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EDITORIAL RAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN Published TCvery Afternoon r.xrept Sunday By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY r At 20 feast Alabama fit Atlanta. Ga. Intered as second-class matter at peat of flee at Atlanta, under act of March 8, 18.3 ubticrlption Price—Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a week By mall, $6.00 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 If it is NOT to be enforced, and if the city authorities do not think it should be enforced, it should be promptly repealed.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 degTee 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. 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 be 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- :: it is business which affects le whole country, but it does . cm that much valuable time is ■ sumed by Congressmen who ear interested only in that their remarks shall be published full In The Record. Why can ongress handle the business :;ese United States in a busi nesslike manner? WILLIAM HOGUE. Alabama. COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL Editor The Georgian: Now that the new school term is abfkjjt to open. It le to be hoped that .ae City Council will take The Atlanta Georgian A Dead Give-Away THE HOME RARER 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 oity 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! car© 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: Ab a citizen 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 his best for his native State. I am firmly convinced that dur ing his term of office Georgia will have a sound business adminis trating W. M. T. Sav#"iab, Ga, 1 1‘lrii ) iii III III! urn ToM-rffee-e ! f V/HERE IS That Vo'<^ It 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 ot "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 in reference thereto, and we expect our courts to be some thing more than human. The modern 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 awakened, and this is manifest in Senate Bill No. 974, introduced by Senator Sutherland, ot 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. Wtgmore, dean of the Northwestern School of Law. at Evanston, Ill. 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 conunltted at aU. 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 3PO| '3*. :< jjF; 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 the actual dead man was made no difference. It wasn’t the man the relatives thought it was. The other man had got out of the comma, Uiittkiiiji lulled 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- The Summer Day By NESTE R VERNON T HOU hast a beauty sweet and rare, I feel it in thy balmy air, And see It 1n 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 eartlj. 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.” DR. PARKHURST Writes on /g Schoolboy Honor State Compels a Man t< Tell What He Knows of Crime—Why Not Apply the Principle to Schools? 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. 'Written For By the Rev. Dr. 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 such 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. The conception that the average schoolboy 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 hlq heart the interests of the school. That can not be said of the 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. The Georgian C. H. Parkhurst It is one institution, but the two elements are oonsclously 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 it troubled, but the other pupils are not troubled. They Feel No Obligation to Help Him “Keep School.” They feel no responsibility tor the order of the school as a wbola. It is the teacher that keeps school and they feel nnder 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 oat. 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, but 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? * * w 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 le liable to be put out at the home plate. • • • That three-battleship Mil ought to go through with a bang. • • • A heavy heart Increases the burden of a light load. • • • Hoboes demand softer bertha Why not clean sheets? • • • “Pork barrel” fleet la ratitffi ta real warfare.