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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. Oa.
Entered a# second-class matter at postoffice at Atlanta, under act of March
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier, 10 cents a week. By mail, 15 00 a year.
Payable in Advance.
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 childish 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 the 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 penny 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
agTeed 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 route's 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.
California and Our Merchant
Marine.
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 incapable.
If our maritime States are brave enough and public-spirited
enough to make this beginning, the appealing figures are at hand
to inspire them, and the example of California may be the object
lesson .feeded to set on foot the greatest and most essential com
mercial policy of our country.
DOROTHY DIX
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 Badly.
By DOROTHY DIX.
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.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS.
M AN la beginning' to add to
his senses. If he has not
discovered new ones, he
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, with the eyes of insect*.
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)
are produced by Intermediate
wave-lengths, each color having
Its own characteristic waves.
If an object reflects 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 is 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 waves that are
shorter than 1-67,000th 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 ter 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.
‘7
BEE In the evening paper," tailt my Arizona friend,
“How a feller icat shank by his Missus, and brung her life to
an end.
Thar’tl be lots to pity the feller, and say that it tarred her right,
Ami I ain't a-setting in judgment, nor takin’ up no one's fight.
But I never could shoot a rabbit, out whar rabbits is thick.
And l flgger that shoottn’ a lady is a similar kind o’ trick,
liabbits and ladies and babies—they ran't shoot bark, 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.
“Yon remember the home she made me, and the dream that had to end.
f never was able to flgger, when l seen I was in the. lurch,
How she left my kind of a feller for the rat she met at a church.
Hut 1 wasn’t no ideal husband; I was always fast and wild.
And she wanted a feller with manners and Itis shirt all proper biled.
I heard that he made her happy, so I figgered I’d let her be.
Which is harder ^ times than murder," said Phoenix Phil to 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 the 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 find out the power
of the mind by Its inventions to*
extend the range of our senses.
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 irarket 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
and 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. It is human and comfort
able to think we possess all 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 take an Inventory of the
beauty that she lacks?
Nobody will deny that the wom
an who is bom 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 and 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
month 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. Even
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
the woman to sit calmly down and
take stock of her possesions.
Perhaps life hasn’t given her all
she wanted. Most of the rest of
us are in the same fix. Very like
ly she hasn’t gotten all the happi
ness she expected out of her mar
riage. Not many dreams come
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 money? 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 she
does develop the characteristics
cl a lemon later.
* • *
When out on parade It Ip bet
ter to hold your head up whether
there is anything in it or noU
I
• *