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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