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EDITORIAL- RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME PARER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Publish*-.! liy THE (IKuHillAN COMI’ANV
At jO East Alabama Si., Atlanta. Ha
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_ t of March 3. 1»V3
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Thaw’s Persecuion a Legal
Farce
The “Unmaking” of Many Men
in Mexico
The Reason Why
Harry Thaw is being hounded as relentlessly in Vermont
and New Hampshire as he was in the Dominion of Canada. The
story of Thaw’s pursuit and prosecution, with Sheriffs, Con
stables, Immigration Officers and high priced lawyers joining in,
makes as disgraceful a chapter of the attempted administration
of justice as could be supplied from the annals of the Middle
Ages.
First, Thaw is seized illegally in Canada and held illegally
till W. T. Jerome has an opportunity to get on the State payroll
and hurry to Canada, there to continue the bedeviling of Thaw
begun seven years ago.
Next, Jerome, holding a commission as a Deputy Attorney
General of the State of New York, gets himself arrested as a
common gambler and locked up in the cell that first held Thaw—
a shameful performance. Once out of jail, he jumps into the
automobile in which he had intended to rush Thaw through two
States and hastens out of Canada despite the warning of the
authorities that this would be jumping bail.
While Jerome was crossing and recrossing the border the
Canadian immigration authorities took Thaw by force out of his
prison and dragged him over the line. This was done despite a
solemn writ from the King's bench ordering Thaw to be pro
duced for a habeas corpus hearing in Montreal. Jerome’s part
in this high-handed proceeding was to be at the line waiting for
<1
Thaw when he was ejected from Canada. His own troubles,
however, had mixed his plans and he was not present.
In spite of the flouting of the law by the Canadian immi
gration officials, inspired by Jerome, Thaw was out of Canada
and once more free. There was no immediate necessity for his
deportation. He was doing no harm in Coaticook and in a posi
tion to do no harm. He objected strenuously to being freed in
such a manner, yet here he was, an American citizen, in his own
country, convicted of no crime and beyond any recognized power
of extradition.
You would imagine that he would have at least received
fair treatment in his own country. But you would be wrong.
In every part of Vermont and New Hampshire Deputy Sheriffs
swarmed on Thaw’s trail and within a few hours he was arrested
without warrant or extradition papers and again held until the
always tardy Jerome should appear and take charge of him.
Why were the Canadian immigration officials in such a
hurry to deliver Thaw into the hands of Jerome that they rose
superior to the courts of their country?
Why were the New England sheriffs obsessed with such a
mad desire to lock up a man who had never violated a statute of
their State and never, according to a jury, committed a crime in
any other State?
Why have precedent and order and decency and law been
calmly set aside in shameful pursuit of a citizen to whom the
Constitution of the United States supposedly guarantees the
rights and privileges of all citizens?
Why does the chase of one man, already punished by seven
years of jail in a madhouse for ridding the world of a white
slaver, cause authorities in two countries to abandon their regu
lar duties as if an outlaw were devastating the countryside?
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Writes on
The Nation’s Workers
Labor Unions Should In
stil the Religion of Kind
ness Into the Daily
Relation of Toilers.
Written for The Atlanta Georgian
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(Copyright, 1918.)
Before the little fledglings leave their nest, the mother bird has taught
them how to fly.
But human mothers fail to meet this test, and so their daughters flutter—
fall—and die.
While mothers teach that innocence is best, that life is fair and blue and
sunlit sky!
With dancing feet that scarcely touch the sod—the maiden's Joy
ing sounds life’s knell. i
How shall she learn to follow paths untrod, unguified, helpless,
blindness’ spell?
How can she guess the road that leads to God must bridge the grim
o’er man-made Hell? L.
of liv-
under
abyss
L.
It Was a 14-Inning Game
A few days ago, standing up before Congress with all the
authority and dignity vested in the office of President of the
United States, President Wilson said:
We should earnestly urge all Americans to leave Mexico
AT ONCE, and should assist them to get away in every way pos
sible.’’
Then followed those humiliating scenes at Mexico City and
Vera Cruz, scores of American citizens, men and women, forced
to the necessity of drawing from their Consuls enough money
wherewith to pay their way to the United States—their
homes abandoned, their businesses ruined, in many sad cases
their life's work lost.
What a pitiful contrast between these lines of destitute
Americans at these consulates and those other lines at the Chau
tauqua box offices buying their tickets for Secretary Bryan's
lectures! What a shameful contrast between ‘ The Making of
a Man ’ ’ and the Unmaking of Many Men!
And now we hear that the State Department has modified,
even if it has not reversed, the instructions issued after the Pres
ident's announcement. The original instructions were misun
derstood, we are told. They caused needless confusion and suf
fering. There is no hurry about it. Let Americans leisurely
wind up their affairs. There is no need to take the President's
“at once” too seriously.
And Huerta’s intentions, too, have been misunderstood. We
are not quite sure now what they are. Some one has evidently
misinterpreted them, and some one may be reprimanded, and we
in Washington are very angry about it; and don t let the Gover
nor of Texas get too excited about it, even if he is certain that a
number of American women have been maltreated and two or
three hundred or even many more American men murdered.
What greater proof could be offered that we have no prac
tical policy, no practical plan, either of bringing peace to Mex
ico or safeguarding those vast interests both of our own and of
foreign nations which had a right to expect protection of life
and property from the power symbolized by the Stars and
Stripes?
rp UK well-being of oui- whole |
| nation depends upon work- I
ing men and women. With
out labor, capital would be use- 1
less: without labor, the home, so- I
ciety, ships, trains, pleasure, char
ity. duty, would all be words de
void of meaning.
Were all the idle rich of the
earth to suddenly vanish, were all
the geniuses and the society peo
ple and the kings and rulers and
the pleasure makers to be swept
away, the world could still go on,
and there would be comfort and
prosperity, and homes would still
exist.
Men and women would be able
to eat, drink and be merry; to
marry, to rear children, to travel
and to perform all the various of
fices of daily life. But were all
these geniuses and money kings,
and imperial rulers, and the pleas
ure makers and seekers, to remain,
and the world’s workers were to
be swept away, what awful misery
would prevail!
Religion Is of No Avail
Unless Workers Aid
One Another.
Trains and ships would cease to
move; the home and the hotel
would become desert places, and
there would be no comfort and no
pleasure on earth. Therefore it
should be the aim anil object of all
leaders of religious thought to try
and give such teachings and such
prospects to this important part of
our world as will awaken in each
mind a truer ideal of brotherly
love and human sympathy, and
which will try to do away with
the petty and quarrelsome and un- i
worthy spirit which mars the
ranks of labor to-day, and which
interferes with the happiness and
comfort of tens of thousands of j
human beings.
Unless the working men and
women are showing one another
courtesy, good will, and making
an effort to do as they would be
done by, of what use is their
religion?
The fear of doing some duty
which belongs to another, and the
great, desire to show a. spirit of
independence, rather than a spirit
of helpfulness toward fellow w-ork-
ers. is everywhere prevalent to
day. The greater their privileges.
■ given by the employers, the less
kindliness do they seem to feel
toward one another. Even in the
homes where but two maids are
kept, one a working housekeeper
and cook, the other waitress and
chambermaid, discord often pre
vails, because the one is exacting
or the other inconsiderate. And.
just in proportion as the staff in
creases in numbers, so does the
discord increase, because of this
fear of being imposed upon or be
ing asked to do some duty by a
fellow toiler.
A man servant who lias lieeu,
perhaps, years in some home will
find a newcomer haughty and im
pertinent, when trying to portion
out his duties, because (he new
comer is filled with the modem
idea of being 'as good as the
next,” and imagines the head man
is putting on airs. Often the head
man is the offender. In every de
partment of labor this unfortu
nate feeling is found, spoiling con
ditions even where employers have
tried to make them ideal.
Kindness the Keynote of
Harmony Among the
World’s Toilers.
It is all the result of LACK OF
REAL RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES.
Clergymen and parents have failed
to present A RELIGION OF HU
MAN BROTHERHOOD to this
great and important part of our
republic—the laboring people—a
religion which necessitates the
daily and hourly practice of the
common virtues of kindliness,
courtesy and good will toward one
another.
ill religious ate represented
among the working people of
America Protestants, Roman
Catholics, Lutherans, members of
the Greek Church, the Jewish
Tabernacle, are all to be found
among our daily tollers, in domes
tic service, in the shops and fac
tories and hotels.
This article is an appeal to men
who stand at the head of all those
religious organizations to try to
make the religion of their follow
ers more practical and more use
ful in the world.
Much is said about the duty of
employers to their helpers, and
I he duties of labor to capital, bin
one of the most needed reforms in
the world of labor to-day is to
bring the religion of
KINDNESS INTO THE RELA
TION OF WORKER WITH
WORKER; BETWEEN FIRST
and SECOND OVERSEER: BE
TWEEN BUTLER AND VALET:
BETWEEN COOK AND SECOND
GIRL. AND SO ON THROUGH
ALL THE VARIOUS DEPART
MENTS OF LABOR.
It is doubtful if in any home in
the land a mistress or master of a
household can be found who is so
inconsiderate, so thoughtless, so
selfish, so anxious to be thought
"better” and so afraid of doing
one act not included in the con
tract. as are a large number of
the maids and men who work in
hotels, boarding houses or private
homes, shops or factories in their
relations with one another.
Capital can not misuse or mal
treat labor as labor is mistreating
labor every hour of the day, in
every village, city and country-
place in America. Since it has be
come the custom to specialize
work, and with the increase of
wages and the decrease of work
ing hours, the spirit of intolerance
between working people in various
departments seems to grow with
astonishing rapidity.
Labor unions and the progres
sive spirit, of the day have awak
ened the mind of the general pub
lic to the rights and the privileges
of labor. And labor itself has
grown to realize its necessity to
give good work and good will in
return for its shorter hours and
larger wages.
Treat Your Co-Workers
in the Same Way You
Would Demand. .
But it has utterly failed to grasp
the meaning of Brotherhood in
its hourly relations one with an
other.
It ought to be the effort of every
reiigious teacher in America to
awaken the hearts of the working
people to a better understanding
of this practical phase of spirit
uality. If you are a laboring man
or woman, stop and ask yourself,
are you treating your fellow work
ers. whether in factories, shops,
hotels and homes. JUST AS YOU
WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED?
Are you treating them as well as
you treat your Employers ?
And do you not. know of Innum
erable cases where labor is mis
using labor, if not, in acts, then in
selfish and jealous and envious
thoughts and words?
The true religion lies in being
kind.
DREAMS
By EDMUND LEAMY.
I F you can fight, as I must fight.
The daily grinding toil;
Then you will know the afters
glow,
The peace from out the moil,
H
If you are loved, as X am loved,
The earth’s a Paradise;
And you will play the game alwavt
Nor care to win the prUa.
If you can hope, as I may hope.
With faith that still endures,
Then you will win, through all tbtk
sin—
The world itself is yours.
And you will dream, as 1 can dream,
And dreams are fairer far
Than love, and gold, and earth sa
old.
ur other things that nrai