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EDITORIAL RAGE! The Atlanta Georgian the: home: rarer
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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published Every Afternoon Except Sunday
By THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama St.. Atlanta, Ga. *
Entered as second-class matter at postufflce at Atlanta, under art of March 3, 1*73
Subscription Price—Delivered by carrier. 10 cents a wtelc By mall, $5.00 a year.
Payable In Advance.
Gertrude Atherton= = We Regret
to Say It= = Talks Very Much
Like the White Slave Dealers
Since Her Views Are Published Widely, It Is a Painful Duty to
Tell Her That What She Says Is Worthy of the Woman That
Used to Traffic in Girls for Stanford White’s Benefit.
(Copyright, 1913.)
Gertrude Atherton, good and intelligent woman, has of
fended decency and the public welfare in one of many attempts
to attract attention and be "different.”
She praises Stanford White, who was as vile a brute as ever
disgraced the human race, and permits herself to publish the
statement that White was justified in ruining the life and char
acter of an unfortunate girl.
This is what Mrs. Atherton,says of White:
"He (Thaw) killed a man who was of some use to the com
munity, a genius. He killed him for a girl who was only made
to be cast aside when people tire of her. She was born that kind.
If White had ruined the lives of ten like her the world wouldn’t
have been out anything. I hope they get Thaw back in the asy
lum, where he belongs, for he is certainly a menace in any com
munity. ’ ’
That statement is disgraceful, criminal, and worthy of a
thoroughly bad and unprincipled woman.
No girl was ever made to be “cast aside when people tired
of her,” and to publish the contrary is to encourage vice.
To say, as Mrs. Atherton says of Evelyn Thaw, "if White
had ruined the lives of ten like her the world wouldn ’t have been
out anything,” is criminal and shameful.
In talking thus, Mrs. Atherton, yop talk just as the women
talk who provide unhappy girls for such vile beasts as Stanford
White. You furnish them and men like White with the excuse
they seek.
The woman who for pay ruins the lives of perhaps a dozen
girls is not as harmful as the woman of intelligence who would
excuse such an act.
We beg to tell Gertrude Atherton that if Evelyn Nesbit had
been treated decently and kindly instead of falling into the
hands of White and of a woman who thought ‘ ‘ ten like her were
nothing,” she might have been as good a woman as Gertrude
Atherton, or better.
And if Gertrude Atherton had fallen into the hands of Stan
ford White through some vile woman who thought some girls
were “only made to be cast aside when people tired of them,”
then Gertrude Atherton would have been all that Evelyn Thaw
has been, and might be less of a woman to-day.
No flower is made to be cast into the manure pit. No girl is
made to be cast aside by such a degraded brute as Stanford
White. No woman possessing a thin shred of self respect should
write as Gertrude Atherton has written. And this newspaper
will give to frank criticism of her opinions as wide publicity as
she has given to the infamous statement that a man of genius—
which White never was—had the right to destroy the body and
spirit of any woman.
As for Thaw, if sane, he should have been punished for mur
der. No provocation justifies killing.
If insane when he killed White, and sane now, he should be
set free.
Sane or insane, he will be remembered, as least, as one who
did much to discourage the Gertrude Atherton theory that one
miserable girl more or less amounts to nothing. Thaw killed
a man who needed killing, if ever man did. And what is more
important, he put the fear of the bullet into several of White's
associates who were going in his path.
Thaw, crazy or sane, made several men realize that Evelyn
Thaw "and ten like her” DO amount to something.
The white slave trials in California have made others realize
that girls are not made ’’only to be cast aside when people tire
of them."
We invite Gertrude Atherton to amend her views on the im
portance of a helpless, unhappy girl, “or ten like her," as com
pared with the infamous pleasures of a degenerate man.
We may feel sorry for the Chinese mother who throws her
superfluous daughters into the water. But it is not sorrow we
feel toward the woman who declares that it "wouldn't have been
anything" to treat ten girls as White treated his victims.
To advocate or palliate a crime is wholesale criminality.
The Fall of New Amsterdam
By REV THOMAS B. GREGORY.
EW AMSTERDAM became
New York 249 years ago,
September 4.
Charles II and their "High
Mightinesses" of Holland were on
the best of terms, but Charles
wanted New Amsterdam, and not
withstanding the fact that the
two governments were at peace,
the English monarch proceeded to
lay hold of the coated prize
Four ships, with 500 veteran
troops, were dispatched to Boston,
and from the "Hub” the fleet leis
urely bore down on New Amster
dam. Anchoring Just below the
Narrows the British commander
sent out a company of soldiers
and captured the blockhouses on
Staten Island.
Governor Stuyvesant, brave as a
lion and never known to show the
white feather, was at his wits end.
He had only 150 trained soldiers,
aided by some 250 citizens capa
ble of bearing arms. The 20 guns
of Fort Amsterdam had ne*t to
i
no powder and no chance against
four British warships with 120
guns.
In spite of the great odds
against him. however, "Father
Wooden Leg" resolved to fight. A
more courageous man than old
Peter Stuyvesant never lived,
and, of course, he would fight to
the last ditch. But the old man
was overruled. DeSille, command
er of the fort, said to him: "To
fight is madness,” and Dominie
Megapolensis laid his hand gently
on the old Governor's shoulder
and said to him: "It is wrong to
shed blood to no purpose.” To cap
the business women and children
crowded about the man and beg
ged him to make no resistance.
Finally yielding, he cried out,
"Well, let it be so. But 1 had
rather be carried to my grave.”
And so the British fiag went up
on the rampart «>f Fort Amster
dam and Dutch rule in America
came to an end.
In the Movies
In Real Life
The Problem of Navigating Space
It Will Not Be Solved by New Gas Discovery, but May Be Solved
by Other Means in the Future.
By GARRETT P. SERV1SS.
T
HE statement has Just ap*
peared in print that, owing
to the discovery of Sir Wil
liam Ramsay of a gas sixteen times
lighter than hydrogen, it may lie-
come possible to send a balloon
from the earth to the moon or to
other planets.
If this could lie done it would
Ik* the most wonderful thing ever
accomplished by man. A voyage
to the moon would t>e an expe
rience id indescribable novelty ami
infinitely more marvelous than Co
lumbus* first crossing of the At
lantic.
Trip to the Moon May Be
Made Possible Some
Future Day.
l?ut the reasoning on which the
statement 1- based is entirely er
roneous. and the fact that It is
credited to a “scientist" only shows
how ignorant the majority even of
educated people are of the real
difficulties to be overcome l>efore
a voyage in open space can be un
dertaken.
This seems a good occasion for
showing how a trip to the moon
could actually lie made—provided
we had the means.
Suppose that this strange gas of
unexampled lightness were pro
duced iu sufficient quantity to
charge a balloon, the result would
only be that we should lie able to
go a few miles higher than we can
now go with the aid of a balloon
filled with hydrogen, it would lie
impossible for any balloon, no mut-
/
ter how light and buoyant its gas,
to escape from the shell of atmos
phere that surrounds the earth,
and which at a height of a hun
dred miles becomes so rare that it
is practically Insensible.
1 know that some persons think
GARRETT P. SERVISS.
that if a balloon could be made to
rise with so great rapidity as to
reach the upper limit of the atmos
phere It would then continue to
move, with the momentum acquired
by its ascent, out into space, ami
would go on uninterrupted because
the resistance of the air would be
gone. But this is a wrong notion.
If we could give a projectile a
velocity of about 7 miles per sec
ond. then we could shoot it straight
up from the earth and cause it to
escape from the earth's attraction.
But the highest velocity that could
be given to a balloon with any
gas whatever would be incompar-
ably less than this. Moreover, the
velocity would rapidly decrease as
the balloon got into the rare atmos
phere a few miles up. because its
buoyancy would depend upon the
relative weight of the gas as com
pared with that of the surrounding
air, and the latter become rarer
and rarer until it practically ceases
to exist. The balloon then would
come to rest, being unable, ever to
get out of the atmosphere.
In the present state of science
the only solution of the problem
of navigating space appears to lie
indicated by the property of elec
tric repulsion. If a car could be con
structed bearing an electric charge
opposite in kind to that of the
earth, then perhaps it could be
made to fly away in spite of grav
itation, and if the repulsive force
could lie caused to act continuous
ly it might go as far as the moon
or farther.
But this is only the statement of
an idea. We have no means of
making such an electrically charged
car. and the charge that would be
required is so enormous that its
production seems impossible. Then,
of course, there are other im
mense difficulties in the way. It
is sufficient to state only one of
them. We can not live without
breathing that mixture of oxygen
and nitrogen which we call air. If
a man undertook to cross the air
less space between the earth dud
the moon he would have to carry
with him some substitute for air,
to say nothing of the cargo of eat
ables and drinkables that he would
require!
Yet X personally have little doubt
that if humanity continues for
thousands of years to make prog
ress in its knowledge of the laws
and forces of nature comparable
with what it has made in the last
hundred years, and in continuation
of the same, the problem of hu
man flight in open space will be
solved. But it will not be solved
by the use of any gas. however
buoyant.
New Gas Discovered Will
Aid Possibilities of
Flight.
The new gas, however—if a new
,gas such as is described has really
been found—may add immensely to
the possibilities of flight within
the limits of the atmosphere. A
relatively small vessel containing
such a gas would possess the lift
ing power of a large balloon with
out presenting as great a surface to
the wind, and it might easily be
employed as an accessory to the
aeroplane, enabling the latter to
rise more directly and to ride the
air more steadily. There would be
no danger of a fall with an aero
plane furnished with receptacles
containing a gas sixteen times
lighter than hydrogen. Then, too,
the planes might be made smaller
and more manageable, while the
lifting power which many invent
ors have been trying to obtain by
vertically acting air screws would
be rapidly supplied.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
Sex
Distinction Which Church and
Society Make, Allowing Man
Every Freedom and Forgive
ness, While Condemning Wo
man, Is Unreasonable and Un
just to the Latter.
Written for The A.tlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(Copyright, 1913.)
P ERSONS of large intellect,
who have given years of
their lives to profound study
of life and all its mysteries, make
bold to assert that long and long
ago, in a prehistoric period, there
was but one sex. Yet that one sex
was bi sexual, both man and wom
an; and when that race occupied
the plane of manifestation beings
were created by other laws than
those which now govern nature.
Gradually the masculine element
in some of these beings began to
be accented, the feminine element
in others; and so after many eons
of time the two separate sexes
were established.
At first the all-male creature or
the all-female was regarded as
some strange specimen, a distor
tion, an abnormal creation. But
gradually they increased in num
bers until they became universal.
And then followed all the evils
of sex excesses and abuses which
have made so much trouble in the
world ever since and have about
culminated in the present Iron Age
of the earth.
And now, it is said, the pendu
lum is beginning to swing back to
ward the bi-sexual standard of mas
culinity of the female and the
growing femininity of the male in
dicate.
And all this is watched over by
the Great Lords of Karma, who
have given souls this experience in
order that they may learn by pain
and suffering the folly of seeking
for happiness in any paths which
lead away from the spiritual.
One of the first evils of the sex
separation showed itself in the two
distinct codes of morals estab
lished for men and women who
broke the laws of the world in
sexual matters.
Sex Distinction Drawn
by Society Is Unfair
to Women.
Through some strange and un
reasonable course of reasoning it
was supposed that the feminine
being must be all chastity, all vir
tue, all spirituality and wholly
beyond and above temptation of
any kind, and that she must be
kept in ignorance of sex matters
until she was a wife and mother.
Yet she must prove perfect in both
relations and fill those positions
with unerring skill and wisdom.
Meantime, the man was expected
to be sensual and polygamous, to
make and break his own laws, to
follow his impulses and use no self-
control, because he was a man, and
to he forgiven and accepted by so
ciety at large, no matter what his
record.
Then the race began to study in
to laws of heredity, and it was ob
served that daughters more fre
quently resembled the father than
the mother, and that they quite as
frequently inherited the father’s
nature as his features, and some
inquiring minds asked why the
daughter of the sensual, pleasure-
loving father, who was the living
image of her sire, should be ex
pected to grow into a miracle of
modesty and virtue without any
guide from her parents, or society,
or any special effort made in her
behalf, but merely on the supposi
tion that she was protected by her
sex, or why she should be punished
more severely than man if she
failed.
Some wise minds of an inquiring
tendency are asking that question
every year, and more minds of a
conventional mold are finding it
a difficult question to answer.
Gradually it is being borne in upon
the public consciousness that men
and women are created by the
same Powers and wdth the same
tendencies and emotions and pas
sions and temptations, and that
they should be protected and judg
ed by the same laws. Gradually,
but very, very slowly the trend of
public opinion is toward a larger
view in these matters of sex.
It is a curious thing that the
Christian Church has been so very
tardy in making the path of the
repentant woman sinner eaetett
since of all sinners mentioned by
Christ the Master He was moat
lenient toward the Magdalen and
the woman taken in adultery.
His most severe word toward
them was “Go and sin no more."
It is a misfortune for the world
that there is no fuller record of
what He did to help them after
they went forth and tried to sin no
more. If the gentle Master had
realized just how hard and cruel
and severe his avowed disciples
were to be in these later centuries
toward the women who sought to
reform after having fallen He surely
would have given more ample in
structions for both the erring ones
and the disciples* ,
"Woman Thou Gavest
Me” Attacks Conven
tional Standards.
Hall Caine, in his remarkable
story, ‘‘The Woman Thou Gavest
Me,” in Hearst’s Magazine, has at
tacked the conventional standards
of the Christian Church and so
ciety at large on the subject of
marriage and sexual relations with
a courage that is almost appalling.
The woman in this story is pre
sented to the reader in a position
which thousands of women occupy
In European lands and hundreds in
our own country—the position of
a young girl who is reared in
ignorance of all the great laws of
life and sex, and who is urged by
her family into a marriage which
offers her a good social position.
The Church approves and society
approves.
But after marriage the girt'*
mind awakens and she refuses the
obligation of marriage. Then she
meets the man who awakens her
soul and she becomes the mother of
his child. Here she is an outcast—•
the Church, society, family, friends,
all regard her as the vilest of sin
ners. Had she become the unwilk
ing mother of the child of a man
she abhorred she would have met
with universal sanction of all good
people, because the Church had
pronounced Its blessing.
It is great subject, and it Is
handled with great skill and power.
It is a story which must be read
and thought over, a story which
each mind must analyze and find
for itself Its moral and its mean
ing; a story- which ought to mak.s
the Church and society pause and
consider their methods as related
to the greatest of all questions of
the world in every era—the ques
tion of the laws of sex.
Just as this story is reaching a
climax Mr. Eugene Debs has
brought the glare of publicity upon
himself by taking into his home a
young woman who has missed the
right way In her search for happfc
ness.
Debs Is Giving Erring
Girl Chance to Re
deem Herself.
And he is giving her Just as good
a chance to get back on the right
path as a thousand people give
erring young men every day.
When a man goes wrong in the
path of the senses, and when he
shows a desire to reform, he is ak
most universally accepted by so
ciety and by- tender-hearted women.
Not Infrequently he Is Idealized
into a hero. How many will show
a spirit of charity and Christianity
and good will toward this young
woman—not by patronizing pity,
but by treating her as Christ
treated the falien women and by
helping her to put the thoughts of
her past mistakes and miseries bo-
hind her and to push forward to a
life of usefulness?
It would be interesting if this
young woman kept a diary of her
experience in this effort to re-estab
lish herself among the respectable
women of the earth. It might make
valuable literature in the future.
(An installment of “The Women Tbo#
Gavest Me," and a special article on Halt
Caine’s famous story by Dr. Charles Ha
Parfchurst, are printed on to day's ma»o
azmt page.)
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