Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, September 08, 1913, Image 10
^ITORIAL PAGE THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN HOME PAPER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GRORH;AN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St. Atlanta. Ha.
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Payable In Advance.
The One Unchanging Thing in
the World Is a Child
To-day School Opens and the Eoys 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
PLOVERS. 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
^JKE GROWN UPS AS THERE IS FOR THE CHILDREN.
In the Movies In Real Life Elbert Hubbard
Life Before History Began, a Great Study
New Book, by a Scientist,Traces theStory of the Hundreds of Thousands
of Years That Constitute the Morning of Human Existence on Earth.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS
1 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 about
as valueless as gold and diamonds
nt the bottom of the sea.
The title of this book, which is
written in French, is “I,a Prehts-
toire a la Portee de Tous,” which,
freely translated, means “Prehis
tory for Everybody.” Its author
is Maurice Exsteeng, a Belgian,
who has himself delved in the drift
of ancient rivers and under the
floors of primordial caverns 1u
search of the earliest relics of the
race of man on this planet. His
book Is the tirst clear 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, ns 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 in Europe, Asia and
Africa.
These chapters are respectively
entitled “The Chelliau Epoch.”
“The Aeheulian Epoch,” "The
Mousteriau Epoch." "The Aurignu-
cian Epoch.” "The Solutrian
Epoch" ami "The Magdalenian
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 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 Primtgeuius”—man in the
earliest type of his kind—stooping
like an ape. with his spine inclined
forward and his legs backward,
in tlie terrible attitude of the
marrhr rn fle-rion," “walking with
bent buck.” So walked the Chel-
lian man. and the Aeheulian man,
and the Mousteriau 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-
migentus had a glimmer of light In
his flat brain. In the Chelllan
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 Llie most in forming
them. In Chellian times he lived
in a temperate climate, out in the
open, seldom venturing into cav
erns. as bis successors habitually
did.
In the Aeheulian epoch, the cli
mate had turned cold and damp,
and he tooWmore frequently to
caves for slieit
‘ter,
although
I
still
preferring the valleys of rivers for
his dwelling places. Among the
animals he knew and feared were
the huge elephas antiquus (ancient
elephaut), 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 pri-
mlgenlus to take the place of his
predecessor, while the rhinoceros
tlchorlnus, with mane-like hair and
bony bulkheads in its stunt horns,
also appeared to keep company
with Homo Primigenius. He had
by this time made some progress
in fashioning tools and weapons
from tUnt. but they were still very
crude — "scrapers.” “smoothers”
and rude spear and arrow heads.
The Aurtguacian 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, ills 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 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
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,’ 1 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 t!*it 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 man’s growth! can not yet be
dated in centuriii, and probably
never will be. bit the proof of its
immense antiqu'ixy is too over
whelming to he questioned.
A NEW light appears in the
eaSt v o • r
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."
“Le.t 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 tha,t, 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 cooperates 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 postofHce 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 wop Id then have a
duplicate system, two sets of post-
ofllces, two sets of mail carriers,
and rival mail boxes on e$fk 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.
® Waterloo n
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 r 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
of
Nature—the snow and frost ^
the Russian Steppes, the torren
tiai rains of the Waterloo cam
paign, to put a quietus upon th
little man whose genius seemei
too big for all human combina
tion*.
And right here it is that we fim
the explanation of the undyini
charm of the Napoleonic storj
The millions who read the stors
with an almost hypnotic interesl
know very well that Napoleoi
was a bad man, inordinately am
bltious, brutally selfish, remorse
less in his methods as a hungr
Bei gal tiger, indifferent to th
miseries of the millions of.fellov
human beings lie used as the in
struments of his will—butte wa
so smart, so amazingly jjP-at h
thought and action, so like
demigod in "doing things”
the:
- ... LUI
forgot all else, and in a deliriui
of admiration threw their hat;
Wildly in the air and yelled, ‘Xoni
.uive the Emperor!"
L