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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, G*.
Entered as second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March 8. 18?».
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Senate’s Fine Action the
Model in Canal and
Navy Legislation
r >» t»
The Question Will Come Up Again at This Session of Congress
and Should Be Acted Upon Speedily and Properly.
The United States senate, speaking through the majority of its
members without regard to party, has illustrated a tine resolute
American sentiment in more than one great national and interna
tional • measure of the last congress.
When lhe house was standing in narrow and stolid opposition
to the preservation of the American navy in its high status among
the nations, the senate majority of both parties stood steadfast for
the two battleships and an ample American navy, until the trim
mers’ compromise cut us down to one battleship in conference.
When the interstate commerce commission reported its Pan
ama canal hill without recommending any privileges or exemptions
for American vessels, the house amended it by exempting American
coastwise vessels from toll.
Then the senate majority added an amendment granting FREE
TOLLS TO ALL AMERICAN SHIPS, as red-blooded and vigorous
Americanism would prompt American statesmen to do.
But again the house cut down American rights timidly to
coastwise ships, and the compromising conference committee
agreed.
President Taft also started out in the canal matter with the
splendid American assertion: '‘THE CANAL IS OURS. WE
OWN IT. OUR MONEY BUILT IT. WE HAVE THE HIGHT
TO CHARGE TOLLS FOR ITS USE.”
But “the legal mind” —the timid mind—got in its work. The
president began to balance legal points, to split hairs and be un
certain and afraid. He considered arbitration with apprehension.
He wanted to provide away for foreign countries to enter suit
against us in the courts. The lawyer debilitated the executive
American. He would give to all nations the right to tight, the canal
act in the United States courts. He emphasized by repetition that
“this country has no desire to repeal any part of the Hay-l’auncc
fote treaty.’’ Whereas this country lias a distinct desire to repeal
any part of the Hay-Pauneefote treaty that interferes with the
rights yr interests of the country.
This question will come up again during the present session.
It is a question of simple common sense and of simple American
spirit and courage. We have had a full summer to think of it, and
a presidential election to dear our view of its relations.
The house of representatives branch of our statesmanship has
triumphed in the grave blunder of permitting England, all alone,
to interfere in a canal built entirely with our money AND EN
TIRELY IN TERRITORY WHICH WE OWN AS ABSOLUTELY
AS WE DO THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA!
Statesmen as wise and experienced as any that we have declare
that this new question of territorial ownership destroys any con
flict which free American tolls might make with the Hay-Paunee
fote treaty. Other wise and experienced statesmen have declared
that even if we hail not acquired the territory the terms of the
treaty no more interfere with our free control of our own canal
than England's control of Suez.
Between the two lines of opinion any resolute, high spirited
congress of American statesmen ought to follow straight in the
line of American national rights and American interests.
The senate has frankly and resolutely done this all along and
has commended itself to the country by doing so. The president
in case of further consideration of the matter has an opportunity
by aggressive and progressive courage to redeem lhe last months
of his administration.
And so has the house.
San Francisco’s Needs Are
National
I— ' - ■
W hat would the world think of a government that would
permit its exposition city—the beautiful metropolis of its Pa
cific coast—to suffer lor a lack of water for drinking and bath
ing
The lime is rapidly approaching when San Francisco is to
the host of all nations behind the swinging gates of the Pana
ma Exposition.
People from ever) country --and in millions from the Orient
are eomitic to see this marvelous \meriean city, the type and
th-.- glory of the ever growing American republic.
These people will think our government a niggard in enter
prise and a dullard in policy if they should find a water famine
in San Francisco, perpe .ated by the skillful lobbyists of cor
porations ami by the apathy of the department of 'the interior.
The present conditions appeal to the common sense ami the com
mon humanity of the department.
In the outlying districts there is not enough water even for
household needs. Hundreds of women have not water to bathe
their babies. No water is obtainable in the daylight hours when
the downtown consumption is heavy. Householders have to set
their pans and buckets under the faucets at 1 o'clock in the morn
ing. Other busy housekeepers are forced to carry water four or
five blocks away, as their ancestors did in lhe primary days of
49. ,
The San Francisco people ask ’leave to build a magnificent
reservoir in the 1 letch Hetchy valley, in Yosemite park It will
be a perpetual ornament to the park, and a perpetual supply of
crystal water to San Francisco and other cities of the coast.
Secretary Garfield gave San Francisco leave to build and
the city appropriated $45,000,000 and expended $2,000,000 in
preliminary work.
Then came Secretary Ballinger, who, for reasons of his own.
which were evidently not of sound public policy, suspended the
order. I’he matter is now again before Secretary Fisher, of the
interior with the clamorous nee. cities of s im Francisco opposed
by the lobbyists of the Spring Valley Corporation that wishes to
sell its water to the city, ami by certain irrigation interests in
the Sierra foothills.
The time is all too short to finish tins Yosemite reservoir and
in time tor tne World > Fair within our Western gates.
mayor and his . xjierts uiow better what tltei v. sh and
|ABfci * i " *' l -' 11 - 1 ' ,h «" >1" interested e.. r
I.'; that uould ••xploit th» city for jain.
The Atlanta Georgian
MONDAY. DECEMBER 9. 1912.
Nature an Imitative Artist
Hut She Only Mimics Her Own Forms, and Usually For a Purpose Easily Understood
O'' Wwl W® tn
The "Map" Butterfly of India, showing the lines of The "Shawl'' Butterfly, which is said to have suggesi-
“latitude" and “longitude” on the wings. ed the pattern of famous silk shawls.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
N "ATI HE Is a great imitator—
but only <>f herself. When she
has done a good tiling she
sometime . does >t over again, with
variations. Some of these self-imi
tations, or repetitions of nature, are
apparently purely capricious, or
even accidental, while others seem
to have a definite purpose, and then
they lead to very interesting scien
tific theories.
Tlie illustrations that accompany
this article appear to belong to the
class of capricious, or accidental
imitations. There is no evident rea
son why the wings of on. species
of butterfly should bear markings
recalling tne lines of latitude and
longitude on a chart, as happens
with the “map butterfly" of India,
or why the wings of another spe
cies, in the same country, should
closely mimic a beautiful lacework,
as occurs with the “shawl butter
fly.” Yet there may be a meaning
behind it all which we do not com
prehend.
Wonderful Deceptions.
It often happens that animals
imitate the forms and colors of
plants, and the plants frequently re
turn the compliment. In the case
of animals naturalists call this
"protective mimicry," because it ap
pears to serve as a means of con
cealment from too powerful ene
mies. It is at least conceivable that
a plant, which looks like an animal,
may also find protection in the re
semblance.
It is not only human beings that
are deceived by looks.
The more the deceptions of na
ture are studied, the more wonder
ful they appear. There are insects
* The Evils of Today »
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Copyright, 1912, by Star Publishing Co.
A YOUNG woman writes to me -5-
♦that she is worn out by mental I
work, and she wants to inter
est some people with money, who
will send her away to recuperate
her strength.
Almost every post brings letters
similar, and innumerable are the
inquiries regarding the possibility
of influencing Mrs. Sage, Miss
Gould, Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rocke
feller to hand over money for the
benefit of needy individuals and
worthy causes,
It does not occur to the writers
of these letters that a hundred
thousand other people and causes
all look toward the same golden
goal, and that all these millionaires
are h’ennned in by an army of sec
retaries. who read several hundred
begging letters each day and al
low them to go no farther. j
It is said that each week Miss
Gould is asked for a million dol
lars in charity by different people,
and that were she to respond to all
the requests for aid she would in a I
year’s time be penniless.
Meanwhile all these people are
giving generously, and many of
them have agents employed who
distribute money in various quar
ters
Miser Almost Extinct.
Mrs. Sage does her charitable
and educational work in the most
systematic and liberal manner, and
the benefit of her deeds will be felt
by generations to come. She has
able men and women studying the
problem of poverty, its causes and
Its possible cure; and she is help
ing educate poor women to be good
homemakers, and good mothers, by
having them taught hygiene, and
cooking, and the cure of children.
All <>ur millionaires today seem
to have a sense of the responsibility
of riches, and misers are becoming
an extinct species it is a great
aii< glorious age unt j never were so
many people doing good, altruistic
acts and thinking high thoughts
anil .-eking tile best good or the
'Hie is IIOV despit. all We read
j which so exactly re.-'einble dried
I sticks that you can not recognize
, their real nature until you feel them
I squirm under your fingers. But
some of the largest animals also
exhibit “protective mimicry” in as
tonishing ways. Tiie beautiful ze
i bra is a striking example of this.
The black bands that mark its
I tawny skin so closely resemble lines
of shadow cast by brilliant sun
light shining through the branches
of a thicket that a group of these
i animals standing motionless in an
African forest may escape the no
tice of their sharpest-eyed pur
suers.
Tiger Possesses This rower.
Travelers have recorded the fact
that a band of zebras standing in
the midst of a sandy plain, where
stunted bushes are scattered .about,
and where the color of the soil
closely resembles that of the skin
of tlie animals, will sometimes be
unrecognizable, as long as they re
main motionless, the black bands
on their flanks looking exactly like
shadows.
But the tiger, too, possesses this
power of concealment, although in
his case the purpose is rather to al
lay tlie f ars of his victims than to
hide himself from his enemies. The
color of his skin and the shadowy
outlines of his markings enable him
to lie in wait jlose to his quarry
unnoticed by the poor beasts that
are about to fee', the weight of his
claws. Adventurers in tropical for
| ests sometimes almost put their
feet upon a huge vari-colored ser
-1 pent before recognizing It.
In many cases the resemblances
are so arbitrary that no reasonable
theory of a definite purpose seems
to fit them. The wings of some
and hear and know of graft and ••
dishonesty and murder.
In the days of George Washing
ton and his successors graft and
dishonesty were just as rampant as I;
now, and there were a greater num
ber of individuals engaged in it, ac
cording to population, if we take
WW’ J •
r ’ \
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
into consideration the amazing in
crease of the race since that era,
in America. And there were no
such organizations as exist now for
the distribution of healthful ideas,
and no such armies of workers for
the public well being.
Children and animals were not
then protected by law from brutal
treatment or neglect.
Whatever you know of t!fe pres- i
ent age that is evil and ignorant,
and selfish, and bad, if you will in
vestigate the conditions which ex
isted H»0 years ag<f you will find
they were tenfold worse, when you
take into consideration the im
proved laws and tlie active bodies
<>f men and women who are work
ing today for human betterment.
Alcoholism has decreased, knowl
edge of hygiene lias Increased, and
the old epidemics of smallpox ano
other plagues, which iim iI to mweep
ov<-r tlie an pel lo.ifi allj c «i ryir,
off imudieds and thousands of Uu-
tropical moths are adorned with
appendages which look like tlie
drooping buds of small plants. The
tips of those of others have a
startling likeness to the head of the
deadly cobra, uplifted to strike.
The back of the “death’s head
moth” bears an image that sends a
chill to the heart of the observer.
Animals Look Like Plants.
On tiie other hand, some of these
mimic forms and colors are so ex
quisitely beautiful that they afford
suggestions to artists. This is es
pecially true of the “shawl butter
fly” of India, shown in one of our
illustrations, which is said to have
suggested the pattern of the fa
mous Indian silk shawls.
Pure plays of fancy on the part
of nature seem to be such bizarre
creations as the lunar crescents on
the wings of the Indian “moon
moth” and the miniature human
skulls into which the seedpods of
the snapdragon are shaped. Com
ing upon a. group of these one may
imagine himself to have invaded a
cemetery of little gnomes.
But even the most extn>ordinary
imitations that nature affords serve
only to prove more clearly the
unity that runs underneath all her
works. That animals should look
like plants, or plants like animals,
strikes us as exceedingly strange
when the mimicking forms belong
to highly organized creatures, but
as we go lower in the scale we find
that’ both of the two great king
doms of life begin to blend—ani
mals growing on stems attached to
the rocks, and plants moving about
and picking up their living in the
water, or drawing it from the-air
alone, and flourishing in green lux
• uriance without roots.
• man beings, no longer molest the
world, save where ignorance still
prevails and the laws of health are
violated.
Divorce Must Run Course.
Divorce has increased, and must
run its course like any other mal
ady which arises from ignorance.
After two or three generations
there will be a decrease of this
fever, because sex hygiene is being
taught, and young men and women
will not go into marriage ignorant
of all it means, as they have done
since the beginning of civilization.
This most important subject of
all lias been left in darkness and
silence until the very last, and in
the darkness and silenco it has be
come corrupt and caused a pesti
lence in the land.
Light and speech have now come
to its rescue, but the evils it has
produced can not be cured in one
generation.
Men are Just beginning to know
that their deeds of lust bring awful
calamities upon themselves, and
upon their offspring to the third
and fourth generation; andPthat be
cause the world has condoned their
deeds it does not follow that they
are exempt from penalties.
• When all our colleges have a sex
hygiene course, as they will, and
all youths pnd young women are
educated in a knowledge of the law
of cause and effect in these matters
marriage will cease to be a prob
lem. and the divorce court will go
out of existence for lack of patron
age.
A Magnificent Tomorrow.
One hundred years ago these
subjects were not discussed, and
so vast evils resulted; those evils
we point at today, saying the age is
degenerate, but we forget that they
are Hie dirci results of the sins of
omission of our forefathers, and
that we are now organized by law
and medicine and common sense to
fight and overcome the evf «.
Tills is the wisest, the most sail. ,
the most altruistic, and the most
hopeful ent of lb,- 0.0 ll.'.
\lid we air on the eve of u m,,,;
nificeiit toinou'uw.
THE HOME PA.PE R
Inspector McMichael
Writes on
Curing the
Smoke Evil in
Atlanta
Too Little Attention
Paid to Proper and
Scientific Construc
tion of Furnaces to
Get Best Results.
Written for The Atlanta Georgian
By Paul McMichael
City Smoke Inspector.
article hi.
Smokeless combustion does not
always mean economical operation,
although highly efficient operation
always means smokeless combus
tion. It is possible to introduce a
large excess of air and maintain
furnace temperatures high enough
to insure complete combustion and
so obtain a clean stack, but such a
large amount of the available heat
might be used in raising the tem
perature of the air excess from that
of the atmosphere to that of the
gases passing out. through the stack
that economical results are impos
sible.
Steam jets are often recommend
ed as aids to smokeless combustion,
and some decrease in the density of
smoke emitted is doubtless effected
by their use. This is due partly to
the thorough mixing they bring
about between the volatile constit
uents of coal and the air passing
through the furnace and the con
sequent more perfect combustion,
and is due partly to the resultant
dilution of the gases passing out
the stack. The efficiency of steam
jets is increased if the furnace
construction is so modified that the
gases are protected from any cool
ing surface until they have had an
opportunity to burn completely.
Where steam jets are improp
erly installed, so that they suc
ceed in decreasing the density of
the smoke only because they di
lute the gases passing off, the loss
is the same as before their installa
tion, plus the energy required to
generate the steam used.
The Steam Jet Fallacy.
There is one fallacy concerning
the use of .steam jets that should
be thoroughly exploded. It has
sometimes been said that the steam
entering the furnace is decom
posed into its components, hydro
gen and oxygen, and that after
ward the burning of the hydrogen •
increases the amount of heat set
free. Even though all the steam
entering the furnace were decom
posed into its constituents and the
hydrogen thus formed were after
ward completely burned, there
would be no gain of heat from this
source. The dissociation otf steam
into its component parts is an en
dothermic reaction—that is, a heat
absorbing action—and requires just
exactly as much energy to bring
it about as is given up by the exo
thermic—that is, heat-giving—ac
tion, which occurs when the same
hydrogen is burned. If it were true,
as has sometimes been asserted,
that the introduction of steam over
The Book Reviewer
By PERCY SHAW.
PERHAPS you’ve had a yearning
To display your wealth of learning
In away to win the plaudits of your carping fellow men.
Mark these rules with nice precision,
Just to clarify your vision,
And start as per instructions with a flourish of y-our pen.
Take a novel —-’tis no matter
if'tis phychtc or mere chatter —
Read it backward, forward, sideways, with a microscopic view.
Make your mind up what there’s in it.
Think it over for a minute.
Then procure a dictionary and begin a book review.
Gather words obscure in meaning
With an Anglo-Latin leaning,
And above all else be careful to avoid all hint of plot;
Make long paragraphs, and never
(If you would be known as clever)
Say a thing about the hero, how, or when, or where, or what.
To be deftly analytic
Is the mission of the critic,
But to soar to real distinction you must write in such a strain
That no ordinary being
Hus the slightest chance of ■ < -Ing
The tenor of your meaning or the workings of your brain.
Tlie world will then acclaim you.
Bunding genius then will mime you
ts t <• wond.-i- of .ill .winders In the lib rary brook;
But be sure you never, m ver.
N.-vei never, NEVEB, Ni;\ III:
! ■ .o , i..ndly doting : aders what you thh about a book
i „««***•
fl
SB® a
b the fire increased the total amount
of heat available, we would have
an inexhaustible source of energy
in this reaction and perpetual mo
tion would cease to be a dream.
One very serious fault to be
found in almost every boiler plant
in Atlanta is the lack of consld
eration that has been given to fur
nace design and construction. Dur
ing the past ten years vast strides
have been made in our knowledge
of what constitutes an efficient
furnace, but as yet boiler manu
facturers and furnace builders have
been slow to avail themselves of
this information and apply it. Sel
dom does one find a furnace so con
structed as to protect the volatile
constituents given off by soft coal
from the relatively cool surface of
the shell or tubes until combustion
can be completed, although it has
been incontrovertibly demonstrated
that this is essential if combustion
is to be complete.
Poor Draft—Smoky Stacks.
Even in boilers with poor draft,
the products of combustion will
travel at a rate of one and one
half feet per second. This means
that with the usual form of con
struction in less than two seconds
after leaving the fuel bed the gases
given off will be up against the
shell or passing amongst the
tubes, where they will be cooled
below the temperature (1,480 de
grees Fahrenheit) required for their
burning. Therefore, combustion
stops before ft is completed, and
the evidence of this is shown by
smoky stacks.
It has been shown that It Is pos
sible at comparatively small ex
pense to build a furnace under boil
ers already set in which high vola
tile bituminous coal can be burned
smokelessly and with high efficien
cy. The dimensions and full speci
fications for such a furnace will
vary I* l different plants, and can
only be determined by one familiar
with all the conditions to be met in
each instance, but the principles
applied will be the same in every
case.
The present smoke ordinance of
Atlanta is most liberal in its pro
visions, and there is no reason why
each coal consumer can not com
ply with it fully if a little study
is devoted to the question. The
application of a few of tlie facts
contained in our present-day
knowledge of combustion will en
able one not only to stop the emis
sion of soft coal smoke, but also to
effect the saving of many dollar"
that today are being needlessly
wasted.