Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, August 22, 1913, Image 16
EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian
THE HOME RARER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
H> THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St. Atlanta, Oa.
Entered as second-class matter at poatoffloe at Atlanta, under act of March 3, 1S73
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier 10 cents a week By mall, J5.00 a year.
Payable In Advance.
The Law Against Cutting Out
Automobile Mufflers Inside
the City SHOULD BE
ENFORCED!
It Is NOT Being Enforced, and as It Stands IT IS A MOCKERY.
There is a sensible and just ordinance in the municipal code
of Atlanta AGAINST CUTTING OUT AUTOMOBILE MUFF-
LERS INSIDE THE CITY LIMITS.
The ordinance is there, but so far as the enforcement of it is
concerned, in certain sections of the city, at least, it just as well
not be there.
If it is NOT to be enforced, and if the city authorities do
not think it should be enforced, it should be promptly repealed.
As it stands, IT IS A MOCKERY, pure and simple, and is
enforced in no degree at all, save in that here and there it may
be called to the attention of occasional violators in a most lady
like and ineffectual manner.
THERE IS NOTHING MORE ANNOYING or more dis
agreeable, particularly in the residence sections of the city, than
a high-power automobile running at full speed with its muf
fler cut out.
Particularly is this annoying during the late hours of the
night, when the vast majority of Atlantans are abed seeking
well-earned repose.
There isn’t a hill or grade in the city of Atlanta that the
most rickety automobile imaginable—even the little “one-
lunged” fellows—can not get over with ease and without cut
ting out its muffler.
The only possible excuse for cutting out the muffler in any
machine is to make a little bit better speed up a really unoffend
ing grade.
People who motor about at night with the mufflers of their
cars cut out selfishly THINK OF NOBODY BUT THEM
SELVES. They are indifferent to the comfort of others, the vast
majority of whom have no automobiles, and ride seldom, if ever,
in one.
These citizens without automobiles, however, have the same
legal rights that citizens more blessed in this world’s goods pos
sess, and they are entitled to protection against the selfishness
and lawbreaking proclivities of their more fortunate brethren.
The city authorities gave their indorsement to that very
idea when the ordinance against cutting out mufflers was enact
ed originally into a municipal statute. In passing that ordi
nance, they placed themselves on record as standing between
the people and some genuine nuisances needing regulation.
Not a day passes, however, that the automobile muffler or
dinance of the city is not OPENLY, BOLDLY, and BRAZENLY
VIOLATED!
So far as scores of reckless and genuinely culpable automo-
bilists are concerned, that ordinance might just as well have been
written on the sands of the seashore as in the municipal code of
Atlanta.
Since it is a good law, and since it is the law, anyway,
whether good or bad, it ought to be enforced.
Shall the city authorities see to it that their own laws are
not violated?
Here is one—THE LAW AGAINST CUTTING OUT MUF
FLERS INSIDE THE CITY—that is not enforced!
WHY?
There are many thousands of Atlantans WHO WOULD
LIKE TO KNOW WHY, INDEED!
Letters From The Georgian's Readers
A PROTRACTED SESSION.
Editor The Georgian:
I was struck with the state
ment carried by the press dis
patches the other day to the ef
fect that members of Congress
had sent home for their winter
clothes in order to be prepared
for a protracted session of the
national lawmaking body. The
tariff and the currency question
appear to he the business which
will keep Congress together dur
ing the fall. To a person on the
outside It would seem that the
Representatives and Senators
have had a good deal of time and
abundant opportunity for thrash
ing these matters to a conclusion.
Of course, it is Important busi
ness: it is business which affects
the whole country, but It does
seem that much valuable time Is
consumed by Congressmen who
,tp;>ear interested only in that
their remarks shall be published
In full In The Record. Why can
not Congress handle the business
of these United States In a busi
nesslike manner?
WIDLIAM HOGUE.
Alabama.
COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL.
Editor The Georgian:
Now that the new school term
Is i^llut to open. It Is to be hoped
IL yifc City Council win uke
care of the Girls' Commercial
High School. It was demonstrated
beyond a doubt that this Impor
tant branch of the public school
system was not given the chance
to which It was entitled. The
housing of the school for the past
few years has been Inadequate.
The City Council should make an
extra effort to do something for
the Commercial High School.
They are the young women who
are preparing themselves for a
business career—to be Independ
ent, and, It may be, to take the
place of father or brother In car
ing for a widowed or dependent
mother and brothers and sisters,
A PARENT.
Atlanta. Ga,
A WORD ABOUT THE GOVERNOR.
Editor The Georgian:
As a citlsen of Georgia I have
watched the career of our new
Governor, Hon. John M. Slaton,
with a good deal of interest since
he has been in the executive chair,
and I must confess that I can
find nothing but praise for him.
He is democratic, he is resource
ful, and he has stamina. I am sat
isfied that he can be counted upon
to do hts best for his native State.
I am firmly convinced that dur
ing his term of office Georgia will
have a sound business adminis
tration ( w. M. T.
A Dead Give-Away
ElbertHubbardWriteson“Errorsof Justice”
The Modern Judicial Machinery, He Says, Has No Method by Which It Can Re
verse Itself and Do Justice to an Individual That Has Been Wronged.
By ELBERT HUBBARD
I N the olden time the king was
the court of “last conjecture."
From his words there was no
appeal.
King Arthur listened to the pleas
and decided questions In person.
The theory of justice was that
the king could do no wrong; that
his judgments were absolute, right,
proper and just.
The king was supposed to be the
vice regent of God, the representa
tive of Deity; and as the Justice of
God was absolute and right, so
were the rulings of the king.
"The divine right of kings” was
not successfully challenged until
the year 1776.
And In degree a superstition still
lingers lu reference thereto, and
we expect our courts to be some
thing more than human.
The modem Judicial machinery
has no method by which It can re
verse itself and do Justice to an In
dividual that It has wronged.
However, it Is good to see that
the public conscience is becoming
awnkened. and this Is manifest In
Senate Bill No. 974, Introduced by
Senator Sutherland, of Utah.
A Beginning,
Senator Sutherland has present
ed to the Senate a strong argument
In behalf of the proposition. In
addition is a brief by Edward M.
Borchard, law librarian of Congress,
and a further argument is append
ed by Professor John H. Wigmore,
dean of the Northwestern School
of Law. at Evanston, 111.
This bill seeks to remedy certain
cases of injustice. It does not seek
to grant relief to all and every per
son who Is legally innocent, or
whose conviction Is reversed on
appeal.
All Senator Sutherland's bill
seeks to do is two things: To give
relief to a man charged with crime
when it Is shown beyond question
that the crime was not committed
. at all.
Second, when it is shown by
competent proof that the crime
was not committed by this man.
if Congress passes this bill, as it
doubtless will, its example will be
followed by similar legislation in
all of the States.
An incident leading up to this
ELBERT HUBBARD.
bill is the case of a man who had
served ten years for murder, and
who was released only when the
man he was supposed to have mur
dered presented himself at the pen
itentiary and asked to see the man
who had murdered him.
All of the circumstances point
ed in the direction of guilt for the
accused man. There had been a
fight, which was the culmination
of a grudge long entertained. Thus
motive was proved. The corpus
delicti was found buried in a shal
low grave. The body was much
decomposed, but it was identified
by relatives.
Who tin* * actual dead man was
made no difference. It wasn't the
man the relatives thought it was.
The other man lunUgot out of the
country, thinking j^had killed the
man who subsequently served ten
years for killing him.
The man was convicted and was
sentenced, escaping the gallows by
a hair.
Now comes the case of John
Boehman, committed to Sing Sing
for life on account of a murder. It
turns out, however, that the mur
der was committed by another per
son, and the facts are presented
beyond dispute.
Andrew Toth spent twenty years
in a prison in Pennsylvania before
the authorities discovered, of their
own account, that they had the
wrong man.
Relief Limited.
Relief in the bill is fixed at a
sum not to exceed five thousand
dollars. Of course, five thousand
dollars is a very insignificant sum,
say, for twenty years of a man’s
life. But the idea is to prepare a
bill that will be acceptable even to
the most captious.
The State holds its citizens re
sponsible for their mistakes or
their crimes, but the State is not
responsible for its blunders. It
cannot be sued nor arrested.
Professor Wigmore says: "The
State, In the past, has committed
many crimes against liberty. When
the State commits a wrong against
property there is a redress; but
when it commits a crime against
a person, no redress under present
conditions Is possible. We say all
men are entitled to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. This
we assume as a fundamental prin
ciple.”
Truth is on the scaffold. Wrong
is on the throne.
The Law and the Heart.
We have slipped a cog some
where. Our Government takes ac
count of property, but it does not
take account of human life. The
happiness of the individual is
something which the State does
not officially recognize. The State
can do no wrong, excepting when
it comes to property.
The question now before us is.
Should the State be held responsi
ble for its mistakes, and is it pos
sible for the State to be guilty of
a crime against the individual?
The law says “No,” but in the
human heart there is something
that says "Yes.”
The Federal Government prose
cuted E. G. Lewis, of St. Louis,
for ten years.
Lewis spent one hundred thou
sand dollars in defending himself.
The Government ruined his busi
ness, but never convicted him.
Now, a committee, appointed by
Congress, after taking ten thou
sand pages of testimony, declares
that Lewis has always conducted
his affairs in a legal manner and
the State never had cause for com
plaint. But that does not reim
burse Lewis.
This bill, introduced by Senator
Sutherland, is the beginning of a
great and necessary reform.
—
The Summer Day
1 By NESTER VERNON
T HOU hast a beauty sweet and
rare,
I feel it in thy balmy air.
And see it in thy sky so blue,
Each golden ray;
The Father made thee at thy dawn.
His new and yet His oldest morn,
And blest thee with His love anew,
Short summer day.
The sun is hastening toward the
west,
The bird returning to the nest,
And thou shalt vanish as thou
came,
By twilight gray.
And oh, how nobly didst thou vie
With wood, and stream, and moun-
• tain high.
To end with sunset's fading flame.
A perfect day.
All those who saw thee at thy
birth
Awake to life the sleeping earth.
And now- behold thy last sad hour,
They can but say:
“A lesson true thou teachest me,
In thee the perfect life I see,
A promise, a Creator's power,
Sweet summer day.”
L
DR. PARKHURST
Writes on
Schoolboy Honor
State Compels a Man U
Tell What He Knows of
Crime—Why Not Apply
the Principle to Schools?
'Written For The Georgian
O UGHT a schoolboy to “tell
on” his mate when asked to
do so by his teacher? Is
the prejudice against what is called
“tattling” justifiable? Is the ques
tion one that has two sides to it?
This matter has recently been
discussed by one of our big maga
zines and opinions solicited from
outside parties.
Replies received are almost
unanimous in their verdict that
the teacher ought not to make any
Buch demand of a pupil, and eighty
out of a hundred claim that the
boy ought not to yield to the de
mand when made.
Such degree of unanimity de
serves considerable respect, for
the replies were evidently ren
dered by thoughtful people.
Among boys themselves a tattler
Is held in universal contempt, and
a boy’s sense of honor is not a
thing to be lightly regarded.
At the same time the fact that
twenty out of the hundred 'ex
pressed the directly contrary view
would seem to indicate that there
is something worth considering
that can be said on the other side.
At any rate, there can be no harm
in having both sides presented.
Th6 conception that the average
Bchoolboy has of the schoolroom
situation is that it is a kind of tug
of war, in which the teacher pulls
at one end of the rope and the en
tire body of pupils at the other.
Teacher Has Interests of
School at Heart; Not
So With Pupils.
In old-fashioned district schools,
especially in the Winter term, the
first day of the session was regu
larly devoted to determining
whether the platform end or the
desk end of the schoolroom was
to rule.
Although the tension between
the two parties is at present less
extreme than formerly, yet there
are the remains of it still, and I
have a distinct recollection of how
it was when I was a pupil and still
more definite remembrance of its
presence in the schoolroom when
I was myself teacher In the pri
mary department.
Barring exceptions, the prevail
ing sentiment in the schoolroom
is that the teacher is legitimate
prey, and that any advantage that
can be gained over him, any
scheme by which he can be out
witted. lies distinctly within the
rights of the pupils, and is to be
credited to their sagacity.
The two are working at cross
purposes, or, at any rate, with dis
tinct purposes.
The teacher has upon his heart
the interests of the school.
That can not be said of ’he pu
pils. It is no care of theirs wheth
er their mates get their lessons or
do not get them, whether they
behave or misbehave.
There is no esprit de corps wide
enough to hold in its embrace
scholars AND teacher. The two
elements are not co-operant to the
achievement of a common success.
It Is one institution, but the two
elements are consciously distinct
from each other.
When, therefore, a pupil makes
a good recitation the teacher is
gratified, but the rest of the pupils
do not care. When one pupil
breaks a rule or creates some
stealthy disturbance the teacher is
troubled, but the other pupils are
not troubled.
They Feel No Obligation
to Help Him “Keep
School."
They feel no responsibility for
the order of the school as a whole.
It is the teacher that keeps school
and they feel under no obligation
therefore to help him keep it.
It is his school, they say, not
theirs; so that if he has difficulty
in discovering who created the
disturbance, the position they take
is that it is no part of their busi
ness to help him find ouL
That is not the attitude that
government takes in ferreting out
the authors of crime. In the rela
tions of common life we are all
reckoned as responsible for the
maintenance of good order.
If, therefore, a crime is commit
ted, any man who is presumed to
know anything as to the guilty
party is ordered upon the witness
stand and compelled to tell under
oath all that he knows about it.
He is obliged to turn informer,
and it is Just that he should be,
for we are all of us a part of the
Government, with responsibility,
therefore, devolving upon us In
dividually. My thought is that the
same principle should obtain in
the schoolroom, and that the
school should be conceived of as a
corporate institution in which the
boys at their desks, as well as the
teacher at his, should consciously
share in the promotion of a com
mon interest, in the encourage
ment of the life of the school,
whether as relates to culture or
conduct.
Make Each Responsible
for All and All for
Each.
In which case every instance of
unfaithfulness in study and of
disloyalty in conduct will be felt
by all who are studious and be
haved as a reflection upon them
selves, because a reflection upon
THEIR school, and therefore to
be resisted and avenged, not as
an interference with the rights of
the culprit, nor as an intrusion
into the province of the teacher,
hut in fulfillment of obligations
devolved upon pupils and teacher
alike, because joint members of a
common organization.
If I were to teach school again
I would start in by laying down
the principle just stated, and would
insist upon every pupil combining
with me in maintaining, in every
way in his power, the educational
life and the moral discipline of the
school, giving to the school to that
extent the character of a republic
in which each is responsible for
all and all responsible for each.
PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS
Now that the Capitol veranda
Is provided with rocking chairs,
why not form a sewing circle of
old maid Senators?
• • •
There’s a “deadline” at the
front door for the Boston doc
tor who calls fat babies “obese
little wretches.”
• • •
Huntington, W. Va., needn’t
expect to stop park spooners with
paint. Most of ’em are used to it.
• • •
Chicago policewomen are
warned to be gentle. No rolling
pin methods permitted.
• * •
Every United States Ambas
sador must be an expert house
hunter to qualify.
• * •
Prize cow is an anti-suffragette.
But she’s “bossy” at home,
though.
* * *
Kentucky Congressmen should
be made to leave their “weepons”
at home.
• • •
Balkans at peace again. Better
call the Ambassadors, quickly!
...
A weak argument does not al
ways have weak lungs.
The abnormal bite of business
undertaking will sometimes
cause commercial indigestion.
• • •
A haircut in the case of some
men often looks like th e advance
agent of prosperity.
Many a woman in the matri
monial game has drawn a verita
ble booby prize.
• • *
The smaller the think tank the
greater Its capacity for harbor
ing grudges.
• • *
The clear conscience is fre
quently accompanied by a flat
pocketbook.
• • *
He who hesitates 1?» liable to be
put out at the home plate.
• • •
That three-battleship bill ought
to go through with a bang.
• • *
A heavy heart Increases the
burden of a light load.
• • •
Hoboes demand softer berths.
Why not clean sheets?
• • •
“Pork barrel” fleet is useless In
real warfare.