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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME RARER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By TIIK GEORGIAN COMPANY
At io East Alabama St., Atlanta, Ga.
Entered n» eerond-class matter at i staff! cm at Atlanta, under art of March 3,1*73
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Stop the Hold-Up Shipowners
If the Titanic Had Been Provided With Boats and Men to
Handle Them There Would Have Been
No Loss of Life
The last Congress, taking counsel of the shipowners’ fears,
spoiled the Democratic seamen’s bill passed by the House. As
it came from the sub committee of the Senate it was calculated
to strip from the traveler and shipper the last remaining liability
yet resting upon the owners of vessels. The bill reported by
Senator Burton would, if passed, have legalized the kind of crew
condemned by the court in the .case of the City of Rio de Janeiro
and by the Senate Investigation and the court in the case of the
Titanic. The Commerce Committee and the Senate amended and
struck out until the bill, as it finally passed, was an improvement;
but by no means the kind of legislation that ought to be passed in
this Congress after mature consideration.
Congress should meet the issue fairly by enacting the bill
which passed the House. The one fact clearly established in the
loss of the City of Rio de Janeiro, General Slocum, Titanic and
several others was that the vessels were undermanned both as to
numbers and skill. If the Titanic had been provided with boats
and men to handle them there would have been no loss of life.
This was the opinion of the survivors and the final judgment of
the Senate Committee, and the report was adopted by the Senate.
The bill which passed the House was a carefully drawn, con
servative measure; it was fully debated and passed without di
vision.
The shipowners’ lobby persuaded some of the Senators that,
if it became law, the seamen would be able to compel the ship
owners to grant such improvements as would be a serious hard
ship upon the shipping, because the bill provided that a few of
the men should have spch experience as would give some guar
antee that they would be able to do their duty in an emergency.
President Taft refused to sign the bill finally passed, and
so far no really effective legislation has been enacted to meet the
condition uncovered by the Titanic disaster.
Congress should remember that the sea is as dangerous this
year as it was last; that we may at any time be compelled to con
template another Titanic disaster, and that we are no more pre
pared and therefore more guilty than last year.
Let the obstruction cease. Let the bill pass. We owe it to
the dead who bravely went to their end; we owe it to the living
who go down to the sea, be it as passengers or as seamen. There
can be no safety at sea unless the vessels are properly manned,
and shipowners will not furnish efficient men unless compelled by
law. Of this we surely need no further evidence.
H n H
It is interesting to learn that
in Alaska at least the “turkey
trot ’ ’ and the ‘ ‘ bunny hug ’ ’ and
the “tango” are not permitted.
Time was, in the infancy of
these perverted terpsichorean revels, that they flourished in San
Francisco on what was known as “The Barbary Coast.” But
they became too vulgar even for the “Barbary coasters,” and
long before the great fire had swept that portion of the city
out of existence they had perished from the dance halls.
Their revival in debased form in New York and other great
cities is not creditable either to the taste of young people who
abandon themselves in their contortions, or to the discipline of
parents who permit such things. But sometimes real moral
progress comes from places that are nearest to the clean, un
tarnished bosom of the earth. All people who like to see the
youth of both sexes clean and wholesome in thought and con
duct will rejoice that Alaska has set a high-example, and will
hope for the day when it will be followed across the continent
to the East.
ft It «
A Breath of Clean
Air From Alaska
When Senator Lorimer goes
before the people to seek a
“vindication,” as he now pro
poses to do, he will learn some
thing about the progress of
public opinion. Incidentally some of the gentlemen who are now
in the Senate will discover that it is no longer popular to be a
Lorimer. Mr. Penrose, for example, who still fancies that he has
a chance for re-election, will discover that he hasn’t. Mr. War
ren will learn that he has outlived his usefulness, and the Hon.
Elihu Root will awaken to the fact that he can never again be
elected to office.
For hereafter people will elect United States Senators by
popular vote, and they will not choose Lorimers or Warrens or
Roots or Penroses. Thanks to the exposures of the relations be
tween Senators, past and present, to the Standard Oil Company,
mad* by Hearst s Magazine and by William Randolph Hearst on
the stump, and to the revelations concerning Lorimer made by
the Hearst newspapers, the people know more about Senatorial
material than they used to, and the men they send to the Senate
must have clean records and keep them clean if they are to re
main Senators.
No “Vindications”
for Lorimer
| PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS
Ojtce in a while an Arab punc-
tures an Italian to remind the
world that there is supposed to be
a war going on *h Tripoli.
• • «
Up to date the score betwen Nat
Goodwin and De Wolf Hopper
stands 5 to 5, with both men hit
ting in midsea^on form.
An expert in Paris informs us
that a man need not spend more
than $2,BOO on his clothes. This
will bring great joy into the
homes of our workingmen.
• * *
Our notion of self-control is to
write a paragraph about James
Hamilton Lewis without referring
to his scenery.
It i said that a poot is born, not
made, the biame thereby falling
on his parents •
• * •
A blue mountain lion is reported
in California Mr. Bryan's favor
ite drffik evidently is not popular
in the Far West,
The ability not to look weary
when some one (s telling a funny
story is one of the chief elements
of diplomacy.
* * •
A safety razor will often do its
part trygkrd promoting an appear
ance orprosperity.
Precept and Practice
Husband Who Forgets Wife for Baseball
By WINIFRED BLACK.
S O he's a baseball fan, is he,
that husband of yours?
Goes crazy when the ball
season opens and stays crazy till
it closes’— talks baseball, eats
baseball, thinks baseball, dreams
haseball—knows every player In
the league by name; has every
record by heart and would be
sick In bed if he had to stay at
home from a single game that is
played in Ills home town. He
neglects his work,’you think—he
neglects you—he doesn’t care for
a thing on earth but "the game”
—you think something must be
wrong with his brain, and what
shall you do about it?
You've argued, you've begged,
you’ve cried, you’ve stormed,
you’ve raged, you've even prayed
over It—and nothing makes the
least impression on husband.
What are you going to think?
How shall you fight this obses-
Sipn?
How Can You Care?
How can you care for a man
with such a 8trange madness?
You feel as* If you were in love
with a lunatic—or something
Well. well, child, so you are. so
you are in love with a lunatic;
most of us have been, some time
or other, and will be again as
long as we live. That's .what we
get for being human—and falling
in love with human beings.
Now, if we could only find a lit
tle Godling somewhere—off a val
entine—and fall in love with him
—but we can't, we simply can’t;
we wouldn’t like the Godling so
awfully well after all. I’m afraid.
1 heard three men talking about
the tobacco habit last night; one
was a young man of 30, one was a
middle-aged man of 40. and one
was' a boy of 20.
The boy of 20 was smoking a
pipe. He did it, he said, to keep
away from cigarettes.
• You’ll never do it that way,”
said the man of 40. • You’ll have
to take up chewing, that will help
you out.”
•'Yep." said the man of o0. "so
they say—well. I’ve never had the
courage to begin the fight at all;”
ami three women In the room
gazed dumbly at each other, and
one raised her delicate brows ever
so little and said sweetly: "I don’t
use tobacco at all, and I don’t
seem to mind it a bit.”
"Ah,” said the other woman,
“but you don’t belong to the
stronger rex”—and then I laugh
ed—I realty had to, for not one of
the women there had a single
WINIFRED BLACK.
‘•habit’’ that she couldn’t break or
that there was the least reason
for her trying to break, and yet
every single one of us loved each
of us our own particular man
just because he was a man—and
had all the masculine—dare I call
them weaknesses of the sex? I'm
afraid I’ll have to.
Your husband isn’t any worse
than any one else’s husband,
honey, he’s a man. that's all—and
I never saw a man in my life who
was quite what a woman would
call really * well-balanced"—hon
estly. now. did you?
If it isn't tobacco, it's whisky,
and if it isn’t whisky it’s horses,
and if it isn’t horses it’s dogs or
it’s baseball or fishing or some
thins else faddy and more or less
“queer." But observe the male
of the species, sisterg, he’s young
er than vou, he’s more generous
than you, and he’s happier than
you—a whole lot, taken bye and
larger; so if that’s what his "hab
its” and "fads” do for him, why.
I for one am glad he has them.
You aren’t responsible for hus
band’s follies—you are responsi
ble for your own. No one is go
ing to call you to account if hus
band loses his job because he’s
poorer." How beautiful it all
sounded to you then. You didn’t
stop the preacher to cry out.
If It Isn’t His Fault.
”1 mean, If It Isn’t his own fault
when he’s poor.” You’d have died
to even think of such a thing.
Why do you think of It now?
Stop worrying, take a leaf out
of his book; I’ll warrant he looks
ten years younger than you do
right now—.just for that-—get up
adding scores when he ought to
be keeping books. You’ll have to
stand the misery of poverty with
him, though. Of course, that’s
what you said when you married
him, "for better or worse,” don’t
you remember, "for richer or
a fad of your own—something
harmless and healthful.
You want him to be a man-
well, then, you be a woman—that
may attract his attention for a
minute—and that sometimes
helps—a little.
Washington’s Inauguration
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
T HE United States Govern
ment is 124 years eld. On
April 30, 1789, at Federal
Hall, George Washington was
duly Inaugurated first President
of the United States, and the
great experiment of self-govern
ment on these Western shores
was fairly begun.
The beginning was most auspi
cious. Than Washington no finer
man ever stood at the forefront
of a nation’s life. Of Washing
ton America is eminently proud,
and of Washington America has
the right to be proud, for the
"Father of His Country” was. in
every sense of the word, a whole
man. Time has somewhat dis
turbed the halo that for a long
while held the place abdut the
great man’s head, ft has been
proven that Washington was hu
man. and all the more thanks for
that. But after the closest scru
tiny, from every part of the
world, for a century and a quar
ter, it is still to be proven that
anything mean, or mercenary, or
dishonorable or unpatriotic ever
came near the head or heart of
our first President.
Washington loved his country
with a whole heart. He was a pa-*
triot to the core. His first, last
and only ambition was to do what
he could to promote the high ends
to which the Republic was dedi
cated. Politics, as defined by
Aristotle, Is the “science of gov
ernment." Washington was not a
learned man, and probably knew
very little of Aristotle, but his
head was clear and his heart was
pure, and he, too, felt that poli
tics was the science of govern
ment, and that the result of the
government should be the "great
est good to the greatest number”
of his fellow citizens.
From that high and sacred con
viction Washington never once
swerved, and when he quit his ex
alted office he did so with elean
hands and unsmirched fame, leav
ing behind him a name which is
probably the most illustrious in
the annals of the race.
Rapid and phenomenal has been
the progress of Washington’s
country! It seems like a dream
rather than the soundest of his
torical facts. The Romans, after
fighting “tooth and nail” for 300
years, found themselves with a
territory no larger than that com
prised Within the limits of Greater
New York. In 124 years the
Americans are the owners of a
territory in comparison with
which the Roman Empire, when
at the height of its glory, was but
a small affair—a territory where
in are operant the greatest indus
trial, economic, moral and politi
cal forces that this old planet
ever witnessed.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
Daughter’s Social
Pleasures
Investigate, She Says, as
It Is Unwise to Take
Too Much for Granted
Written For The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright, 1918, by Star Company.
D O you know all about your
daughter’s friends? About
their social pleasures?
Your daughter may be attend
ing school; she may be employed
In an office, or in a factory, and
she may tell you some morning
that she will stay all night with
one of her girl friends.
Do you investigate the 1 matter
aijd know Just who this girl friend
may be?
Do you take sufficient interest
to find out what the entertain
ment was which these girls at
tended, and just where they w'ent
after the moving picture or the
vaudeville show was over?
How About Her Friends?
You say you trust your daugh
ter.
But can you also trust every
friend the daughter makes?
The very Innocence of your
child may lead her to place her
confidence in those who are seek
ing her downfall.
She believes “Mollie” is as good
as herself.
And she goes to stay all night
with Mollie.
But Mollie has lost her stand
ards of right living; she has be
come obsessed with the demons of
extravagance and excitement, and
she has decided that it is an old
fogy idea to work day in and out,
and earn only a small wage and
spend her evenings In a dull flat
or cheap hoarding house.
Mollie has already sold herself
to the people who give her more
than she can earn by hard work.
And she tells your daughter what
liberal people they are, and what
a good time they can have, if your
daughter will stay with her and
go over there for the evening.
And when your unsuspecting child
returns to you, she, too, has en
tered the path which is so long
in turning.
This is not an imaginary tale.
It is happening continually in
every large city and many small
er cities of America.
It occurs more frequently in
America than elsewhere, because
of the stupid and senseless con
fidence parents have In the dis
cretion of their daughters, and of
the utter lack of careful guar
dianship they exert over them.
If your daughters tell you they •
are asked to stay overnight any
where, my dear sir or madam,
make sure that you know all
about it—the people with whom
they are to stay, and all about
the places of amusement where
they are going.
The working girls are particu
larly In danger, but schoolgirls In
good homes are not exempt from
these dangers.
In one of our lesser American
cities a certain high school was
obliged to close its doors last
year because of the well-founded
scandals which were circulated
concerning the pupils.
A large percentage of these
young girls had become corrupt
ed by associating with one im
moral young woman who had led
them into vicious paths, unknown
to the parents.
Didn’t Ask Afterward.
When the unsuspecting fathers
and mothers were told by their
offspring that they were going to
attend a party at the home of one
of the pupils, the former made no
attempt to learn the nature of the
party, or to know more of the
hostess than that she was a
friend of their daughters.
Nor did they ask afterward for
particulars of the entertainment
until it was too late.
The most important duty life
holds for you Is to keep in touch
with your children and to know
all about their pleasures and all
about their friends and to guide
them, over the dangerous paths of
youth by the light of love and
knowledge.
The Oration of an Alien
By JAMES J. MONTAGUE.
H onorable pardners. i
come not here to make you
remember the story of our
thralldom. We are aliens.
How long are we for to stand
for this? I ask. Look what
happens!
Honorable Kimono is valet of
Honorable Bill Jones, Wall
Street man. Fine job? Not no
ticing it. One morning birds
singing, everything lovely; street
piano making music sung by
Hon. Caruso, phonograph going
all around; spring suffusing at
mosphere. Hon. Kimono need
new shirt. How can get it. No
money. Pay day one week in
far future.
Must Have Shirt.
Must have shirt. Honorable
laundry make ribbons of only one
got. Ribbons lovely on hat. Not
much good for shirt.
Honorable Wall Street man
leave accidentally one-dollar bill
on dresser. Honorable Kimono
see bill. Bill mean shirt and
change for fine celluloid collar
that can be made immaculate
with slightly moistened handker
chief. All within reach. Ameri
can proverb say cleanliness adja
cent to godliness. Hon. Kimono
godly man. Very well.
In inadvertent absence of Hon.
Bill Jones, Hon. Kimono take one-
dollar bill for to borrow, like is
Wall Street practice. But shirt.
Also collar.
Do Honorable Wall Street man
say the forgiving thing when he
miss dollar—miserable dross price
of not more than three cigars?
He say not the forgiving thing.
In deep bass he call Honorable
Kimono. “Where one-dollar
bill?” is question he rise to ask.
“How can know?” reply Hon.
Kimono, not intending to incrim
inate and degrade himself. “How
can nothing?” is harsh reply of
Hon. Wall Street man. which af
ter despicable Yankee custom an
swer one question with another.
“Maybe you take him for the
cigars to purchase,” suggest Hon.
Kimeno with cunning craft.
"Maybe you take him for to
blow at the show of the moving
picture,” is dastardly counter sug
gestion of Hon. Bill Jones.
“Maybe you get too fresh,” say
Hon. ’ Kimono, with the repartee
quickly for to come baok.
Does Hon. Bill Jones admire
Hon. Kimono that he rapid with
the apt reply. Not so it would
he observable to the eye that is
not wrapped in the arms of Hon.
Morpheus. No.
With extra heavy shoe of six-
footer vulgarian he kick Hon. Ki
mono down seven steps, hurting
him on Hon. shin when he col
lide with stone balustrade at bot
tom. And why?
For that we.are aliens is the
reason.
How long is to continue this
of condition? I ask.
Maybe we get in England not
the property rights we go after.
Maybe not. That is not the wor
ry of the Japanese-American. We
have kick that we are aliens.
What can alien do. Can he go to
ballot box and drop in the hon-
orable vote?
Fellow countryman. What for
are we aliens? Echo answers,
"Rise and be something else be
side aliens.” Do not stand for
it Write to Hon. Bryan, who is
Duke of Peace, and Hon. Wilson,
who is King of Peace, and make
row. Get people in Tokio on Hon.
job.
GreenThings
By MINNA IRVING
I T’S full of green things growing.
This garden patch of mine,
Where golden sunbeams glisten.
And early dewdrops shine.
I’ve hoed It every morning,
And watered It each night,
And watched the tiny leaflets
Come peeping Into sight.
It’s full of green things growing,
My little garden patch.
But I am far the greenest
Of all the verdant batch.
With fond anticipations
I sowed a peck of seeds,
But pulled them as they sprouted,
And raised a crop of weeds.