Newspaper Page Text
EEHTORIAL PAGE
1912-—A Year of Progress and
Prosperity For Atlanta
> 1* T.
And There Is Every Good Reason to Believe That 1913 Will Witness Even
Greater Strides.
Nineteen hundred and twelve has proved the greatest year in the history of
At lanta.
A careful study of the city's progress during the last twelve months shows
advancement beyond tin- dreams of the most enthusiastic. It shows, too, that
with a few more years of equal prosperity, this city will take its place among the
greatest municipalities of the world.
An in\cstigat ion of industries, wholesale and retail business and general con
ditions prove that practically all have shared in the good fortune of 1912.
This adx iiu*' ol prosperity has come in a year when climatic conditions have
; e'tn mcly unfavorable. The continued rains of the spring and the earlv
>iim. • brought great hardships to the farmer. Much of'his crops rotted in the
gror. ii. c d his cotton was greatly impaired.
"' i 'ars ago these conditions would have meant almost total destruction of
,ar i-odiiets. Bill now cultivated land is carefully drained, ami despite the
I ■ n - some oi the soil that formerly would have been under water has
yc, <p] • -.i fair crops.
■ • ■Io iliis and oilier scientific advances in farming methods, the crop
is more than could be hoped for. and Atlanta naturally benefited by
:< . mors' increased efficiency.
Despite I lit gl lomy prophecies of a few years ago. Atlanta real estate has
■ ■’-d 10.-0.-r. At no time during 1912 was there a pause. The ••boom citv”
ispeci of a few \ears back disappeared. Prices were fixed on solid valuation.
■ d silcs were made accordingly.
Otic piece of Peachtie • street property sold for $8,200 a foot. 11 was the
iighc<i I a cvei paid for property in the South—but it probably was the best
•ie<-e of proper!) ever sold in the South. Other Peachtree street property brought
nore than 50 per <-cni profit during the year, but the physical valuation proved
hat the lasi prices paid were not too high.
One tract that sold for $l5O an acre thirty years ago, recently brought $lB,-
100 an acre, and other cases equally as remarkable might be cited.
Approximalt l\ *1(1.000,000 changed hands in real estate deals during the year,
md several millions were spent developing suburban districts, where well-built,
((tractive homes are now springing up.
Building permits are flu* recognized barometer of a city’s prosperity. At
anta's record lor 1912 is $9,902,000. This compares with $6,215,000 in 1911. an in
■rea -e of *3,717,000.
' his increase can not be attributed to one specific cause. A search of the rec
>rds shows permits for a larger number of homes, hotels, office buildings, facto
■ies and ap irlment houses than in former \ ears.
Managers of department stores report that their business has been larger bv
11 I l>! '''‘id in 1912 than in former years and the same thing is true in other re
ad lines.
_________ *
\llanta s health record—always fine, mainly on account of climate—has been
cd since Lt-j January 1. Hygienic education has done much to bring about
I ' -t re.-;dt<.
■ ; o< al 1 .ale has lalleii from 18.70 per thousand persons in 1911 to 16.25 per
persons in 1912. a decrease of 2.45 per thousand. Among the whites the
<"■ ; ear's death rale was, 13.46 and among the negroes 20.82 per thousand.
■ t‘ iidaih-e in Ihe city schools in 1910-1911 was 21,418. At the present time
-•>..>'•! pupils, an increase oi 1,916. Before the end of the term in June,
’oil nore will be added to the rolls.
\i cording to the city directory, just published, the population of Atlanta is
I'he census of 1910 gave the population as 154,839. If this ratio is held
>i> an lii undoubtedly will he increased —there will be between 150,000 and
>OO.OOO Atlantans in 1920.
Truly this is a wonderful record when it is taken into consideration that just
1 few years ago there was 110 such city as Atlanta.
All of tie sc facts ami figures arc presented to give an idea of the progres
'ixi 'ie-s ol the cit\ and to stir the imagination as to its future magnitude. The
nunicipal government must catch step with the citizens who are continually
forging ahead.
Streets must be well constructed and kept in repair: adequate sewers must
•1 built: schools must he erected: the smoke must be eliminated: parks must be
mproved: substations must he secured to heighten the efficiency of the police;
Hid factional politics must be thrust aside whenever the welfare of the citv is
involved.
A new admiiiist ration is taking charge of municipal affairs, and there is an
avowed intention among officeholders to work jointlv for the good of the citv
and to hiirv personal prejudice.
1 ,l; citv officials making good their resolution to co-operate, with private
■ rprise and capital developing and pushing forward at the present rate, with
Vil.tnian loyal to his citv and taking a personal interest in its good name
‘ " h' Hi rment. there is every reason to believe that 1913 will far surpass in
po-'peiiiv and progress that wonderful yetjr just ending.
The Atlanta Georgian
l i'ESDAY. DECEMBER 31. 1912.
Ready For the New Page
\ By UAL COFFMAN.
x>--d,..;
w ■ N 'w
\\ A\ ; ■ f
- a'-'T.y f
j ■
The Mother -m-Law as Trouble-Maker i
. —"'"' ' " - - '
By DOROTHY DIX
HAVE you noticed that the
mother-in-law joke is dead?
That the cartoonist and the
humorist have ceased to exhaust
their wit in depicting a fat and
fussy old lady, descending like a.
prestilence on ati unwilling house
hold ?
You have noticed it? And you
suppose that the ancient jest had
perished of old age, didn't you?
Not at all. It is because xxe have
suddenly recognized that the moth
er-in-law is not a thing to make
merry over. She is tile greatest
menace there is to domestic peace
and happiness. She is no longer a
comic figure. She is tragedy in
carnate.
A few days ago a distinguished
and conservative jurist who tries
so many divorce cases that he Is
called a divorce judge, declared that
over 75 per cent of the men and
xvomen whose matrimonial difficul
ties he was called on to settle would
have gotten on well enough to
gether if it had not been for their
in-laws.
Sometimes it was the man's
mother who made the trouble;
sometimes it was the woman's
mother, but everywhere it was tile
mother-in-laxx who was the first aid
to divorce.
This is an appalling state of af
fairs, and it is time tiiat women
faced the fact tiiat the divorce evil
is not going to be cured by preach
ers, nor sociologists. nor laws, nor
lawyers, but it is in the hands oi’
mothers, anti they iftust sei tie it,
if it is ever settled.
A Divorce Coupon.
Os course, any young couple wiio
get married and who go to live
w with either mother-in-law could
save money' and xvorry by buying a
marriage license with a divorce
coupon attached to it. for unless
the whole family of them are pin
rt’athered angels— which most peo
ple aren't—they ate foreordained to
bickering and jealousies, and every
known species of the fifty-seven
vai ieties of domestic misery
Nobody knows why, but no house
was ever yet built that was big
enough for a mother-in-law ami a
daughter-in-law to live in togeth
er in peace, and a mother-in-law
and a daughtc r-ln-law would be
forever treading on each other's
toes, although they had all the
room of the Waldorf to moxe about
in.
NA hen a xvomati's children mat i y
sh< should make a east iron r. solve
never, under any < < umsiam es. i .
live under the same root with them,
not to visit them too often, never
to interfere in their family affairs,
and to refrain from giving advice,
even though she has to bite her
tongue off to keep from doing it.
The responsibility of mothers for
their children's divorces max end
with their keeping their fingers out
of their married sons' and daugh- I
ters’ pies, but it doesn't begin there.
| It commences in the . radio, and 1
can think of nothing on earth that,
is so piteous as that every mother
iti the land could provide some
woman with a good husband, or
some man with a good wife, and
site doesn't do it. She could save
the broken hearts, the misery, the
tears, the wrecked homes, the little
children that are made motherless,
or fatherless, and homeless, and she
doesn't do it.
Surely' if there is one thing that
is past even the mercy of Ood to
forgive, it is this.
What Her Mother Can Do.
There is no mother who pillows a
little baby girl's head on her breast
that can not aise that girl up to be
a true, good, sensible woman. She
can teach her to control her temper,
to be reasonable and practical, and
to have some sense of responsibil
ity, and some idea of her duty to
others. She can teach iter hoxx to
make a home, and make of herself
tile kind of a wife tiiat is a bless
ing instead of a curse to the man
who gets her.
We Own the Canal
Editor The Georgian: '
I want to commend your position
on the Panama canal, and especial
ly to congratulate you on the edi
torial in Thursday afternoon's pa
per. and hope that you will con
tinue the good work.
It is evident a fexx people who
are interested in English shipping
have subsidized some of our pa
pers and are trying to create a
sentiment that win benefit them
financially.
"I'ncle Sam' bought this land
and is completing this great work
tor the prime benefit of his people,
and it would he a reflection on the
Intelligence of our congress and an
outrage on its citizens to grant the
request of Great Britain or permit
tile question to be submitted to The
Hague.
1 hope that you will continm to
kel p this qmstion before the lieo
, L. A. REDWINE
THE HOME PAPER
I he e is not a mother with a lit
tle son standing at her knee who
i can not teach that boy to be chival
rous and tender to women. She
can teach him to show every wom
an reverence and respect. Site can
teach him how to treat a wife, hoxx
to be generous to her, ami unselfish,
and tender and affectionate; how to
be the kind of a husband that will
make a woman bless her stars ev
ery day she lives that she was
lucky enough to get him.
It is the mothers who turn out
the wives and the brutal, neglectful
husbands. They furnish the raw
material out of which matrimonial
misery is made, ami they are re
sponsible for the ensuing divorce
Nor does the mother's aid to di
vorce end with having supplied so
one poor, unfortunate man, oi
woman, a wife or husband that
nothing but a martyr could stand.
Mother throws fresh fuel on the
lire in tile shape of backing up het
son or daughter in their domestic
qua rrels.
When Mary comes running hmm
to mother with her tale of woe
about some little matter in which
“he and John have disagreed,
mother begins pitying her for a
poor, persecuted angel instead of
saying to her. “Go home and forget
it. 1 am asliamed of you for being
such a little coward as to come
whining back the first time any -
thing goes wrong. What did you
think marriage was—a picnic'.
W ell. it. isn't. It's a profession, a
■■' Ung, <x hei. you shut yt>u te< t
and do your duty ami make the
best of things.'’
Mothers Hold Solution.
Ninety-niji. times out'of a hun
dred mothers could stop a divorct
in the very beginning if they would
only hold their sons and daughters
up to perfo'niing the obligations
they have talon upon tiiemsdvis.
But they doll Th* y side with
their own, they sympathize with
their own's injury and magnify the
other's fault until they widen the
b each between husband and w if«
past all biidging. and are thus ac
cessory to the crime of br. aking up
a home.
These are bald words, but they
a e Hue on’ -. p, i- the mothers
who hold the solution of the divorc,
question in theii hands. There
would be no more unhappy
riages and nobody would want ~
divorce, if only mothers did their
dut.x and xx tre a little busier b< f,, <
their children's ma:rlag< and .< q. .
Garrett P. Serviss
Writes on
Sound
«
It Is a Marvellous <'aleulator
of Distance, .f You Only
Knew How to Ise It. By
Its Waves One (’an Tell
How Far Avvav a Thunder
Storm Is.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
X TOO can make youv head an
j arsenal of innver if you wil’
simply remember eeltail
facts that have the quality of
bringing out other facts. Talc
sound, for instance. It is a mar
vellous measurer of distance, if
only you know how Io use it.
Sound consists of waves, or vt
biatlons. which travel through th •
air. at ordinary temperatures, with
a speed of 1,14'1 feet per second. At
lower temperatures the speed is
slightly decreased, ind at high r
temperatures increased, but the he
mes given are sufficiently exact for
common purposes. them
you can. for instance, tell in a mo
ment how far away from you a
thunder storm is raging. You hav<»
only to count the number of sec
onds that elapse between tho flash
of the lightning and the sound pf
the thunder, and multiply that
number by 1,140. which will give
you the distance of the cloud from
which th< discharge took place.
The light travels more than 90".-
"Oii times as fast as the sound, so
that the latte’- has hardly got
started before the former reacli>-=
your eye. Since there a"-- S.t'oi
feet in a mile, it is evident that
the sound of thunder, or any othe
sound transmitted through the air
takes about four and two-thii'-s
seconds to go a mile.
Travels on Heels of Light.
The lightning bolt tr.-r, -o on tie
heels of the light, so that it. too. -
far outstrips the sound that if it
struck you. you would neve lie:,
the thunder.
Even we. however. re able t->
send death-dealing bo''s fast,
than tile sound that urcompanii
their discharge. A sv. ift rill hu’-
let goes twice as fast as tin ■ r.o-k
"f the exploding cartridge.
Another useful fact to km- ! s
that sound travels faster in "rmr
than in air, in tin proportion of s'
least four feet to one. In some ex
periments sound has been trans
mitted through the water of a riw ’
at the rate of more than a miie
second, bin its avetage velocity .
water is about 4,70" feet per seeon
'l'he sound of a bell warning a so
to keep away from a dangerous
shoal would require about 23 s. -
onds to go five miles through th
air. while the same sound coulo -
transmitted through the wate in
about five and a half s v eon> s
There are imaginable ci-cum-i.u" -
in which the eighteen seconds tims
saved might suffice to prevent a
shipwreck.
Still more remarkable is the dif
ference between the speed of sound
in air and in solid bodies. In tie
Heavier metals, such as lead
gold, sound travels at nearly the
same velocity as in water, but in
nore elastic metals, like iron mri
-ted. its -peed suddenly Flute;,- >
to more than three miles per s. . -
mid. which is six or spy* n lim .-
rapid as the flight of a bullet.
In wood sound travels about as
last as in iron, provided that t! e
direction in which its waves move
is the same as that in which the
libels of the wood run. but if d"'
sound is transmitted across the
gram oi riie Wood its speed is re
duced to frqm a half to a quarter
■d what ii is in the other directf-'n,
the amount of change varying for
din op, nt species of wood.
Waves of Sound Differ.
Von can hear the sound -f
eratching on a wooden fence al . n
astonishing distance, if your ear
ii i opens to be close to the wood, - r
it your head touches the fence. And
so quickly is the sound condu< leil
teat, although its point of origin
max be a quarter of a mih away.
sit. it you are unaware of the
manner in which it has been
brought to your ear. you max be
completely deceived, thinking tl .a
it musi have originated but a fi- >
rods ~ti. one might easily make a
kind of telegraph of a wood’n
fence, conveying messages by taps
upon it. litis suggestion is de d
eated to writers of ingenious sto
ries of adventure.
How. long .-ire the waves of sound
in the air? They differ according
to the pitch.
I lie average male voice, in ordi
nary eonvei sation, produce- wavs
varying in length from eight to
twelve feet, white those of a wom
<in s voice are only from two 'o
four feet long. Waves sixty r
seventy feet in length, vibrating at
the rate ol sixteen times p i sec
ond. produce a very grave ottnd
w hich is scarcely perceptible by th*
human ear. w hile wax < - only ii tlf
an inch in length, vibrating be
tween tW’-ni- and thirty thousand
times per second, produce n sound
SO shrill that It. too. pass.-- beyond
the range o' our bi aring. although
it may seen, as hoaisi- an the roar
of thundei to th- hearing upparati s
o' ins < is. All sounds, wheth r
-. 'x . o -| a ..... i r,.,., at