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EDITORIAL
RAGE The Atlanta Georgian home paper
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEOHGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St., Atlanta. Cla.
Entered as second-cln; < matter at postoffli o at Atlanta, under act t,f March *1 1n73
Subscription Price Delivered by carrier, 10 cent* a week. By mall. $5 00 a year
Payable in Advance
Crime Is Dying Out
It Seems as Though Misdeeds Were Being Multiplied, Whereas
In Reality We Have Simply Increased Facilities for Letting
All the People Know What Goes on Among Us.
Many of us feel that crime is the striking feature of modern
life, that this century sits among the skulls of crime’s victims,
and that Father Time, after all his ages of travel, sees no im
provement.
But those discouraged by modern crime misunderstand the
meaning of events and fail to make a just comparison between
the past and the present.
It is true that crime to-day is shocking in its frequency.
Each day we see spread out before us murders.
But first of all remember this:
We o”ten mistake widespread NEWS of crime for increase
in crime itself. The newspapers are multiplied in number by
tens of thousands, and they tell all that happens. It seems as
though crime had increased, whereas in reality we have simply
increased facilities for letting all the people know what is go
ing on among us.
We are shocked occasionally by crimes of poisoning. Go
back a few centuries and you will find men and women making
a regular business of selling poison to those who wanted to com
mit murder. The crimes that fill us with horror would not have
been noticed in those days.
We hear of a father killing his own child, and we declare
that humanity is going to destruction. Yet but a few centuries
back and THE LAW RECOGNIZED EVERY FATHER S RIGHT
TO KILL HIS CHILD IF HE CHOSE.
We shudder when we hear that a mother has exposed a new- !
born child on a doorstep or thrown it into an ash barrel. That is
a horrid and unbelieveable crime.
But in Roane, before the days of Christianity, there were ap
pointed places^where mothers might legally expose their children
to destruction. The wild beasts or dogs ate the children thus ex
posed, and no one was shocked. Whoever might care to take such
an exposed child could keep that child for a slave forever. That
kind of crime we have outgrown certainly.
The Presbyterian teaching of infant damnation seems to us ;
horrible. We shudder at the statement that God would condemn
a helpless baby to eternal punishment simply because it had not
been baptized. The idea seems cruel now. But was invented
by the well-meaning early Christians in order to make women
give up the legal practice of infanticide. The mother was made
to believe that her unbaptized child went to hell, and that she
must follow later on for not having had it baptized. Thus women
were afraid to expose their children secretly, and infanticide
was stamped out by a Christian doctrine which now seems so
brutal.
And note one thing above all: Crime still lingers among
us. But it is now LABELED AS CRIME. We no longer have
horrible crimes sanctioned by law.
We read that a criminal has tortured some old man or worn- j
an for money—and then murdered the victim. We scarcely be- i
lieve in such atrocity. But only a little while ago—barely two
centuries—IT WAS THE REGULAR LEGAL CUSTOM TO TOR
TURE OLD PEOPLE AND YOUNG.
Poor old women, falsely accused of witchcraft, were burned
alive and ducked in this country, while clergymen and magis
trates looked on and applauded.
All over Europe innocent witnesses could be tortured to
make them give testimony at a trial.
Men accused of no crime whatever were tortured to make
them give testimony against others—often when they had no tes
timony to give. They were hung up by the thumbs, the bones
of their legs were crushed in a boot of steel, the soles of the feet
were roasted in a brazier of redhot coals—to help them convict
another.
The noble leaders of the French Revolution abolished such
torture of witnesses in France, and they were criticised for doing
so by the respectabilities.
“How are you going to convict criminals if you do not tor
ture witnesses?’’ the respectable element asked. We have got be
yond that state of affairs.
We hear of murders based on jealousy—perverted affection.
We hear of crimes based on envy—perverted ambition. All of
the best elements in man, when perverted and thwarted, lead to
crime.
And these perverted passions will continue to breed crime
until men shall have learned to regulate society on a basis that
will give full and natural play to the forces within us. But or
ganized murder on a really vast scale is practically done away
with.
Caesar. Alexander, Napoleon and others like them had great
ambition. To gratify their ambition they forced millions of men
to die for them.
Human beings have protected theffiselves against the mur
derous ambitions of their great leaders.
The Napoleon of to-day must get a Congress to give him his
soldiers.
Public opinion, the ballot and financial science have pulled
the teeth of the greatest instrument of crime—the conquering
army of ambition.
Murder results first from control of the brain by animal pas
sions. Almost every animal is a murderer and at stated times
murders its own kind. Primitive man is always murderous. Mur
der results, in the second place, from misdirected forces within
us.
Crime will diminish through education, as the mind takes
control of us, and through society better organised, which shall,
give men a chance to develop normally. Thanks to education
and to improving social conditions, crime is disappearing, NOT
increasing. Even our despondency is comforting. IT PROVES
THAT WE HAVE PROGRESSED SO FAR AS TO BE HORRI
FIED AT THAT WHICH WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN FOR
GRANTED A FEW CENTURIES BACK.
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MYSTERIES OF SCIENCE AND NATURE
Chemistry Expert Has Discovered by Marvelous Method an Element Which, It Is
Believed, Will Prove Something Hitherto Unknown-to the Scientific World.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS. ' ~
I K the traditional "man tn the
street’' were suddenly placed In
the presence of all the new dis
coveries that modern chemists have
made within a few years past aud
could comprehend fully their sig-
ni flea nee he would be amazed be
yond expression. He would then
appreciate, for the fir fit time, the
fact that the human mind has
found a field for Its activities of
which we who do not dwell in the
Inner world of science have no con
ception. but which, nevertheless, is
closely related to our everyday life
and our well-being.
The work of these explorers of
nature Is as far apart from the
confines of Wall Street, of poli
tics and of trade and commerce as
if it were being conducted In an
other world, and yet its results,
either Immediately or in the near
future, must affect the welfare of
all the inhabitants of the globe.
New Discovery Based on
Rays Influenced by
Electric Action.
A most interesting instance of
the refinements of the methods
employed by the “New Chemistry”
is afforded by Prof. J. J. Thom
son's discovery of what may prove
to be an entirely new chemical ele
ment—an element whose exlsteuce
has been predicted and which has
been sought for, but which until
now has given no intimation that
it is really present upon the earth.
Like so many other discoveries
in recent years, this of Professor
Thomson is based upon the mys
terious rays that are given ofT by
various substances under the In
fluence of electric action. When
such rays are caused to pass be
tween two sets of plates, one set
elect rifled and the other magnet
ized. they gre sorted out by the
forces acting upon them and each
ray Is bent out of Its original
course in a direction and to a de
gree depending upon the nature of
the atoms or molecules of which
it consists.
in this way the chemical ele
ments contained in the substances
under examination, even when they
exist tn extremely minute quantity,
are revealed to the experimenter.
He causes the rays to pass over a
photographic plate, and on that
plate each of them Imprints an Im
age of Its curved path. Hydrogen
atoms have their characteristic
path which no other atoms follow;
oxygen atoms have THEIR path,
aud so on. The flying atoms of
each separate element, no matter
how thoroughly they may have
been mixed together, branch out
when they are subjected to the
electric and magnetic forces, and
each kind follows its own particu
lar course.
In experimenting with this aston
ishingly powerful and yet delicate
method of analysis. Professor
Thomson has discovered certain
rays which do not correspond with
those of any known substance.
But the curvature of their path in
dicates that this strange element
has an atomic weight of 3 on the
chemist's scale—1. e.. it is their
times as heavy as an atom of hy
drogen.
Discovery of This Element
Long Ago Predicted
by Russian.
Now, the great Russian chemist,
Mendelieff, long ago predicted,
from theoretical calculations, that
there was, or ought to be, an ele
ment of precisely that atomic
weight, 3. If It should turn out
that the substance discovered by
Professor Thomson is really this
missing element, and not, as Pro
fessor Thomson is half-disposed to
think, some peculiar form of hydro
gen, then the circumstances of its
discovery would recall those that
attended the discovery of the
planet Neptune, whose existence
was predicted and even Its place in
the sky pointed out by means of
mathematical calculations before
any astronomer had ever seen it.
It would be a great mistake for
the reader to assume that a dis
covery of this kind is merely a
curiosity of science in which he
can have no practical interest To
do that would be to fly in the face
of all recent experience. When
the X-rays were discovered they
had at first only a curious interest
for the general public, but now
they have established their prac
tical importance in medicine and
surgery. The phenomena of radi
um, also, at the beginning only ex
cited the sensation due to a novel
ty, but at present the streams of
particles shot off from that singu
lar substance have likewise proved
a boon to mankind.
No Addition to Knowledge
Can Be Uninteresting
or Unimportant.
When it was found a few years
ago that the atmosphere contained
four or five previously unknown
elements only a few persons fore
saw that these rare substances
might be of importance in making
the air the universal life-sustain
ing thing that it is.
No addition to knowledge can be
uninteresting or unimportant.
The Playroom
By WILLIAM F. KIRK.
T HIS was the playroom. It Is empty now
Save that the toys remain like tiny wraiths;
Sometimes we fancy that like us they how
Before the blow that warps so many faiths.
We come here often in the hush of night
When we are numb and praying for the day.
Hoping like fools to hear the laughter light.
Made by the little boy that used to play.
lie was so small, and yet he was so brave.
White marshaling his forces for the battle;
Tlie painted troops obeyed each sign he gave
And shuddered when he struck them with his rattle.
We sob and almost hear them sobbing, too:
And why should not his painted troops feel sad?
He was the only chief they ever knew.
He was the only baby that we had.
DR. PARKHURST
Writes on
PUBLIC INTELLECT
Is the Age of SeriousThink-
ing Passed?—Tastes of
Reading Public Indicates
It Is—Machine Produced
Necessities of LifeaBless-
ing to Mankind.
Written For The Georgian
By the Rev. Dr. C. H. Parkhurst
I S the American mind growing
frivolous? Are we more in
disposed than formerly to do
careful and serious thinking, and
less Inclined to prefer the sincere
and searching handling of current
questions to a treatment of them
that Is more light and airy?
The inquiry is a practical one,
for, if it be the case that our In
clinations are tending toward a
skimming of the surface of things,
that will mean that we are ex
periencing a shallowing of charac
ter, for character Is measured by
the earnestness of one’s thinking.
Men who cater to the intellec
tual tastes of people are the ones
best fitted to deal with the ques
tion just proposed.
Colonel Harvey, who has had a
long editorial experience, touches
this matter in his farewell address
to the readers of Harper’s Weekly.
He says: “Would people read
even Mr. Curtis’ scholarly lead
ing articles to-day? We doubt it.
Looking over the files the other
day. we found no less than twenty
long editorials on civil service re
form in thirty successive issues,
and very little else. They were
sound, cogent articles, and, of
conrse, admirably written, but
how would they take on the news
stand of this hurrying age? How
many wayfarers would buy them
in preference to some one of the
great number of lively, entertain
ing and finely illustrated maga
zines? Not many, we fear.”
Writers Must Tickle Dull
Intellectual Palate of
the Public.
Colonel Harvey’s inquiry sug
gests, what is probably the fact,
that there has developed the same
change of taste in this matter of
literature, as in that of food, and
that, whereas people used to think
more about the nutritious quality
of what they ate, and less of its
seasoning, their principal regard
is now given to the condiments
and spices and less to the sub
stantial stuff into which the spices
are put.
Writers and speakers find it in
creasingly necessary to give at
tention to forms of expression,
and especially to the introduction
of a certain quality of pungency
that shall tickle people’s Intelli
gence tnto an acceptance of what
would otherwise seem to them
tasteless.
Their dulled intellectual palate
demands that truth shall be baited
with some succulent attraction
that shall seduce them into an un
intentional interest in the truth,
which the attractive allurements
entertainingly disguise.
Newspaper reading has therefore
come to lie largely limited to the
hasty glancing at headlines.
This is what explains the in
creased use which newspaper men
make of cartoons.
1’eople who have to think in or
der to understand a paragraph
can read a picture without think
ing.
We are not criticising newspa
pers any more than we are criti
cising the devices to which speak
ers on the platform or In the pul
pit find themselves obliged to
huve wourse In order to win
their way to the mental nerveless
ness of so many of these to whom
they are trying to bring a mes
sage.
People who have anything to
say, whether by pen or tongue,
have got to accommialate them
selves to existing conditions.
We have to take people as we
find them, and if we cannot break
into them by the use of one door,
try another.
But Colonel Harvey is undoubt
edly right. Solid thinking is a
little out of fashion.
There are millions of people to
day who would rather not have
settled convictions about tlie big
questions of life than put them
selves to the intellectual ^incon
venience of thinking their way
through to them. v
Rut why? Who is the man who
understands well enough the hu
man condition as it exists to-day
to tell us why?
• • .
A LMOST every blessing, if
turned over and viewed on
the under side is discovered
to he also a curse.
Machines That Produce
Cheap Commodities
Are a Blessing.
Machinery Is a case in point.
It produces cheap commodities;
that Is a blessing. It also pro
duces cheap operatives; and that
is a curse, a curse to themselves,
the State and the Nation.
And by cheap operatives is not
to be understood simply opera
tives that have to he satisfied
with small pay, but operatives that
are themselves cheap, deficient in
those qualities that constitute per
sonal worth.
The reason of it is that machin
ery reduces tremendously the per
centage of skilled laborers. A man,
woman or child does not need to
know much in order to run a ma
chine, and running it will do little
or nothing toward making them
know more.
In fact, the longer they run it
the more of a machine they them
selves become. Work, under the
conditions which existed a half
century ago, was generally a
means of training.
Results produced required
thought, calculation, ' ingenuity, a
careful adjustment of means to
ends. The policy of division of la
bor had not been applied.
Consequently opportunity was
afforded for the play of a variety
of faculties which not only gave
zest to employment but helped to
round out the worker’s develop
ment.
Tree action engenders intelli
gence. In running the ordinary
machine there is not free action.
As soon think of a horse becoming
a philosopher by walking a tread
mill.
Depression in the quality of the
worker draws after it depression
in the value of the wages. The
smaller the intelligence, the
smaller the pay, for there are at
ways cheap people waiting arounii
to take the place of the discon,
tented, and we are bringing then
over by boatloads from Southern
and Eastern Europe.
Manufacturers’ Interest
in the Tariff Is a
Selfish One.
Manufacturers believe in tariff
because it keeps the price of com
modifies up, and believe in unre
stricted immigration because it
keeps the price of labor down.
We have been taxing imported
goods in order to protect us from
cheap labor abroad, but have been
importing, untaxed, just the cheap
labor we professed to be protect
ing ourselves from. The foolish
ness of the people has not been
spry enough to keep up with th«
astuteness of the manufacturers
Our manufacturers here are just
like the Yorkshire people in Eng
land, who made money out of the
surfeit of operatives ard took no
interest in the scheme of draw
ing off surplus labor into the colo
nies by ctiering it cheap transpor
tation.
No rational Christian objects to
manufacturers making money, pro
vided it is not at the expense of
the public, and at the sacrifice of
the intelligence, health and life of
the operatives by whom their
gains are accumulated.