Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

EDITORIAL PAGE Garbage and Politics tt r. at Both Are Unhealthy and Menaces to Atlanta. Here are some facts about the quarrel over the garbage disposal plant that Cverv man and woman in Atlanta should understand: The crematory which has been in use for several years has been condemned by the board of health. An attempt has been made to tear it down, but the destruction of the plant was held up by a court order. Contracts for a new plant have been let. and it was the plan of those who wished to tear down the old one to liaAe work on the new building started imme diately on the same site. The new plant is to cost $276,800, without electric appliam-i s. With electric appliances it will cost $378,000. It will consume 250 tons of garbage a day. Ac cording to the contract it is to be completed in “310 working days.'” If the old plant is allowed to remain idle while the new one is being erected THIS CITY WILL BE REEKING WITH FILTH AXD DISEASE WITHIN A VERY FEW MONTHS. Garbage will lie dumped in every nook and corner of the town. Complaints are already being made, although tin* dumping of garbage has been going on less than ten days. Residents of North Jackson street and of Luekie street near Hemphill avenue have declared that tilth has been deposited near their Immes and that their families are ill as a result. Experts declare that S3,(X)O will repair the old plant and that the day before! it was condemned it destroyed l’>(> tons of garbage, although it was originally de signed to destroy only 100 tons in the same period of lime. The same crematory concern that has the contract here began to build one in Paterson. N. J.. January 4, 1912. It agreed to turn the plant over to the city in “180 working days." That plant is not yet completed, although it is compara tively small, costing $79,000. and built to consume 60 tons of garbage a day. Another plant to burn 90 tons a day was started at Clifton. Staten Island, in July. 1911. It was to be finished in a year. Sixteen months have passed al ready and it is not in use. James (I. Woodward, regular nominee for mayor of Atlanta, declares that the second credit of the concern with the contract is rated at between $35,(X)0 and $50,000 by R. G. Dun A Co., so that tin 1 claims for financial penalties for tardy work would be of little avail. Those are the main facts in the case as it stands. Here are some stern problems for the future: If there is no garbage incinerator in operation here for “310 working days,” what will be the situation next summer? HOW MANY LIVES WILL BE SACRIFICED TO FULFILL THAI' CONTRACT? Who will decide how many actual days ‘‘3lo working days” are? As this paper points out every few days, \tlanta is growing faster than any city in the South. Garbage from the outskirts of the <‘it.\' has to be hauled four miles through the streets to the presmt crematory site. Build a new crematory by all moans, but don’t tear down the old one until the new one is in operation. Don't count the old plant a waste just because the <*ity needs another one. If $3.(M10 is all that is needed t<> save the old plant, every official in Atlanta should hang his head in shame if he admits that so trifling an amount can not be raised to safeguard the city ”s health. The question is resolving itself into a matter of measuring $3,000 against the lives of women and children. Repair the old plant to he operated at least until the new one is com pleted and you will have no garbage in dumps lu hind your house so that your wives and children will constantly he breathing foul odors and deadly germs. < ily garbage and city politics arc Atlanta's greatest menace. H's a pity one incinerator can't effectually destroy both. The W ilson and Roosevelt Speaking Governor Wilson gained fourteen pounds in the three months ’ of his campaign. Naturally. l'here is no exercise so wholesome Io the stomach 1 and the digestive organs as public speaking or publie singing when I it is properly done. When a man or a woman learns to use the I I muscles of the diaphragm in making sound and to use the throat ; only as a medium of expression, public speaking Ur singing is the ; best of exercises. H Governor Wilson speaks easily and naturally from the dia- I I phragm without strain, and in consequence his voice never failed ! ■ hint and his health constantly improved. I On the other hand, Colonel Roosevelt, intense and eager in ' temperament, used his throat unnecessarily, rather than his dia- ; 1 phragm. and was in frequent trouble with his voice. The superb health of opera singers is a further illustration. Girls’ Canning Clubs I We have always known that girls are clever, and the depart- J ’ ir.ent of agriculture proves it. and here is the proof. a rew years ago the late Professor Knapp began forming 1 girls' tomato growing clubs in the South. There are now about 1 I 25,000 girls enrolled in twelve states, ami in Oklahoma alone their ! efforts have been worth a million dollars. The girls were taught canning by experts and the results have { astonished the government officials. 1 lore is an instance: A farmer i who had a fine orchard could not sell his fruit to advantage. He > 1 happened to visit one of these canning exhibitions, and invested ' $l5O in a home plant and canned all the fruit on his place at a ' profit of $6,000. i ■ So far the figures from Oklahoma are the only ones available, ! ,< but indications are that in Alabama and Mississippi the girls have > .! done even better. 1 his is the kind of thing that will help to reduce the high cost , living. The Atlanta Georgian The Correspondent By PERCY SHAW. HAVE vou ever stopped to pon- < Now a war Is raging yonder, I > In the valleys of the Moslem where ? the cruel Crescent gleams, ? i That the correspondent waiting ? 1 With his heart strings palpitating, 2 1 Is the most supremely envied of the ? heroes of your dreams? You can wee him. tense, ambitious, > > Just a trifle surreptitious, > j Standing on a mighty mountain with J a glass before his eyes, > ( Taking in the line of battle, ' All unheeding of the rattle S < Os the shells and bullets dropping S < like raindrops from the skies, s > You can view him quickly writing $ In a eiper code inditing s The onslaught on a fortress and the y charge of naked steel; s ■ Vou can watch him prone and < sighing, s IVVith a wounded finger trying To paint a wondrous picture with < a humanesque appeal. , Do not let your castles crumble J When hard-hearted cynics grumble < IThat they know the correspondents 2 have to trail along behind; Put it down to Jealous longing Which Is scheduled as belonging > > To a certain class of doubters who ( are often short on mind. I Just combine imagination With a genius for narration. And you’ll see that an eyewitness I needn't be upon the spot; ' Take a chance, it’s worth the try - J Ing, ? , And you’ll find there’s no denying ? J That there’s nothing in the papers ? that you haven’t more than? s got. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1912. Are We a Nation of Snobs? Copyright, 1912, by International News Service. pP, ■ LoTg”' hatted I frWr Alp °*>o PEERAGE.. l ATESTSTYIE Il USED I3Y r .-r*' i■ ’ ? I<< w w™ i i."X? JSjWI wJ-toB law H qr ■f 1- JtW ’ 1 ir>< Gustavus Adolphus By Rev. Thomas B. Gregory HE death of Gustavus Adoljdt- *i J us, which took place in the midst of victory on the field of Lutzen, two hundred and eighty years ago, was one of the crown ing calamities of history—a calam ity not only to Sweden, but to all the world. As regards the renown of its principal contestants, Lutzen was easily the star battle of the cen tury, Gustavus and his opponent, Wallenstein, being the first cap tains of Europe. When the memorable morning of tlie sixteenth was ushered in. the battlefield was completely blanket ed by' a cold, heavy fog. which did not lift until high noon, at which hour the sun burst forth in all its splendor and glory. It was the Suh of Lutzen! Which the Swedes welcomed by singing the famous battle song that had been composed by Gustavus him self: "Virzage Nicht au Hautlein ’ Klein” (Fear Not. Little Flock, the Foe), to the sound of which they’ I charged down up the enemy. Long and hot was the struggle, but finally the valor of the Swedes J Enterprise in Politics EMERSON says in one of ills *J essays—quoting from the . Persian poet Hafiz—that, "on the brow of the young man there sparkles no jewel one-half so gra cious as Enterprise." Now, democracy is the spirit of youth. It has made its difficult way over the thrones of monarchy, and monopoly, not by the caution of age. but by the valor of youth. Perhaps it is not too much to say that democracy has never won a battle by Fabian tactics, never . gained an inch by the exercise of that passive and balanced intellec tualism which is called the "judi cial temperament." As a matter of history, democ racy is in its very nature a revolt from the rule of cold and passion less Intellect. It is the protest of humanity against the scribes and doctors. This protest has been justified in philosophic terms by the pro foundest of modern thinkers—such as Kant or Goethe. These have tried to teach tlie world that tlie abstract intellect is barren and fu tile, and that men are truly wise only when they give up the attempt to think out away to right living and determine to commit them- j selves to the current of experiment I and adventure —to live and learn. V and the brilliant tactics of their leader won tlie day. Wallenstein was beaten to a finish. At last he had met, not only his match, but his master. But it was a dearly fought vic tory for tlie Swedes, for in win ning it they lost the life of their great commander and king. In the thick of tlie fight, just as the’ last line of the Imperialists was being broken, Gustavus received the wounds from which he was to die in the field he had so gloriously won. “Lead me to the rear,” said tlie dying man, “but not through the lines, lest it should discourage the men." The words were scarcely spoken when another volley’ from the enemy emptied the royal saddle and the mighty captain was dead. Although finishing his career at the early age of thirty-eight. Gus tavus had already’ won the renown that can never grow old. In the * elements of his character and in his genius as a military man. Gustavus I may well be called the Epaminon das of modern times. Like the il lustrious Theban, he was a pure .J. and noble man, “without fear and T Thus democracy is no fool in its •’ j striving and daring, its urgent pressure for progress, it is on good terms with the best that has been thought. Perhaps Thomas DeQuincy was not quite right in saying that “the intellect is the meanest of all hu man faculties." But lie was a real democrat in his perception of the truth, that the intellect should be the servant, not the master, of the creative will of man —that the will must bridle and bestride the intel lect if it would ride to its heart's desjre. The present point of these re flections is that the Wilson admin istration can not succeed by the methods of caution, circumspection and delay that have brought such pitiful ruin upon the Taft adminis tration. Indeed, there is ample warrant in the character of the president-elect, as shown in his past career, to say that he will not try to succeed by' such methods. Wilson is a scholar—but not a pale scholar. In him "the native hue of resolution" has never been "slcklied o'er by tlie pale cast of thought.” He loves action and events. In ail of Governor Wilson’s say - I ings and doings th. re is an accent of youth and faith—a spirit like THE HOME PAPER "?• without reproach,” guileless, hon orable, kind and true. And like the victor of Leuctra and Mantinea again, he was matchless as a dis ciplinarian, organizer and tactician. Among the battle winners of the ages he holds a supreme place. He created a "new deal” in the game of war, and may be said with perfect justice to be the father of modern warfare. it was Gustavus who first taught cavalry tlie most effective way of charging; he revived and gave new emphasis to the idea of Epaminon das—-that of the heavy column brought suddenly and powerfully to bear upon some single point of the enemy’s lihe—and he completely revolutionized tile artillery arm of the service. ’ That God “moves in a myste rious way His wonders to perform" was demonstrated to perfection when Gtistavus Adolphus fell at Lutzen Could lie have lived, let us say. even bn years longer, lie would in all likelihood have chang ed the whole course or’ European history—and changed it in away tliat would have been a blessing to .j. the Whole world for ages to come. By Charles Ferguson •b that of Mazzini's “Young Italy" and “Young Europe," a kinship to tlie vision and venturesomeness of Lammenals. Wilson is keen-eyed and inqui sitive to discover tlie exact fact. He has the discretion that belongs to builders and craftsmen. He says he knows nothing of agriculture, but lie lias tlie patient foresight of farmers. It is because Mr. Wilson Is an out-of-doors man iti his habits of thought, a man conscious of the ir refragihle laws of chemistry and physics, that he strikes hard when he is ready tn strike. He knows that there is in nature no mercy for motionless things, no safety for drifters and derelicts. If one would sail and lie safe in collisions, one must sail faster than any other craft. it i- to be confidently expected therefore, that Wilson will pur nd mere sinker in his cabinet, and no cork-jacket to float with. He will surround himself with counsellors who understand that the secret of ■ uc< ess In m< ie n politics is to keep in motion that the higher the momentum the greater tlv security —and that the invincible standards of Democracy, which have been carried hitherto by the drive ami, go of tie world's youth, can not get farther by any other means. Dorothy Dix Writes on Man’s Chief Earthly Blessing By DOROTHY DIX AWESTERN railroad has de cided to dispense with the services of all of its em ployees who have not happy homes. This is a drastic exemplification of the truth of the Bible axiom that to him who hath shall be giv en, and from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Certainly it is tough luck on the man who has a shrewish and nag ging wife and a slovenly home to have his job taken away from him on account of his misfortunes, and to be deprived of whatever peace and comfort he can get out of a long run that takes him away from the scene of his misery. Perhaps the reason that trains are so often late is because so many conductors and engineers are not in any hurry to get back home. Aside, however, from the surface cruelty of such an order, there can be no question of the wisdom of thl railroad in making it, for happiness in his home life is an actual tangi ble asset that adds appreciably to a man’s efficiency. Interfere With Business. And this applies not only to rail road men, but to men in every walk and calling of life. Between the man who goes forth to his labor from a peaceful, cheerful, well-or dered home, and the one who goes forth from a home that is a well of bitterness, and unrest, and strife, there is not only the difference be tween happiness and misery, but between success and failure. Nor is the reason for this hard to find. We all have just a certain amount of strength anl vitality and nervous force, and if we consume this in fighting home conditions we have not got it to give to our work, and the work suffers in conse quence. At the best, modem life is heart breakfngly strenuous. Competition in every line is as fierce as a fight among ravening wolves. Every man is forced to work at high pressure, with every nerve and sinew and brain cell speeded up to the limit. The inevitable result is that the end of the day finds him exhausted in mind and body, and whether he goes back to his labor the next dav with fresh energy and hope and courage, or exhausted and discour aged and despairing, depends upon the kind of a home that he has. If he goes at night to a home that is literally a haven of rest; if he is set down to a good dinner of whole some and well-prepared food; if ha is petted and coddled, and made much of until the very memory of the rebuffs he has received during the day are wiped out of his mem ory; if he can spend a quiet, rest ful evening over book and pipe, or with the friends he enjoys; if the face of his wife across the hearth stone from him is turned always to him with a look of love, and of un derstanding and appreciation; if there are little children who clam ber on his knee and whose arms are about his neck; if, ( n a word, the whole atmosphere of his home is one of sunshine, and tenderness, and sweetness, it works a daily miracle for him and renews his strength and ability' every- time he touches it. He Hates to Return. Such a man goes back to Ids work with a rested body and a clear »ml. jjj 3 mind is not distracted from his business by domestic wor ries and anxieties. He can give the best that is in him to his labor without having to force back into ;; coiner of his mind the recollection of the last scene at home. More than that.'in his love for his wife and children and his desire x rnake his home even more beauti ful, he has the strongest possible incentive to work harder, and do better work all the time. Far otherwise is it with the man who. after his hard day’s labor, re turns reluctantly home to a place that is a perpetual battle groum. He has to summon up his cottrag.- to put his key in the lock, for w ■; he knows the complaints, the quar reling, the hysteria that he must face, or the untidy room in which he must sit and the miserable food on which he must poison himself His home life exhausts him more than the most fatiguing labor, and he goes back to his work with stomach upset, nerves on edge, ant a soul surcharged with bitterness. He is literally unfitted in mind and body to do good work, or exercise clear judgment. If you will notice among your acquaintances you will observe that when a man breaks down with what we call nervous prostration there is nearly’ alwayg some do mestic tragedy at the back of it. For one cause or another, his home life is miserable. It isn’t work that shatters health: it’s worry. .\nd as long as a man lias a happy home lie can do almost any amount of labor without collapsing under the strain. Happiness itself Is a tonic that is wortli all of the drugs iu tlie pharmacopeia.