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4 '\ EDITORIAL PAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME PAPER ™ E ATLANTA GEORGIAN j the Movies In Real Life Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY At 20 East Alabama St. Atlanta, Ga. Entered as aerond-rlasn matter at p-’sUifflce at Atlanta, under art of March 2, 1*73 Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier 10 cents a week By mail, $5.00 a year. Payable in Advance. The One Unchanging Thing in the World Is a Child To-day School Opens and the Boys and Girls Look on the Occasion Just as Their Fathers and Mothers Did as Far Back as We Can 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 CHILDREN OF THE STONE AGE PROBABLY HUNG BACK when their mothers insisted that the time had come when they must learn how 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 TIME 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 learning where the Orinoco River rises, or the amount of interest that is earned by an inexact sum of such magnitude that it does not seem real at all? The child must be induced to take the benefits for granted; to work through faith if he can not be induced to work through interest. The grown-up must be induced to work as faithfully if it is possible, but—unfortunately—there is no truant law to keep him 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 THERE IS AS GREAT A MEANING IN THE DAY FOR THE GROWN-UPS AS THERE IS FOR TI1E CHILDREN. Life Before History Began, a Great Study 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 P. SERVISS 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 u multitude of minds Is nlxnit as valueless as gold and diamonds at the bottom of the sea. The title of this hook, which is written in French, is “La I’rehls- toire a la I’ortee de Tous,” which, freely translated, means “Prehis tory for Everybody.” Its author ‘.s Maurice Exsteens, a Belgian, who lias himself delved in the drift of ancient rivers and under the floors of primordial caverns In search of the earliest relies of the race of man on this planet. His book Is the first elenr and com plete summing up that I have seen of the entire subject of human beginnings. • Prehistory'' deals with men be fore they had begun to Invent and record stories about themselves to amuse and astonish posterity. The, records that they left were uncon sciously made, and consequently they tell the exact truth, as far as they go. When writing was In vented truth retired behind a cur tain and “history" began. 1 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 aud brought to light from the darkness of aban doned caves In Ehrope, Asia and Africa. These chapters are respectively entitled “The Chelllan Epoch,” "The Acheulian Epoch,” “The Mousterian Epoch." “The Aurigna- ciun Epoch.” “The Solutrian Epoch" and "The Magdalenian Epoch," all of these names coming from those of places in France where the first relies 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 his 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 Primlgenius”—man in the earliest type of his kind—stooping like an ape, with his spine inclined forward and his legs backward. In the terrible attitude of the marchc cm flrrion." "walking with bent back." So walked the Chel- lian man, and the Acheulian man, and the Mousterian man, for hun dreds of centuries. So many ages were required to straighten the hu man spine aud give it a backward curve! Yet this crook-backed Homo Pri- migenius had a glimmer of light in his flat brain. In the Chellian 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 temperate climate, out in the open, seldom venturing into cav erns, 11s his successors habitually did. In the Acheulian epoch, the cli mate had turned cold and damp, and he took more frequently to vines for shelter, although still preferring the valleys of rivers for his dwelling places. Among the animals he knew and feared were the huge elephas anttquus (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 rian epoch, when the climate was still cold and damp, came another form of elephant—the elephas ppi rn i gen ills—to take the place of his predecessor, while the rhinoceros tichorinus, with mane-like hair and bony bulkheads in its stout horns, also appeared to beep company with Homo Primlgenius. 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 Aurignacian epoch showed further advance in the shaping of stone tools. Homo Primigenius 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 reg ularly 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 reindeers' 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 ami war and the ehase eame 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 deiised Elbert Hubbard Writes on A New Light Columbia Taking a New View of Big Business. A Better Day Is Dawn ing. By ELBERT HUBBARD the “pointe a cran”—a flint spear head with a sharp point and keen cutting edges and furnished with a notched butt, 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 bone 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 Magdalenian 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 Aurignacian epoch. But the large paintings in several colors that have been found in ancient caverns occupied by Magdalenian man are often of gen uine artistic merit, showing ti± t at last the human race had begun to appreciate and use the sacred gift of the imagination. In running over this brief story of primeval man it is essential to remember that all these things, all this slow and painful progress, took place long, long before there was any history. The six epochs that have been described occupied alto gether probably several hundred thousand years. This long period in mail’s growth can not yet he dated in centuries, and probably never will be. but the proof of its immense antiquity is too over whelming to be questioned. 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 Business- 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 word “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 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, 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 inno 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, simple, 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 better 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 is 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, if you prefer, a local irritation. The public would then have a duplicate system, two sets of post- offices, two sets of mail carriers, and rival mail 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 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. ss 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 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 Nature—the snow and frost o the Russian Steppes, the torren tial rains of the Waterloo cam paign, to put a quietus upon th little man whose genius seemei too big for all human combina •tions. And right here it is that we flm the explanation of the undylni charm of the Napoleonic story The millions who read the story with an almost hypnotic Interesl know very well that Napoleoi was a bad man. inordinately am bitious, brutally selfish, remorse less in his methods as a hungr; Bengal tiger, indifferent to th- miseries of the millions of felloe human beings he used as the in struments of his will—but he wa so smart, so amazingly great li thought and action, so like ; demigod in 'doing things’*—the: forgot all else, and In a deliriun of admiration threw their hat wildly in the air and yelled, “Lonj Live the Emperor!”