Newspaper Page Text
EDITORIAL RAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
>y THE GEORGIAN COMPANY i
At 20 East Alabama St.. Atlanta, Ga
Entered as aeeond-cl&ss matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3,18 T»
!; Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, $6.00 a year.
Payable in advance.
MW&-
K |
; JThe Future of the Bull
1 Moose
—
Mr. Roosevelt s pronouncement as to the future of his new
party is convincing only in its prophecy that the cause of political
I progress will not perish. He fails to show cause why his particular
brand of progressiveism should survive or supersede other brands.
The meeting of Governor Hadley with the lowa senators at Des
Moines the other day reminds us that many Republicans who re
fused to follow Roosevelt and will continue to refuse, have, never
theless. sei their hearts upon following the Progressive tlag. In
deed. the plainest fact to be deduced from the election returns is
that stand-patism, if not totally dead, is at least reduced to such
narrow limits that there is no reasonable expectation that the
Barneses, Penroses and Smoots will ever again set their- battle in
formidable array on the field of national politics.
In one sense or another we are all progressives now. The na
tion has passed into a new atmosphere, in which it has become im
possible to believe that the best thing 1o do is to sit still and do
nothing. It has come to pass that all who count much in the mak
ing of public opinion are convinced that something must be done—
THAT WE MUST MOVE FORWARD. ON ONE LINE OR AN
OTHER.
Thus it would seem that we may have to revise our traditionary
ideas about the character of party cleavage. We have been accus
tomed to take it for granted that there must always continue to be
a party of progress and a party of reaction, a party that presses on
and a party that holds back. But it seems now That such an align
ment is not immutably fixed in the nature of things.
It seems now that the two great national parties of the imme
diate future may both aim to be progressive—that they may con
tradict each other only in choosing opposite ways of getting for
ward .
It has happened many times in the world's history that an
epoch of social change has been ushered iu by two contrasting im
pulses, both pressing for reform. On the one hand, there has been
the impulse of imperialism and on the other the impulse of de
mocracy.
The imperialistic tendency sometimes strives consciously to
establish an emperor on a throne; but oftener it is a blind striving
toward the setting up of an irresistible power to beat down injus
tice. In practical fact it has heen proved a hundred, times that
such a power becomes ever more arbitrary as it becomes more
irresistible—and that it always ends in utter irresponsibility to the
people who set it up.
The democratic tendency drives toward reform by a different
and safer road —a road that is laid through the eternal nature of
things. It strives for the suppression of injustice, NOT THROUGH
THE CREATION OF A SUPERHUMAN AND IRRESISTIBLE
GOVERNMENT. BI T THROUGH THE STRENGTHENING OF
THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIBERTY OF AVERAGE
CITIZENS.
Now it is possible that a political seer—if such a man existed- -
would tell us that Mr. Roosevelt’s new party is destined to form
the basis of a party of the Big Stick and the Man on Horseback.
■Without imputing to Mr. Roosevelt any conscious desire to make
himself a Caesar, and even supposing that he may be personally
eliminated from the struggle, a shrewd prophet might find in the
Bull Moose the natural symbol of that wild impulse of the people
which has so often sought justice—and pathetically failed to find
it—in the establishment of an irresistible government of brute force.
It may be that the Bull Moose may find congenial alliance with
bureaucratic and centralizing socialism; and that the party thus
formed will, for the next decade or so, move in opposition to a re
vived and militant democracy.
IF THIS SHALL PROVE TO BE THE THE BULL
MOOSE WILL STAND ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BAT
TLEFIELD IN THE REAL ARMAGEDDON OF AMER CW
POLITICS.
Poisons and Some of Our
t Great Men
*
The human intellect is most brilliant when life 'is ebbing, ac
cording to Dr. Charles B. Reed, professor in the medical school of
the Northwestern University.
Poison and disease foster genius, he says; they inspire poets,
authors, inventors and statesmen. He cites history to prove his
assertions and declares that such poisons as ether, arsenic, alcohol,
strychnine, cocaine and chloral, inspired the metrical numbers of
Poe and the rhythm of “Tam o'Shanter’s Ride."
lie holds that under extremes of emotion lhe mind in conceu
truledws one thing. >o that during unusual stress of love. war. or
grief, many brain- bceonw abnormal and an improved product is lhe
result.
For instance, coffee may be taken as an instance of these stimu
lants. "Its essential qualities are so well defined,'’ he says, “that
one critic has claimed he can trace its effects through the works of
Voltaire. Balzac and Dr. Johnson."
In lhe present day Maeterlinck is cited as an example of to
bacco stimulus; while for many years De Quineey increased his
mental activities with opium, as did ( oleridge. Poe, Burns. De
-Musset and Gluck are given as influenced to great works by the use
f£ alcohol.
, Asthma urged Macaul'y on to extreme mental concentration
and made William 111. a gn-at iigure. while gout supplied Gibbon
with a needed momentum.
"Gibbon and Bulwer-Lytion ixvmpjifj the class inspired to
superior mentality by toxins from diseases." Dr. Reed asserts, “ami
with them might be classed Landor. < ampbell, Milton. Steele, Syd
ney Smith. Fielding, Dryden. De Foe, < laude Lorraine. Reubens.
Charles Keane and the Pitts."
This is interesting, but still it is safe to say that if toxins had
been unknown these men would have shone just the same, like the
bright stars they were and are.
Dr. Reed is careful to say that any of these agencies has no
ich is ■ I argument or most oj
trj leave them tflone
*•
The Atlanta Georgian
Over the Jumps
By HAL COFFMAN. *
’MI ‘ GIPDAP I )
- ah,
"Wt <* rTMat
■ _Hj HUf-4 •' i
- I AJe*
If //
tl
’ J> ■ .
’ ■ c
F armers Fail to Keep Pace With Population
WE wonder and grumble at
- high prices, and yet we
continue to crowd into
cities an,] pile lite prices higher!
We can not, through our own
fault, produce enough eatables to
keep the cost of living at a moder
ate level, and yet we are abandon
ing- millions of acres of land, and
reducing the productive capacity of
that which remains under cultiva
tion by neglecting to supply it with
the proper food for plants.
Every year we send to the thrifty
farmers of Europe more than a mil
lion tons of phosphate rock of the
highest grade, one-half of which,
applied to our own soil, would
double our crops, and do more, per
haps, than anything else to reduce
the cost of the necessaries of life.
in the dietary of plants there are
two tilings which are, nt the same
time, essential and liable to become
exhausted—phosphorus and nitro
gen. In Europe they have learned
to supply these elements artificial
ly wherever they are needed; and
they gladly take the phosphorus
which we are so willing to sell
them. Ixtok at the consequences.
In western Europe, under tlie sys
tem of feeding the soil to keep up
its strength, the productivity of the
farms has been doubted.
Europe’s Grain Yield.
The ten-year average yield of
what in tin- United States is four
teen bushels per acre; in Germany
!t has been brought up to 29 bush
els. in Great Britain to 33 bushels,
and in Denmark to more than 40
bushels. •
I borrow these statements of
facts from Professor Cyril G. Hop
kins. of tile University of Illinois,
who says further: “A comparison
of the last live years with the aver
age of the five years ending with
IHOO shows that our wheat exports
decreased during the decade from
19'' million to 116 nullion bushels,
and that our corn exports decreased
f "om 199 million to"!>7 million bush
els."
Here is uuothe ■■ startling fact
backed by the same authority:
i'urll -: tl’f .ater. yeti's tit. popu-
’loti of the Unit -d States has in
e . isni _’l pvi ' iiit. while the acie-
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 22, 1,912.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
•• age of farm lauds lias increased •i"
only 5 per cent.
is it any wonder that prices are
high, and going higher'.’
Man can not live on air and
water. Jt’ine clothes, beautiful man
ufactures, art and music can not
feed him, but. like his ancestor,
Adam, he must continue to till the
soil. As his numbers grow he must
till more soil; as they grow still
greater lie must make the soil more
productive.
When to Fear "‘Race Suicide.”
When he has enabled every acre
to produce at its utmost possible
capacity, then he may begin to
The Trumpet Call
By PERCY SHAW.
OUT of tlie night they ca;ne
From the shades of the Mongol
wing;
And the paths they made
Ami the power they laid
Was steeped in slaughter and flame.
Was builded in terror and shame
And tied with the dread bow string.
Children of wild Iran
On the Christian soul they trod;
i And they flocked from prayer
Like beasts from the lair.
Vizier and Bey and clan
To torture tlie helpless man
In the name of the Moslem God.
Wile was their plot and plan
As they watched the West World
rise.
They saw the sun of the printed page,
The upward march of the waking age
Crying: "Mahomet, who all things cun
Restore us the glories of great Orkhan
That are blazed in the Prophet’s
skies."
Like dogs snarling over a bone
The Christ-loving nations stood
While the cries of the thousands came
Weeping from outrage and flame—
“ Must we stand forever alone?
Help us, you always have known—
We pray to the God of your blood."
Hulgar and Serb and Greek.
They have scalejl the cruel wall;
They have shamed the strong and great
That paltered before the gate:
They have glorified the weak
Witli the Cross on the mountain peak;
They have heard and answered the
call.
* think of “race suicide,” but not be
fore. „
This year we have had record
crops, but they are not enough.
Prices are not tumbling!
The crops should have been twice
as great as they are, and they
might have been twice as great if
the soil had been fed here as it lias
been fed in Europe. If we had kept
back half of the million tons of
phosphate that we have sent to Eu
rope as a yearly contribution, and
applied it to our own exhausted
farms, not only might a wave of
real prosperity have rolled over us,
but we could have rested in the
comfortable assurance that if our
population should Jump from 90 to
150 millions there would still be
enough for all. at prices that all
could pay.
These are the reflections that
come to me as 1 read
Hopkins' statements. They should
make everybody reflect, and espe
cially those who have fled from the
. farms to tlie city, led by the foolish
fascination of theaters, club houses,
dance hails and hoodlum gangs.
Many of them have already learned
that there is more society, more
comfort and more intellfe-ence in
the country than In the city—bin
still they will not go hack.
What Science Offers.
What nobler occupation could a
young American propose to himself
than that of rendering the soil of
liis country more productive, its
fields more beautiful, its liilisides
richer and its forests grander?
Science now offers her hand to
the farmer if he will but take it.
With such an alliance America
could always lead the world in
wealth and happiness.
To make 60 bushels of wheat
grow on an acre where only 30
grew before is a finer achievement,
and one more worthy of praise, and
of the thanks of posteritj>, t than to
double the dividends of a watered
railway stock.
The most splendid figure that
Rome could show was that of the
farmer. Cincinnatus, who. three
times called to save his country
from tlie invader, three times went
back from victory to the plow.
THE HOME PAPER
Dorothy Dix
Writes on
The Liberties
of Matrimony A
A Man Has No Right !
to Open His Wife’s -> '
Letters, and. by the "
Same Token, a Wife
Has No Right to
Tamper With Her k \/
Husband’s Mail.
By DOROTHY DIX
< MAN asks this question
“Do you think that a hus
band and wife have the right
to open each other’s letters with
out being asked to do so?”
I certainly do not. A man has no
more right to open his wife’s let
ters than he has the letters of any
other woman, nor has a wife, any
more right to tamper with her hus
band's mail than she would with
that of the most perfect stranger.
We have a right to some decency
and privacy of life, even though
married. '
To have a husband or a wife who
would open your letters and read
them before you had
them yourself would be disgusting
and revolting to any person of
refinement. A letter is as purely a
personal thing as one’s tooth brush,
and it’s hard to imagine the lack
of delicacy and thste that would
lead a husband or a wife to set up
a Joint claim to either one.
Os course, there are circum
stances in which a\usband or wife
may properly object to their
, spouse's correspondence. A man
may not. for instance, approve of
his wife receiving letters from ,
other men. A wife may be insane
ly Jealous of the violet-scented pink
missives -that her husband. gets
from other women, but even then
the remedy is not the high-handed
and tyrannical one of opening the
other’s letters.
The Average Couple.
The affinity, however, does not
figure In the ordinary family’ circle,
and the average husband and wife
receive no letters from a more ex
citing source than Sister Susan, or
Grandma, or Cousin Jane, or some
old friend. Why any human being,
except the one to whom they are
addressed,.wants to read the unex
citing chronicles set down in these
epistles passes comprehension.
Nevertheless, it is the ill-bred
habit of many husbands and wives
to open eajh other's letters and
read the confidences that were
never meant for their eyes. It is a
sort of listening at the keyhole that
does not endear the Paul Pry or the
Polly’ Pty to his or lier wife or hus
band.
It is not that' the wife or hus
band has any guilty’ secret that is
hidden in the letter, but no woman
or man of real refinement” tells all
of his or her family’ and friends’
I affairs even to the wife or husband.
John Smith, fine and honorable, and
devqted to ills wife, shrinks from
laying before her eyes the sorrowful
story his sister has written him
about a wayward boy who has been
caught robbihg a cash drawer.
Alary' Smith, as loyal a wife as ever
lived, can not bear that her husband
should read her mother's letter in
which shy» sobs out the pitiful tale
of how Mary's father has been
drinking again, anil has spent the •
rent money on liquor, and how
they are to pay the grocery man,
she doesn't know.
Generally speaWng, most hus
bands and most wives are Jealous
of each other's families, and prone
to criticism of them. Tlie faintly
letters furnish material for crimi
nations, and lead to recriminations
and to domestic spats. For that
reason alone, if for no other, lius-
bands and wives have no business
meddling with each other's mail.
Over and beyond the letter it
self, though, the objection to hus
bagids and wives opening each oth
er's letters is the deadly affront it
offers to one's Individuality. The
mere act of the tearing open of the
envelope rivets on one the fetters
of a slave. It is the outward and
visible sign of subjection, and any
man of any woman would have to
have the soul of a mouse not to
feel the hot blood of rebellion and
righteous anger surge up in her or
him against it.
The Reason Why.
The opening of your letter brings
home to you as nothing else can
the fact that you have not left one
iota of freedom, not one vestige of
personal liberty, not one scintilla
of privacy. Somebody else has as
serted the right to see words writ
ten for you alone; to hear confi
dences intended for only your own
breast; to keep you under espion
age as if you were a child, and you
would be more than human if you
did not resent it, and hate the do
mestic tyrant on your hearthstone.
The thing that makes matrimony
a failure oftener than anything else
is just this lack of the decencies
and reserves of life between hus
bands and wives. It Is because
married people so seldom are gen
erous enough to extend to each
other any liberty of action that
marriage becomes a bondage that
we are ready to at any price
lhe one thing that militates more
against domestic happiness than
anything else is the knowledge that
a woman has that she has got to
give an account of everything she
does, of every cent that she spends,
and of every place that she to
her husband, and that she has got
to submit to his critical approval
her dress, her opinions, her friend?
her politics, and her religion. That's
"hat makes her envious of the
bachelor woman, and dream of ca
reers.
‘lf site knew that her bushiue'
would think and say, “Why. no
dear, you’ve got as good a right m
your opinion and to do things ymr
way and to live your life as I '
to do mine,” there would b> n
more discontented wives.
The Secret.
Nor would there be main ■ ■
stepping husbands if a woman I: ■
enough sense to say' to the man - w
married: “See. here, John 1 di hi't
apply for the job of Jailer when I
became your wife. I don't "ant
to interfere with all the things '
enjoy doing. Nor am 1 goin- ’
■ Imid a stop-watch on you and ’
that you get home, on the minute
Nobody can be happy who i-<
free, am] I present you your li’i- rt"
on a silver salver, sure that ■ t
won’t make a had use of it.”
‘ That’s the secret of how t
happy though married. It’s t
spect each other’s rights, and n ■'
enforce one’s own rights, and eh '
among the rights that matrfmor.
doesn’t give is to open a husban '
or wife's letters. That's a pi'” - of
impertinent and vulgar curiosit'
which no one should submit.
What we need in matrinioi.
to extend more liberty to the : ’
tiers of our Joys and «onrow
tak> fewer liberties with th' n