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EDITORIAL PAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Publish**) Every Aftcrr.onn Evirpt Sunday
By THE OE< >R*1 AN COMPANY
Al 2(1 F,a«t Alaham i PI Atlanta. On
ErlrrrA as second-clas* matter al p<> wf 'flics at Atlanta. tnder act of Ma’eh .1, 1*73
Subscription Price-Delivered bv carrier 10 mu* a week By mall, X. 00 a year
Payable In Advance
The One Unchanging Thing in
the World Is a Child
Today School Opens and the Boys and Girls Look on the
Occ. s on Just as Their Fathers and Mothers Did as Far Back
as We Gin Trace.
■■■■— ' ■ " ■ —
This is the day the schools open and the men and women of
the future resume their training for citizenship.
Some of them hang back a bit and are treated to horrified
lectures about the depravity of a boy or girl who does not ap
preciate the advantages of an education and the sacrifices that
are being made to give him one.
ALL THE HARASSED PARENTS SAY ABOUT THE OP
PORTUNITY IS TRUE.
The schooling the children get, in many cases, means the
difference between a life of happiness and success and a life of
misery and hardship. Nevertheless, reluctance to take up the
burden of scholarship again is evidence of neither total deprav
ity nor congenital incompetence.
It is simply THE NATURAL TENDENCY TO DO THE
THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO RATHER THAN THE THINGS
YOU OUGHT TO DO.
Father returning to his job or his office after his summer's
vacation—if he happens to be fortunate enough to be in a busi
ness where vacations are part of the year’s regular course—does
not betray any great alacrity at getting back into harness. He
probably tells little Willy that when he was a boy he walked
fourteen miles to school every morning, after milking fourteen
cows and doing fourteen other chores, AND REJOICED AT
THE CHANCE TO STORE HIS MIND WITH KNOWLEDGE
And little Willy, being a properly trained child, believes
him—maybe.
Father forgets that it required just as much persuasion to
start him on his way to school then as it takes to start his son
now.
Men change, and women change, and customs change and
nations change more than all; religions change, and govern
ments—BUT THE ONE UNCHANGING THING IN THIS
WORLD IS A CHILD.
On the walls of ancient Pompeii, newly excavated from the
ashes that have hidden them for two thousand years, are scrawl
ed in awkward Latin the very things our modern schoolboys and
schoolgirls scrawl about their teachers and each other.
No doubt the Roman children whined their way to school—
as did the Greek and Egyptian children before them. THE i
CHILDREN OF THE STONE AGE PROBABLY HUNG BACK
when their mothers insisted that the time had come when they
must learn bow to chip flint and lash it to arrow and spear and
ax helve, so as to fit them for the battle of life—JUST AS OUR
CHILDREN HOLD BACK FROM THE COMPLEX SCHOOLS
THAT ARE ALL THE tlME BEING MADE BETTER TO FIT
THEM FOR THEIR STRUGGLE LATER ON.
We marvel that children should be inattentive and unin-
dustrious at their school tasks.
Go into any office or store or factory in the land. , You will
see young men and young women loitering over their tasks, whis
pering to each other, gossiping when they should be working;
PUTTING HALF THEIR MINDS, OR LESS, ON WHAT THEY
ARE PAID TO DO.
These persons are going to school as sure as any youngster
who is learning what and why is a verb. They know that on the
performance of what they are given to do is dependent their fu
ture life.
Those who put all their effort, all their intelligence, into
their work will advance to better and richer things. They will,
by their exercise of the brains they are paid to use, find the op
portunities that their idle brethren will never see.
IN THE YEARS TO COME THEY WILL BE THE EM
PLOYERS. WHILE THE LAZY, THE GIDDY AND THE
CARELESS WILL BE KEEPING ON AT THE SAME OLD
TASKS—COMPLAINING THAT THEY NEVER HAD A
CHANCE; WONDERING AT AND ENVYING THE GOOD
FORTUNE THAT ENABLED THE BOY AT THE NEXT
BENCH OR THE GIRL AT THE NEXT COUNTER TO MOUNT
FARTHER AND FARTHER UP THE HILL OF PROSPERITY.
With grown-ups so oblivious to the meaning of education,
so impervious to advice, so indifferent to opportunity, is it any
evidence of a lack of morals or mind that a child also should
hesitate between the joys of idleness, the glamour of showing
that he doesn’t care, and the hard work of learnihg where the
Orinoco River rises, or the amount of interest that is earned by
,n ine-acl sum of such magnitude that it does not seem real
at all?
Tie child must be induced to take the benefits for granted;
o.k through faith if he can not be induced to work through
ii. ^rist.
The grown-up must be induced to work as faithfully—if it
possible, but—unfortunately—there is no truant law to keep
..im to his tasks.
He can neglect them and he pays the penalty, which is bad
enough, but, what is worse, his wife and children in time share
in paying the penalty, and in that there is neither justice nor
retribution.
HOWEVER, TO-DAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
AND THEBE IS AS GREAT A MEANINC IN THE DAY FOR
TtiE GROWN-UPS AS THERE IS FOR THE CHILDREN.
By ELBERT HUBBARD
A NEW light appears In the
east.
It looks like the dawn of
a better day.
If the Government and Big Busi
ness can get together for the inter
ests of all the people, why not?
I’ve been to Washington feeling
Miss Columbia's pulse and taking
her temperature.
And It Is very sure that she is
taking a new view of Big Buslness-
There is much earnest talk about
co-operation and “community of
Interest.”
“Let us use Big Business—not
destroy It," said a member of the
Cabinet to me.
This grew out of a conversation
where Mr. Vail’s recent “State
ment'’ was the central theme.
Instead of using the wprd “com
mercial" as an epithet, commerce
Is now regarded by many as the
great civilizer.
That our Government Is made up
of men who, for the most part,
have the best Interests of the peo
ple at heart can not be doubted.
Further than that, government
springs out of the needs of the
people.
“Uncle Sam, Inc.”
Call It “Uncle Sam, Inc.,” if you
choose—that is just what it is.
Uncle Sam is really our Uncle
Trusty. This Government of the
United States of America is a cor-
poration—a parent company, with
forty-eight subsidiaries.
Mr. Vail’s recent Statement has
had a deal to do with this new
light. It has been the talk of the
town among men of brains.
The whole document breathes an
air of frankness, conciliation, sim
plicity, and Is In such good temper
that a good many of our Washing-
tin friends not only read It once,
but took It home and read it again.
Mr. Vail has said similar things
before, but not so well. Besides
that, the time wasn’t ripe for them.
You can’t fight a man who agrees
with you.
The president of the “Tel. &
Tel.” Is a statesman himself, for a
accommodate them, in a way that
little business can’t.
And the big point just here Is
that Washington is at last begin
ning to see It
The idea of government control
of public utilities is no new thing.
But, so far as I know, the proposi
tion has always been put out by
the opposition.
When a man who is at the head
of the most wide-reaching public
service In America makes a sug
gestion of Federal supervision It
comes as a surprise and an Ian*
vation.
Washington Thinking.
The statement by the President
of the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company, published as
an advertisement In the principal
newspapers of the country, was so
, free from flourish, so frank, simply
direct and unpretentious, that I
doubt yet whether the general pub
lic has awakened to Its far-reach*
ing, beneficent influence.
As a people we are suspicious.
If a man really wanted to deceive
humanity he could not do it bette*
than by’telling them the truth.
Mr. Vail has made Washington
“think about It.”
The Government of the United
States owns the postoffice system.
The postofflee system ts a monopo
ly fixed by law. No one Is allowed
to go into the business of carrying
letters and delivering them In com
petition with Uncle Sam.
In fact, no one could do so suc
cessfully.
They might, however, start letter
carrying companies In various cit
ies, and thus set up a local com
petition, or, tf you prefer, a local
Irritation.
The public would then have a
duplicate system, two sets of post-
offices, two sets of mall carriers,
and rival mall boxes on each cor
ner bidding for patronage.
Women the Majority.
The little concern, however, no
matter how worthy Its Intentions,
could only serve the people In Its
immediate vicinity. All letters go-
Life Before History Began, a Great Study
WHALe.R
uwii
The Atlanta Georgian
In the Movies In Real Life
the: home: paper
lcT i> seT rdARSitD
Jo SIC-
; J
Elbert Hubbard
Writes on
A New Light
Columbia Taking a New
View of Big Business
A Better Day Is Dawn
ing.
New Book, by a Scientist,Traces the Story of the Hundreds of Thousands
of Years That Constitute the Morning of Human Existence on Earth.
By GARRETT
I HAVE Just been reading a re
markable book written by one
of those rare men of science
who, like Humboldt, recognize the
fact that knowledge which Is not
communicated and made attractive
to a multitude of minds is uIhjuI
as valueless as gold and diamonds
at the bottom of the sea.
The title of this book, which Is
written in French, is "La rrehts-
t, 're a lu i’ortee de Tous," which,
freely translated, means “1’rehls-
tory for Everybody.” Its author
’.s Maurice Exsteens, a Belgian,
who has himself delved in the drift
of ancient rivers and under the
floors of primordial caverns in
search of the earliest relics of the
race of man on this planet. His
book is the first clear and com
plete summing up that 1 have seen
of the entire subject of human
beginnings.
“Prehistory” deals with men be
fore they bad begun to tuvent ami
record stories about themselves to
amuse and astonish posterity. The
records that they left were uncon
sciously made, and consequently
they tel! the exact truth, as far as
they go. When writing was In
vented truth retired behind a cur
tain and “history" began.
I can hardly imagine anything
more fascinating than the six
great chapters of “Prehistory” that
science has dug up out of the allu
vion of old valleys and brought to
light from the darkness of aban
doned caves lu Europe, Asia and
Africa.
These chapters arc resitecdvely
entitled "The C’hellian Epoch.”
"The Acheulian Epoch,” “The
Mousterlan Epoch,” "The Aurigua-
ciau Epoch," "The Solutrian
limcb” and "The Magdalenlan
Epoch,” all of these names coming
from those of places in France
where the first relics of the men
who lived in those mysterious ages
were found.
The reader would do well to fix
these names and the order of their
succession In tils memory, for “Pre
history” is destined to play a great
part in future education, when
men have thoroughly got rid of ab
surd prejudices against the facts
of their own origin. In reading
Mr. Exsteen’s book I have had a
day-dream of the cloudy morning
of humanity.
The Earliest Type of
Man Stooped Like
an Ape.
I have seen passing before me
“Homo I’rlmigenius”—man iu the
earliest type of his kind—stooping
like an ape, with ills spine inclined
forward and his legs backward,
in the terrible attitude of the
mari-hc e*t /lesion," “walking with
bent back.” So walked the Chel-
lian man, and the Acheulian man,
and the Mousterlan man, for hun
dreds of centuries. So many ages
were required to straighten the hu
man spine and give It a backward
curve!
Yet this crook-backed Homo Pri-
migenius had a glimmer of light in
his flat brain. In the C’hellian
epoch he began to pound flints and
shape them Into rude tools and
weapons, some of them so crude
that it Is doubtful whether nature
or man did the most In forming
them. In Chellian times he lived
in a teuqierate climate, out in the
open, seldom venturing into cav
erns. as his successors habitually
did.
In the Acheulian epoch, the cli
mate had turned cold and damp,
and lie took more frequently to
caves for shelter, although still
P. SERVISS
preferring the valleys of rivers for
his dwelling places. Among the
animals he knew and feared were
the huge elephas antlquus (ancient
elephant), the hippopotamus ma
jor, far greater than the hippopota
mus of to-day; the big cave bear,
larger than the grizzly, and the
cave hyena, another monster of pri
meval times.
With the dawn of the Mouste
rlan epoch, when the climate was
still cold and damp, came another
form of elephant—the elephas pri-
migenius—to take the plat* of his
predecessor, while the rhinoceros
tichorinus. with mane-like hair and
bony bulkheads in Its stout horns,
also appeared to keep company
with Homo l'rlmigeulus. He had
by this time made some progress
In fashioning tools and weapons
from flint, but they were still very
crude — “scrapers,” “smoothers"
and rude spear and arrow heads.
The Auriguncian epoch showed
further advance tn the shaping of
stone tools. Homo Prlmigenius
was growing into Homo Sapiens
(intellectual man). His brain was
larger and better shaped, his face
was less brutal, and he began to
think about something else than
his next dinner. Art now made its
appearance, and. having begun leg
uiarly to inhabit caverns, from
which he could now drive the ani
mals with his improved weapons
man began to adorn his homes. He
made rude engravings on ivory and
reindeer*' horns, and even attempt
ed primitive statuary represent
ing the Venuses of his time.
Then came the Solutrian epoch—
a very wonderful age of relatively
brief duration—when art languish
ed and war and the chase came to
the front. Solutrian man Invented
a new weapon, which seems to have
so delighted him that he could
think of little else. He made tools
and weapons of flint that are often
exquisite in their shapes and work
manship, but especially he devised
the “pointe a cran”—a flint spear
head with a sharp point and keen
cutting edges and furnished with a
notched hutt, which rendered it
easy to attach the shaft of a spear
or arrow.
Needles and Bayonets
Invented Long, Long
Ago.
Yet these fierce Solutrian war
riors and hunters also showed their
ingenuity by inventing hone needles
with heads pierced for the thread.
With their “pointe a cran,” the
forerunner of the bayonet and the
pointed projectile, and their “eyed
needles,” the predecessors of the
modern sewing machine, they made
their short age one of the most
interesting in the whole career of
humankind.
The last chapter of “Prehistory”
is occupied by the Magdalenlan
epoch, when the art spirit once
more asserted itself, although prog
ress in tool and weapon making
continued. To engraving and sculp
ture, painting was now added, al
though there had been rude at
tempts at this In the Aurignaeian
epoch. But the large paintings in
several colors that have been found
in ancient caverns occupied by
Magdalenlan man are often of gen
uine artistic merit, showing t * t at
last the human race had begun to
appreciate and use the sacred gift
of the Imagination.
Iu running over this brief story
of primeval man it is essential to
remember tbat all these things, all
this slow and painful progress, took
place long, long tiefore there was
a ny history.' The six epochs that
have been described occupied alto
gether probably several hundred
thousand years. This long period
in mini's growth can not yet be
dated in centuries, and probably
never will be. but the proof of its
immense antiquity Is too over
whelming to be questioned.
statesman is a man who is helping
to build a State, not merely a poli
tician who is dead, as Thomas
Brackett Reed averred.
We had better fight the Mexi
cans than to fight Big Business.
But there is no need of fighting
either.
Fighting Big Business Is fighting
ourselves. Big Business is simply
made up of a vast number of com
mon people, working for a commn
end and purpose.
Needs of the Time.
Big Business has grown up out
of the needs of the time.
That the Government should
ever have held an unfriendly atti
tude toward Its men of enterprise
—its creators and builders—Is
most lamentable.
Germany, the most prosperous
country on the globe to-day, even
In spite of militant imperialism,
encourages and co-operates with
Big Business.
Economic genius is too rare and
fine to flout. No country can af
ford to pillory its men who main
tain pay rolls, any more than It
can afford to destroy its thinkers,
scientists, poets and philosophers
—as nations have done in the past.
Big Business can render a ser
vice for the people, benefit them.
Wellington, It was not Blucher.
It was not the wandering
Grouchy, or the “Hollow Way of
Ohaine” that defeated Napoleon
at Waterloo, it was the Almighty
Himself.
But for the rain that fell in tor
rents on the night of the 17th of
June, turning the earth into muck
and preventing the movement of
the French artillery, Wellington
would have been beaten to a fin
ish long before noon, and Bluch
er. upon his arrival, would have
been quickly disposed of by the
united and victorious army.
Napoleon was not downed by
Man. It took the great forces of
ing any distance would have to be
transferred to Uncle Sam.
However, for the good of all the
people, Uncle Sam has seen fit to
monopolize the business That
this is done for selfish reasons on
the part of certain men is unthink
able.
The last paragraph In Mr. Vail’s
statement is a surprising one. It
Is this: “A majority of the share
holders are women.”
Mr. Vail might have added that
a majority of the employees of the
American Telephone and Tele
graph Company are women; that
the largest Individual shareholder
Is a woman; and that most of the
people who use the telephone are
women.
The question Is: Shall this ne
cessity of our lives continue to be
owned and controlled by private In
terests? •
Mr. Vail says the time has come
when the means of quick commu
nication should be controlled by
the Government (and the Govern
ment is the People), Just as our
waterways are controlled by the
Government.
And Washington sits up and ob.
serves.
A new light appears.
It is the dawn of a better day.
And right here 1t 1s that we find
the explanation of the undying
charm of the Napoleonic story.
The millions who read the story,
with an almost hypnotic Interest,
know very well that Napoleon
was a bad man, inordinately am
bitious. brutally selfish, remorse
less in his methods as a hungry
Bengal tiger, indifferent to the
miseries of the millions of fellow
human be ngs he used as the In
struments of hl9 will—but he was
so smart, so amazingly great In
thought and action, so like a
demigod In “doing things’*—they
forgot all else, and in a delirium
of admiraron threw their hats
wildly in the air and yelled, "Long
Live the Emperor!”
© © Waterloo i
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
I T was ninety-eight years ago,
June 18, 1815—that the “Man
of Destiny’' found himself
“down and out” at Waterloo. The
credit for the Job was given to
Wellington and Blucher, but they
did not deserve it. It was not
Nature—the snow and frost
the Russian Steppes, the torre
tial rains of the Waterloo cai
paign, to put a quietus upon t
little man whose genius seem
too big for all human combin
tions.