutality
and protected the civilization of Western France.
The best lesson for those that oppose woman suffrage, that prate
about the home as woman's only sphere, is the lesson that the free
born men of the Balkans are giving to the slave-born men of the
Turkish empire.
The country in Europe that puts WOMEN lowest is itself lowest
in all Europe, most degraded and incomplete.
Ami the nation that in the future shall place women highest
Mwil) itself be highest, most worthy and most able.
W lor the man gets his qualities from the mother, and the mother
give only that which she has.
The Atlanta Georgian
Wonderful Underground Dwellings
i HOW MEN LIVED BEFORE THEY LEARNED TO CONSTRUCT FIFTY-STORY BUILDINGS.
' Showing the entrance to a kiva, or underground council chamber; ruins of Tyuonyi, a large communal house at the
> Rito De Los Frijoles.
: Uj 'g'**■
i u - **• ■£ i *
T Ac lA\ 4k!
I ? wifi
n ' ull
*Uh nun 1 1 rv
v —— —:z_ o y
(By courtesy of (he Scientific American./ Leaving a prehistoric underground
Showing the holes which once bore the ends of cedar beams forming bal- Co • , cerenlcr?a^ cave" 1 a? 1 * the 3
J conies; prehistoric cave-dwellings on the Pajorito Rito De Los Frijoles,
J Plateau, Northern New Mexico. New Mexico.
Wilson’s Election Proves Suffrage Theory
By DOROTHY DIX
<TTMiE election I.- over, ami as the
I shouting and the tumult die,
there stand forth three
points that are particularly inter
esting as they affect women.
First and foremost, four more
states—Michigan. Kansas, Oregon
and Arizona —have joined the hon
orable procession that has granted
political freedom to its women.
Second, although Colonel Roose
velt came out in favor of woman
suffrage, and the Progressive party
was the only one that inserted a
woman suffrage plank in its plat
form, the Bull Moosers did not car
ry a single state in which women
were voting.
Tills one fact—that women did
not stampede in a body to the Pro
gressive party—is the best suffrage
argument that has ever been ad
vanced. It shows that women can
keep their heads under the stress of
great temptation, and refutes the
often expressed fear that they
would be fanatics in politics, guid
ed solely by their emotions and
prejudices.
Patriotism Before Profit.
And 1 say this without intending
any disparagement whatever to the
Progressive party, which many
women supported just as conscien
tiously and intelligently as they did
either the Democratic or Republi
can party.
But in considering the high pa
triotism and unselfishness of the
women who voted for and worked
for the Democratic and Republican
parties, which offered them noth
ing, instead of the Progressive par
ty. which promised them their
heart's desire, simply because they
believed in the Democratic or Re
publican doctrine rather than the
Progressive doctrine, think of this:
For 60 years and more -longer
than the Children of Israel wan
dered hopelessly in the wilderness—
we women who believe that taxa
tion without representation 1.- ty
ranny. and that all just government
rests upon the consent of the gov
erned. have been battering upon
the doors of the great political par
ties. begging to be let in. if only we
might have the humblest suit, be
low the suit, at our father’s table
And year after year the door lias
been barred against us, and we
have been turned away with jeers
and ridicule.
Nobody knows tin toil and blood
of our striving, the bitterness of
our defeat; of liow, time and again,
our hearts have fainted with de
spair; of how often, when wi saw
our leaders fail uud die by tin wui •
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1912.
•<• ride, it has seemed that we were 1
lighting for a lost cause. Sixty
years and more of baffled effort,
and then, one party—the progres
sive party—opens the door and
leads us in, an honored and in
vited guest; one presidential can-
f
/ --wW
DOROTHY DIX
didate, after having long turned a
deaf ear to our entreaties, at last
claims, like Saul of Tarsus, to have
seen a great light and been con
verted.
One would have thought that
women would have been drunk with
tile joy of tills partial victory, and
that with one accord they would
have rushed, pell mell, to enroll
themselves under the Bull Moose
standard. To their everlasting hon
or this has not happened. Women
put their patriotism before their
profit, their love of their country
before good to the cause that is
nearest and dearest to their hearts
and tried to do wltat they believed
to be ghe best for tin United
States. < ven though it mig -,t not
have been best tor sutTiag. They
knew thut they had nothing to
hope for from Mr. Taft, and little
to expect from MWilson an,’ yet
because tiny believed in th< Dem
ocratic or Republican doctrita they
ejtiit aioli;-, thus*- liner- 11 een
I ever gave a Unci cxutnpk* of . .mt-
•R ty and appreciation of the sanctity
of the ballot under tempting condi
tions to become selfishly partisan, I
don’t know of it.
The third point of interest to
women in the election is that it af
fords them a visible illustration of
the different political status of
women with the ballot and women
without the ballot.
All Parties Wanted Work.
I Heretofore, so far as a presiden
tial campaign has been concerned,
women have cut just about as much
real figure in polities as a snow
flake is supposed to cut in the
region of perpetual summer. Cam
paign orators were content to
throw them a few bouquets of
compliments, and to say something
nice and tlattering about women
using their great silent influence
in politics. And that ended it.
But with the women voting in six
states and holding the balance of
power, and with women about to
vote in many’ other states and
keenly interested everywhere in
politics, there was no talk about
woman's silent influence. All three
of the big parties urged women to
use their voices in their behalf,
and to roll up their sleeves and help
with the actual political work.
Woman without the ballot was a
cipher that no one thought of con
sidering. Woman with the ballot
is a mighty power that has to be
reckoned with and conciliated. The
granting of the franchise to wom
en in Michigan and Kansas and
Arizona-and Oregon is the begin
ning of the end of the long light
women have made for political free
dom.
Won Over Prejudice.
other states will follow fast, and
by the time the next presidential
election comes around there will
not even be any discussftm of the
advisability of inserting a woman’s
suffrage plank in the platform, nor
will theie bv any presidential ean
diate who skulk.- behind the as
sertion that he doesn’t know where
h- stands in regard to giving wom
an tlie ballot
The know.edge that millions of
women vote. a.id that they hold the
balance of power in any closely con
tisted election, will be powerfully
ilhimiitating to the understanding
of p'ditlciau-
Women have borne themselves
well In tills campaign, and the mor
al victory tli.y have wofi over i«>p
ular prejudb -by their liigh-tnind
od attitude in oolltics is no less u
matter of congratulation than that
the,. at> lom mote stars tn the
i sulltage flag
THE HOME PAPER
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
Remarriage
Only One Woman in Five
Hundred Who Is Widowed
in Her Prime Is Left With a
Memory of Such Ideals of
Love That Remarriage Is
Impossible.
Written For The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1912, by American-Journal-Examiner
TWO women, both widows,
were talking of life, mother
hood, and their ideals of duty.
One woman was something past
forty; she had been a wife at twen
ty; and her children were growing
into the romantic age. She was
contemplating a second marriage
with a good man. The other wom
an was older; past the half-century
mark; and her children were all
married.
She rebuked the 5 ounger woman
for her thought of consenting to a
second marriage.
•“You have a comfortable income,'’
she said, “and your children ought
to fill your life so that no such
foolish idea as a second marriage
could enter your mind. I was a
wddow at thirty; and now I am
fifty-three; and I am thankful to
say I am satisfied to be my chil
dren’s mother, and not their step
father’s wife.”
Time Softens Sorrow.
"But,” replied the younger wom
an with some spirit. "I do not see
that your example is one which
would make other women eager to
follow it.”
“And pray why not?”
"Because you are a very lonely
woman; your children are married
and have homes of their own; they
may love you devotedly, and be
kind and all that; but the fact re
mains, they do not need you to
make their lives complete.
“They do not need you in their
homes, and you must feel yourself
. a guest when you visit them; it is
in the nature of things. A new in
dividuality has come into their lives.
The son has his wife, and the
daughter her husband; and if they
go away on a journey they would
find more pleasure to be with each
other than with a third party.
“Now, I have two young children
who will soon be marrying; and I
do not propose to make wyself a
problem to thetn, nor happiness a
problem to myself.
"I was a good wife to their fath
er and I respect his memory. We
were happy when he lived, and I
Eliot and the Indians
By the REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
JOHN ELIOT, the “Apostle to
the Indians,” preached his first
sermon to the red men at a
small Indian village near what is
now Watertown, Massachusetts,
two hundred and sixty-six years
ago.
Eliot and the aborigines have
long been dust, but there is that in
the above statement that may well
challenge our most reverential at
tention.
John Eliot was one of the most
cultured men of his time. He was .
as conspicuous among the men of
his day for learning and thorough
intellectual equipment as, say, ex-
President Eliot, of Harvard, is
among the men of the present time.
A graduate of Cambridge, Eng
land. he came to America tn 1631,
at the age of twenty-eight, distin
guished for philological scholarship,
linguistic talent and a general, all
round erudition.
It is safe to say that he might
have had whatever he wanted in
the young commonwealth in the
way of office, honor and power. In
the church, the best pulpits were
open to him, and in the state the
highest positions were 'awaiting
him. But from these allurements
he cheerfully turned away to carry
out the self-imposed task of mak
ing himself the instrument of the
mental and moral uplift of the red
men.
As proof of Eliot's profound ear
nestness of purpose and deep sin
cerity in his work, it is only neces
sary to i-viall two astounding facts
-first, that In- devoted fourteen
years to the study of the Algonquin
dialect that was spoken by the In
dians of Massachusetts Bay. and.
si < ond. thut, tuning mastered the
task, he aviuuUy trunslutvd the en
lr
,r 1
■O* , '~^ t ,
*
• mourned his death. But time has
softened the sorrow of his loss; and
a new affection has come into my
heart and 1 do not propose to
smother it.
"It may pain my children for a
time, to have me wear another
name than that of their father; but
they will become accustomed to it,
and I trust the new father will win
their hearts. They will eventually
live their own lives.
Enduring Ideals of Love.
“I mean to have my own com
panionship and my own home life,
so that when my children go into
their new homes I will not be left
desolate.”
The younger woman unquestion
ably had the better of the argu
ment. Once in 500 cases a woman
who is widowed in her prime is left
with a memory of such happiness
and with such Ideals of love that a
remarriage would be impossible; it
would savor of sacrilege to even
entertain the idea.
Once in 5,000 cases a man is left a
widower with a similar barrier to
remarriage.
The remaining cases either marry
again or would like to marry again
A woman in the prime of life,
known and respected and loved by
all America, has announced her in
tention of a second marriags.
Best Wishes and Blessings.
In her youth she espoused a high
official of our country, and she was
a faithful wife and a devoted moth
er, and graced every position which
she occupied, and performed every
duty with fine precision.
She bore the strong limelight of
publicity with dignity and met the
difficulties of her position with ad
mirable poise. When sickness, sor
row’ and death came she entered
each ordeal with the same grace
and serenity which had kept her
sweet and unassuming in her hours
of prominence and prosperity.
The best wishes and sincere
blessings of a whole nation will at
tend this woman on her second
■ wedding day.
• tire Scriptures into the Indian lan
guage.
Nothing but Love could have ac- i
complished that immense task. j
"Lotre never faileth,” we are told |
by one of the highest authorities:
and that is why Eliot did not break
down in his herculean labors. His
unselfish love for the Indians car
ried him through.
Beginning his missionary labors
with that first sermon in 1646. Eliot
kept them up, without signs of fal
tering, for forty-four years. The
last piece of work that the good old I
man did was to translate an Eng
lish book into the Algonquin tongue.
Never did a human being more
completely devote himself to the
good of others. All through his
more youthful years, through his
splendid prime, and away down into
his declining days did he toil for
the uplift of the "savages" who. in
the opinion of most of the “Chri -
tians” of the time, were fit for
nothing but to be shot down.
Gathering them into villages, he
strove with all his might to "reach
their scanty intelligence and still
scantier moral sense.” Some five
thousand of the “children of the
forest” were benefited by his minis
trations, and if all the other Chris
tians of Massachusetts had been of
the type of Eliot, history might
have a very different tale to tell.
Yes, John Eliot passed away, and
with him passed his Indians: th'
Bible that he left in the Indian lan
guage can now be read by hardly a
soul on earth; and the very plav
where the red men gathered to
hear his teachings are forgotten
But none tile less true Is it that tit
spirit that animated Eliot was tie
spirit of tile Good which Ilves fol ■
ever, and which la finally to make
all men lotitch other as Eliot
loved tile red mi'ii of .Mu-su 1 liu
aelts Buy