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EDITORIAL RAGE
California's Fight Is the
Entire Nation's Fight
There is a certain class of people in this country of ours who are aliens at heart, always have
been aliens and always will be.
They have never become Americans in spirit. They have never been able to assimilate the
American system, to appreciate the American point of view. They may have been American
citizens for years, their fathers and grandfathers may have been American citizens, they may
have descended from our first and oldest families, but they are inherently incapable of being
Americans or understanding Americans.
In most cases the immigrant who has just landed has a better understanding of American
principles and policy and a greater loyalty to American ideals than these congenital aliens whose
thoughts are foreign to our American spirit and sentiment.
The hotbed of this kind of un-American toryism is, and always has been, New York. In
the days of the Revolution these tories supported the cause of the Crown, and never since that
time has there been a dispute between the United States and any foreign nation that these aliens
in character and constitution have not taken the side of the foreign nation, without regard to
the justice of the American position and generally without any knowledge of the subject under
discussion.
he Atlanta Georgian
THE HOME RARER
The present instance is the case of California. These congenital aliens immediately assume
that California is wrong in her decision to exclude unnaturalized citizens from the right to pos
sess lands in California and that Japan is right.
They know nothing of the subject, as their utterances clearly indicate. But they are con
vinced that California must be wrong, apparently because it is a part of the United States, and
the fundamental principle of their position is that the United States is always wrong, and what
is characteristic of the whole must be characteristic of any particular part.
As a matter of fact, California is right, legally right, constitutionally right, morally right,
ethically right, ethnologically right, right for her own best interests, right for the best interests
of the whole country, including New York, and right for the best interests of all the citizens
of this country, including the citizens of New York—even the class of congenital toadies and
tories.
California is within her State's rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,
when she decides that individuals who have not been naturalized may not hold land within her
confines.
Any State in the Union might make such a law, and it would not be within the power or,
privilege of the United States to prevent it.
California is acting to her own best advantage in making such a law, because the Japanese
would not make good citizens and do not make good residents.
They are a race which this nation cannot and should not assimilate. They would inflict
upon us another and greater race problem than we have yet dealt with, and we already have,
race problems which are difficult enough to solve.
The Japanese in the numbers in which they are invading California are not only objection
able, they are dangerous. They begin by occupying a small section of a district and making
themselves there so obnoxious by their personal attitude and Oriental peculiarities that the Cau
casian residents of that district soon become willing to sell their properties and leave the sec
tion.
The Japanese then buy up these depreciated properties at bargain prices and bring in more
Japanese to extend the ill effects of their colonization.
The Japanese are never on good terms with these Caucasian neighbors. They never em
ploy a Caucasian when they can employ a Japanese. They live encysted in their orientalism,
as a foreign growth within the American body politic, an ever-increasing danger to the well-be
ing of our social and political system.
These Japanese are not, and never will be, and never want to be, Americans. Worse than
that, they are actively and essentially antagonistic to American ideas and to the welfare of the
American nation.
They are Japanese citizens. More than that, they are Japanese soldiers, and when their
numbers become sufficient they may at any time become a Japanese army, directed definitely,
positively and powerfully against the Government and the people of tills country.
In acting in her own interest, therefore, to limit this Japanese invasion and prevent the
widespread possession of American territory by the Japanese, California is wisely and patri
otically providing for the protection of the whole country.
She should be commended by the other States of the Union and sustained in her action by
the other States in the Union and by the people of every State in the Union.
There is no objection raised on the part of the United States to the exclusion of our citi
zens from the privilege of holding lands in Japan, and there would be no objection on the part
of Japan to the exclusion of her unnaturalized and unnaturalizable citizens from holding lands
in our country if it were not that the same congenital aliens, the same treasonable tories, the
same pitifully small Americans who are opposing the best interests of the nation in this instance
of California, have always opposed the best interests of the nation in the matter of a greater
navy, and have traitorously caused the Pacific coast of our great country to be left almost de
fenseless against an Asiatic enemy.
Our semi-weekly Secretary of the Navy, who has discovered that a ship has an off and a
nigh side and can best be controlled in its course by the orders ‘ Gee" and "Haw,” is about
to send our battleships on a junket abroad. He would do better to keep them at home and lo
cate them in the waters of the Pacific, where they may be needed to maintain the rights of our
citizens and to protect the territory of our nation.
How to Learn
French—or Any
Language
One of our young readers,
abroad in France, writes us
for advice on how to learn the
French language easily. The
advice is given here, and we
hope that it wall prove useful
to him.
Remember that the big thing in this world is to take ad
vantage of OPPORTUNITY
You cannot blame a boy for not learning when he hasn't the
chance. But when OPPORTUNITY comes, pity the boy or the
man who does not take it.
You might walk all through Africa, for months at a time,
without seeing a lion. But if you did see one and didn't take the
OPPORTUNITY to shoot it you would feel foolish and silly aft
erward.
To learn a foreign language is more important than to shoot
a lion. And a boy who can learn has an opportunity that many
boys and men would give anything to get.
Don t neglect it. Make it your business to listen to French,
TO UNDERSTAND IT AND TO TALK IT.
Ask your companion to say everything to you in French
first and repeat it in Englinsh only when you do not understand.
Remember that we learn languages THROUGH THE EAR.
Reading and studying grammar has very little to do with it.
A child four or five years old speaks its mother's language
' ell—although it has never read a word. It has learned every
thing through the ear, and in that way you can learn French
»r another language if you will.
Listen and talk constantly.
Try to get French thoroughly into your head. You will not
lorgive yourself if you do not do it. Try to read some French
boola* and, above all, TALK AND LISTEN.
Letters From Readers
of The Georgian
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
Editor The Georgian:
The papers have been loud in
their advocacy against vice and
it lias been my experience that
one who trespasses in Atlanta is>
dealt with by law in a merciless
manner. But a contractor may
underfeed, beat and work to death
a number of mules and horses,
and tills offender Ip not even rep
rimanded.
1 live on Capitol Avenue, and
not long ago it was a source of
pain to me to see mules driven
along the avenue heavily loaded,
driven to their uttermost, many
bleeding from the lashes of ignor
ant negroes. The mules were
pulling dirt from an excavation
on Trinity Avenue and 1 made
compTaint to the police station,
but these men cannot afford to
take proper steps; it would in
terfere with progress, which‘At
lanta rulers want at all hazard?.
C. H WILSON.
A. C. of P. and S.
MORE ABOUT DEADBEATS.
Editor The Georgian:
1 was profoundly impressed by
what Dorothy Dix said in The
Georgian of April 17 regarding the
deadbeat who Is too proud to
work. 1 would that the world
knew him as she doe?, for then
there would be fewer heartaches
and blighted lives in the sad dis
appointment of n^ver knowing
true manhood. For truly we never
find it in such characters as these,
for they are as dross and count
"i* nothing. So often when i have
seen Much characters a? these en
ticing the heart affection of a
pure, innocent, sweet girl
K. G. BIRCH MORE
Athens, Ga.
WOULDN’T IT MAKE YOU MAD?-
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Where Does Al! the World’s Gold Go?
According to a British Authority, Mysterious India Absorbs and Secrets It in
Enormous and Increasing Quantities—Not Gold, but Labor and
Thought Enrich the World.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
I p all the gold which is now an
nually dug from the earth w ore
employed exclusively lor coin
age and kept in continual circula
tion, the prices of the necessaries
of life would soar to heights yet
undreamed of.
If Sir William Ramsay could
control the creation of atoms, and
cause gold to build itself Up out
of apparent nothing, he would
upset the whole monetary system
of the world.
And yet. in either case, would
the real value of food and cloth
ing and other necessaries be al
tered in the slightest degree.
It would be only the relative
value of the dollar lhat would be
altered.
The fact that that value, as
based upon gold, has not disas
trously changed, in the face of
the enormous increase in the out
put of gold, shows that there is
some great open valve through
which the surplus metal escapes.
More and more of it goes into
the arts, it is true, bui that does
not explain the entire situation.
Hoarders of Gold Treasure.
A recent report prepared by
the Messrs?. Montagu, bullion
merchants of London, offers an
other explanation. According to
this report that great hive of
brown humanity, India, is the
principal absorber of the world’s
surplus gold. There it disappears
ay if it had fallen into the abyss
under a cataract.
The people of India are invet
erate hoarders of gold. They are
as saving in their habits as the
French, but instead of putting
their savings at interest they
bury them. Says the report from
which 1 quote:
■ At present nearly all the gold
dug from the earth in South Af
rica is, by a fresh digging opera
tion. deposited again beneath the
soil of South Asia.”
There, on about half the area of
the United States, there are 300.-
000,000 people. They not only
hoard gold, spending a* little as
possible, but they use it in ways
not familiar elsewrei* . Some of
GARRETT P. SERVISS.
them even swallow it for medi
cine, in the form of thin leaves!
They employ enormous quan
tities of gold for religious pur
poses, in gilding the domes and
interiors of temples, and in deco
rating idols. They use it also for
Pertinent Paragraphs
When the office seeks the man
no Sherlock Holmes business is
necessary.
As a rule, the first child is pet
ted nearly to death, or is over
trained.
You can occasionally convince
one with eloquence, but he will
not always stay convinced.
* * *
It is nonsense to hold up as an
example .statesmanship that cun
not land an office of some kind.
# * *
Take no stock in the ahiftY
man. He has not the stability of
a weather vane.
-* * •
Occasionally the threatened dog
bumps against the silencer.
• * *
The good man is more apt to be
fooled by evil associates than the
individual who has a few.tricks, of
his own.
capricious display. A story is told
of a rajah who imported thou
sands of British sovereigns, bear
ing the tigures of a shield on the
obverse, each coin being employed
to form the center of a little pane
in the innumerable windows of
his palace.
The gold imports of India are
on a scale so immense that they
constitute, say the Messrs. Mon
tagu, a matter of primary impor
tance to the re.«t of the world. In
dia is enabled to import gold on a
large scale because, whenever a
succession of favorable monsoon
winds blesses the country, it9 pro
ductiveness becomes phenomenal.
But. apparently, when the dread
ful famines, due to the failure of
the monaoon?\ burst upon them,
the people still guard their buried
hoards, preferring to perish rather
than seriously to diminish their
stores.
Recently India has been fa
vored with excellent crops, the
consequence being that last year
its imports uf gold attained a rec
ord mark, absorbing as much a?
28 per cent of the world’s entire
production of the precious yellow
metal. In other words, nearly
one-third of the world’s total an
nual production of gold went to a
country which covers only about
one-fortieth of the land surface of
the globe, although it contains a
sixth or a seventh of the earth’s
population.
India is an immense creditor
nation, say the authorities from
whom 1 am quoting, but it is a
creditor that hang? onto its gold,
when it gets it, with a grip of
death.
World Would Be Benefited.
Perhaps, if all these statements
are facts, and if India should sud
denly disgorge the treasures that
it is believed to have hidden, the
world would find itself over
whelmed by the glittering idol
which for so many centuries it
has worshiped with blind devo
tion. Then price? would jump
still higher, wages would soar to
new levels, the poorest man would
have stacks of yellow dollars, half
stripped of their magic power—
and who would be the better for
it?
It is not gokl that makes the
world rich, but labor and thoug^-V
Rev. John E. White
Writes on
The Original Idiot
« * ,
%
He Gets as Much Out of the Com
petitive World as He Can Seques
ter for Himself and His Folks, and
Lets the World Swing Along as it
Pleases.
WRITTEN FOR THE GEORGIAN
By REV. DR. JOHN E. WHITE
Pastor Second
W E are on cn the trail of the
Original Idiot and we will
get him not far from
where you live.
Once upon a time, In their
beautiful language, the Greeks
needed a designation for a par
ticular type of citizen, who un-.
willingly attracted attention to
himself in the city of Athens. To
describe him and isolate him in
the public mind they coined a
contemptuous word which has
come down to us with an Increas
ing ugly meaning. It is the word
"Idiot.”
So high was their ideal of pub
lic duty and so exacting the
Grecian conscience of public
service, that when certain of their
citizens were discovered more
concerned with their private In
terests than the common welfare
of Athens, they were character
ized—“idiotes.” By this word a
citizen absorbed entirely in his
own private affairs became an
object of public contempt. He
was considered a civic defaulter.
His reproach was in all noble
eyes that looked upon him. His
name was a hissing on all noble
lips. The wrath of the Athen
ians knew small mercy for the
man among them who engaged
chiefly after Number One. The
Greek “idiot" was not necessa
rily a fool nor a bad man. His
crime was his selfish withdrawal
from public responsibility.
The Modern Idiot.
The "Modern Idiot" may like
wise be isolated. He lives in
Atlanta, though thanks be. his
name is not legion here. Inde* i
the ancient Athens and the m -d-
ern Atlanta are not unlike in -n-
tempt of him. But the i v : tere
are among us may not oW-. ct to
the performance of one public
service. Let them . ct ve as a
warning.
Do you know a rntin who
boasts that he attends strictly
to his own b>-.-iness and W’ishes
everybody e’.would do the
same? In -.me! it Athens that
man wo-.tM :ave been called
“id iota i ”
Do you know a man who tracks
the path from his residence to
his business wrapped in the sol
itude of his own concerns and
shrunken to the limit of short-
hearted interest in the welfare
of common humanity? The
Greeks would have pointed him
out as one of their “idiots."
Do j ou know a man who has
no time for the general welfare
and the big problems of society?
Tlie schools. <lie hospitals, the
libraries are not his business.
The institutions of social serv
ice and the organizations for the
amelioration of social sorrow are
in no wise his personal obliga
tion. Good Government—of
course; moral reforms — of
course; the conservation of health
—of course; the preservation of
the Sabbath Day for a sound re
ligious civilization—of course;
Baptist Church
but let those aggressive individ
uals who like prominence and
fighting attend to such thankless
tasks and public services.
This is the Modern Idiot.” He
gets as much out of the competi
tive world as he can sequester
for himself and his folks and lets
the world swing along as it
pleases. When he dies you have
to go to the cemetery and peep
through the doors of the little
tight vault to discover that he
ever lived. There'repose the re
mains of ‘‘The Original Idiot,"
Public Schools.
The President of the New York
Chamber of Commerce visited
Atlanta two years ago. It hap
pened that a great public cause
of humanity was at that time In
the balance, and each of the firms
and corporations had been ask
ed to pick their best young man
and tender him for Its service.
They were gathered together-
one hundred of them—to accept
the commission. The big New-
Yorker was taken to see the as
sembly of young citizens who
were going to lay down their
private concerns for the public
good. Their spirit and devotion
amazed him and drew a sharp
exclamation of delight. He stood
up before them and with a big
man’s emotion, said; “This is
the finest lesson in citizenship
I have ever seen. It is very like
old Roman days when young cit
izens assembled to receive tilt-
“toga virilis.” I extend to every
one of you as the President of
the New York Chamber of Com
merce, the keys of our great city
on Manhattan Island. When you
come I will show you on the walls
of our Chamber the pictures of
the men New York regards as
worth remembering. They are
not there because they were rich
and powerful, but because they
were public souls who gave them
selves to the common welfare
and denied themselves, and lov
ed the highest and noblest things
belonging to that city.”
Why Is Atlanta?
We were asked a while ago
"Why is Atlanta?"
Some said it is the railroads.
They have made Atlanta, The
statue of Samuel Spencer on the
Terminal Plaza is the symbol of
the city’s prosperity.
Some said the newspapers have
made Atlanta. Publicity is the
secret of the city’s success.
Some said geographical loca
tion explains Atlanta. Did not
John C. Calhoun prophecy it
seventy-five years ago?
Some said climate was the ex*
plaining fact. Did not the great
est doctor in the United States
assert that Atlanta was pre-emi
nently the arseptlc Southern el
evation'.
But everybody said something
about “The Atlanta Spirit,”
What is thai ?
'It is the old Greek contemp'
for "The Original Idiot."
Start the Day Right
By WILLIAM F. KIRK.
S TART thq day right. When the sun comes to greet you
Give it a smile for each ray that it sends.
Shake off the worries that long to defeat you,
Strengthen your faith in yourself and your friends.
Yesterday’s ghost will be striving to haunt you,
Yesterday's errors may come to your brain:
Throw off the worries that trouble and taunt you;
Start the day right; begin over again.
W HAT a brief span is the longest existence—
One flashing journey from Nothing to Night!
Show while you may the old Roman resistance—
Off with your drowsiness—into the fight!
Never an empire was won by a laggard.
Never a prize was obtained but by worth:
Heed not the sneers of the misanthropes haggard:
Start the day right and they'll know you’re on earth.
S TART the day right and you’ll find as it passes—
Something to live for and something to love
View not the future through indigo glasses—
Note the bright streams and the blue skies above,
h’ailure may mock sou through years of endeavor.
Pame and success may not come at your will:
But nothing can baffle a climber forever;
Start the day right, and you're half up the hill.