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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, <»*.
Entered as second-class matter at poet office at Atlanta, under act of March 3,1*.3
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A Merchant Marine Becomes a
Vital Necessity
Congress i< Alone to Blame for the Neglect to Build Up a Great,
Powerful, Progressive and Prosperous American
Merchant Marine in F oreign 1 rade.
The lack of American merchant ships for the ordinary needs
of our Government has been strikingly impressed upon the at
tention of the new Administration.
Recent developments made it necessary for the Government
to secure possession of a considerable number of American mer
chantmen. They were needed as a precautionary measure, to in
sure preparedness against any sudden eventuality in which for
eign ships could not be used.
THE PITIFULLY SMALL SUPPLY OF SUCH AMERICAN
VESSELS BOTH ASTOUNDED AND ALARMED THE GOV
ERNMENT. Most of the few American vessels that are available
are old, in many respects inadequate, and scarcely any of these
measure up to urgent needs.
Not only are American merchantmen few and ineff icient, but
it is found that, even if American ships were now available in
large numbers, THERE IS NO CORRESPONDING NUMBER OF
TRAINED AND EXPERIENCED AMERICAN MASTERS, OF
FICERS AND SEAMEN IMMEDIATELY OBTAINABLE.
The possibly grave consequence of our utter dependence
upon foreign merchant ships, their officers and men, who would
be unavailable for national needs in time of war, is causing the
greatest uneasiness and concern.
American merchant ships, their officers and men, are re
quired in times of emergency for scout purposes, for auxiliary
cruisers, to carry troops, coal and ammunition supplies, and for a
thousand and one needs for which warships would be neither de
sirable nor available.
These are serious problems for a new Administration so sud
denly to face, and their satisfactory solution is difficult, if not
impossible, at the moment.
CONGRESS IS ALONE TO BLAME FOR THE NEGLECT
TO BUILD UP A GREAT, POWERFUL, PROGRESSIVE AND
PROSPEROUS AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE IN FOR
EIGN TRADE.
THE PUNY PROVISION IN THE PENDING TARIFF
BILL to merely make a beginning in the upbuilding of American
shipping should be and is likely to be sc strengthened and but
tressed in the Senate as to lay a broad and solid foundation for
the establishment of an effective and enduring American mari
time policy.
The little so far provided has provoked the impudent pro
tests of foreign nations that are determined to prevent, if they
can. the maritime independence of the United States. The pres
ent conditions are far too useful and too profitable for these for
eign monopolists to willingly relinquish.
EVERY NATIONAL INSTINCT OF PRESERVATION
AND PROSPERITY SHOULD IMPEL CONGRESS TO IM
MEDIATE ACTION.
Are Women as
Foolish as Men?
I tei !
i: ili
DID YOU EVER KNOW IT TO FAIL?-
fViprrtffht.. HHH, tttar Company. ,
A Little Flattery Will Make a Man Do Anything
rwOMAH SUHRAfctl) f MOR mITL
\huh,you pont J r—^Either 1 . )
[till
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1
0
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CATCH ME
HAVING
AnYThiNC. TO
po WITH/
SUCH \
FLIJ0 PUB'
fNOT ~OKp u —
XVOUR UFFJ
(MAf
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H. MR.JONEp, WONT YOUJ
MARCH IN OUR PARADE.* /
we want The handsomest
\ME N we CAN CrBT'
/mr TmIth WuTT ImarchT
’ Wont You* VJfc WAMT 7
N/OUE ftUT GOOD- "
l looxino me.nL/
„ NOW, MR. BROWN WE ' _
5>impi_Y&ot to have.
YOU IN 3uR PARAPTk, Wt''
weep A tall,Fine-lookwo]
maw To CARRY The PAklWST j
LET
W OPVEN
VOTE
WOH*N
iJM
-rra>pPfr,
Should steps be taken at once to remedy our intolerable de
pendence upon foreign merchant shipping, it will take years for
the United States to reach a state of efficient preparedness in
American merchant ships, officers and men, for either the ordi
nary or the emergency requirements of our Government and the
peaceful transportation of our imports and exports. It is high
time to make a beginning.
We have discovered shortcomings in several important par
ticulars in naval equipment. BUT NOTHING HAS SO PRO
FOUNDLY IMPRESSED THE GOVERNMENT AT THIS TIME
AS THE PRESSING NEED OF A GREAT AMERICAN MER
CHANT MARINE, WISELY REGARDED AND OFFICIALLY
STATED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON AS ESSENTIAL TO
THE NATIONAL DEFENSE/’
It would indeed be thoughtless and cowardly if, in this crisis
in American affairs, the sinister protests of foreign governments
against immediate and adequate legislative provision for the up
building of American deep sea shipping should receive the slight
est consideration.
H It H
‘ We were introduced at a
restaurant and four days later
we were married and the next
day he deserted me and ran
away with $4,000 worth of my
jewelry and money. ’' This is the unvarnished narrative told by
a woman who had a man arrested out west the other day.
This same woman would watch the iceman like a hawk, for
fear he would give her only eight cents worth of ice instead of
the ten cents worth she paid for. She would inspect her grocery
and butcher bill, and the laundress does not wash who could get
a penny ahead of her at the Monday suds festival. She submits
her agent s reports as to rents or investments to the family law
yer, and she even keeps a shrewd and questioning eye on the
lawyer himself.
But she meets a man in a restaurant, hearkens to his story
ihat he is the temporarily embarrassed heir to a million or two,
and hands herself and her fortune over to him without as much
care as she bestows on the inspection of the chicken she buys for
the family dinner.
Ordinarily the victim of the sort of sharper who despoiled
the woman quoted above is not an ignorant, unsophisticated
girl; on the contrary, she is commonly a mature woman, and
not infrequently one who has had one or two whirls at the mat
rimonial lottery.
When we shake our heads at the credulity of such women
we should not ascribe their misfortune to the feminine type of
mind
Remember, when you feel how superior men are to that sort
of deception, that the gold-brick swindle and the green goods
game, the Spanish prisoner trap and wire-tapping delusion con
tinue year after year to earn fortunes for the rogues who have
the hardihood to perpetrate them.
There are lots of foolish women in the world—almost as
many as foolish men.
What Do You Like to Read About?
By WINIFRED BLACK.
^ { T Y THAT do you like to rend
\J\J about?” said the Man
to me.
I stared. “I mean.” said the
Man. “what sort of folks—people
In castles, with retainers and
heirs' birthdays,' or people on
yachts, with butler.® and valets, or
people out West, with Sheriffs
and bad men dropping in to sup
per. and the wind blowing in from
the desert and the coyotes yelp
ing on the great red mountains in
the dusky distance?”
■Oh,” said 1, ”1 don’t like any
of those people. I like folks
just plain folks. No, not ‘folksy
folks’ with dialects the women,
with shawls on their heads that
run in and gossip all about ‘What
made Maria stay an old maid so
long 0 ’ and ‘Who's goin’ to git
Mirandv, now Si’s gone”’ bore me
to tears; and 1 can't bear the fair
young schoolma'am who goes out
West and makes the biggest bo>
fall tn love with her. and then
they go back home to visit, and
he shocks the whole village by
saying Darn it!’ and wearing a
red cowboy handkerchief instead
of a collar.
Maids Don’t Worry Me.
1 like to read about the eort
of people 1 know myself, every day
in the week—-the woman with the
•fussy husband; the woman with
the boy she hopes will be a genius,
and he turns out to be just a
lazy dreamer, the woman with
the little girl who won’t take
music lessors, no matter how she
fries to make her; the man with
the business down-town, and the
rival over the way trying to take
it away from him; the girl on the
stage who plays real parts and
gets real criticisms; (he news
paper man who doesn't beat the
town the very first time he goes
out on a story; the people who
have comfy homes and a decent
picture or two, and a lot of good
books and some dogs, and either
children or the hope of children.
No. 1 don’t care for butlers In
mine though if the butler belongs
in the story I don't mind him at
all; 1 only hate to have him
dragged in by the heels to prove
that the man who employs him
really is no end of a swell.
■Valets'.’ Yes. a valet is all
right, if he isn't insisted on. Lots
of fairly every-day men have
\ slets—afctors and musician® and
other helpless creatures.
"Maids don’t worry me — no-
chauffeurs -as long as they stay
discreetly in the background, but
I must say secretaries and nur-
.-«er\ governesses and under-gar
deners and special trains and too
mans yachts do disconcert me a
little 1 ww -iue
add up what it would cost to have
an establishment like that, and
that interferes with the plot.
“No, I hate the Dickey and the
Alg.v story, with the ‘little gell in
white’ and her managing mama.
1 never can quite believe there are
WINIFRED BLACK.
such helplesv geese in the world
as that little gell. and if l knew
anyone like the ‘managing mama'
I'd have her looked up on a charge
of disturbing the peace.
‘‘Yes. it's folks 1 like—everyday
folks—plain Americans, with plain
« American troubles and plain
American joys, like buying a ma
chine after you've saved for it for
a year; and Daughter's graduat
ing essay: and Son’s first love af
fair
The Chocolate-Cream Age.
‘‘That’s why 1 always choose a
woman's j-tories. all other things
being equal, I guess.”
"The man looked at me more in
sorrow than in anger. “Are all
women like you?” he said. ”1
"don’t believe it I believe they
like to read about ropes of pearls
and strings of emeralds and ca
ble* of real coral—and gowns of
filmv lace—or a ”
"That’s the chorolate-cream
age.” I said. “They do. of course.
That’s because they are always
hoping they'll he one of those he
roines themselves some day. and
they want to have the fun of plan-
Ltitir gowns and think
ing how sweet they’ll look in the
ropes and chains and things.
When the woman is past want
ing to read about people like her
self, it heals her to realize that
she isn’t the only human being
who has trouble keeping the ex
pense accounts within scolding
limits. What do you like to read
about. Mr. Man?”
The man took a long pull on
his pipe. "I like to read about
damsels fair, and shady bowers,
and nooding violets, and dashing
cavaliers." he said, “and noble
heroes, and soldiers of fortune—
and quests, and all that. If any
one dares to hand me a book
about ‘How I Made My Money’
or ‘What 1 Did to Down the
Lemon Trust’ I’ll make him wish
he’d committed suicide that time
he almost wanted to.”
And then we both began to re
consider and talk it over, and we
both decided that we really don't
care so much about who the he
ro of the story was. The main
thing is, who wrote it?
There’s Bret Hart#. He could
take a bank "lerk and cast such
a sparkling veil of romance about
him thal his every pen flourish
would mean sentiment. And as
for the common little red-haired
person he fell ir love with—why,
she’d be a wood nymph, a fairy,
a siren from the cool green sea,
even if she lived in a hall bed
room and ate ‘w eenies' and choco
late for supper.
(’able! Do you ever hunt up
(’able'* houses down in New Or
leans'.’ Dirty old tumble-down
places, seen with everyday eyes.
L »ok through the magic glasses
of (’able, and yo»’’re in Elysia. the
land of fair women and brave
men. There’s even something
romantic about a piece of candied
lemon peel when the right sort of
man tells about it.
It Isn’t the Subject.
No. it isn't the subject: it's the
way it is handled, after all, we
agreed, the man and I. There's
so and so. the special writer on
the Daily Enterprise. He’d vTite
about a fire in a boiler factory
and make you bold your breath to
find out wheth* r the Maltese cat
got out alive or not. And there's
his brother on the Daily Scream,
would tell the story of a plot to
assassinate every beautiful wom
an in America, and keep you
yawning all the way through. It
isn’t the story: it isn't the peo
ple in the story—it's the writer
that matters.
“But still," 'aid I to the Man.
all things being equal. I want
folks in my stories—folks that I
know."
“Gossip.” said the man. And
we both wen; and got our own
particular kind of book and set
tled d 'wn to our own particular
kind of evening, and were per-
fec f i\ satisfied What fun it is
to talk these things over once in
a while! Isn't it?
Awake at Last to Navy’s Needs
The Treason of Congress Against the Navy, Says .John Temple Graves, Is Not
Likely To Be Repeated in This Generation.
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES
ERE
T h
ar
COL. GRAVES.
re sub-
slant i a 1
evidences of a
reviving p a -
riotism and
common sense
in the Amer
ican Congress
toward the
America n
navy.
When Sec
retary Daniels
was banqueted
week before
last in Savan
nah one of the
speakers was
Congres s m a n
Edwards. o f
the Savannah
district, Mr.
Edwards has been heretofore
apathetic, if not openly antago
nistic, to the ample navy pro
gram. On this latest occasion
he said that, however indif
ferent and economic his view's
had been tow'ard the navy, the re
cent international interchanges
with Japan had opened his eyes
and fixed him definitely and firmly
as an advocate and champion of a
greater navy.
Others Changed.
■'Henceforth.'’ said Mr. Edwards,
“if the naval experts of the Gov
ernment advise Congress that w-e
need three battleships, or four
battleships, or even five, I am for
the navy and whatever it needs to
defend our country. The anxie
ties aroused by our unprepared-
ne.«»s against Japan must never be
repeated in America.”
Savannah is one of the ultra-
conservative cities of the South,
and Congressman Edwards is no
tably conservative, cautious and
economical. His complete conver
sion is in the highest degree sig
nificant of the awakening of Con
gress.
It is even so with Congressman
Poor, of the Raleigh District of
North Carolina. Secretary Dan
iels’ district.
Mr. Poor has also been among
the conservatives on the naval
program of the House. The Japa-*
nese contention and the develop
ments of our naval unprepared-
ness, as exposed by the Hearst
newspapers, have aroused the
North Carolinan to the perils of
an undefended country and the
necessity for a navy ample for
our Western and Eastern Coasts.
He is openly and heartily for the
ample navy.
On the lips of scores of anti
navy Congressmen there are ex
pressions similar to these. It is
actually true that the naval in
formation and comparisons de
veloped by the recent internation
al controversy have changed the
spirit of the national Congress on
this vital question of the national
defense.
The American dongress and the
American people have slept for
years upon the idea that our
“splendid isolation” protected our
country, and that in case of war
our navy and army were equal to
every demand of defense and of
fense. Congress and some of the
people have had the same feeling
toward foreign nations that the
South had toward the North pre
ceding the Civil War. “One
Southerner can whip a dozen
Yankees," said some.
One Southern statesman de
clared in a public speech. “Why,
we can w'hip the Yankees with
popguns!” Challenged upon this
assertion after the war was over,
the orator responded: “Well, so
we could, but the d—d fellow*
wouldn’t fight that way!”
Awake at Last.
Our country has waked up at
last to the fact that it is not im
mune from war, that it is not in
vincible in war, that it is not pre
pared for war.
The awakening will do us good.
It is worth this flurry with Japan
to have educated the American
people and their representatives
How Opening of the Panama Canal Will
Aid Historical Research
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
A FTER th© Panama Canal ie
opened we may begrin to
learn the true history of
Ancient America.
Many readers may he unaware
that this new world, ss we call
it, contains one of the oldest of
all historical mysteries, and, in
fact the very oldest if as some
maintain, it forms a direct con
nection with the story of the lost
continent of Atlantis.
Buried in the tropical jungles
of Central America there are the
ruins of once splendid cities,
whose remains of a gigantic ar
chitecture are covered with hier
oglyphics more puzzling - than
those of ancient Egypt, for no
man has vet succeeded in dis
covering a complete key to their
meaning. They guard their secret
more jealously than the Sphinx.
Ruins of Temples.
Their origin is ascribed to a
practically vanished race called
the Mayas, related to the Aztec
of Montezuma's Empire, but far
excelling the ancient Mexicans in
everything except warlike power.
The ruins of their temple® a;
Palenque, Copan. Peren and else
where. excite the wonder of the
traveler, and contain some of the
most beautiful and elaborate
carving that can anywhere be
found.
They had not only an exquisite
picture language, but also a writ
ten language, of which undeci
pherable manuscripts yet exist
They built about forty towns,
connected by stone-paved roads.
They had a postal system, con
ducted by means of swift-footed
carriers who ran from town to
town over the paved roadways.
Sometimes they were at war with
one another, and then armies
marched to battle on the same
roads.
They were skillful agricultur
ists. and cultivated broad fields,
which are now overgrown with
mosey trees and tangled vines and
shrubs They raised cotton and
wove it into garments.
They made beautiful ornaments
of gold and semi-precious stones,
and were more skillful even than
the Aztecs in feather work.
The designs carved on their
buildings and ornamental. or
symbolic, structures are of great
beauty and astonishing perfec
tion in detail. They covered the
walls of rooms with brilliant
paintings on stucco.
They Have Vanished.
Strange to say, the people be
lieved to be descended from these
Mayas are unable to throw any
light upon the history of their
supposed ancestors.
All their civilization has van
ished, and with it. apparently, all
memory of the ancient splendors
of the race.
Some of the figures carved by
the Mayas bear such striking re
semblance to similar things found
in the ancient ruins of the Old
GARRETT P. SERVISS.
World that the suggestion has
been made that a connection for
merly existed across the Atlantic
Ocean, and this is the origin of
the theory that the ancestors of
the Mayas dwelt on the fabled
continent of Atlantis, which Plato
heard had been sunk in the west
ern ocean ages before his time.
One of the strangest facts about
the ancient land of the Mayas has
recently been called to attention
by Dr. Ellsworth Hunington It
is this: At present the whole dis-
MR. BRYAN’S TOAST
Editor The Georgian:
You devote much of your space
to Mr. Bryan. Will you please re
produce a portion of his toast at
the Army and Navy Club, given
at the rarewell banquet to the
Commissioners from Great Brit
ain and Canada? Here it is:
Mr. Chairman; I have delivered
three addresses of welcome to our
visitors, but will have but one word
of farewell, and that is in keeping
with the environment which sur
rounds us this morning. We are met
in the building of the Army and
Navy Club, and the fact that we are
the guests of those who represent
those two arms of the Government
suggests the thought which l pre-
sert in bidding you adieu While
we are the advocates of peace, we
are really engaged in the const mo
tion of a battleship which is to be
the very culmination —the climax—of
the seaman's art. Mar has been
engaged in the construction of wa
ter craft since the flapping sail first
whispered its secret of strength to
the voyager He has designed ves
sels for pleasure, for commerce and
for war. We hav<| had the galley
the viking's ship, the frigate, the
ironclad and the dreadnought But
no limit can be placed to the ambi
tions of man as a builder, and J ask
you to join me In proposing a t'.ast
to a ship more potent than any
which man has thus far employed
in war—a ship with whose coming
man's highest hopes will be realized
for there is nothing beyond
Here’s to the greatest of ships
Its compass is the human heart Its
shells are bursting with good-will
Love is the smokeless powder that
impels the projectBes which it
sends forth. The Prince of Peace ie
its Capiain. I propose as the con
summation of our desire the en
during. the indestructible battleship
whosp armor nothing can pierre—
FRIENDSHIP
HABERSHAM KING.
No. 682 North Boulevard.
to an understanding of our real
condition and of our national
dangers
I feel that the Hearst newspa
pers have performed a signal and
patriotic service in helping to this
national understanding These
newspapers can be indifferent to
any criticism of sensationalism in
the consciousness that more than
any other American newspapers
they have taught the people
something about their navy.
Public opinion is coming to
stand for the idea that prepared
ness In war is the best promoter
of peace. The long centuries of
exemption from attack that Eng
land's great navy has bought for
England is teaching our people
that they have a right to expect
from their representatives just
such an insurance policy against
war.
Gatling Philosophy.
The treason of Congress against
the Navy ia not likely to be re*
peeted in thie generation.
The policy of national pre
paredness also pervades our na
tional officials—always excepting
Mr. Bryan, whose "doves” and
"swans" and "flowers of rhetoric”
delight the Chautauqua.'.
Secretary Daniels said to Mr.
Datling. of the Gatling run: “Are
you not conscience smitten over
your invention? Do not your
guns keep you from sleeping be
cause of the people they have de
stroyed and may destroy?”
To which Mr. Gatling an
swered :
"My guns have saved more
lives than they have ever destroy
ed. The existence of them and
the knowledge of their destruct
iveness keep nations from war
and mobs from bloody riots. The
Gatling gun is a peace-maker.”
And Secretary Daniels, of the
Navy, Is tremendously impressed
just now with the Gatling phil
osophy.
Perhaps we shall have national
cause to thank Japan and the
Hearst newspapers!
trict possesses a climate so warm,
moist and debilitating that it is
almost the worst place on the
globe for human habitation.
The ruins of the ancient cities,
instead of lying amid deserts, and
under a burning sun, as happens
with most of the abandoned cap
itals of the East, are so overgrown
with tangled vegetation and en
veloped in feverstricken swamps
that some of them are nearly un
approachable.
The conclusion is that within
the past two thousand years, a
vast change of climate has occur
red in that part of America, and
that in the days of Mayan civili
sation the earth's climatic zones
were shifted in such a manner
that the land occupied by this re
markable people enjoyed very dif
ferent atmospheric conditions
from those that prevail there now
Peten, one of their most im
portant cities, which has not yet
been well explored on account of
the difficulties of approach, lies in
the midst of a region which is.
at present, very sparsely peopled,
and where It would be impossible
to cultivate the land as it was
cultivated in the days of the
Mayas.
May Be Read in Full.
Only by such a supposition, it
is thought, can a rational expla
nation be found for the fact that
the highest native civilization
ihat’this continent had developed
before the white man came, was
centered aoout a location which
is now a deadened and almost un
inhabitable wilderness.
When the Panama Canal has
become a great highway, and the
attention of the world has been
turned upon its surroundings
fresh light is likely to be thrown
upon this fascinating mystery.
Then the Mayan hieroglyphics
may be read in full and a hidden
chapter of American history-
thrown open.