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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
Entered aS second-olass matter at postortice at Atlanta, under act of March S, UTS.
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week. By mail, $5.00 a year
Payable In advance.
Atlanta’s Wealth and Water
The municipality of Atlanta can no longer whine that it is
a pauper.
The statement of Comptroller Goldsmith that the city has
a borrowing capacity of more than $5,000,000 above its present
debt has eliminated that lame and time-dishonored excuse.
It has smothered the reactionaries and stand-patters who
have blocked the development of a greater city with their wails
of poverty.
It means that Atlanta can begin to prepare itself for a pop
ulation of a half million.
With a borrowing capacity of almost eleven million and a
net debt of only five and a half million, the city is put in the
light of a miser with half his gold buried where it can be of use
to any one.
But now that hoard has been found, and it will have to be
dug up.
A business administration that will engineer a new bond is
sue and go to work with a clear idea of’the present needs of At
lanta and an imagination of her future needs can do more good
than all the watch dogs of the supposedly empty treasury ever
did.
Sensible economy is a blessing, but parsimony is a menace.
An excellent proof of this has been furnished by the water
board.
Within thirty feet of the coagulating basins of the water
works are four open vaults and a pig pen.
Nothing except a ditch prevents the drainage from flowing
into the water that you eventually drink.
Daily tests show that the water has not been defiled, but the
board members says eventually it will be.
Their remedy—and they say that under the existing health
ordinances there is no other —is to buy the strip of land on which
these vaults and the houses to which they belong stand.
A very fe<v thousand dollars would make the purchase, and
members of the board point out that the water would not only
be safeguarded, but the city would acquire a piece of property
that may be necessary for reservoir expansion in years to come.
Without taking into consideration what funds the city can
borrow in the future, the premium on the water bonds provides
an ample amount for the purchase.
The bond commission has not been impressed with the plan,
because of new water pipes to be laid.
There lies the trouble. What will it profit a city if there is
water running through a dozen pipes in every street, if that
water is defiled and germ laden?
Atlanta’s fine water is one of her greatest assets. And it
must be protected.
Providing Exit for the Turk
“There arc no good Indians but dead Indians,’’ said General
Custer, in the Wyoming hills.
“There are no good Turks but dead Turks.’’ seems to be the
motto of the Bulgarians and Serbs, as they hold Turkey’s peace
overtures in their hands and close in three columns upon the last re
maining Moslem defenses at Tchatalja.
The Bulgarians have not retaliated in barbarities upon the
Turk. Under unparalleled provocation they have preserved the
honor of a Christian civilization, treated their prisoners humanely
and refrained from vengeance upon the families of defeated Turks.
But the Balkan allies know their enemy—and. knowing the
Turk, they trust him neither in peace nor war. No armistice has
been granted to give the Turkish army an opportunity to strength
en its fortifications and to hearten its demoralized soldiers for a
renewal of the battle.
No artful terms of peace proposed by the sultan are to be con
sidered with the Turk.
It is stern, wise diplomacy in the Bulgarian army to fight the
war to a finish without compromise or delay. It is wise policy for
the Balkan armies to enter Constantinople and Adrianople. No
other spectacle would sufficiently emphasize the Turk’s utter defeat
and make his recuperation impossible.
No other spectacle would lay such logical obligation upon the
powers of Europe to grant the Balkans the fruits of their wonder
ful victory and remove the apprehension of future Turkish atroci
ties by disbanding or dividing the Turkish empire in Europe.
Surely the nations have never had such frightful object lessons
of Turkish savagery as this war has afforded. While the allies have
been defeating the Turks on the field, the Turks have been destroy
ing themselves in the diplomatic world.
Even Europe, with an atrophied conscience toward Turkish
brutalities, has been shocked into sensibility and retribution by the
Turkish aftermath of battle. Forty-two villages of non-combatants
sacked and burned ami ravished and butchered in a single day.
Men and women left on frozen roads with their eyes gouged out,
feet and hands cut off. to die by horrible inches.
It has gone to the limit. Even the selfish veins of trade and ter
ritorial greed revolt against the brutal blood-dripping savage who
has been permitted centuries of pillage and murder in Europe. And
the ediet seems to have framed itself into English and Russian andi
French and German diplomacy that the allies must be permitted ti.
work their will with the Turk.
And the will ot the allies for the Turk should be back to Asia!
Providence and their vietoriohs army have opened this waA
|h Alor the vindication of civilization—-and the promise of future gen-i
* erations. 3
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The your.g man enters the saloon. He
“.can quit whisky whenever he wants to.’’
He goes in young, self-respecting, with bright
prospects. It’s nobody’s business but his own
if he “takes a few in the evening.’’
Surgeons Can Reconstruct Human Body
THERE was once a lunatic in
an asylum for the insane
who gravely assured his vis
itors that he was wearing the head
ot' King Charles lof England. He
didn’t like the king's head and
begged everybody to help him find
his own again. Pathetically, he de
scribed how, after the beheading of
the king< somebody seized his (the
madman’s) head, gave it a twirl, *
twisted it off the (op of the ver
tebral column, and then spun
Charles’ head on. like a nut, in its
place.
One can not help thinking of this
lunatic's day dream while reading
in The Cosmopolitan for December
a.sober, unexaggerated account of
the marvels that modern surgery
is performing with the human body.
If the men who are now doing
these things in their operating
rooms had lived a few hundred
years ago, and had done them then,
they would probably have been
drawn and quartered, or burned at
the stake as emissaries of Satan or
practitioners of the black art.
All That Is Needed.
Tlte surgeons grow bolder every
day, and success seems to justify
their apparent recklessness. Os
course, there Is nothing really reck
less about them. Theii proceedings
are guided by the finest results of
the most profound science. They
have found out that the body of a
man is a machine that can, to a
great extent, be taken apart and
put together again as safely as one
can remove, replace and substitute
the various parts of an automobile.
All 'that is needed is a perfect
knowledge of its structure ami a
hand that can be trusted to cut
within a thousandth of an inch.
They can come within that dis-
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1912
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
v tance of a man’s life and leave it
untouched and intact!
Sometimes their proceedings look
to the layman as rough and ready
as those of a carpenter. Think of
having your broken bones fastened
together with a sixteen-penny nail
or with a number of ordinary wire
nails driven in with a hammer!
This feat has been performed again
j and again. Usually the nails are
taken out after the bones have
grown together, but occasionally a
nail is left in place without harm.
Surgery’s Discoveries.
The bones of a lower jaw have
been removed and a jaw Os silver
put in their place which works as
well as if nature had ’ made it.
There are photographs to prove
this if you doubt It.
If the surgeon can not take off
your head and put a better one in
its place, he can practically make
your skull over if nature has done
a bad job with it. He can even re
pair the brain itself to a certain ex
tent.
Many persons who were regarded
by their acquaintances as “moral
degenerates,” or who suffered from
paralysis or insanity, have had their
skulls opened up and obstructions
removed with the result of making
them sane. clear-headed and
healthy. Like professional tamers
who know how to deal with a vi
cious horse, modern surgeons have
less and less fear of the brain and
the heart the more they handle
them. Tlte life-principle will not
kick up its heels and run away if it
feels tlte hand of a master aiding it
to throw off the incubus that has
interfered with its proper func
tions. On the contrary, like the Hon
with a festering thorn in its paw, it
will lick the hand that boldly, un
hesitatingly. relieves it.
Thousands of "stupid," backward
child ten have been rendered as
OUT.
Years later the young man with bright
prospects has been transformed into an old
man—without even a past. He quits whisky
only when the bartender sneers at his whin
ing plea for “credit.”
• bright ana active as their more for
tunate fellows by surgical opera
tions, for surgery has discovered
that there are many stones in the
stream of intelligence which ob
struct the flow if they are not re
moved. When the bed is cleared
the river runs straight. If your
child seems weak-minded don’t as
sume that it is really the mind that
is at fault. Let a good surgeon
look over its body in search of de
fects.
Among the most wonderful of the
recent achievements of surgery are
the many cases of transplantation
or “grafting.” A sightless eye has
been made to see by cutting out
the imperfect human cornea and
putting that of a rabbit in its place.
Grafting surfaces of skin to cover
the ravages of disease or fire has
become almost a common opera
tion. Perhaps the time is not far
distant when new legs and arms
may be obtained by grafting, for
the thing has already been done
with a dog. Dr. Lexter recently
transplanted the entire hind leg of
one dog to another dog with com
plete success.
Stimulating Effect.
In the article to which I refer you
will find many strange suggestions
based upon accomplished facts as
to what may ultimately be done
even with the bodies of the dead.
One thing almost mystical in its
suggestiveness is the stimulating
effect upon the mental powers pro
duced by the transplantation of a
piece of thyroid gland from the
neck of a young woman to the body
of another who was mentally de
fective. The intelligence of the lat
ter immediately took a leap up
ward! Apparently the surgeons
are touching upon secrets that na
ture is not unwilling to have dis
covered
THE HOME PAPER
DOROTHY DIX
Writes on
I I
Husbands ,
Habits
T.
Women Can Xot i
Change 'Them, j <
But They Should i
Not Be Discon-
so late Over .
Neglect \\ ives
Should Face the J
Truth.
By DOROTHY DIN.
IN the course of a year 1 get
thousands of letters from un- |
happy wives complaining tha'
their husbands neglect them, or
that their husbands will never take
thepi to any place of amusement,.
that their husbands are niggardly
and stingy to them.
These women are all miserable
and they all want to know what
they can do to ameliorate theii
hard lots in life.
Os course, what they really de
sire is some magical formula that
will change a neglectful husband
into an attentive one, an indiffer
ent husband into a lover and a
tightwad into a generous husband.
Unfortunately, the day, of miracles
is past, and a woman can no’more
alter a man over to her taste than
she could the Rock of Gibraltar.
In novels a husband sometimes is
led by his wife’s gentleness and an
gelic patience to turn over a new
leaf, and from having been a con
eatination of cussedness become a
paragon of domestic virtues; but if
any such metamorphosis ever took
place in real life, I can only say
that I have never been privileged
to behold it.
The Man and Time.
As a general working proposition
a wife may take it that what her
husband is he is going to be to the
end of the chapter, only more so as
the years go by. If he is kind, and
tender, and considerate, he will be
tenderer, and kinder, and more con
siderate as they go down the hill
together, because big souls grow
with age. If a man is mean, and
selfish, and stingy, and tyrannical,
he will grow meaner, and more
selfish, and stingier, and more ty
rannical as he grows old, because
little souls narrow, and warp, and
grow bitter with age.
If a man neglects his wife, he
does so because he is tired of her
and she bores him. If he doesn’t
want to take her out with him to
any place of amusement, it is be
cause he has a better time with
out her. If he is penurious with
her it is because he wants to save
his money for himself. These are
blunt and brutal facts, but they arc
facts. Furthermore, there is not
one blessed thing that a woman
can do to alter them.
The only remedy for the situation
is to face it fairly and squarely.
,and for women to go to work to
make over their own lives, which
can be done, instead of trying to
make over their husbands, which
can nut be done.
I 4 or instance, why should a wom
an rend the air with her wails be
cause her husband m vei’ wants to
take her out to. any place of amuse
ment with him? Why doesn’t she
just accept the truth that he
doesn't enjoy her society, and get’
up and hunt up some amusement
on her own account?
The time has gone by when a
woman has to approach any place
of popular amusement hooked on
to a masculine arm. Nor do women
in this day of grace lack for diver
sions. With every theater having
two matinees a week, with moving
?• picture shows on every corner .vttft
the innumerable women's clubs that
abound, with good bridge players in
I every neighborhood, with restau
rants and tea rooms on every side, 1
with hen luncheons and parties I
crowding on the heels of each oth- {
ei, surely there is more diversion
ready at every woman’s hand than
is good for In .
Just Pins On Hat.
All of tjtese amusements are j
equally open to her, married or siri- i
gle, and if a woman’s- husband
X
won't take her to the theater at
night, all she's got to co is to pin I
on her hat. rind go to the matinee; I
if he won't take her to a restau- I
rant to dinner and she y.-arris for I
the shaded lights, the gorgeously I
dressed women, the artificial palms I
and the music of case life, sii>- c„n I
find a perfect substitute by going I
to tea at any of the smart hotels. I
And if she’s a sensible woman, I
she does go, instead of fretting I
herself into a fiddle st: irg be-ruse fj
her husband won't lake her out il
with him. It isn't a question now I
of a woman being "taken.” It's a I
question of her "going.” I
Exactly the same thing may be I
said to the woman whose -ais-.ainl I
is stingy to her. Tne woman who I
is married to a man wim r--fas--e to I
give her the money she m-t-ils is I
foolish to waste her str--iigt:i and ■
energy in whining or trying to I
wheedle dollars out of . She I
had far better face the .a--t that if ■
she is to have any yto do I
with as site pl'-ascsslie will have to ■
earn it herself, and go to w>-:k. ■
And tile sooner the b-.-i-r. he- ■
cause a woman must i--;,rn her ■
trade and get established in. ft ■
while she is young, if sit-- stnci-etis. I
Any woman of ordinary int.'ligeree ■
and industrj- can earn - - '-rvi- ■
ble living witli much i- -r mi ■
tear on iter nervous syro ■
involved in getting mat - ■
and clothes out of a peit'.i:
band. H
The trouble with wo:o-a th ;t M
they so seldom have th" > to ■
admit the truth to theaisei>- - ■
their marriages when ' -f'. v ■' ■
made matrimonial mi. *■
keep on trying to drap< -he P inll ■
chiffons of roinanct about t • I
etons in their closet, anti lv>P*ng ■
against hope that their Imslrit ■
will somehow, some wa ■ ■
Could Save Misery. ■
So they go on ciingt' ■
misery, like a man who it t v- " V
a losing business, mt il s ° ■
bankrupt in happiness. 1 ‘ I
the time they might It-av-' ■
tlieinselves If they liml ” n I
’ot ave “enough to have io- -:- H
mistake in the eye, ..nil H
best of a bad bargain. ■
consists not in weeping <■' ' ;t - I,li H
in appropriating foryom-< L • !, ‘ t * ■
ever good the situation - 111 " ;I1 I
when you can't get your d’ 1 ■
taking the next. ■
it is, of course, hard l,r ’ B
when she isn’t privil-g- 1 B
down at the head of the f< " B
tnestic bliss, but she can j
very tasty dish of tin- B
happiness that fail fro - - 5 B
if she has the wit ami c ’ - ' ' ul H
nation to do it B