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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. 187> (subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail. SS.OQ a year Payable in advance. Tie the Hands of the Pistol “toter” The Average Man Who “Packs” a “Gun” Is a Coward at Heart, and He Goes Armed Because He Believes that, in Event of Trouble, He Will Have an Advantage Over the Other Man. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce will find itself suppor* <| by the best and most patriotic <hoiight and effort of the entire state, in its movement to rid Georgia of the "pistol toter." The Chamber of Commerce proposes to ask the legislature at its next session to provide a law prescribing a permit from compe tent authority as a prerequisite to the purchase of pistols in Georgia. This plan of regulation is thought by those who have studied the question to he about the best solution of the grave problem presented therein, and the Chamber of Commerce has set in mo tion the machinery through which the dfsired legislation may be obtained The new law will in no wise do away with or weaken any of the wholesome statutes now in force with respect to pistols. It still will he a violation of the law to carry them concealed, or to use them for malicious or mischievous purposes. Bather will the new law strengthen the old laws, in that the permit system will make the purchase of every pistol a matter of public record, ami the ownership of every pistol figuring in a tragedy possible of tracing. Eyery permit should he made returnable Io the authority is suing it. with the name of the person or firm from which the weapon was purchased indorsed thereon. This would make a complete record of purchase and sale. And such a complete record would throw a dependable safeguard around the transfer of ownership after purchase had been effected. In short, this legislation will put the responsibility for every pistol in a community squarely upon somebody's shoulders and if will be a responsibility that law-abiding and liberty-loving citizens, who compose nine-tenths of our population, will be slow to abuse or treat lightly. Most "pistol tutors” are potential murderers. Ninety-five , per cent of the shootings that* occur never would occur at all. were somebody not possessed of a pistol in a moment of unreason ing anger, jealousy , or spite, or during a. period of partial or complete intoxication. The average “pistol toter” is a coward at heart—he carries a pistol because, in the event of trouble, he be lieves it will give him an advantage. Often he may carry if more as a thing with which he may sustain a reputation as a “bad man in a. scrimmage -and it is in the scrimmage that he shoots and kills, and that more often than not. without intending really tn kill at all. To cite a recent example of the all too ready pistol, there is the Clay ease. Clay neVer intended to kill his wife when he went to that little Lee street home last May. But he carried his pistol with him and in a conversatiop with his wife, uncontrolla ble rage fell upon him. and he shot. Friday he was hanged—and today his little boy is an orphan, and Clay, the “pistol toter." lies in a felon's grave. The proposal to get rid of the “pistol toter” is a practical proposition. It is not a sensational suggestion merely—a thing to get excited about, ft is based upon hard, common sense- com mon sense that means the peace and safety of society, the pro tection of life and liberty. the orderly progress of civilization, and the majesty of the law. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has started a good fight —a fight, moreover, that it is sure to win. For the entire state will support the movement—and other states, seeing the good work in Georgia, will be prompted to follow its example. Criminal Carelessness The report of the interstate commerce commission on the causes of the Westport train wreck of October 3 convicts the officers of the New Haven railroad of negligence, involving wholesale manslaughter. No doubt is left as to the moral quality, of the conduct of these officials. At the time of the Bridgeport disaster of last year they were warned by the interstate commerce commission that their “crossovers” at Bridgeport, at Westport and elsewhere were too short to fa* safely negotiated by fast trains. Nevertheless, they neglect to lengthen the “cross-overs” or to install de vices to prevent their being taken at a high rale of speed. The Westport calamity was unquestionably due to this neglect. The commission of a grave crime by these railroad officials would be not only morally but also legally demonstrated if it were not for the fact that the recommendations of the eoinniis son are. under the statute, given an advisory and not a manda tory force, Mhy should not the interstate commerce commission have power to impose a minimum standard in railway safety ap pliances • What use was there in the commission’s report on this disaster if its recommendations were to he treated as mere "<>s sipt The interstate commerce law should be amended. The com mission should have power to put a positive ban upon unsafe condition* of railroading and require them to be remedied. The Atlanta Georgian “My Predecessor, Frithiof”-—An English View of the Kaiser’s Gift • rjit 4/ —.j. ... -id',.TtiS z k ’’ Talk' S' •*'x J' ,a>MU ®k .W' ; . .’T 9' I JOr* tSEI !/■ V M ■ 1 Ik Eh ' g ' • - MGWm []L By presenting them with the gigantic statue shown above, the kaiser pays florway a compliment. Frithjof was a Norwegian national hero of the sea—to Norway what the kaiser himself would like to be to Germany, ac cording to an English periodical. With a slight upward twist of the mustache (see photograph inset) he would look by no means unlike his imperial majesty. The statue will be unveiled next year at Framnaes. on the Songe Fjord, where the graves of Frithjof and Ingeborg are situated. The sculptor, Professor Max Unger, is seen standing by the side of his nearly completed work. • Second Marriages W- time ago you wrote an article on second mar riages In which occurred the following sentences: •"Only one woman in five hundred who is widowed in her prime is left with a memory of such ideals of love that remarriage is impossible And only one man in five thousand.' "Does this mean that you Con sider there ate nine hundred more ideal husbands than wives'." it would seem so. Curious Reader." No; it means that every woman possesses nine hundred times the qualities which make constancy to a memory possible. With the very best .conditions, and a perfect ideal, only one man in five thousand is so constituted that lie could find contentment in living a widowed life, and solacing his lonely heart with memories of a happy compan ionship in the past. Mental and Spiritual Realms. But there tire many women who are so constituted They possess extieme sentiment, great Imagina tion. much spirituality. They are not strongly sexed, their vitality is usually below normal. And they live in the mental and spiritual realms, finding happiness in pleasant friendships. In the com panionship of their children, of relatives, and in social and char itable occupations While there are many such wom en widowed, it is only one husband in tiv< hundred who leaves memo ries with a wife after he passes on which make an impassable barrier to a second marriage. As a woman lecturer once satd, "There is qfttimes great compla cency behind the widow's veil, be cause she inis come into freedom MONDAY. DECEMBER 16, 1912. By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. Copyright 1912, by American-Journal-Exaniiner. out of slavety, into the right to handle and use money which she has he’ped earn, after having been a beggar at her husband’s door for a long peiiod; and ofttimes her tears shed ov r his casket arc tears of pity for self, for the lost illusions of her honeymoon." . We have all seen the faded, spir- lllar'.- ft IlgW ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. itless, middle-aged wife bloom out into the beauty of matuiity, after dropping widow's weeds. And with her weeds, dropping a decade of yea rs. Few Men Ask the Reason. One can not help hoping the hus band. in his home beyond the earth plane, is witnessing this transfor mation. and tealizing that it was his own utter lack of symnathy, of liberality, of considerate < are. and of loving companionship which made the wife fe.de before he: time And that Ip is ,-eeing the bloom return to her dwelt, and the light •J* to her eye. and the admiration of other men offered at her shrine. No man likes to see his wife fade and lose her attractions. Yet. few men who note such changes in the fresh, fair girl they have married stop to ask the rea son therefor. With few exceptions, the reason could be I'.aeed to tin- husband. Now and then life shows us the sorry type of woman who loses all he' pride and self-respect and pret ty feminine vanity’, as soon as she is legally married, and with these things loses, of course, her com t pbxion and figure and other at i tractions She simply settles into the complacency of middle age, ahd is satisfied to be well housed, well fed, and to have her bills paid, and to affix Mis. to her name : Take Careful Look at Wife. ; She takes her husband's love and loyalty as a matter of course, and is the last one to know when no becomes disillusioned and disloyal. Fortunately, such women are ex- 1 eeptions, ami the unattractive, life less. uninteresting wife? is. as a rule, the handiwork of the thought less, selfish, inconsiderate htHband; the num «ho has ceased to be the lover, or the comrade, or even the best friend, of his wife. The man who finds all his pleas ures outside his home, and who ex pects his wife to be satisfied with her children and her church and her home duties. Take a careful look at your wife, good sir. and see how she is ap pearing after a few years of marital partnership with you. Are you preparing her for com placency under her widow’s veil? And will she look ten years younger when she puts on second mourning and begins to go about and ■ njoy life than site does now as your neglected wife? THE HOME PAPER Judge Wm. D. Ellis Writes on The Divorce L«k w Evil fc 1 White Divprces Exceed Negroes in Southern Cities, But Not in Coun- 1 try—Laws Should Be U n if or m. * 4 Written for The Atlanta Georgian By Judge Wm. D. Ellis Os the Atlanta Circuit. ARTICLE 111. Statistics sirow that the propol tion of divorced persons who re marry is constantly on the in crease, showing that divorce is less disreputable th in formerly, a-nd now quite respectable, and indicat ing also that divorces are being sought for tin- purpose of getting a chanee to take on some discovered affinity or some more attractive in dividual. Im the South all the obtainable information tends to show that the larger proportion of divorce cases were among the colored population. The excess of divorce cases among colored over white people in the rural districts is very large, but in the cities tlie excess is among the white rather than colored people. In the cities the excess is largely due to the fact that the laws against bigamy are regarded with less fear among the colored than white population. The most painfql evil of divorce is its effect upon the children of the divorced parents. Not only do they go forth in life with the cloud hanging over them, but the contest over their possession embitters the bad feeling between the parents, : nd teaches the children to lose all affection and respect for either or both, and especially against that father or mother from whom they are taken. They go out into the world with all the neglect and help lessness of orphanage, and are oft n in a worse plight, because they are bereft of the care which, if they were indeed orphans, they might ob tain from benevolent institutions or front childless philanthropists who might adopt and care for them. Necessity for Divorce Law. There is. I believe, necessity for a divorce law, but it ought to be uni form in all the states, and it ought to be hedged about with sueh re strictions and regulations as rather to be deterrent than persuasive. No total divorce ought to be granted on the uncorroborated testimony of one of the parties. If a husband or wife has been so cruelly treated as to authorize a divorce, some other . person would know about it. If either party is an habitual drunk ard, some one, as well as his wife, could testify about it. If either THE Voice of the World is calling: “Come out to strive and to do! There is work for men And the men are few I here are laurels waiting For you—for you; 1 here is fame to win, there is praise to gain, And a man must strive thru toil a»d pain To reach the goal that is reached by few. Come out and strive—there is work to do.” I he voice of Life is calling. “Come out to taste and to see! 1 here is knowledge for men, And the men are few. There is harvest waiting for yon—for you: There is much to see, there is much to try. Ami the man must live, though he question whv. Come, learn the truth—it is known by few. ( ome out and live—there is much to do.” The voice of my Heart is calling: “Go out to learn your soul I There is Life for men. And the men are few. There is suffering waiting for you—for you; There is some of sweet, there is some of pain, And a man must bear both loss and gain. Strive for the soul that is reached by few. Go! Life’is short—and there’s much to do!” party lifts deserted the other for the years required (three years in this I state), some of their neighbors i would know of it. There ought to be some period of delay in regard to remar.ying. I This thing of a divorce in the morning and a wedding that night ought to be prevented, and a law which would delay remarriage for a I year or more would be at least cal culated to deter divorce. Divorce strikes at the sanctity of I the home. To destroy the home not only ruins the family, but hurts the neighborhood. To injure the neighborhood injuriously asset ts th, state and all the people in it. A Proposed Amendment, 1 prepared a bill and presented it to the legislature, which provided that no total divorce should h. granted on the uncorroborated tes timony of one of the parties: that no divorced party should remarry within a year; that in undefended cases an attorney should .be ap pointed and paid to take testimony and represent the state, so that the real truth could be shown. This bill was killed judiciary com mittee and not reported favorably, either as drawn or by subs ituti and I can see no reason for its fate except that fewer divorce cases would result in fewer fees. The church inveighs against the evils of intemperance; it pro nounces anathemas against the so cial evil, but I have heard of little it has done or said against tile evil of divorce or the dreadful conse quences of its prevalence and rapid increase in our country. The Ro man Catholic church, however, mar be an exception to the rule. That church denounces it among its members, and it may appeal io the Protestant people of the country for more attention to this subject when it is apparent that the divorce rec ords show that this growing evil has in rare instances invaded Catholic homes, and that in Italy. Ireland and Spain divorce is rarely heard of. Since writing the foregoing paper I have been pleased to see in news paper reports that at a general conference of the Methodist church ground has been taken against the growing evil of divorce and pro •• testing against it. The Voices By LILLIAN LAUFERTY.