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' 1 € The Atlanta Georgian the: home rarer » EDITORIAL RAGE Atlanta Must Get Oglethorpe as a Christmas Present Atlanta must ^ive herself a Christmas present this year—and that present must he Oglethorpe University! Atlanta is going to raise the money necessary to insure the establishment of this great institution—that is settled. Atlanta never has failed in matters of this kind--- good old. brave old Atlanta! And Atlanta isn ’t going to start now. It is Atlanta’s way, however, to do big 1 hings royally, and at psychological moments— i wherefore Atlanta must inak'o herself a Christinas present of Oglethorpe! It is the holiday season—the people of Atlanta are busy with their Christmas shop ping. The stores are thronged with happy, laughing, eager, and good-naturedly crowding men and women. Santa Claus is on his way to Atlanta—and he is in fora right jolly welcome! The holiday feeling is in the atmosphere—it is the season of giving and receiving, of smiles and song, merrymaking and sunshine! Atlanta can raise the remaining fund necessary to complete the $250,000 needed. At lanta is going to do that—so, why not make a quick job of it, and put Oglethorpe University in Atlanta’s otherwise bulging Christmas stocking 1 ? Think it over—and then come along with your subscription. Remember, in giving to the Oglethorpe fund, you are helping in a magnificent work, and for all time. You are splendidly emphasizing the genuineness of Atlanta’s oft-repeated claims to real greatness. Let’s have Oglethorpe University as the crowning climax of Atlanta’s happiest, best, and very brightest Christmas! The North Side of Atlanta MUST Be Protected From Fire The burning of the Winecoff home in Ansley Park brings up a warning to the city that must not longer be ignored. Be yond North avenue Atlanta can not boast of a single fire house. That means that the district from North avenue to Brook- wood is dependent on one fire engine. It also means, invariably, that a fire in a home on the North Side, where many of the finest residences in the South are lo cated, results in the complete destruction of the house. Downtown Atlanta is splendidly protected against fire. The force is efficient and the apparatus is up to date. But the city has not kept pace with its growth. It must protect its tax payers everywhere, and fire and police protection are essential safeguards. The North Side must have a fire house, and it must have it without delay. The city’s added revenue for the coming year puts these improvements easily within its means. President Wilson's “Watchful Waiting’' in Mexico President Wilson’s message to Congress is characteristically direct and simple in style and substance. Unfortunately, in the matter of public concern which he recognizes as of prime importance by putting it first in his mes sage—the Mexican situation—the President has no triumphs to report, no well-defined policy to urge. Nothing in the paragraphs of the message dealing with this subject gives any indication that the President is in possession of any information denied to the general public that may justify his policy of inaction—or, as he describes it, of “WATCHFUL WAITING.” “Mexico has no government,” says the President. Quite true. There being no government there to protect the lives and \ property of American citizens in the chaotic country, where shall ! they turn for protection? To their own country? Not so. The President of the United j States has for the citizens of this country resident in Mexico no j guarantee of protection, no word of promise save the vague as- I surance that the collapse of Huerta's power is not far away. Failing to secure safety for Americans to day, the President advances not the faintest hope of their protection in future. No where in the message does it appear that our fellow citizens in Mexico are entitled to or will receive any protection from their Government. If upon the fall of Huerta worse government suc ceeds, which is by no means improbable, they need not lift their voices to Washington in an appeal for aid. The policy of “WATCHFUL WAITING” is not fatiguing—except to the suf- [ ferers in Mexico—and nothing in the message of President Wil son suggests any end to it. Hated by the Mexicans, looked upon askance by other for eign residents as partially responsible for the general peril, and deserted by their home Government, the Americans in Mexico are pathetic specimens of men without a country. The policy of WATCHFUL WAITING” may be popular in Washington, but it is heartbreaking in Mexico. Those to whom it is applied are a little band of true men, beset by robbers and assassins, barracaded and defending themselves against hopeless ; odds, but ever watching and waiting for the gleam of their country s flag and the blare of the bugles telling of relief at hand. But tc such the President's message holds out no ray of hope. Questions Answered MONROE DOCTRINE. S. D.—Briefly, the Monroe Doc trine is the contention of this Government that al! foreign pow ers who attempt to establish themselves on American territory are to be regarded as unfriendly. In the Mexican tangle It operates 10 keep other nations from n to intervene on behalf of their <>wt\ citizens, thus placing on the States the burden of po- ■ mg this continent. COLUMBUS. D. R. O'G.—Columbus first landed on an island of the Ba hama group off the coast of Flor ida. which was named Ran Sal vador. He afterward made explo rations among other of the West Indian Islands and along the coast of Cuba. He died, however, with out ever knowing that he had dis covered a neu continent. T ?e lands he had found he supposed were the outlying islands of the East Indies. Is This a Pretty Picture? NO. But it’s a picture that will be realized in thousands of instances if you put off your Christmas shopping until the last moment. SHOP EARLY and give the girl behind the counter a chance to enjoy the holiday. Radium as Disease Victor Bars Monopoly I N Tie* of the growing belief that radium holds out the promise of victory over some of the most terrible and intract able diseases that afflict human ity, such, for instance, as cancer, there will be rejoicing over the news that a new sonree of supply of this puissant element has been found and is being devel oped in the United States The first radium ever known was discovered in the mineral pitchblende, a blue-black, heavy substance, found in considerable abundance at the mines of Joach- imsthal In Austria, and formerly thrown aside as waste. Until recently Joachimsthal had a vir tual monopoly in the production of radium because pitchblende itself is not very widely distrib uted over the earth, and no other mineral was known from which radium could be extracted. More over, the Joachimsthal pitch blende is extraordinarily rich in radium, containing about one ten-millionth of one per cent! It will be observed that the chem ist's idea of richness Is widely different from that of the gold miner. Now, however, this monopoly has been broken, for it has been ! found that a new mineral icaruo- By GARRETT tite, named in honor of a for- | mer President of Prance, al though discovered In the United Statesl, Is st least as rich as pitchblende in radium, and easier to work. The greatest deposits of car- notite yet found are in Paradox Valley. Colorado, but it also exists in paying quantity in Utah, especially near Green River. Naturally, miners are beginning to prospect for it, and the Denver office of the Bureau of Mines has j issued a circular describing the appearance of carnotite and the method of testing It for the exist ence of radium. in view of it* color, and of the enormous value of its hidden con tents, it might be called the gold of science. It is a lemon-yellow mineral, generally found in pock ets of sandstone deposits. Some times it forms yellow specks dis seminated through the sand stone, and at other times it is teen as yellow incrustations in the cracks. Occasionally it Is found in a more massive form, associated with vanadium ores. The prospecting, says Dr. Charles L. Parsons, is mainly ! carried along the sides of can yons. where the stratum contain ing carnotite has been eroded, i and wherever vanadium and ura P. SERVISS. nium stains are seen on the rock the prospector blasts his tunnel, hoping to come upon a pocket of carnotite ore. The testing of the ore for the existence of radium within it 1b a process that would have ap pealed to the mysticism of the old alchemists and magicians. The test consists in making the ore take a picture. The official directions say: "Wrap, in the dark, a photo graphic plate in two thicknesses of black paper. On the paper lay a key, and then Just above the key suspend two or three ounces of the ore. and place tile whole in a light-tight box. Pressure of the ore on the key and plate should be avoided. After three or four days develop the plate in the ordinary way, and if the ore is appreciably radio-active an image of the key will be found on the plate." Of course, some other metalllo object, such as a coin, would an swer as well as a key, but prob ably the key was chosen because its form is so pronounced and unmistakable. If the prospector finds the Image of the key on his photographic plate, he knows that he holds in his hands, .m- bedded in the carnotite. an a!- I most infiuitcsimai quantity of a substance which, weight for weight, Is worth at least a hun dred thousand times as much as gold. Already companies have been formed for the exploitation of the American radium producing ores, and people who have that kind of mental and moral make up are debating the question whether there may not be easy fortunes for those who promptly get control of the field. But it will not be another Standard Oil monopoly at best—or at worst—because a very little pure radium goes a very long way. It is estimated that all the doctors in America together do not pos sess more than a single gram of the substance. A few ounces would probably surflee for all their needs, and the needs of all the hospitals. But they do need much more than they have at present, and in order to meet their necessi ties and demonstrate the real value of radium in medicine, millions of dollars will have to be put into the mining and re ducing of radium-bearing ores, and in this Carthaginian age the investment of a million always means that somebody expects to get back ten or a hundred millions. Feat of New York German Journal Amazes Berlin —— By GUSTAV SCHWEPPENDICK. ISTINGUISHED German j statesmen and Journalists j are Interested as well as amazed in contemplation of the Journalistic feat of the New York German Journal In publishing a complete fifty-two page edition of that the men who sowed such • crop had no selfish intention what ever of staying to reap anything for themselvea. "This is admirable,” he said. “TMa is the most unselfish, really patriotic enterprise I ever heard of.” the New York paper in Berlin tn the Interest of the San Francisco Exposition. The consensus of the comment is that the enterprise of the German Journal has been at once of enormous benefit to the exposition, and an illuminating ob ject lesson in the making of a newspaper to the entire German press, whose editors have been extreme'y kind in commending the purpose and the execution of the project. When the American Journalists, bearing the commission of Mr. William Randolph Hearst to pub lish a special edition of the Ger man Journal tn Berlin, reached the capital, famed for its art, its science, its literature, its archi tecture and its own newspapers, they found that the conception was astounding to their brethren of the Berlin press. Herr Theodore Wolff, editor of the Berliner Tageblatt, one of the leading Journals of the city, at first received the prospect with surprise. "Why do you Americans wish to publish a paper here in Berlin?” he asked. “The Tageblatt is do ing all that is possible for the San Francisco Exposition. You could not possibly do more. Take my ad vice and save your money.” Very gracefully did the noted editor change his view when, two weeks later, he saw the special edition. Then, looking with ad miration upon the production, he said: "You can tell the readers of the Hearst papers in America that your Berlin edition has been of great value in aiding the move ment for Germany’s participation in the exposition at San Francisco. The words of all the great men and women, speaking through your columns, will be heard and heeded by the German people. The Ger man exhibit at the Golden Gate will be splendid and worthy of a great nation.” There was general incredulity at the outset over the prospect of circulating such an edition. When the leading news company ordered 6,000 copies for the first day, doubled the order in two days and continued to buy every day for a week, the wonders of American circulation were unfolded along with the other lessons of the issue. The German Journal had to meet not only the local view of the edi torial impossibility of the task, but it had to provide for the un usual mechanical difficulty of get- tilng out an American paper. The Berlin newspaper page is about half the size of the average Ameri can daily's page. Combining two pages Into one was found to be mechanically impossible, and only two presses could be found in Ber lin capable of doing the work re quired. They could only print four pages at a time, and we desired sixteen pages for Exposition mat ter alone, out of a total of fifty- two pages. Hardly less of a wonder to the publishing community than the magnitude of the venture was the idea that Mr. Hearst would spend so much money in getting out an edition solely for the purpose of aiding a public movement like the San Francisco Exposition, with no hope in the world of getting any of the money back. Leading men who were asked for literary con tributions at first were incredulous that such a thing could be possible and then lost in admiration of the spirit that prompted it. Kls Excellency, Dr. Otto von Hentig, former Minister of State, author of one of the strongest contributions to the issue, asked with interest what the American journalists intended doing after they published their paper. “We will take the first steamer leaving for the United States," he was told. His Excellency was surprised The last four pages of the spe cial edition were printed two weeks after our arrival in Berlin. We obtained contributions from Ger many’s biggest men and leading women. The special edition was most widely circulated through all Ger many and Austria. Every German newspaper, every member of the Reichstag and the Prussian Diet, every German manufacturer, everv hotel reading room; in fact, every man of affairs received a copy. Most remarkable, perhaps, was an article printed in the German newspaper trade organ. It de scribed the (for Germane) novel style and make-up, gave a list of contributors and reprinted each and every big "head” our edition contained. In this connection it said: "This is the style of heads that some of our German papers feebly and unsuccessfully try to Imitate." It was a Saturday when the edi tion was published. On Sunday ths newsstands are only open for one hour in the morning. They have no newsboys and no vender is per mitted to do business in the streets on Sunday. Bnt on that particular Sunday many men and women were to be seen sitting on benches in the Berlin counterpart of Central Park-Thlergarten, reading the New York German Journal. Some read articles by noted scientists, 6ome laughed at T. B. Powers' funny pictures, and nurse-maids from the Spreewaid, proudly wearing their picturesque native costumes, entertained their little charges with the pictures or the Katzen- Jammer Kids. “It is remarkable that this change of sentiment should set in just at the time you are publish ing your special edition in this city,” said Dr. Bernhardt, editor of the Berliner Zeltung am Mittag. "and I do not blame you for tak ing credit for It” The comment followed a great change in public sentiment toward the San Francisco Exposition, and it is evident that Germany will he splendidly represented. One of the notable article* tn on? edition was that of Dr. Otto von Hentig, who is now president of the Society for Germans in Foreign Countries. Dr. von Hentig was formerly Minister of State. In the course of his article he says; "Let us now consider apart from business considerations the cultu ral value of the Exposition. Can our participation In the actual opening ceremonies at the canal be separated from our participation in the Exposition? Will the voice of the thirteen millions of German- Americans who Invite us pressingly and from the bottom of their hearts and whose Judgment ought to be with us of weight, fall to gain * hearing? Are we going to endan ger the many ties that bind us through exchange professors, American institutes, through art and literature, through scientific and personal relations? It would be unwise to undervalue the senti ment of a great nation, even if no other factors were to be considered than mere economic ones. "The export and import trade of the United States with Germany amounted in the year 1912 to the> colossal sum of 2 billion and 288 million marks. Is It not our duty to protect and defend this trad* even at the cost of participating In an unproritable exposition against the inrush of East-Aslatlo goods? For it is sure that the Panama Canal not only serves the Americans; It shortens and eases the route for the Chinese and the Japanese for whom It opens new markets where we must meet them. Can we afford to be absent when the nations of the world present to the peoples of Western South America, of East Asia and Australia a comprehensive and impressive picture of their Indus-* 1 tries’”