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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME RARER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
Entered as aecond-clasr matter at postofflce at Atlanta, under act of March 3.1 >*T'i
Subscription Price l»elivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, fy.00 a year.
Payable in Advance.
Recalling a Judge--And Women
Led the Crusade in This
First Example
Possibly the Law
Can Catch Up
Judge Weller, of San Francisco, has been recalled by a
vote of the good people of that progressive city, and conserva
tive citizens throughout the nation will be duly shocked at a
radical performance which these conservative citizens have be
lieved, or professed to believe, would shatter the foundations of
order and of established government.
In this dreaded San Francisco situation there is another
condition which should startle the reactionaries, and that is,
that the women led the crusade for the recall of Judge Weller,
and cast a large part of the vote which recalled him.
But when conservative, or even reactionary, citizens are fa
miliar with the situation which resulted in the recall of Judge
Weller they will be more disposed to realize that in this first in
stance at least of the recall of a judge their fearful forebodings
are not wholly justified.
San Francisco is no more free from vice than any other
city. There exist in that city, as elsewhere, evil men who prey,
upon the weaknesses of young girls and lure them to their ruin
and to a life of shame.
As a rule such scoundrels, through the secrecy of their acts,
or through the “pull” which they possess in certain corrupt
quarters, escape the punishment of their evil deeds. But one
such villain was caught and brought before the Grand Jury in
San Francisco and held to answer before Judge Weller,
The crime of this scoundrel—we refer to the indicted crim
inal—was of the vilest kind, and the criminality of his ^ct could
not even find palliation in the cbnsent of the girl he had de
stroyed.
Yet Judge Weller, through a sympathetic feeling, or through
the influence of that political “pull” of which we hear and see
so muoh, put this vile criminal under merely nominal bonds and
allowed him to jump the bail and leave the State.
Judge Weller 's action was typical of a condition which the
good people of San Francisco had determined to destroy, and in
order to begin the remedy forcefully and effectively they began
with a petition to recall this unworthy judge.
Let the reactionaries of the country, if they will, defend this
criminal and this judge who acted in collusion with him.
Let the reactionaries attack the principle of the recall and
the policy of woman’s suffrage in this instance, if they can find
arguments with which to do so.
But The Georgian believes that the recall of judges has be
gun in a case which gives every evidence that the principle will
be carefully and intelligently applied, and only exerted when
its operation is obviously for the best interests of the commu
nity.
The Georgian also believes that the women have again dem
onstrated their intelligence and conscience and fine moral qual
lty as citizens and voters, and The Georgian hails this case of
Judge Weller as another and a convincing proof of the propriety
and practicability of the progressive principles which it has so
consistently advocated.
“It cannot be helped—it is
as it should be—that the law
is behind the times.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jus
tice of the Supreme Court, says
the law must necessarily content itself with following a consid
erable distance in the wake of the world’s prevailing thought—
because it can only embody “beliefs that have triumphed in the
battle of ideas' ’ and ‘' while there is doubt . . the time for law
has not come.”
This is the same as to say that judges must decide to-day’s
cases according to the ideas of yesterday, and must not apply
the ideas of to-day until after they have ceased to be applicable.
If the law is to be thought of as a building, to which the
Legislature adds a new story to meet every new social situation,
and if the new story cannot be built until after the new situation
has been thoroughly mastered and understood by the mass of
the people, without any help from the courts—then this aston
ishing philosophy of Justice Holmes must be allowed to be cor
rect.
But if, on the contrary, the law is not at all to be thought of
as a dead structure of brick or steel—if it is rather to be thought
of as a living body, with red blood and brains and the breath of
generations of justice-seeking men—if it has feet to stand on
and hands td lay hold of the right weapons in the vast arsenal
of principles and precedents—why, then, of course, the learned
Justice has made a grave mistake.
I
CONCERNING A TRANSFER.
Editor The Georgian:
As a reader of the Hoarst pa
pers ever since the first publica
tion of The American in Chicago.
I take this means of bringing to
the notice of the people in tins
city an injustice on the part of
the street car company to a stran
ger in this city.
I attended the baseball game
Friday and after file game bt>ard-
. (1 the first car I could crowd
onto to get to the Terminal Ho
ld. where I am stopping. On
paying my fare, I asked if the car
would carry me to the Terminal
Station, and was told by the con
ductor that it would not. but that
give me a transfer, and
:>uld take any car marked
Station. I left this dar
ostoffice and walked over
orner of Broad and Mn-
:reels and took the first
iced, as 1 was directed to
he conductor. The con-
ii that car refused to take
requested a cash
id, as he said the
was from a Ponce
d‘this car was the
he could not ao-
wouli
linal
my transfer, and
fare, which I pa
transfer 1 had v
Deleon car and
tame due,
cept my transfer. He said I could
get off and use this transfer on a
Hunter car.
What 1 would like to know is
why 1 should have to wait for a
< ertain car going to the same des
tination (for me)? There is no
reason whatever for the street
railway company not using a spe
cial transfer on a special car as
the passenger accepts this tran*
lei in good faith and has abso
lutely no way of knowing wheth
er it is good or not
STRANGER FROM C|UDAGO.
INFLUENCE OF HOME LIFE.
Editor The Georgian:
Recently 1 read in The Georgian
an article by Mrs Bohnefield. po
lice matron in Atlanta, in which
•he says that home life Is more
cause than anything else of girls*
ruin, for which 1 want to thank
her for her good, plain words. I
.»gree with her in all she says.
My plea is for mothers (and fa
thers) to talk plainly to their
children. Do not let the children
be afraid to make a confidant of
mother or of father.
MRS. « A UR IE V BRANDON
Fort ers, Fla.
Gee! I Wonder Who Made Those?
By HAL COFFMAN.
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Labor and Deserved Leisure
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1918, by American*
Journal-Examiner.
B EFORE we wk for leisure let
us learn
The eacredTiess of time—
the holy truet ..
Confided for a season to our care.
Labor and Leisure make life
beautiful
When well divided, and labor
means
Deserved reward, and leisure
sweet repose,
Or happy explorations in the fair
Ascending paths of pleasure.
When we grow
In health, in wisdom and In hap
piness,
Through hours of freedom, then,
and then alone,
We prove our right to clamor for
more time;
But when the glnshop and the
gambling den,
The dive, the public dance hall
and the street
Send sodden creatures slowly
back to toll
After the ending of a holiday,
It makes a louder protest than
the voice
Of tyrant Greed against the
shortened hour
And lengthened ivagre of labor.
Look to it
The leisure lifts you ere you ask
for more.
No one can find fault or discharge
them or dock their wage if they
happen to be late or take a holi
day.
To be compelled to go to work
at a certain hour and to remain
until the prescribed lime, as has
already been stated. Is quite an
other story.
I hope to live to see the time
Letters From The Georgian's Readers ^
HE above lines written by
me have called forth sev
eral criticisms and protests,
some kindly meant, some meant
unkindly, from working people
and their defender*.
All these protests have been
made from a mistaken point of
view. No one living believes more
fully in the shortening of hours of
labor than the writer of the lines
quoted.
I work frequently fifteen hours
a day. But 1 work for myself,
and because I like my work. I
have no employer, and that makes
an entirely different thing of la
bor.
Eight Hours Sufficient.
Eight hours a day are quite
enough for continuous work of
any kind. Most employer*, heads
of business houses and capital
ists. who have the money-making
fever, work more than that. But
they also work for themselves.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
when by inventions and by new'
conditions the whole drudgery of
the world's work will be done on
five hours* time and the human
race allowed the remainder to
grow, mentally and spiritually.
As I came of a long-lived race
on two sides, I may realize my
dream, but the world will realize
it some time, surely.
When 1 think of the cotton
mills, with their deafening roar
and flying dust, where 1 have seen
women working ten and twelve
hours a day and begging positions
for their children (and opposing
any movement to prevent the em
ployment of children as I person
ally knew them to be); when 1
think of the feather factories and
sweatshops and the thousands of
other manufactories where no
light of day ever penetrates and
tnen. women and children are
sacrificing eyesight and health
on the altar of greed. I long to
open all the doors and send the
toilers forth to green fields and
the woods for half ofievery work
ing day; and 1 know the world
would be better off and the prog
ress of every race accelerated
were it made possible for every
toiler in the land to enjoy three
hours of rest every day in the
open air.
It is because I want the toilers
themselves to help make the
world realize their need that the
quoted lines were written.
The Employer’s Objection.
The employer's objection to the
shorter hour of labor is under
stood as the voice of Greed.
But when the ginshop and the
gambling den.
The dive, the public dance hall
and the street *
Send sodden creatures back to
toll*
After the ending of a holiday
It makes a louder protest than
the voice
Of tyrant Greed * • *
1 have seen a woman weep and
have heart} her regret the an
nouncement of an unexpected
holiday for her husband. He was
a workingman, a laborer.
She knew r the holiday meant the
wasting of his wages and the
greater injury to his health than
tw’o days' work.
It meant the ginshop and the
gambling den.
When an employer sees and
knows of many similar results
from holidays he is strengthened
in his arguments against the
shortened hours of labor. He does
not stop to think of the thousands
of women and the hundreds of
sober and moral men all about
him who need the added leisure to
make home life worth the name.
He docs not consider the pit
iable cases of poor fathers who
love their children, yet w r ho nev
er see them save when they are
asleep.
Argument in Favor..
Nor the numbers of wivea and
mothers rising at the dawn to
prepare a breakfast for husbands
and sons who return at nightfall
unable to do more than to fall
into exhausted sleep.
For every argument againat the
movement of shortened hours of
labor there are a dozen good ones
in its favor, but it is a misfor
tune when the laboring man him
self, by his bad habits during
hours of leisure, makes a louder
protest than the enemies of the
movement are making.
LOOK TO IT THAT LEISURE
LIFTS YOU ERE YOU ASK
FOR MORE.
The Film Makers
BY MILES OVERHOLT
T HE train rushed swiftly onward over mountains wild and steep,
Past cataracts and waterfalls and canyons wide and deep;
And then there came an aw ful crash—a bridge had tumbled in—
And the shouting of a pilgrim could be heard above the din.
The pilgrim stood upon the brink and turned a crank machine,
Nor ran to help the injured—he must regulate his screen;
For the guy was taking pictures of the wreck, which you must know-
He was the traveling agent for a moving picture show.
In far Arabia’s sandy clime a caravan was stopped.
A w’hispered word passed dow n the line and then the camels dropped.
The men lay down in awful fright behind the living fort,
The while the sandstorm frolicked like a giant bent on sport.
And while the travelers groveled there, prepared to meet their doom.
A Johnnie with a camera stood up amid the gloom
And turned the crank industriously to catch the sandy blow*—
He was the traveling agent for a moving picture show.
From pole to pole, from clime to clime, in chilly or in warm.
In Africa’s w'ilds, in city streets, in sunshin ■ or in storm,
Up in the air. beneath the sea, on mountain or in vale.
Alone on foot, on ‘■pedal train, on toad or Indian trail.
Where’er there’s life or death or woe, or nay be some of each.
Believe us, St?ve. the picture man is always within reach.
He’s there in forty-seven way-, no matter where you go—
Don’t pay hard cash to see the world—take in a picture show.
Elbert Hubbard
Declares
Charity Breeds' Beggars
Any Man Who Has a Has a
Chance, He Says, and the World
Needs Capable People as Never
Before. It Is Able and Willing to
Pay Them for it if They Can Ren
der a Service.
By ELBERY HUBBARD
Copyright. 15)13,
S AILORS just ashore, with gay
painted galleys in tow. and
with three months’ pay, are
the most charitable men on earth.
The beggars wax glad when
Jack lumbers their way: but.
alas, tomorrow' Jack belongs to
the poor.
Charity in the past has been
prompted by weakness and whim
—the penance of rogues--and
often we give to get rid of the
troublesome applicant.
Beggary and virtue were im
agined to have something akin.
Rags and honesty were sort of
synonymous, and we spoke of
honest hearts that bear ’neath
ragged jackets. That was poetry,
but was it art? Or was it just a
little harmless exercise of the
lachrymose glands?
Cringed and Crawled.
Riches and roguery were spoken
of in one breath, unless the gen
tlemen w'fcld present, and then
we curtsied, cringed and crawled.
( These things doubtless dated
back to a time when *fne only
mode of accumulating wealth was
through oppression. Pirates were
rich—honest men were poor. To
be poor proved that you tvere not
a robber. r P le# h eroes ih war took
cities ^nd all they could carry
away was theirs.
The monasteries were passing
rich in the Middle Ages, because
their valves opened only one way
—they received much and paid
out nothing. Jo save the spuls of
men w r as a just equivalent for ac
cepting their services for the lit
tle time they were on earth.
The monasteries owned the
land, and the rentals paid by the
fiefs and villeins went Into the
Church’s treasuries. Sir Walter
Scott had an abbot say this: “I
took the vow of poverty, and find
myself with an income of twenty
thousand pounds a year."
But wealth did not burden the
monks forever. Wealth changes
hands—that is one of its peculi
arities.
Camg wild war, red of tooth
and claw. And the soldiery, who
heretofore had been used only to
protect the religious orders, now,
flushed w'ith victor y, turned
against them.
Easy to Listen Then.
Charges were trumped up
against churchmen high in au
thority. The monasteries were
looked upon as contraband of war.
"To the victors belong the spoils”
was the motto of a certain man
who was President of the United
States, so persistent was the war
idea of acquiring wealth.
The property of the religious
orders was confiscated, and as a
International News Service.
reward for heroic services sol
diers were given big tracts of
land.
The great estates in Europe all
have their origin in this well-
established custom of dividing
the spoils. The plan of taking the
property of eu A or all who were
guilty of tuition, contumacy and
contravention was well estab
lished by precedents that traced
back to Gain.
When George Washington ap
propriated the estate of Roger
Morris, forty centuries of prece
dent looked down upon him.
Also it might be added that if
a man owned a particularly valu
able estate. It was easy for a sol
dier to listen to and believe the
report that the owner had spoken
ill of the king, and given succor
to the enemy.
Then the soldier felt it his
"duty" to punish the recreant one
; by taking his property. That
gave us The Age of the Barons.
The Reign of the Barons was
merely a transfer of pow’er with
no revision of ideals. The choice
between a miter and a helmet is
nil and when the owner con
verses through his headgear, his
logic is alike vulnerable and val
ueless.
The Past Is Dead.
Then The Age of the Barons
has given away to The Age of the
Merchants. The Merchants, whose
business it is to carry things
from where they are plentiful to
where they are needed. But they
did business by finesse and clev
erness flavored with deception.
But the times have changed.
Truth is now an asset, and a lie
is a liability. Merchants to-day
deal with their friends. Money is
incidental to service.
Domes co-operation so quietly,
and with so little ostentation that
men do not realize the change.
“Lay hold on eternal life,’’ said
St. Paul, writing to Timothy. The
proper translation we now know
should have been, “Lay hold on
the ago to come.’’
All life is a preparation, just as
• all life is a sequence—a result.
The past is dead, thaypresent is
dying, and only that which is to
come is alive
Philanthropy once was pallia
tion. just as the entire practice of
medicine was palliation until day
before yesterday.
Now we believe in equality of
opportunity. We give men a
chance—or we certainly should.
And any man who has a Job has
a chance. The world needs capa
ble people as never before. Also
it is able and willing to pay them
it if they can render a aerv-
for
ice.
Garibaldi in London
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
G ARIBALDI’S famous visit to
England began April 1.
1863—and for the fol
lowing twenty-four days the
red-shlrted old hero was giv
en the time of his life. Never
any foreigner, hardly any native
hero, b id ever been tendered such
a magnificent reception.
The Duke of Sutherland's four-
horse carriage.. containing the
Son of the Skipper of Nice, strug
gled for six long hours through
five miles of London streets, ^be
tween the starting point at the
vessel on which Garibaldi arrived
and Stafford House Square, near
St. James Palace. A half million
people hatf turned out to meet
the man in the red shirt and gray
blanket, and when the square was
reached it seemed that all London
was there to meet the liberator.
Amid a “noise of shouting like
the noise of the sea in storm."
say* an eyewitness, "Garibaldi
stepped out of the carriage, as
calm as in the day of battle, into
a circle of fair ladies and great
statesmen on the steps of Staf
ford House, while the Duke’s car
riage, in which he had come, lit
erally fell to pieces in the stable,
strained to breaking-point by the
weight of the thousands of strong
arms that had pulled at it and
clung to it as it passed through
a city gone mad with joy."
And it is well to remember, in
spite of what has been said about
the Duke of Sutherland and his
carriage, the fair ladles *nd great
statesmen, that the wonderful re
ception that Garibaldi met with
was given to him by the plain
peoole of England.
The working men of England
were in the mi 1st of the battle
for enfranchisement. They were
fighting King Privilege as hard as
Garibaldi had been fighting the
Bourbons, and now that the hero
of Italy, the plain man of the
people who had emancipated his
country from the tyranny of the
Bourbon rule, was actually 1n
their midst they were delirious
with joy.
It was an unexpected privilege
to carry one of themselves in tri
umph through London streets, as
if he had been a Caesar or a Wel
lington. It was tile tribute of the
democracy of England to the man
who. with his good sword, had
done so much for the democracy
of Italy. It was humanity an
swering humanity, justice clasp
ing hands with justice, the spirit
of liberty In the British Isles
shouting its mighty welcome to
the lovers of liberty In the his
toric peninsula in the great Blue' j
Sea.
Garibaldi gave England a*
much as he received from her.
He won all hearts, those of the
nobility, as well as those of the
yeomanry. Tennyson, with whom
he visited, and *moked, and re
nted Italian poetry, says of him:
“What a noble human being! His
manners have a certain divine
simplicity .n them, such as I have
never witnessed in a native of
these islands, among men at least,
and they are gentler than those
of most young maidens whom I
know."
While on the Isle of Wight,
Garibaldi planted a tree In Ten
nyson’s garden, of which later on.
the poet wrote as—
— "the waving pine which here
The warrior of Caprera set,
The name that earth will not
forget
Till earth has rolled her latest
year." j