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EDITORIAL RACE i he Atlanta
1
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 Kant Alabama St . Atlanta, Ga
Entered as second-class' matter at poitofflru at Atlanta. under act of March 3,1*■
Subscription Price Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. Hy mail, $6.00 a year
Payable in Advance.
T
UNTERMYER. the Man Who
Made Organized Money Sit
Up and Answer Questions.
Samuel Untermyer did useful work in persuading the big
men of money to tell the PEOPLE of the United States some
thing about the management and control of the MONEY of the
United States.
It was a good thing for the people to know that a dozen
men controlled most of the big banks, and through them the lit
tle banks.
And it was enlightening to discover that big money man
agers couldn't remember within “a few hundred millions” the
amounts they turned over.
Untermyer is the first man in the United States who has
succeeded in letting the people know what happens to the money
of the country—which is the industrial and commercial life
blood of a nation.
Among other public services rendered by Untermyer is the
identification in a very simple way of the newspapers that or
ganized money controls.
Make out a list of the editors who have been attacking Un
termyer ever since he compelled the big money men to answer
important questions and you have a list of the editors and news
papers that are controlled by organized capital, and not by their
readers’ interest.
The investigation and understanding of the organized pow
er and concentrated action of money in this country is as im
portant as any enterprise of the century. The work has only
been begun. Untermyer deserves the credit for making the be
ginning of the investigation EFFECTIVE.
It is to be hoped that the attacks upon him by a highly or
ganized capitalistic press bureau will not discourage him in fu
ture work.
There could be no greater menace to the nation’s material
welfare than the concentration of money, AND THE ABSO
LUTE CONTROL OF CREDIT IN THE HANDS OF A FEW
MEN.
Money is POWER If a nation—that is to say, the whole
people—controls the nation's money, power is national, and
prosperity is national. If a few individuals control the coun
try’s money and extend credit only to a few favorites, then
power is individual and prosperity will be only individual.
It is a satisfaction to those who have viewed with appre-
hension the control of the ablest lawyers by organized capital,
to find such a man as Untermyer—at least as able as any man in
the country—retained by the United States Government, and
making a courageous and intelligent fight for the Government,
regardless of the hatred of powerful men whom lawyers usually
struggle to please—for big fees to come,
It is amusing to see corporation newspapers that bow
humbly before every corporation legal jackal attacking Unter
myer because he has seen fit to crown his career by a conspic
uous service to all the citizens of the nation in which his success
has been built up.
Untermyer is able to fight for himself, but in view of the
attacks and false statements of which he has been the victim,
by the newspapers that organized money controls, it is just as
well to tell what kind of a man Untermyer is.
He has been what is called a corporation lawyer.” And
he probably will remain a corporation lawyer. Only corpora
tions can pay the biggest lawyers the fees that they want.
But Untermyer never organized or represented a corpora
tion declared unlawful, or attacked by the courts.
And long before he became the lawyer of the Government
in investigating individual control of national finances, Unter
myer was taking the side of honest investors against individual
exploiters.
It was Untermyer who, backed by the Hearst. newspapers,
made the fight against the United States shipbuilding swindle.
In that case he revealed the dishonorable scheming which in
volved many of the biggest men in Wall Street, and which in
^ w ’E^^d among other things the revelation that all the stock was
a voting trust held by John W Gates, and the stock
\ \-r < one individual, for which he had not paid a dollar,
• < ahead of all other stock.
Kegi;
EDi
,er was a leader in the fight for the policyholders
irance companies against dishonest management. In
^iit, which improved conditions for all policyholders
jughout the country, Untermyer spent nearly a quarter of a
nillion dollars of his own money.
We mention these incidents in Untermyer's career for the
benefit of the young lawyers of to-day who will be the great
lawyers” of to morrow.
It is a good thing to know that it is possible as Untermyer
has proved, to be one of the ablest and most successful lawyers
at the bar. and at the same time to sympathize with and faith
fully represent the public interest, as the Government s legal
fighter.
It is also a pleasure to give to the truths concerning Unter
myer a circulation very much greater than that commanded by
corpdration newspapers that lie about Untermyer. ir. order to
curry favor with the arrogant rich, whose illegal acts he has ex
posed.
WHAT’S THE USE?
Here he is. You kn
says "It's all been done,
ing your shins scramblin
Do JUST ENOUGH to
You know him, of cou
other fellow, too, the one
it’s all been done, and goe
everything was new. Th
than he’s paid for, who is
ow him. The fellow who
What’s the use of bark-
g over the rough places?
hold your job and get fat.”
rse. And you’ve seen the
who doesn’t know that
s right ahead as though
e fellow who does more
on the job all the time,
alive and trying. After awhile he goes ahead while
the fellow in the picture stands still. Suddenly the
lazy guy thinks, "Gee. there IS something in real
work and real interest.” but by that time he’s miles
behind.
The hours and days that he wasted in moaning
and grumbling don’t come back. Those hours and
days are the WHITE HOPES of existence.
THEY NEVER COME BACK.—TAD.
On the Trail of Mr. Suburbs S>
By FERA.
,
TH1E HOME RARER
• *
Garrett P. Serviss
Writes on
Might and Mystery
of Radium
Source of Pove^r Which Enables
It to Hurl Projectiles a Hun
dred Thousand Miles Per
Second Explained.
“I 1
■HAVE often wanted to*asrk
you to tell ub something
about radium in a special
article. I mean, tel) us in suth
manner as a lay mind can und^er-
stand. No encyclopedia does.
What, for example. Is the mean
ing of its power; whence derived?'
What is radio-activity? What are4
these emanations so much dwelt
on and how do they act? Please
tell me, are these emanations a
disintegrating of the countless
particles composing a particle of
radium? If so. how are,they es
pecially powerful fn any particu
lar instance? If so. is it because
the compression in the particle is
so great, so imponderable, that
the molecules beginning to es
cape—“emanating,” as I imagine
—can continue to escape or to
emanate for years and years and
years with no sensible diminution
of the particle? Won’t you kindly
resolve the whole theory and
make It plain as possible? How
Is it powerful for anything in
particular? Would a particle of
gold t or some other metal give off
emanations, if emanations be
what I imagine, namely, disinte
gration? J. M. W.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
T HE answer to these ques
tions mu«t be almost as
compressed as the inquirer
supposes a particle of radium to
be.
Radio-activity is a recently dis
covered property of the atoms of
matter which causes them to send
off continuously, and of their own
accord, streams of radiation, some
of which consist of almost In
finitely small particles (very
much smaller than average atoms
themselves), while others are,
apparently, only vibrations in the
ether, in which respect they re
semble waves of light and of
I electricity. One result of radio
activity is that the atoms of mat
ter affected by it gradually disin
tegrate or disappear.
Only a few substances are
known to be radio-active, but it
has been conjectured that all sub
stances may possess this property
in a degree at present impercep
tible to us, and thus the universe
may be slowly dissolving.
Known Radio-Active Bodies.
The known radio-active bodies
are the substances called “uran
ium” and “thorium." together
with certain elements derived
from them, the most famous of
which is “radium.” All of these
substances are remarkable for
their great atomic weight; in fact,
they are the densest, or heaviest,
in existence—heavier than lead,
gold or platinum.
Three kinds of rays are given
off by these substances. Those
called “Alpha" rays consist of par
ticles of about the mass of an or
dinary atom of hydrogen (the
lightest known atom), and mov
ing with a velocity of about 20,-
000 miles per second. Those
called “Beta" rays also consist
of particles, but much smaller
than the others, and moving with
velocities of more than 100,000
miles per second. The third kind
are called “Gamma” rays, and
these appear to be not streams of
particles, but vibrations, resem
bling the X-rays, and propagated
through the ether in the same
manner as light.
All of these penetrate solid
matter in varying degrees. The
Alpha rays have the least pene
tration, being stopped by a sin
gle sheet of paper. The Beta
rays have about a hundred times
more power of penetration, while
the GAMMA RAYS ARE SO
PIERCING THAT THEY HAVE
BEEN SENT THROUGH A
foot of solid iron:
In consequence of the disinte
grating effect of radio-activity, a
bit of radium, left to itself, grad
ually disappears, but so minute
are the particles shot off. and so
great is the proportion of them
that simply hang together in the
atom without immediately escap
ing. that it has been estimated
that about 2.500 years are re- •
quired for the complete breaking
up of an atom of radium. Yet
the energy set free by this slow
process is so great that a single
gram of radium compound emits,
in one hour, sufficient heat to
raise its own weight of water
from the freezing to the boiling
point: If we could get unlimited
supplies of radium, instead of
having to be content with the one
or two grams that exist in all the
laboratories put together. we
might look with perfect indiffer
ence upon the rapid exhaustion of
the coal fields.
Now. whence comes this mys
terious energy? It haa been found
that the heat is probably derived
from the internal bombardment
of the radium atom itself by the
Alpha particles. The only answer
possible, at present, is that there
is a gigantic store of energy
locked up. in some unknown way,
in the atoms, and is held In sus
pense there until the automatic
disintegration of the atoms sets It
tfree to act In other ways. It then
^sndg the particles flying, and
tnlpir collisions produce heat. As
faw as potential energy is con
cerned the mightiest explosive
ev€*r Invented by man is pitifully
weala compared with the explosive
force* contained In everything
aboat!us!
Energy j Implies Motion.
The problem of the origin of the
inter-atAmic energy Involves the
whole question of the nature of
matter.
Suppose we look at It tn thte
wey: Matter la energy tn a par
ticular form, but energy Implies
motion, or the ability to produce
motion To create an atom of
matter energy must be locked up.
Apparently It disappears tn the
atom. As long as the atom ex
ists as such, the Imprisoned en-.
ergy Is imperceptible to us. Some
think that an atom resembles a
minute solar system. In which
Infinitesimal particles are In swift
revolution around the renter of
the atom as the planets are In
revolution around the sun.
Something, in the case of radio
active substances, interferes with
the regular motions of the parti
cles. or electrons, and the atom
goes to pieces, or is transformed
into a new atom of a different
kind, and a great amount of en
ergy is released. More slowly, the
same process may affect all the
matter In the universe, and, in
the course of time, every world
now in existence may dissolve,
but the energy locked up in these
worlds reappears in the formation
of new ones.
The "emanation” given off by
radium appears to be something
different from any of the three
kinds of rays that have been men
tioned. Some regard it as being a
kind of gas. it has the power of
imparting the property of radio
activity to any other substance
that happens to be near a bit of
radium, as. for instance, the
hands and clothes of the experi
menters. But this imparted radio
activity does not last long One
of the most wonderful things
about the emanation is that it has
been found to change, of Its own
accord, into helium, an element
entirely different from radium, as
1f nature were giving us a hint
that the dream of the ancient
alchemists that base metal might
change into gold was not without
foundation.
The tendency of all things to
give off emanations, of one kind
or another, is not a new discov
ery. There is probably nothing
that does not thus affect Its sur
roundings, In ways unguessed.
Living beings radiate emanations
upon everything around them.
THE DOG FOLLOWS HIS MAS
TER THROUGH ALL THE IN
TRICACIES OF A CROWD.
ON ACCOUNT OF HIS PER
CEPTION OF SOME EMANA
TION NOT PERCEIVABLE BY
HUMAN SENSES.
Emanation Unperoeivable.
Dr. LeBon has suggested that
the power of some animals to see
in the dark is due to the exist
ence of emanations. Thus the cat
sees us in the darkest nights by
virtue of some halo produced
around our bodies by vital action,
and photographs made in the dark
are similarly explained. What was
once known as "odic force," pro
ducing an alleged luminous nim
bus around a human being, would,
by this hypothesis, be accounted
for as the result of an emanation.
When this subject was unuer in
vestigation many years ago it was
remarked that relatively few per
sons exhibit the phenomenon in
visible form. They are like gold,
which shows no perceptible radio
activity. although the property
may exist in it, while those who
exhibit the nimbus resemble ra
dium. which pours out an abun
dance both of rays and of radio
active emanation.
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