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EDITORI XI. PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Publisned Even Artemeon Except Sunday I>y THE GEORGIAN COMPANY At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. Entered as second-class matter at postoffiice at Atlanta, under act of March 3,18 T». Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mall, 55.00 a year. Payable in advance. JThe Future of the Bull M oose Mr. Roosevelt’s pronouncement as to the future of his new party is convincing only in its prophecy that the cause of political 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. set their hearts upon following the. Progressive flag. In deed. the plainest fact to be deduced from the election returns is that stand-pat ism, 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 to 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 j 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 (he 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 in 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 heat down injus tice. In practical fact it has been 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 w’ho 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, BUT 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 decade or so, move in opposition to a re vived and militant democracv. IF THIS SHALL PROVE TO BE TtlE CASE, THE BULL MOOSE WILL STAND ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BAT TLEFIELD IN THE REAL ARMAGEDDON OF AMERICAN POLITICS. I Poisons and Some of Our I Great Men 3____ 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.” He holds that under extremes of emotion the mind in concen trated as one thing, so that during unusual stress of love. war. or grief, many brains become abnormal and an improved product is the result. For instance, coffee may Im taken as an instance of these stimu lants. ‘‘lts essential qualities are so well defined,” he says, “that one critic has claimed he can trace its effects through the works of Voltaire. Balzac ami Dr. Johnson.” In the present day Maeterlinck is cited as an example of to bacco stimulus; while for many years De Quiiicev increased his mental activities with opium, as did Coleridge. Boe. Burns. De Musset and Gluck are given as influenced to great works by the use aJtoob.nil. -istnnia urged Macauley on to extreme menial concentration and made William 111. a great figure, while gout supplied Gibbon with a needed momentum. “Gibbon and Bulwei’-Lytton exemplify the class inspired to superior mentality by toxins from divas. s. " | > r . fasserts, "and with them might be classed Landor. ( ampbell. Millon. Steele. Svd ney Smith. Yielding. Dryden. De Foe. Claude 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 '‘i.eci on the me<lio< r< mind, which is a good argument for most of to leave them alone The Atlanta Georgian Over the Jumps By HAL COFFMAN. 'Sfel ■ GIPDAP | ) , A ' $ I Il Mw® fl J-iVuT -sljjs I wyWMW J r > ! " si ■ »• Farmers Fail to Keep Pace With Population YIP' wonder and grumble at • Vi/ high prices, and yet we continue to crowd into cities and pile the 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 •upply 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 things which are, at 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 tho phosphorus which we are so willing to sell them. Look at the consequences. In western Europe, under the sys tem of feeding the soil to keep up its strength, the productivity of the farms has been doubled. Europe’s Grain Yield. The ten-year average yield of what in the United States is four teen bushels per acre; in Germany it has been brought up to 29 bush els. in Great Britain to 33 bushels, and in Denmark to more than 40 bushels. 1 borrow these statements of facts from Professor Cyril G. Hop kins, of the University of Illinois, who says further: “A comparison of the last live years with the aver age of the. live years ending with 1900'shows that our wheat exports decreased during the decade from 198 million to 116 million bushels, and that ou” corn exports decreased from 193 million to 57 million bush els.” Here is another startling fact backed by the same authority: During the last ten years tile popu lation of the United States has in creased 21 per cent, while tiie acre- FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1912. By GARRETT P. SERVISS. 1 age of farm lands has increased ' only 5 per cent. Is it any wonder that prices are high, and going higher? Man can not live on air and water. Fine 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 he 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 the night they came From the shades of the Mongol wing; And the paths they made And 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; And they flocked from prayer Like beasts from the lair. Vizier and Bey and ehtn To torture the helpless man In the name of the Moslem God. ' Wile wa» 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 can 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.” Bulgar and Serb and Greek, They have scaled the cruel wall; They have shamed the strong and great That paltered before the gate; They have glorified the weak With 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 has 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 i*re the reflections that come to me as 1 read Professor Hopkins’ statements. They should make everybody reflect, and espe cially those who have fled from the farms to the city, led by the foolish fascination of theaters, club houses, dance halls and hoodlum gangs. Many of them have already learned there is more society, more comfort and more Intelligence in the country than in the city—but still they will not go back. What Science Offers. What nobler occupation could a young American propose to himself than that of rendering the soil of his country more productive, its fields more beautiful, its hillsides 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 posterity, than to double the dividends of a watered railway stock. The most splendid tigure that Rome could show was that of the farmer, Cineinnatus. who, three times called to save his country from the invader, three times went back from victory to the plow. THE HOME PAPER Dorothy D i x Writes on The Liberties of Matrimony 1 A Man Has No Right | ./ ~ to Open His Wife’s •- . Letters, and, by the j Same Token, a Wife Has No Right to ) Tamper With Her Husband’s Mail. AMAN asks this question; “Do you think that a hus band and wifejiave 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 a chance at them yourself would'Tie 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 taste 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 husband 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 each 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 'Pry to his or her 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’ affairs even to the wife husband. John Smith, fine and honorable, and devoted to his wife, shrinks from laying before her eyes the sorrowful story his sister has written him about a wayward boy who has been caught robbing a cash drawer. Mary Smith, as loyal a wife as ever lived, can not bear that her husband should read her mother’s letter in which she sobs out the pitiful tale of how Mary's father lias been drinking again, and has spent the rent money on liquor, and how they are to pay the grocery man, she doesn’t know. Generally speaking, most hus bands and most wives are jealous of each other's families, and prone to criticism of them. The family letters furnish material for crimi nations, and lead to recriminations and to domestic spats. For that reason alone, if for no otiier, hus- THY DIX By DORO bands and wives have no business meddling with each other's mail. Over and beyond the letter it self, though, the objection to hus bands 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 or 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 break at any price The 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 goes to her husband, and that she has got to submit to his, critical approval her dress, her opirfions, her friends her politics, and her religion. That's what makes her envious of the bachelor woman, and dream of ca reers. If she knew that her husband would think and say, “Why, my dear, you’ve got as good a right to your opinion and to dorihings your way and to live your life as I have to do mine,” there would be no more discontented wives. ’ The Secret. Nor would there be many side stepping husbands if a woman had enough sense to say to the man she married: “See, here, John, I didn't apply for the job of jailer when I became your wife. I don’t want to interfere with all the things you enjoy doing. Nor am I going to hold a stop-watch on you and sec that you get home on the minute Nobody can be happy who isn’t free, and I present you your liberty on a silver salver, sure that you won't make a bad use of it.” That's the secret of how to be happy though married. It’s to re spect each other’s rights, and not to enforce one’s own rights, and chief among the rights that matrjmony doesn't give is to open a husband’s or wife's letters. That's a piece of impertinent and vulgar curiosity to which no one should submit. What we need in matrimony is to extend more liberty to the part ners of our joys and sorrows and take fewer liberties with them.