Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, June 04, 1913, Image 18

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EDITORIAL PAGl The Ailanta Georgian the home rarer THF ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Kxcept Sunday I?y THE GK< »Hi i IA N CuM'WNY We Get Ideals Easily from Pictures So Please Look at the Picture on I his Page of the Cheapest \Vork.ng Animal in the World It May Help You to I hink. Copyright, 1913. What was the first animal tamed, conquered and made into a slave by man? Men had to work a long time, probably, be- lore they got into their heads the idea of slavery for others— an idea that has meant so much to the comfort of a few and the misery of the rest for centuries. As a guess, we should say that the first tamed animal was some kmd of a deer or female buffalo. Some savage woman found it wounded, perhaps broken-legged in a .pit, the young cne standing near it. The young one was killed and eaten. The mother was hobbled and kept alive as long as possible for her milk, given to the wild woman s children. And when the milk gave out the mother probably was eaten by the wild woman and her children. After that experiment that same wild woman, or some other, decided that the captured animal could be kept per manently, made gentle and used to carry a load. The women, of course, carried all the loads at first, as they do now among the red Indians. Probably the first domestic scene was a wom an milking by force and violence some half-wild animal in order to get milk for her young ones. The first animal tamed by man was probably a wolf, the father of our present tribe of dogs, the tame wolf being used by the man to help him hunt animals or hunt other men. However, speculation about the first animal tamed is not the purpose of this particular article. We want to call your attention to the most valuable animal that men use in their slavery, AND THE CHEAPEST ANIMAL. That animal is a woman, working in the factory or a sweatshop. Since the days when the first buffalo or wolf or elephant was tamed, there has been nothing as cheap as the woman worker, nothing so easily obtainable, so easily kept in slavery, so easily replaced when worked to death. You can see in the picture on this page some of man’s accomplishments. He teaches elephants to lift logs. He uses little donkeys, powerful horses, oxen with big horns, but he uses, above all THE POVERTY-STRICKEN WOMAN AND HER CHILDREN AS SOON AS THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO WORK. Isn’t that a proud achievement of civilization, to find the cheapest of all animal labor and the cheapest of all working animals IN THE FEMALE HUMAN BEING? The wise and great Moses, when he was teaching the Jews to keep house without an ice box and laying down laws that make of the Jewish people the healthiest in the world to-day, that wise Moses issued this order, on the authority of the Almighty: “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.’’— Exodus 34:26. Why Moses gave the order we don’t *now. Possibly be cause he thought it was bad enough to kill the mother and eat it, but a little too bad and too heartless to take the mother’s milk and boil her own child in that milk. Or probably Moses issued the order because of his general opinion that meat and milk should not be used at the same meal. What would Moses think, if he came along now and found a miserable, half starved under paid woman, working in a factory and found her own “kid,” the child of her body, tied to some machine in the factory with her, or sitting at her feet in a sweatshop working before it was six years of age? Would not the old Lawgiver say, “I thought it was bad enough in my day to boil a kid in the milk of its own mother. “But to take a child and work it to death in the same fac tory that worked its mother to death is going a little farther along the road of deviltry than I ever imagined human beings could go.” Yet that is what we do. Our system of industry takes these “cheapest of working- animals,” the women, and takes their cheap children, and boils them all down into profits in the same factory—and that is “civilization.” You are tired, readers, of hearing about low pay for women and girls—tired, perhaps, even of the suggestion that laws should be passed compelling employers to pay to the cheapest working animal at least enough to keep clothes on her back and food in her stomach. What follows, however, you will read with interest. It is a brilliant Frenchman’s description of woman as she lived ages ago. He calls it. “The First Tears." It is, perhaps, as good a description as has been written of the appearance of the first woman, in the days when she drank from the born of a bison, and kept her rainwater in the skull of an elephant. It is the woman of the days before men had learned to conquer fire. It is worth reading: “On the rest of the cliff the branches of a thicket parted and an arm a shouldei. then tin entire foim of a living being:, veiled with tawny hair, appeared, tame forth, and stood like a hunted animal, glancing to right and left--a primitive woman, with arched shelving brow' broad flunks, short solid leg?, splayfeot and thick fat hands * mas< of falling bait, sternn ; from the crown of her long skull, f- iic her face with a somber rod-brown aureole A short, loose rn-ek ro c from her fall should* rs. strong teeth glittered in her red jaws*, and a double furrow ran from jaw to brow to divide the formica* nose from the cheek bones. “A.s the creature breathed her mobile nostrils drew back to take revc] uions of the wind. Sheltered by the low retreating forehead, tw, jutting arcades fell to form t averns lor the restless eyes. At 1-1,n-s the wrinkled eveiids string neneu. the eyes widened, and an ex pression of appealing softness opp* >red. then vanished to give place jo the look of a worried beast. "The time was the dawn of humanity, when Man was an animal in ui but shape before the rigors of tru >•. «.->vn forced Earth** popula- The Cheapest Working Animal She is cheaper by the day, the hour or the whole lifetime than any of the different beasts that labor for men. (SEE EDITORIAL.) tion to hide from the cold in caves. The skeletons of giant saurian* were i unifying in the upper strata of the crust, and mammals were moving in to the valleys to take their places. Great pachyderms and long-haired ruminants waded in the mire of the valleys, and beasts of prey dogged their steps Among the animal? rare beings foreshadow ing Man crept naked, timid, feeling their way, hiding from the beasts of prey. “In the low light of the primeval springtime, In silence broken only by the tramp of padded hoofs and by the lap of water against the mire. ■» man searching for berries saw a women running to escape him. ran after her. caught her and carried her away “The man vanished, and for the first time in her hunted life the woman felt the loneliness of the solitude that had been her best condi tion. and i pang like the \ earning of hunger aw oke In her. “She w andered along the hedge?, through the wet fields, under the dark sky. searching for the one who had mastered her; and when af ter long quest, she saw him. she ran to him with inarticulate cries. He gave no answering sign; but. when he sat down to eat his fistful of acorns, she sat down beside him, and when he lay down to sleep she. too, lav down. So the law of life gave the woman to the man “At first he tolerated her; then, when she served him and was use ful to him, he made her his habit. Her relative weakness gave her quick premonitions of their need of food. His indifference to her and her dependence upon him gave him superiority. His silent acceptance of her presence aroused in her dull brain t feeling akin to tenderness, and ih that feeling, humble and submissive, she withdrew when he had beaten her.” That description was written by Edmond Haraucourt. It goes on to say that the primitive man called the woman Hock.’’ And the woman called him “Daah,” a name which the French gentleman thinks was “an appeal soft as a caress.” This primitive married couple had two other words, one for hunger, ”Mah,'’ and another for danger, “Heugh.” Whatever else they had to say they told in gestures. Primitive times were they not—those days of three or four hundred thousand years ago? But how much worse was that primitive woman, short legged and ugly and beaten by the brute that she liked, than the woman of to day? The woman of to-day is better made, she has a forehead where the other had none. She has feelings of which the other never dreamed. , Is she any better off—SHE, THE CHEAPEST WORKING MACHINE TEAT MAN EMPLOYS; SHE, THE LOWEST- PRICED ANIMAL, THE CHIEF BEAST OF BURDEN OF THE WORLD. CHEATED OF HER RIGHTS FROM BEGIN NING TO END, CHEATED AS WAS THIS WOMAN OF NEARLY HALF A MILLION YEARS AGO? The so-called educated and superior classes have the im pertinence to laugh at the women who at last have had the courage and the intelligence to make a stand for their rights, to demand a share in the making of laws that will protect them against the brutality that has lasted a half-million years. Saving Humanity’s “Seed Corn” By REV. T. B. GREGORY. T HE foundation of the first real reform school, at Mett ray. France, seventy-four yt ,irs ago, marks the beginning of one of the most vitally Important institutions that are at work among us at this time for the uplift of the race. The honor of starting this most effective propaganda for the sal vation of the young, who may well be called the “seed-corn" of hu manity. belongs to M. de Met*, at one time a. great law yer in Paris. Dangers to Youth. In the Ga\ City Metz witnessed tne temptations and dangers to which young boys and girls were exposed; he saw them falling by multitudes into the way of evil: and. what was more to the point. In- observed that even the worst I of the delinquents never quite 1 succeeded in totally demoralizing themselves, and that most of them were redeemable If approached in the right spirit and assisted by the proper environment. Set Himself the Task. With this conviction deep set in his mind the ex-councillor set himself to the task of putting his faith to the test of actual ex periment. Putting his hands into his own pockets, and into the pockets of as main of his friends as would allow it. he soon had a considerable amount of cash, and upon ground given by the Vleomte de Fourcelles the Reform School was built and put into operation. The results more than justified the good man’s dream; and when, some years later. M. tie Metz lay upon his deathbed, he was com forted with the happy conscious- nets that he had wrought nobl> and permanently for the Humani ty he loved so well. The Mettray School set the world a-thinking. and it was not long before other countries were establishing similar institutions. Groat Britain, Germany. Austria, Italy, the United States fell into line, and the idea of saving the boys and girls from becoming hardened criminals became almost a passion. To-day—less than a century after the foundation of the school at Mettray—the institutions for the moral uplift of 1uvenil£ delin quents are to be numbered by the thousands. They have ramified not only throughout Christendom, but are to be found in the so- called “Pagan” lands of the earth, where Christianity, as an organi zation, is'but little known. Wherever humanity is found there in the midst of it is the spirit of the Paris lawyer—which is. of course, but a reflection of the spirit of the Great Brother of us all—working to save the youth of the race, to redeem fallen boys and girls from the grip of the de stroyer and to restore them to the ways of decency and peace. If all the youth who have been reached and lifted up to a sense of self-respect and happiness by these reform schools could be got together what a procession they would make! Needs No Monument. The temptation is strong to ask the question: Has M. de Metz a monument? But how foolish, after all, the question would be. He needs no monument. This same mighty army of redeemed youth is his monument and he requires no other. Ella Wheeler Wilcox Writes on This World It Is Getting Better All the Time, She Declares, So Do Not Worry and Fret, but Improve Your self and Push Ahead. Written For The A tlanta Georgian By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Copyright, 1913, by Star Company. rpHERE are hundreds of other- I wise sensible and good men and women in the land to day who are wasting precious vital force, and losing great op portunities for achievement, in a useless and foolish w orry and de spondency over the industrial sit uation of the country. Food if* high; rents are high; fuel is high, and the trusts and monopolies are carrying things from bad ro worse. YET ALL THE TIME THE WORLD IS IMPROVING. And all the time we are going toward a better era. Work for Improvement. Great men and great women are thinking and working to bring about an improved system of life and labor; and more work is be ing done for the uplifting <yid en lightenment of the race than ever before since the earth came out of chaos. So do not dwell too much on the troubled social conditions of the day and grow bitter and pessi mistic over them. The situation is one which calls for all your optimism and cheer fulness. The world has been wagging on for millions of years, and will con tinue to wag. and humanity has been slowly improving and will continue to improve slowly for many millions of years. ready to meet these new condi tions and be worthy of them. It is useless *to ask for a better social system unless the people who form it are better. A government is made by the people. If it is faulty, it is be cause the people are faulty. If it is to be bettered, the peo ple must become better. Begin with yourself. Keep wholesome, and hopeful, and rea sonable. and industrious, and economical. Help others to do so—not en tirely by advice, but by example. Try to save a little of what you earn to meet the emergency that may come. You think you can not, but if you once realize how little you really need to sus tain life and keep well and strong you will find you can economize. Half the food w r e now consume is more than enough! And the things which cost more are al most invariably the things we need least. Consume fresh air. breathe deep and develop your muscles with outdoor exercises or room calis thenics. Look on the philosophi cal side of life and think cheer fully. Believe progress is back of all this chaos, just as you know the torn-up conditions of the city streets indicate future comfort and convenience for the people. Everything will settle down by and by. Be ready to settle down with it, a healthy, hopeful, useful citizen. The first important thing for you to do is to improve yourself, and that you can not do if you grow* bitter and despondent and harp continually upon the evil of the world. If you allow your mind to dwell upon the scarcity of fuel and its high price, you will not increase the supply of fuel or lower the price, and you will exhaust your own vital forces, which might, * properly conserved, fire you with ambition enough to go forth and invent some new fuel. Help by Example. Try in the moments of greatest gloom to realize that out of such strife and chaos as exist just now new conditions are formulated and in time are materialized. Be It’s Not a Theory. Do not allow yourself to go to pieces with old conditions. If you want to know some very interesting things which are be ing done for humanity get some leaflets and pamphlets describing the Single Tax propaganda. There is something in the movement and the work being done for the whole world of thinking people. The soul of Henry George is marching on, after his body is mouldering in the grave. It will convince you that Single Tax is not a theory, but a great and wonderful Fact—and that in its principles lies the lifting of the race from slavery to inde pendence. PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS One fault- to be found with "September Morn" is that it en able a lot of professional re formers to get free advertising next to pure reading matter. * state of mind which man to congratulate Prid« impels himself whenever his thermome ter registers more degrees of heat than his neighbor’s. * * * Sitting on the bank of the Chattahoochee, fish pole in hand, one experiences all the delights of fishing except that one does not catch fish. * * * When Luther Burbank gets around to it, we hope he will evolve a hookless gown. * * * Handsome woman and happy home do not always go together. Ambassador Page will not wear knee breeches, but there is some doubt as to whether it is due to patriotism or the shape of his legs. * * * If Colonel Roosevelt were to accept a job as King of Albania he would be the bass drum in the concert of powers. * * * Everybody feels like congratu lating a cripple when he feels strong enough to throw' away his crutch. * * * "Baseball shatters the nerves.” says a Boston scientist, who evi dently has been watching the Cubs. * * * The man who perpetrated the first cabaret is the man w’ho put the harm in harmony. “I Wonder How Much for a Hat?” By George Keller "SJ.300 prr annum far clothe* is sufficient."—yEW8 ITEM. T WENTY-FIYE HUNDRED a year for clothes! Dee, Rill, just think of that— Twenty-five hundred for nothing hut clothes! I wonder how much for a hat? Why. Daddy works like a slave. An' he can’t get no such clothes, he can’t. An’ those ’at he does get are all worn out, An’ come as a gift from my aunt. Twenty-five hundred ! Whew, what a pile! An' figurin’ on ten bones a suit— Why, two hundred and fifty new suits each year- Gosh, that gink must be a beaut’! Dad brings in six hundred a year, An’ on that we live an’ pay rent. Why can't my daddy have plenty of dough? Ain’t he as good as that gent? Twenty-five hundred a year for clothes! Gee. Bill, just think of that! Twenty -live hundred for nothing but clothes! I wonder how much for a hat?