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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-class matter at postoffice nt Atlanta, under act of March 3. 13?>
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mall. 35.00 a year.
Payable In advance.
The Curse of Poverty
Poverty Is Slavery. Keep Out of Debt if Yov Would Be Happy.
Young men and old irp-n, fight poverty. Ask the old around
pm. and they will tell you that poverty - Ihe great, widespread
curse.
\ot wealth s io happiness, hut freedom from the
p<e. ri\ that m ini]-, poverty that worries. poverty that makes a
man In slate of an\ man that has a dollar ’('HAT is necessary
to happiness
Keep out of poverty- keep out of debt.
h'em -mb, • that llii' dollar you spend so quickly today, and
i|h .im r dollar tomorrow, and the day after, might mean later in
dependent manhood, power to control your own time, direct your
own career.
Monet enough though it be but ten cents a day more than
>ou spend- im-aus freedom, independence, the right to look any
man in the eye as his equal.
And poverty. debt, the spending of ever so little more than
on aclmdl.i have, nn ans slavery now. anxiety, humiliation in the
futnri .
Poverty deprives children of education- -and so it means igtio
ranee.
I’ov.r, di pri\ ■> children of care and good food—and so it
means disease.
Poverty takes away men''- courage, drives them to despair,
makes them seek relief wherever it can be found—and so poverty
means drunkennes.
Wherever you find men miserable, poor and underpaid you
will find ignorance ami drunkenness.
Wherever you better conditions and lift the weight of pov
erty. drunk, nness and ignorance diminish.
Whatever your age or habits, or condition, there are two
things that you can do—you can better yourself, or you can
make things worse.
If you are a young man or woman starting out in life, or one
young enough to have many good years ahead of you, it is abso
lutely in your power to make your life dignified, independent
and satisfied.
However old yon may lie. or discouraged, it isn’t too late to
fight against the curse that weighs on millions of men, the curse,
of present poverty, and that other curse, almost as great, the dread
of poverty in the future.
It is in your power to be free if you will do it. Spend less
than you make, and you will find that spending less means, in al
most every case, earning more.
If a man puts into learning aml thinking the hours and the
vitality’ formerly devoted to frivolous spending he will soon find
his power to earn increased.
You must remember, however, that if the majority of men are
worried, hard up. living along from day to day. it is because-going
in debt is very easy and keeping out of it is difficult.
Every day the temptation comes to spend this and to spend
that.
On a certain day every body must have a new hat. and he gets
it —he thinks he must spend as much as anybody else does--there
goes one chance of saving.
Each man thinks that he must dress as well as somebody else
does.
And a million y oung fools think that they- must take a drink
when it is offered to them— and also that they must buy a drink in
their turn, which is idiotic.
And tens of .thousands of married men are kept poor because
they imagine that they must do as well as somebody else does—and
too often their wives help them to keep poor.
Try to hear in mind that a few years from now it won’t make
much difference to yon whether you got a new hat on September
15. V,H3,or not—but it will make a very big difference at that
time whether you have a few thousand dollars saved up or a few
dozen men trying to collect bills from you.
Remember that when y ou are well off. when you can say truly
that you owe no man a dollar, people always like the way you look.
They find no fault with your dressing.
Remember that all varnish, all the tine clothing, new hats,
new shoes, can’t do yon a bit of good when you and everybody else
know that you can't afford those things.
It isn’t easy to sav< and be independent. If it were every one
would be prosperous and independent. But it is possible ta keep
poverty away.
It is possible to be a free man. afraid of no one, controlled and
bossed by nobody
Many a man will see this article today who, if he could see
it again twenty years from now. would wish with bitterness of
heart that lie had paid at Cent ion to it and realized that it wa> in
tended for him.
Eiw live happy. ndependent. free from the control of other
men and a great majority live with poverty of hands always
above them, in fear of the future, pinched and anxious in the
present.
But you can he free if you will. It is in your power to say to
yourself; "1 may not be rich but I will never be poor. I’ll earn
ail that I can in the pr-sent and I’ll sav, so much of every dollar
for the days that are to come.”
\ml ninety nine out of a hundred know what poverty means,
but •gnorv the knowledge.
sii’iw pero ily w< ihat if they can not >ave and begin
lam ad v.day ther< no earthly reason w fiy thev should
""I e odo that at a tab e day yet they ignore that knowledge.
The Atlanta Georgian
He's the Limit
f Copyright 1912 by International News Service. $
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A N Indiana woman, with a b
/A draggled past, was going to
be married to a nice young
man. She heard that some of the
episodes of iter unsavory life had
been discussed by a neighbor wom
an. anil so she went to this other
woman's house and shot her down
dead before her little children's
eyes.
The murderess has been sen
tenced to prison for life, and from
her cell she exclaims: "Oh. what a
terrible thing Is gossip! Let this
be a warning to all women to re
frain from talking about other
women who have things In their
lives that they are trying to forget,
.and have other people forget."
Did you ever hear anything to
equal the nerve of that'.’ It seems
to me that the shoe Is on the other
foot, and that the lesson in the case
is not against gossip, but against
doing the things that give people
the light to gossip about you.
The men and women who con
duct themselves properly, and who
live decently, and honestly, and
cleanly, never have cause to com
plain about gossip. They never
lose any sleep fearing what theii
friends and acquaintances are say
ing about them.
When the Cap Fits.
It is only people who have some
thing shameful to hide who worry
about the gossiping proclivities of
their neighbors. They are hard
and bitter about the old eats, of
both sexes, who talk about their
failings.
Yet. when you come to think of
it, what right have we to expect
that our neighbors will be more
discreet with their tongues titan
we arc in our conduct, or that out
friends will entc- into a conspiracy
of silence to protect us from the
results of our evil deeds?
Mrs. A.. for Instance, I- a frivol
ous married woman, who receives
attentions from other men in het
husband’s absence, and neglects
het home and her children whllc
she gads about. Sli. also ha
clothes and jowls far bc.Vor ■ ...
llrr husband's mo lest means worn ,
provide Thi neighbors talk about
i'CESDAV. DECEMBER 2-1. 1912.
Gossip and Gossipers
By DOROTHY DIX
• her goings-on. and there are tears
tn Iter eyes as she tells you what a
terrible thing it is to have to live
among such a lot of long-tongued
gossips.
Mr. 8.. with a quiet little wife
and half a dozen children tucked
away in a suburban home, is met
out, time and again, by his neigh
bors at. some lobster palace, where
he is buying champagne for a cho
rus girl young enough to be his
daughter, and spending money as
if it grew on trees, while it’s well
known that he is in arrears in his
payment to the butcher and baiter
at home. Mr. B. says things that
no respectable newspaper would
print when he hears fragments of
the gossip that floats around among
his commuting acquaintances.
Scorns Conventions.
Pretty Sally t'., young and fool
ish, and mad for pleasure and the
admiration of men, scorns the con
ventions of society, and drinks
cocktails and smokes in public res
taurants. and picks up acquaint
ances with strange men. and flirts
with married men. and v rit< s com
promising Jove letters to Tom. Dick
and Harry. And her little heart is
broken when site finds out how the
cruel World is talking about i
and that her eputation is irretriev
ably soiled by gossip.
Tom U. gets Into bad company
and drinks and gambles, and loses
money he can't afford, and robs the
cash drawer, or falsities his books,
or holds back on his collections.
To keep him from going to prison
his people mortgage the home and
pay him out. and the matter is
hushed up as much as possible. Bat
some inkling of it leaks out, and
people talk about it. and remember
it and repeat it as long ns they
live. And Tom curses the gossips
to the day of his death,
Nom of these people seems to re
flect that the fault is their own and
not the gossips. If the married
woman hud been the right sort of
wife and mother, gossip would have
found nothing to say about her
that sc. v..,M object to hearing.
I f - '.c c' in : , s. : . iin st r.i ight.
oiiai rfuhi <c -oc to demand that
other people should take better care
of her name than she took ( of it
herself?
If the married man had spent his
evenings by bis own fireside, and
his money on his family, gossip
would not have found him an in
teresting subject of discussion. If
he didn't want people to talk about
his taking Tottie Cbughdrop out to
supper, why did he do it? There's
no law to keep observers from re
marking on what they see.
Greatest Moral Influence.
If a girl doesn’t want people to
comment on the mud on her skirts,
all tYat is necessary is to keep them
clean. If a man doesn’t want gos
sip to recall the sins of his youth,
all that he has to do is to hold him
self above reproach. And if we
don’t care enough about our own
honor to protect it ourselves, surely
we have no right to look to the gen
eral public to perform that, service
for us.
We talk a lot about the sin of
gossip, but as a matter of fact
gossip is the greatest moral in
fluence in the world. It's literally
the hangman's whip that keeps the
trembling wretch in order.
It's the dread of what their
neighbors’ eyes will see and what
their tongues Will tell that keeps
thousands of weak and wavering
brothers and sisters from straying
off the straight and narrow path.
They have no real sense of right
and wrong, of honor or dishonor,
btlt they stand in terror of being
pointed out as the hero or heroine
of some scandal, of being talked
about, laughed at. shrugged at.
If it were possible to do away
with gossip and people united to
cover up the slips and weaknesses
of their fellow creatures, it would
mean the total demoralization of
society, for it's old Dame Gossip,
with her hundred tongues—-and not
high, moral principles—that holds
the curb on temptation.
Gossip is a good thing. Those
who behave themselves need not
fear being talk, d about. Those who
I misbehave themselves d< s. i, all
thej g.q wk. n <ln y ar, . ilk. J
I about.
THE HOME PAPER
V
Garrett P. Serviss
Writes on «
The Energy of the Earth 'F*||
Equal to 270 Million Billion ;L
Billion Horse Power Per
Second—ls Man Could
Utilize This Power He
Would Drop His Present
Petty Occupations.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
LIFE is a constant search for '£
more power, and progress
depends upon the amount of
new power that is found
Since man is still a mere i>aby as
far as the development of his men- i
tai capacity is concerned, the me
chanical power that he has man- I
aged to get hold of is so insignifi
cant that his greatest engines are
only pitiful toys. He has discov
ered <jpe substance upon the earth
that he can utilize, very wastefully,
to obtain power, and, like a child
that has found a dish of candy, he
is devouring it as fast as he can,
blissfully unconscious that there is
no more candy, and that he will
need something else when he grows
up.
it may be true that man is
watched over by some parental in
telligence which supplies his needs
as they are developed, but lie would
be wiser if he assumed that he will
have to depend upon his own intel
ligence and that the gods will help
him only if he helps himself.
Look at the situation! We boast
of our progress, but wlr t are we
doing? WE ARE BURNING COAL,
that is about all! We have found
out that, we can turn heat into me
chanical energy, and since there is
not much else left to burn besides
coal, we burn that, and from it, at
the expense of frightful waste, we
develop steam and electricity, and
with them we make our engines go.
Mechanical Energy of Nature.
\V e know perfectly well that na
ture is full of mechanical energy ail
reads- made, but we are content to
take a little power from the water
falls, and still less from the winds,
and a trifle from the tides, and al
most nothing from the free sun
shine, and even when we utilize
these sources of power we still be
have like children, for we take only
what is put into our laps and thrust
under our noses.
If man WILLS TO DO IT he can
have power practically
But he must use his brains to get it.
"Every breatli of air that a man
takes into his lungs contains, locked
up in its atoms, enough energy to
drive all the workshops in the
world.” Just sit down and think
over that sentence. Ponder on it.
If you can think of any possible
way to get at that energy, try it, or
ask some one else to try. Study
science and see what investigators
have already done in the effort to
unlock this energy of the atoms and
turn it to useful account. Expert- I
inent yourself if you have the op
portunity. If you succeed you will, 1
be the greatest man in the world's
history, and SOME TIME SOME
ONE IS GOING TO SUCCEED.
Have you ever reflected upon the
fact that we are living on a tre
mendous flywheel which is posi- .
:: The Reason ::
By GENE BUCK.
'• i
i i TVS T think I'»n gettin ’ stingy. You fellers ought to know
1 never had compunction in blowin’ in my dough.
Fhere s a reason tor my savin' a dollar now and then
An object in refrainin' from spendin’ five or ten.
”1 never was a tightwad. I never wain to be—
I ve spent my money freely like a sailor home from sea;
It you will only listen I’ll tell you why it is.
The reason I am drinkin’ beer instead of silver fizz.
1 hristmas time is comin . and it gets here once a year—
And with it comes a feelin’ full of kindliness and cheer.
I sort a-like to enter the spirit of it all—
Ami feel about its coinin’ like I did when I was small.
“1 used to save up pennies, and hide ’em all away—
On a shell tip in the closet, and 1 d count 'em every day.
At ( hristmas time 1 d take 'em from where they all were hid.
And purchase little presents, just tokens from a kid.
“I couldn't buy 'em jewels, or expensive things like that—
l>ut I got each one somethin and placed 'em where they sat.
And 1 recall how proud 1 felt givin’ those little things—
I think I tasted all the joys of which the poet sings.
■■ “That was many years ago. still. 1 never will forget
Ihe teelin that was in my heart—it lingers in there yet.
So that is why I'm savin', I can be.
And < hristmas Day. ber-Y you *re all as happy as me
b lively almost bursting with ener-
I gy? The earth weighs six. suxt :
lions and turns with a spe<-d of
nearly 1.500 feet per second at ti:e
equator—as fast as a cannon ball!
A rapid calculation, in round num
bers, shows that the energy (level
oped by the rotation of the earth
on its axis is equivalent to a con
stant supply of two hundred and
seventy million billion billion horse
power per second. If you multiply
or divide that number by a billion
it will not make much difference as
far as the power of the mind to
comprehend it is concerned.
Centrifugal Force of the Earth.
Did you know that the centrifu
gal force of the earth’s rotation
makes the Mississippi river flow
thousands of feet uphill? If the
earth stopped turning the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico' would rush up
the Mississippi valley and inundate
Canada! A man who weighed 191
pounds at the North Pole would
weigh only 190 pounds at the equa
tor, the difference -being produce.!
by the "throw” of the spinning
earth. If the speed of the rotation
were increased about seventeen
times, bodies at the equator would
have no weight at all, for the cen
trifugal force would balance grav
ity.
Now, what have we done to util
ize this stupendous store of u,
chanical energy in the earth'. If
w,e lived OUTSIDE the earth tlie-;
by putting a belt around it. or con
necting cogs to it, we could employ
its power. But we live UPON it.
and hitherto have been as helpless
to utilize its force as would be a fly
spinning around on tiie circumfer
ence of the flywheel of an engine
That this may not always be sb
is, perhaps, indicated by something
else that our brain power HAS en
abled us to do. Living on the earth
we have, by observation an.l calcu
lation, found out that it DOES turn
on its axis, although we can not
feel it turning. We have found out
that it has other motions also.
Earth Flies With the Sun,
It goes round the sun and it lilts
with the sun through space, In '
tremendous journey among the
stars, the speed of which we hav
ascertained. We know when it is
slowing up and when it is going
I' faster, and we know the reason fb>
these changes. We have discov
ered and disentangled these tiiings
because we have brains and MINT
POWER. But the human brain
only in its infancy, and since ws
are aware of that, we have good
reason to hope that in the future
we shall not merely know that the
eartli is full of power, but .-hall
make tiiat power. In some way
■ • serve our uses.