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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 Subscription Price Delivered bv carrier. 10 cents a week By mail, $5 00 a year Payable in Advance. 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 El I. I4i_ 1 0 i CATCH ME HAVING AnYThiNC. TO po WITH/ SUCH \ FLIJ0 PUB' fNOT ~OKp u — XVOUR UFFJ (MAf 1 we 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.