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EDITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga. Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 3. IS7S. Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mall, 35.00 a year. Payable tn advance. Carnegie’s Pension Idea Not Acceptable The action of the Carnegie Corporation in offering to pro vide a livelihood for the nation’s chief servants after they leave the white house naturally revived discussion of the time-worn ex-president problem. Perhaps Mr. Carnegie and his advisers have had no other end in view than to stir up the nation to deal with this matter by act of congress. Certainly it is unlikely that public senti ment will acquiesce in the idea that a private person—of foreign hirth—should become the continuing benefactor and sustainer of our foremost citizens. It would he unjust—even absurd —to say that the people of the United States have foreborne to provide a regular pension list for ex-presidents and their widows —because of any nig gardliness of spirit. No people in the world or in all history have been more lavish in the matter of pensions to those who have suffered physical disability or superannuation in the ser vice of the nation. Our reluctance to pension ex-presidents is due wholly to a doubt as to the fitness of such a proceeding. Probably this doubt will be removed only in the light of considerations that have not hitherto been generally taken into account. Such considerations arc the following: First, that a man who has held the presidential office is uniquely qualified to serve the nation in some advisory capacity. His qualification is two-fold. He may be presumed to enjoy the exceptional confidence of a majority of a. large minority of the people; and he may fairly be supposed to have developed a rare insight into the practical problems of government. If, therefore, the nation should give an annuity to an ex-president for exercising his talents in public affairs, it may be taken for granted that the nation would get more than its money’s worth. A second consideration is that a man who has arrived at the white house and has lived there for a term or two, as the peo ple’s spokesman and representative to all the nations, has by that fact so linked his name with the national honor and dignity that he afterward loses the right possessed by every private citizen to lend his name to money-making enterprises. THE PEOPLE SHOULD. THEREFORE. RELIEVE HIM FROM ANY NEED OR TEMPTATION TO DO SO. The nation has had in the not very remote past a well-nigh tragic experience of the use of an ex-president’s name in shady business ventures. The circumstances of that case suggest a third consideration —to-wit, that the absorption of a generous mind in large pub lic and in personal affairs tends to unfit a man for the success ful prosecution of private business under the conditions that now exist. Some day. in due process of ethical evolution, it may he possible to close the moral gap between public and private business. Meanwhile European nations have found it reasonable and expedient to provide liberally for the retirement of those who have spent a term of years in their diplomatic service or other highly specialized public work. For one or another, or all of these reasons, public opinion in this country will no doubt cordially sustain an act of con gress granting an adequate annuity to ex-presidents of the United States. It has been suggested that ex-presidents be made life senators, with adequate compensation. That would be a position of great dignity, importance and usefulness. But the idea of making ex-presidents the beneficiaries of the bounty of any private philanthropist is inconsistent with the dig nity’ of the office and of the intended recipient. Without the least reflection upon the motives of Mr. Carnegie —without in any way disparaging his generosity or public spirit —The Georgian, therefore, thinks his offer is to pension future ex-presidents is a mistake. THAT I'l' WILL BE UNACCEPTA BLE TO THE NATION. AND THAT IT SHOULD BE WITH DRAWN Organs of the Common Life The idea that the New York Stock Exchange and the Clearing House ought to be prosecuted and put out of business on the ground that they misuse the mails is a good example of the policy of burn ing down mansions to get rid of mice. Nobody who knows anything about the actual workings of the two principal institutions of Wall Street will pretend that they are altogether free from abuses. The truth is. indeed, that the abuses are inevitable so long as the operations of the Stock Exchange and the Clearing House are conducted on a basis of private business in terest —in face of the fact that they have become essentially public in their character, and are vital organs of the common economic life of the country. The real and pressing problem in this connection is. how to make the Stock Exchange and the Clearing House more responsive and more responsible to the business community and the public welfare. Meanwhile —and to this very end—the public should resist every incitement to indiscriminate enmity against institutions that have become indispensable to the organization of industry and commv** The Atlanta Georgian Jenkins, He’s a Lucky Guy Drawn Bv TAD. . , i|: iPO i W T" ' jit \ THE OFFICE Bv DEAL OUT THE O X. ' 4 ’astedoardA t y . | // I ?=- tillthe (reL 7 ? Ad a H7 <nEE ig T HOURS ’ UFniiirtL X 1 ' \V -r^/ | iJnrTg "G c OLD JENtCiwS W LIRET A ft MOU-Se OAU Aco '>// UILIOOoW I pFETTY SOW| e •' ' ~ r KoW OoeSA) fog 3ENK/MsL_ . i, . „ <7 n? L- i Is t aQ r ,-.AA 'AdSSf z -J ' HE'5 IM A I 1 » ' IU A. efca 1 M JENKINS TAKES A FUOE. fD(2- AM HOUR x 1 EACH DAU r The Petticoat King THE Petticoat King is dead— long live the King! That is, he is dead financially—gone into bankruptcy, laid down, cashed in, and a receiver has been ap pointed. The Petticoat King was presi dent of a corporation that made more petticoats than all the petti coat manufacturers in America. On being interviewed as to the cause of the collapse, the ex-king declared that less than half the I women you now meet on the street wear petticoats. We are obliged to take the tvord of the ex-king for it, but seeming ly he knows what he is talking about. He says that his firm has in stock petticoats to the value of over a million dollars —that is, these petticoats cost a million dollars to produce. But they can not be sold for half this, simply for the reason that the swish and swing and musi cal rustle of the petticoat are no longer in demand. Banked On His Vision. A few years ago petticoats had color,' and they also "listened.” Now, neither of these things is de sirable. The slim princess has cre ated a vogue. The gown clings like a. process server. So confident was the ex-king that petticoats would not go out. of fashion that he banked on his pro phetic vision, but. alas and alack! hr prophesied in the direction of his interests. He had llxcd so long in a petticoat atmosphere that his soul had become subdued, like the dyer’s hatid. And behold, the world goes right along, as it always has, and we are just as happy without the petticoat as with it. In fashion, we have cause and ef fect, day and night, winter and summer, systole and diastole. Things swing way out. and then they come way back. Fashion, like the unforgetting tide, ebbs and flows. A few years ago we had the long, sweeping train. The ladies picked up the train and carried it across the stieet, and the onlookers looked the other wax That was the da> WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4. 1912 By ELBERT HUBBARD. Copyright, 1912, by International News Servi, * of petticoats—flqffy, flouncing, friv olous petticoats. If we ever had a petticoat government it was then. In the days of long skirts and flouncing petticoats, ladies were careless about their hosiery. And as for footwear, they w r ere slipshod and indifferent. Now. tlie coming of the short skirt demands footwear and hosiery' above reproach. The King of Petticoats says that many women will wear a pair of stockings now that cost as much as the entire rest of their raiment. They are like unto the Mexican hidalgos, who wear hats that cost more than their suits, spurs that cost more than their boots, and have a saddle worth twice as much as the horse. Washington Irving By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. WASHINGTON IRVING! There is still sunshine and good cheer in the sound of the name, notwithstanding the fact that it was 53 years ago that the one to whom it belonged passed out from these earthly scenes. When Washington Irving died a beautiful life and a beautiful work came to a close, and yet. after more than half a century, the benediction of that life and the glory of that work remain among the nation's most precious and valuable assets. Born in New York city in 1783, Irving, when about 25. was called to the bar. but lie was never cut out for a lawyer, and. fortunately for the world, he soon left the sages to follow his chosen and beloved pro fession of literature. After producing those inimitable pictures of the old Dutch life, the "History of New York." and the “Knickerbdckers,” Irving went to England, where, encouraged by the great-souled Sir Walter Scott and other literary lights of the old Motherland, be soon made himself famous on both sides of the water. In the immortal “Sketch Book” he made the whole reading world laugh and cry by turns, and in oth er writings he demonstrated the fact that, at last. America had produced a real literary man, a writer of whom any country could well afford to be proud, a man in whose work the creative vigor that had long been breathing and burn ing in the hearts and minds of his • Hosiery is having its brief day'. Never was the sale of stockings so great, prices so high and patterns so varied. Shoes, too, command a price, and are of a style and dainti ness never before seen in history. Catch and Lure Us. The short skirt, the clinging gown, the scanty underwear —all these, with a dab of patchouli, catch and lure us, and the swish and rustle and swing are as things forgot. Our hearts go out to the abdi cated King. He thought he ruled, but time and chance have told him otherwise. He merely grabbed hold and held on. That is all any king does. Kings, like petticoats, are superfluities. We can do without • them. people had blossomed into real art. There was now an American style, possessing inborn grace, and forcibly reminding one of the very best that had been produced by the greatest masters of literature. As long as the world stands, much that Irving wrote will remain among the finest things to be found in any lit erature. The Old World was no longer to laugh at Hie “crudities" of Ameri can writings. Washington Irving had won for his country full recog nition in the great republic of let ters. He had done for American literature what his illustrious namesake had done for American polities—given it a name among the nations of the earth. When, in 1832, after an absence of seventeen years, Irving returned to his native land, he was received with open arms and a cordiality of affection that has seldom been ex tended to any man. “Sunnyside,” the delightful re treat on the Hudson, became a sec ond Mount Vernon, and its genial master a second Washington, for everybody realized that Irving’s pen had done for us In the realm of literature as much as Washing ton's sword had achieved in the line of political emancipation. It is encouraging to know that Irving’s memory is still lovingly cherished by his countrymen; for no permanent evil can ever over take us so long as we venerate the ideals that cluster about such shrines as Mount Vernon and Sun ni si du. THE HOME PAPER WINIFRED BLACK Writes on >'*l TrafDglll A Professor’s Advice It’s Naughty to Wear Shabby Clothes. Professor Patten Says So, She Declares, So of Course It Must Be True. ■ iniiijp SO it is immoral to save your money, is it, Professor Patten, of the University of Pennsyl vania? It is wicked to wear a flfty-cent hat when you could get a ten-dollar one just as easy as anything if you’d only borrow the money to do it? Os course, it is not always easy to find one to lend you that money the very day the hat is marked down from fourteen seventy-five, but still, poor girls have a moral obligation to dress well. It is naughty to wear shabby clothes. Professor Patten says so, so of 'course it must be true. What if She Did Skimp! What you ought to do, little wom an, you there in the shabby coat; dear, dear, look at those tight sleeves, and nobody wears anything but the kimono effect this year; what you ought to do is to stop payments on that bit of insurance you are trying to provide for the children in case that cough of yours should get worse this winter. What does it matter about the children; who cares for them but you, and you ought not to care, so Profes sor Patten thinks. No, indeed, not a whit? What is Johnnie to you, and why should you always be thinking of little Katie and what she has to wear ? Worse than that, it’s wicked, downright wicked; didn't you hear the professor say so? You mustn’t think of the chil dren, you mustn't think of the old mother who depends on you for bread. What if the old mother did scrimp and save to get you your first party dress, what if she sat UP nearly all night to get that graduation frock done in time for you? When you told her you were going to be married she cried a lit tle, but she kissed you, too. and wished you well, you that were the core of her heart, you who were leaving her for a light-hearted stranger with a roving and a merry eye. And now tlie light-hearted stran ger has left you with your children hanging about your neck, and she lias come to help you take decent care of them, come through the hunger and the cold and the dis tance, just as she came through the dark when you were little and cried out to her in the night. Well, maybe it's all your own fault the husband going away like this. Perhaps if you had worn a nice ten-dollar hat he wouldn't have done it. Men are such sen sitive things, so easily affected by every little bow of ribbon, every dancing feather that whiffets in the wind. You must always re member to look pretty—or they’ll forget to love you. Isn’t It a Great Joke? And that is the important thing to keep the love and adoration of the man who will leave. you at the beck of a slender finger. And it is so easy, this adoration business; all you have to do is to look pretty every minute, tired or ill or hungry, or cold, or sick at heart, or maddened with the bit ter injustice of the world, look pretty, look pretty—or you lose all there is to live for. Tut, tut! What a silly little wom an to forget that. Why, the flaunt ing grl down there at the corner could have told ydu that; she’s known it ever since she could make eyes. What, 100 busy? Busy—at what, pray tell? Mending little stock ings and patching little frocks? Turning your old dress to make a new one for little Kate? Buying ten cents worth of round steak and The Parcels Post By F. E. S. rpHE new parcels post law goes t into effect on January 1, and while far from being all that the friends of the system hoped for. is a step in the right direc tion. The new law will doubtless be improved upon from time to time until ti*e United States is on a par with European countries in this respect. The new- law permits the mail ing of packages weighing no more than eleven pounds, which must not be more than 72 inches in length and breadth combined. Up to four ounces there will be a flat rate of one cent per ounce, or part thereof, regardless of distance. For packages weighing more than four ounces the rates vary with the distance, which the following table will explain: Each addi- First tional pound, pound. Rural route and city de- livery ns oi 50-mile zone nr, 03 l.‘>"-mile zone 111; 04 3011-mile zone a; tiiw-mile zone ux (ll : By WINIFRED BLACK. cooking it with cunning care to make it nourishing and good? Starching and ruffling the cur tains for your little front room? Haunting the bargain shops? Why. that’s a crime, too; didn’t you know that? And, besides, it's a joke. Haven’t you read the funny papers; it's a great joke, the bar gain counter, to all those who do not understand the pitiful effort to make something take the place of nothing. Yes, little woman, you're a time waster, an energy waster, a prodi gal of your strength and care, and a very, very wicked woman, and you never knew it all this time. Well, it's never too late to learn — begin today. Follow out the teach ings of this learned Professor Somebody from Somewhere and spend every cent you lay your hands on for yourself. When you can’t lay your hands on any more, beg money, borrow it. yes. even steal it, if It comes to that: for you must look pretty, you must wear good clothes; It isn’t moral to be shabby. How ever did your husband put up with you as long as he has, you with your tired eyes and your poor, knotty, little, rough hands? What do you expect a man to do, stay in love with a tired, worn-out little fright like you? The children, they love .you? Well, yes, children are silly’ little things. I’ve seen them cling to a mother who hadn’t an ounce of false hair to her head; and some little tykes I know think their mother is beautiful, and she wears an old-fashioned skirt with room enough to walk in, and her hat looks like a hat and not like a mushroom. It Won’t Do, Professor. You ought to see those tykes of hers when she conies home from an errand, why’ they’ run to meet her as if she were some home-coming queen and they her loyal subjects. Their father seems to rather likq the plain, wholesome woman he chose out of all the world to be his wife, too. Yes, he more than tol erates her. I’ve seen him smile to her across a room full of beautifully gowned women, and the look was a caress. But lie’s an old-fashioned fool, of course—he must be to care for such a woman as that. You can’t judge things by that family, it isn’t right to try; when here’s the good professor, so wise, so practical, so broad-minded and tolerant, telling you just what to do and how to do it. What, you won’t listen, you don’t care for what he says, you wouldn’t give one joyous laugh of one of your little children for all the smiles of professional approval in the world ? You are hopeless, absolutely hopeless, and so I fear is the world for strange to say, I’m afraid it is full of women just like you. Worn en who have forgotten all about themselves years ago. women who live but to make those they love happy and comfortable, women who wear a 50-cent hat and are proud of it so long as the children’s hats are all right. It won't do, Professor, it won’t 'LI L ea ' y '1 You’ll have to ana 4°u the risin S generation and teach them this new philosophy of yours. The generation you’re talking to now is too deep in crime and ignorance and wicked self-sac rifice to heed you. And. in the meantime, if I were you, Professor, whenever I met a woman with a shabby coat and a 60-cent hat and a pair of mended gloves, going to work to support those she loves at home, or even just to take honest, decent self respecting care of herself, I’d bare my head to let her pass, for the earth she steps on is holy ground. ’•* 1.000-mile zone 09 q- 1,400-mile zone jn an 1,800-mile zone 44 ’<j. Over 1,800 miles 12 It is interesting to compare th* above table w’ith the postal rale* from Europe to ANY part of the* I. nited States, including ration by sea, as shown by the fol lowing table prepared by the Postal Progress league: From Norway Z/ 44 From Germany 44 lbg ” From Italy J' 4 From Italy 11 From Great Britainill Jbs” 79c From this it will be seen that an eleven-pound package which can be sent from Rome to San Fr-.n for 79 cents, will cost from 30 Y ol * to the same destination our own citizens gainst I • h timer. ton-