Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

1 r \ t ‘ EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published Every Afternoon Except Hunday By TUB GEORGIAN COMPANY At 20 Eant Alabama St.. Atlanta, Oa Entered aa •econd-claMs matter at poatofflce at Atlanta, under act of March Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail* $5.00 a year. Payable in Advance. In the Movies In Real Life DOROTHY DIX- Britain’s Sordid Attitude to the Panama Exposition. Great Britain’s refusal to take part in the Panama Canal Ex position of 1915 may be accepted in sorrow rather than in anger —sorrow that the government of so great an empire should have sunk into such a narrow rut of parochial politics that for the sake of a ha’porth of self-advantage it would sacrifice its share In the nobler spirit of rejoicing in a world’s great work well done. Here, then, is the ohildish retort to the refusal of our Gov ernment to submit to arbitration the dispute about the canal tolls—"We won’t play in your yard.’’ Of the dispute itself this newspaper has already on many occasions expressed its emphatic views. Based on a shadowy protectorate over the Mosquito Indians, in which there was never any practical reality, Great Britain undertakes, under the letter of certain treaties made at a time when the idea of a canal at Panama was not dreamed of, to tell the United States that it can not send its own coast wise traffic at a lower rate than for eign ocean traffic through a canal every dollar of whose vast cost It has itself paid for and which runs through territory en tirely under the American flag! In practical operation the amount involved on the ocean going traffic of foreign ships would admittedly be so small that the raising of a dispute about it at all by any foreign govern ment becomes a shining example of "hot potato" stand diplo macy. From a government that acquired the Suez Canal through the devious, if forceful, methods Great Britain employed—al ways, of course, strictly observing every honorable obligation to its neighbors from tile purely and curious British viewpoint— the Panama protest was simply an astonishing exhibition of sor did and envious greed. It would be difficult to believe that such a decision as this by Great Britain represented anything more than the clamor of its Tory press—the kind of press that a day or two ago exploited an article calling for the abolition in tennis of the overhand service which enabled McLoughlin to win back the Davis cup— if it were not for the fact that the government is so largely radi cal in its tone. It is difficult, even with that in mind, to believe that this decision about the San Francisco fair can possibly rep resent general British sentiment toward America. Americans, generally speaking, are so broad-minded that they do not want fully to realize that it may be only "hands across the sea” when there is something substantial in Uncle Sam’s. They know full well that the friendship that has to be bought is not worth paying for. John Bull is surely not so pov erty-stricken that he must haggle over a pemny with a friend. This show of petty temper is, alas, a deplorable betrayal of a mean spirit. And to base his position on a high-sounding principle is for John Bull to pose on a pedestal of lofty self-righteousness which history never erected for him, and which would topple if tapped with even a toy hammer of truth. But, if great nations can sometimes be small, smaller nations can frequently be big. Twenty-two, including even Japan, have agreed to exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and its suc cess and interest can not now be materially impaired. The ca nal itself, the greatest wonder of the world wrought by man, will be open, and ships of all nations, even those of Great Brit ain, will be passing through it on their voyages over the new trade routes of the oceans, opening up new countries and new enterprises and new profits for all the peoples of the earth to share—among them Great Britain, and not the least. Climbing ^The /^aTTerhoRN / u./, 1 Tpss&t-s, 'The Milk nmo iTflTfy ■mnnrr« — Mysteries of Science and Nature. With the Aid of Photography and Ultra-Violet Microscope Man’s Power of Vision Is Beginning to Rival That of Insects. California and Our Merchant Marine. By GARRETT P. SERVISS. California is advancing a wholesome movement to inaugu rate a merchant marine with State money, if a laggard Gov ernment continues to neglect this truly American policy. There is a bill in the California Legislature to appoint a board of five merchant marine commissioners—one from the resident shipbuilders, one from the resident ship owners, one from the shippers of domestic goods, one from the consignees of foreign goods and one from the Sailers’ Union of the Pacific. This board shall have authority from the State to pay 5 per cent per annum upon one-half the building cost of ships engaged in foreign and domestic com merce from California ports and to help on the payment of the difference between building and operating such American-built ships with American workmen and American officers and the cost of building and operating with foreign workmen and officers. The State’s subsidy is to cease if ever the National Government shall aid these ships with a subsidy. It is plain to see that California, progressive and enterpris ing among American States, realizes the necessity of a domestic merchant marine, and that California is willing to put her hands in her pockets and help to build such a merchant marine with heroic liberality. It is also substantially evident that California believes a merchant marine will richly repay the original cost. The California bill will help to point the necessity in our com merce, and will, it is hoped, inspire the Government to its duty. Somebody has to make a start in our merchant marine. Congress and the Administration seem laggard and indifferent or'Tncapable. If our maritime States are brave enough and public-spirited enough to make this beginning, the appealing figures are at hand inspire them, and the example of California may be the object needed to set on foot the greatest and most essential com- !ial policy of our country. M AN is beginning to add to his senses. If he has not discovered new ones, ho has extended the range of some of those which he already pos sesses. When this process has been continued for a few hundred, or a few thousand, years, the hu man race may find that it has got upon a new level, from which it can penetrate much farther and much deeper in the wonders of the universe. Beginning to See Among other things, man is be ginning. under the guidance of science, to see. in a roundabout way, wfth the eyes of insects To understand this, let us first consider how’ we see with our nat ural power of vision. Our range of sight is strictly confined within the limits of waves of light, varying in length from about 1-39.000th to about 1-57,000th of an inch. The long est of these waves produces in our brains the impression of red, and the shortest the impression of vio let. The other principal colors (orange, yellow, blue and indigo) ure produced by intermediate wave-lengths, each color having its own characteristic waves. If an object retlects light of only one of these colors it as-^ sumes the hue of that color; if it reflects them all equally, it ap pears white, because a combina tion of the primary colors pro duces the impression of white. But there are. in reality, enor mous numbers of light waves which are longer than the long est that affect our sense of vision, and also enormous numbers that are shorter than the shortest that we can see. In either case these waves, which lie beyond one end or the other of what m called the "visible spectrum” of light, are, except for scientific devices, to tally insensible to us. Now, it has been found that certain insects, particularly ants, can perceive light weaves that are shorter than 1-57,000th of an inch, which is the lower limit for human eyes. In other words, the ant can “see" a color that lies outside the violet. If the ant has a name for this “ultra-violet” color, we are not likely to find it out. More than that, the ant* (if it possesses microscopic powers) may be able to see objects that are so minute that a “forty-bil lion-power” microscope would be unable to reveal them to us, be cause they are smaller than the smallest light wave that lies within our range. An object as small as that would be unable to reflect perfectly a wave of violet light, and consequently no amount of direct magnification would be able to bring it clearly within the limits of sight for us. What Ant Perceives. But right here the magic pow er of photography comes to our aid and enables us to penetrate into this world of the infinitely minute, which the insects may be supposed to have regarded as their exclusive and inviolable do main ! Photography is able to do this because the sensitive plate or film is affected by those same The Cowboy’s Creed By WILLIAM F. KIRK. { £ Y 1/1 evening paper," said my Arizona friend, M "Note a fella was shook bp his Missus, and brung her life to * an end. That'll be lots to pity the feller, and say that it sarved her right, And I ain't a setting in judgment, not' fakin' up no one's fight. Hut I never could shoot a rabbit, out ichar rabbits is thick, And l Jigger that shuotin' a lady is a similar kind o' trick. Rabbits and ladies and babies—they can't shoot back, you see. And the guy was a cur that murdered her!" said Phoenix Phil to me. "You remember the gal out in Phoenix." said my Arizona friend. "You remember the home she made me. and the dream that had to end. I never was able to Jigger, when I seen / was in the lurch. How she left nut kind of a feller for the rat sJte met at a church. Hut I wasn't no ideal husband; I was always fast and wild. 4nd she wanted a feller with manners and his shirt all proper biled. / heard that he made her ha pity, so I Jiggered I’d let her be, iYhich is harder somettnn s than murder" said Phoenix Phil tit me. ultra-violet waves that the ant perceives. Suppose, then, that an object is so small that it can not reflect the violet waves, but can reflect the smaller ultra-violet ones. It is only necessary to make a pho tograph of it, whereupon the ultra-violet waves that it reflects will produce a chemical change in theN sensitive surface of the photographic plate or film and impress an image there, which image may be magnified at will. This is the principle of the “ultra violet microscope." There is another way in which man has recently extended his range of vision indirectly, deep into the secrets of the infinitely minute. It has been done by the aid of what is called the “ultra microscope.” This depends for its action upon the fact that a minute object produces a scat tering of the rays of light that/ fall upon it. It surrounds itself with a kind of aureole, as may be noticed when a beam of sunlight enters a dusty room, causing millions of previously invisible floating particles to glow like in finitesimal stars. Light Reveals Objects. Suppose that an object of this kind, too small to be seen by di rect microscope examination, yet large enough to reflect the light waves that lie within our range, is placed under powerful lenses, in a beam of light so arranged that it does not pour directly into the eye of the observer. It will scatter about itself enough light not only to betray its pres ence but even in some cases to reveal its shape. But doubtless we have only just begun to And out the power of the mind by its inventions to extend the range of our senses. Writes on Taking Inventory Mothers Should Not Close Their Eyes to the De fects of Their Off spring. but Should Cor rect Them So That in Later Life the Chil dren Will Not Turn Out Badlv. By DOROTHY DIX. E VERY now and then every business man goes carefully over his possessions, list ing, appraising, advancing and de preciating their worth and valuing them by the market standards of the day. He calls this taking stock. When he is through and has bal anced his ledgers, he knows pre cisely where he stands—what he has to hope and what to fear, where he may fight and where he must hedge. I have often thought that there would be less failure in the world aud fewer of us would come to spiritual bankruptcy if we would follow the same plan and occasion ally sit down and take stock of our selves mentally, morally and phy sically. Tt is human and comfort able to think we possess ail graces and virtues and charms, but it isn't true any more than it would be for the cross-roads country- store merchant to imagine himself a Wanamaker. Why shouldn’t an ugly woman, for instance, face the music and calmly lake an inventory of tile beauty that she lacks? Nobody will deny that the wom an who is born beautiful draws the prize package in the lottery of life, but she doesn’t get everything. There is tact and charm of man ner and grace, and the woman who has these has a magic veil that hides a homely face anft-makes it seem beautiful to those who come in contact with her. Moreover, while beauty must come by nature, these qualities may be cultivated. It Lies With Every Woman To Be Consider ate of Others. It lies with every woman to learn a delicate consideration for the feelings of others, to acquire the art of listening with interest and to so improve her mind she will always be the most delightful and intelligent of companions. And when she can do these things she needn’t worry much about the size of her nose or whether her mouth is cut bias or straight. It seems a pity, too, doesn't it, that people don’t oftener take stock of their children and see just what they are and what might be made out of them? Of course, it's delightful to think that all of our little Sallies and Johnnies and Tommies are geniuses, but our pleasure in the illusion is apt to be a little marred by the subse quent disappointment that we might so easily have saved our selves if only we had looked at them as they were, instead of as we wished them to be. We should think a merchant crazy if he had a store full of calico, and homespun, and pots, and kettles, and pans, and in tak ing stock he listed them as point lace and diamonds and pictures. Yet that is just exactly what we are doing with our children. We are calling commonplace and ordi nary qualities by fine names. We won’t see them as they are and make the best of them on that basis. We are so determined on raising up geniuses, instead of good business men and citizens, that now and' then we convert them into hoodlums and idiots. Why shouldn't a mother look her own children over just as she does her neighbors’ and size up their strength and weakness? She should, at least, then be able to work out the problem of raising them with some sort of knowledge as a foundation and guide, instead of going at it purely as guesswork. She won’t do it, however. It takes a courage to look things in the face that she doesn't possess. She won’t admit that this child is fee ble-minded or that one is dull, and so she deprives them of the mar velous help that modern education can give along these lines. She shuts her eyes to the fact that Johnny is bowlegged and Tom my is knock-kneed, and she dooms them to go through life a butt for the ridicule of their acquaintances, when the defect could be so easily remedied while they are children. She takes no pains to help the ugly girl correct her awkwardness and learn the things that would make up for her lack of beauty. Kven her efforts to help her children are half the time atrocious mistakes, because she has never taken stock and doesn't know what she has on hand to work with. Life Has Given Very Few All That They Desired. Every now- and then some un happy and tearful wife comes to me with the tale of her troubles. She is dissatisfied, discontented, disgruntled. Sometimes she is not appreciated, sometimes her heart is hurt by cold treatment, some times she feels that she made a | mistake in marrying and yearns ! for a career out in the world. I don’t know any remedy as good for such a state of affairs as for I the woman to sit calmly down and I take stock of her possesions. Perhaps life hasn't given her all | she wanted. Most of the rest of i us are in the same fix. Very like- j ly she hasn’t gotten all the happi- J ness she expected out of her mar- j riage. Not many dreams come j true. What she needs to do is to [ count up the things she has got and see how she can do a better business and get more happiness and good out of the things she has. She has a good' home, plenty to eat and wear, a respectable posi tion in society, perhaps little chil dren, certainly liberty to enjoy her self in many ways, and a settled freedom from the cares and anx ieties that beset many other wom en. No woman who has got that many goods on her shelves has any right to declare herself a bank rupt in happiness. If we took stock of ourselves oftener, wouldn't we blame our selves more for many of the fail ures of life and other people less? Our husbands no longer show us the attentions that they did when they were our sweethearts and we cry out that marriage is a failure. Do we take as much pains to please the husband as we did the lover ? Mothers Are to Blame if Children Turn Out Badly. Our children are rude and ill- mannered, and when they grow up they turn out badly. Whose fault but the mothers who raised them? We have no friends. Do we ever go out of our way to make friends or to show love and kindness to any human being? We, who are working women, complain we are ill paid. Are we doing good work that is worth good mpney? Let’s take stock of what we are giving others before we condemn them too severely. When merchants overhaul their goods there are certain things that they cast aside as worthless. These are old stock. Things out grown, out of date. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to imitate them in that, too? Let’s throw away our old prejudices, our antiquated ideas, our moth-eaten fads. They are old stock. We are better off without them. PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS The man who is doing; things never seems to have time to real ize that the town is going to the bow-bows. * * * It is a waste of time to white wash a character that could not be saved by thick enamel. During courtship days every girl is a peach no matter if ahe does develop the characteristics or a lemon later. * * * When out on parade it is bet ter to hold your head up whether there is anything in it-or not*