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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 Eut Alabama St Atlanta, da
SJntared aa Mcond-claee matter at poatofflce at Atlanta, under act of March S. i«7S
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier 10 cents a week By mall, $6.00 a year.
Payable In Advance.
The Pit and the Pendulum.
Mr,=.Young Retains Her Place
as School Chief—and
Chicago Rejoices.
Chicago Needed Mrs. Young. Mrs. Young, So Far as Personal Com
fort and Ease Are Concerned, Did NOT Need Chicago.
(Copyright, 1918.)
Ella Flagg Young, perhaps the best of teachers, and one of
the ablest women in the United States, will continue her work at
the head of Chicago’s public school system.
A VERY FORTUNATE THING FOR CHICAGO, FOR THE
FATHERS AND THE MOTHERS AND THE CHILDREN.
Certain narrow-minded and entirely worthless members of
the school board, types of the men who think that woman is fit
for no higher oooupation than waiting on THEM, had succeeded
in forcing Mrs. Young to resign.
These gentlemen have, however, discovered very promptly
that the public’s opinion of woman, of her ability and of her
importanoe, is somewhat higher than that of the politicians
whose chief interest is making money out of school books or
ladling out patronage, And Mrs. Young continues with her
school woric, thanks to a universal public demand.
Inasmuch as the matter is settled, it is well to say that in
oontlnuing her work and gladly tying herself down once more to
a daily grind of detail and hard work, Mrs. Young is controlled
by love of the children and by her sense of duty. She might, had
■he chosen, have taken life very comfortably and leisurely.
The editor of this newspaper, while hoping that she would
continue her best possible work as the head of a great school sys
tem, gladly offered her the position of chief teacher for the fath
ers and mothers that read this newspaper.
We invited Mrs. Young, in case her ignorant enemies should
make it impossible for her to continue in her school work, to
write three or four timos a week, or as often as she thought it
necessary, letters of advice to parents and teachers and children
to be published in our newspapers.
And we offered her $10,000 a year to do this work, stipulat
ing that while the contract would be binding upon us, it would
not be binding upon her at all should she at any moment choose
to resume her life of active teaching.
This we mention in order that the school authorities, with
chins twice as deep as their foreheads and with about half as
much intellect in their whole brains as Mrs. Young has in her
little finger, may know that she keeps her place as a hard-work
ing school chief, not for the salary that is paid, since she might
have earned as much by doing one-quarter as much work.
Mrs. Young stays with the Chicago School Board and will
oontinue the work that uses up every ounce of energy and vital
ity from a sense of duty to the teachers, the parents and the chil
dren and from a sense of duty to herself.
IT IS A PITY THAT POLITICIANS WHO MANAGE THE
SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTRY COULD NOT GET FROM MRS.
YOUNG A LITTLE OF THAT SENSE OF DUTY.
* - V Y •' -
45*.
Baseball as an Antidote for
Revolution.
Osar Nicholas has just issued an imperial ukase creating
for his revolution-ridden Russia a “Ministry of Sport.’’ He be-
lieves that royal encouragement of athletics will help to stamp
oat Nihilism and check the popular and growing diversion of
bomb throwing at grand dukes on the Nevskii Prospekt.
A remarkable edict for this descendant of Michael Roman
off, who has heretofore religiously followed the rigid, conven
tional customs of his autocratic ancestors. It is a progressive
step, to say the least, and may foreshadow the awakening of
“Darkest Russia’’ from sluggish subservience to centuries of
despotism or drench the nation once again in blood.
General Voyekoff, the first Minister, began the new depart
ment by forming a council of leading citizens to prepare athletes
for the Olympic games at Berlin in 1916.
The nations pre-eminent in commerce and warfare have won
great guerdons in the fields of sport. England. Germany, France
and the United States furnish evidences of the value of cricket,
broadswordsmanship, sculling and baseball.
If Ozar Nicholas has the sagacity of a Peter the Great he
will have his new Ministry of Sport investigate the splendid
merits of American baseball. Then, by drafting unpopular grand
dnkes into service as umpires the unhappy populace may change
its deadly missiles to mere words and empty pop bottles.
Bound hand and foot In the pit I lie,
And the wall about me is s trong and high;
Stronger and higher it grows each day,
With maximum labor and minimum pay.
And there is no ladder whereon to climb
To a fairer world and a bri ghter time.
There is no ladder, there i s no rope,
But the devil of greed has given a hope.
He swings before me the pendulum—Vice;
I know its purpose and kn ow its price,
(In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Pit and
a huge, knife-edged pendulum which swings back and
swing.)
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
And the world’s good peop le all know it, too,
And much they chatter and little they do.
I have sent up my cry to th e hosts of men
Over and over and over again;
But should I cry once to the devil, ah, he
Would hurry to answer and set me free.
For Virtue to Virtue must ever call thrice,
But once brings an answer when Virtue calls Vice.
Bound hand and foot in th e pit I lie
While the pendulum swings and the days go by.
the Pendulum,’’ the victim is bound hand and foot, face upturned to
forth across his body, the blade dropping closer to his heart at each
When the Wife’s Away.
PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS
The "^Teaser” may not be afraid
of Uncle Sam, but the Texas cow
boy can make him jump through
a hoop every time.
• • •
When a woman i» satisfied with
her daughter-in-law it is con
clusive evidence of the meeting of
two angels.
• • •
North Carolina church loses its
members by barring tobacco
chewers. Just weeded ’em out.
• « t
Minnesota taxes 6,009 bachelors
and maids. Ought to be willing
to pay for the privilege.
• • •
The philosopher can always
make the fcest of the other fel
low's woes.
• • •
Lawyer suing a saloonkeeper
Is merely trying to collect hie
bar bill.
When spring fever grabs some
men it hangs on the rest of the
year.
• • • *
All men are born equal, but
some have richer daddies than
others.
• • *
Hard muscles are not always
accompanied by strength of char
acter.
• • •
Can’t depend on the absent
treatment in a case like Mex
ico's.
* * •
Bryn Mawr is going to perfect
her "perfect girl." Surrender,
men!
It is better to have your teeth
than your fingers In the pie.
* • *
Long-distance love seldom sur
vives personal acquaintance.
£>tNA.K. X
Must ha vs - lcFT my
Diamond Ring' s&mf*
Whites S' in the Room
WHEN I WAS PACKING
THE trunk Do
Hurry and -Look- all
oven, the- *aoov> — ill.
Hold THE" PHONE-’
—Ion cs
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SuvimbR-
Gotsta
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am Some" cwsaretYit
STOBS..-Am' SOME"
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An’ Some- feEO, AN
white:, ah’ Hiur
chips !!*
Mysteries of
Science and
Nature.
Ultra - Violet Rays
Would Destroy Life
on Earth Did They
Not Themselves
Form a Protecting Ob
struction to Passage.
By GARRETT
O NE of the most astonishing
announcements recently
made In the name of science
Is that a means may he discovered,
with the aid of the ultra-violet
rays from the sun, to free man
from the necessity of continually
cultivating the soil In order to fur
nish himself with food.
If this expectation should be ful
ly carried out mankind would no
longer be forced, as they have been
ever since the loss of Adam’s par
adise, to earn their bread In the
sweat of their brows. That neces
sity has hitherto rested upon man
because the plants of the fields
possess a kind of secret laboratory
In which they utilize the power of
the sunbeams for transforming
mineral substances into foodstuff.
But now the French chemists,
Berthelot and Gaudechon, have
found out a way, with the aid of
the ultra-violet rays, to Imitate, to
a eertaln extent, the action of the
plants. Their experiments give
rise to the hope that, after a while-,
we shall be able to make In the
laboratories, out of nitrogen, chalk,
carbonic acid and water, a num
ber of alimentary, or eatable, sub
stances, like those which hereto- <
fore have been furnished only by
plants.
Believe That Sunstroke
Is Caused by Ultra-
Violet Rays.
The ultra-violet rays, which form
the basis of this modern scientific
miracle, are contained abundantly
in the sun’s radiation, but they
are invisible to the eye. They can
also be produced artificially by
means of the mercury vapor lamp.
It is with these artificially pro
duced rays that the experiments
have been performed.
They are of very short wave
length, and most of those coming
from the sun are Intercepted by
the atmosphere. If It were not so
life would probably be Impossible
on the earth because the ultra-vio
let rays have a deadly effect when
they fall unimpeded upon an ani
mal organization. It is believed
that sunstroke Is due to the effect
of these rays. They are also fatal
to microbes, and have been utilized
for the destruction of many kinds
of noxious germs.
Recently the Automobile Club of
Paris has Installed In Its head
quarters a swimming tank whose
water Is freed from all germs by
means of a large mercury vapor
lamp Immersed beneath the sur
face. The deadly rays pass out
P. SERVISS
through a lens of quartz, which is
transparent to them, and quickly
destroy all the floating germs In •
the water around the lamp. Drink
ing water Is purified in a similar
manner.
The ordinary mercury vapor
lamp would be dangerous to the
eyes but for the fact that the glass
of the tubes in which the light is
produced Is opaque to these rays.
It allows the luminous rays to
pass, but obstructs the ultra-vio
let ones. Quartz, on the contrary,
allows all the rays to pass.
Ultra-Violet Raya Create
Obstruction to Their
Deadly Passage.
These same rays are being ex
tensively employed In medicine.
The celebrated Flnsen rays, used
for the cure of maladies of the
skin, are of this character. They
have a strong photographic power
and are able to produce many
chemical reactions that can not be
produced otherwise.
One of the wonderful things
about the ultra-violet rays proceed
ing from the sun is the fact that
they themselves appear to produce
In the amosphere of the earth the
obstruction which prevents their
own passage, except In a very
small quantity. This Is due to their
transforming atmospheric oxygen
Into ozone, for the ozone thus
formed Intercepts the very rays
which have produced it There Is
very little ozone In the air, but the
quantity existing is usually suffi
cient to shield ns from the deadly
rays whose action upon the atmos
phere has created It
If the air were suddenly stripped
from the earth it Is believed that
the ultra-violet rays falling unim
peded upon Its surface would
swiftly destroy all animal life. .
Rays May Be Used in the
Future for War
Purposes.
A lugubrious suggestion has been
made by Professor Houllerljpis. of
Marseilles, based upon the de
structive power of the ultra-violet
May It not bo possible, he says,
that some day a wicked magician
of science will construct a ma
chine capable of sending out an
invisible beam of ultra-vlolst radia
tion to a distance of hundreds of
yards, which will strike blind the
eyes of any person upon whom it
may be directed? The terrors of
such a weapon In the hands of an
aviator may easily be imagined
without going Into details.
Science Questions
By EDGAR LUOIEN LARKIN.
W HEN the United States
Government surveyors
divided the land into
townships and sections as the
bounds of civilization moved ever
onward toward the West, they
had first to locate standard base
lines with all possible accuracy.
These lines, marked by corner
stones, were located with great
precision by means of astronomi
cal observations.
The standard meridians, lines
due north and south, were de
termined by observing Polaris, the
North Star, when above and be
low the true celestial pole. The
poles of the celestial sphere are
the exact points where the axis
of the earth would lie If extend
ed out both ways to Infinity. The
extension of the north end of the
axis of the earth into space Is
the absolute north. But this line
or point actually moves. And
every object in the entire uni
verse moves; therefore, if as
tronomers at great pains locate
a base line in space, then, In a
few years it will be useless be
cause the equator and axis of the
earth are in motion.
This mysterious motion com
pletely upset the ancient Hindu,
Babylonian, Assyrian, Arabian,
Egyptian and Greek astronomers.
and temple and pyramid builders.
They would locate, orientate their
huge buildings and pyramidal
structures with ail the precision
possible without telescopes, and
all would be well for a century or
two. Then a north and south line
through their building would no
longer point toward the North
Star. And a star that at the time
of the building of the temples
sent its ray at instant of rising
into the center- of the eastern
gates now did so no longer.
This fact had a profound ef
fect on the hierophants of all an
tiquity. It was an Insolvable
mystery. A number of years ago
I published a monograph on this
fascinating subject entitled “The
Waning of the Light of Egypt.”
The Egyptian and Greek astrono
mers watched this majestic mo
tion of the equator and axis of
the earth during centuries with
out securing a clew to its cause.
None among the human race was
able to even surmise the hid
den cause until the mighty brain
of Newton rose to supernal
heights, discovered the true cause
and explained it for all coming
generations. The equator and
axis of the earth move, and, of
course, the entire solid globe has
to move to displace these imag
inary lines among the stars.