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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian mome paper
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Ttrrr/I
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Published by THE GEORGIAN COMPA CT
At 20 Fast Alabama 8t Atlanta, Oa
i* «1a«a matter at postofflce at Atlanta miJ^r a<-t of March t, 1173
> STS SUNDAY AMERICAN and TH1 4TLAN1 GEORGIAN will
anlvarrlb*»ra anywhere In the Cnlled Rtate* f’wnada and M***lco.
th for I month* for I . i aa oftn <*•
L reign subscription rate* on application
Let Us Have Progress Coupled
With Prosperity
SOME DAY!
Copyright* 1913, International News Kervn*
President Wilson says: “There is bnt one cloud upon our
horizon,’‘ and describes that cloud as our trouble with Mexico.
Mr. Wilson evidently is not an expert in political meteor
ology
There is, perhaps, only one cloud on the distant horizon, but
there are several very threatening clouds hanging immediately
overhead, and casting a very heavy shadow upon the business
interests of this country and upon the general prosperity of the
producing classes. This heavy shadow, with a prospect even of
a serious storm, is due to the President's exceedingly obstinate
attitude in regard to the modifications of the tariff.
The President is one of those men to whom success gives hal
lucinations.
He has the Presbyterian belief in predestination.
He is convinced that he is the direct representative of the
Almighty on earth, and that, being in more immediate contact
with mundane affairs, his knowledge of them is, perhaps, a little
superior to that of the Almighty.
This conviction is not uncommon among men whose sudden
rise to power is as incomprehensible to them as it is to the rest
of the community. Not only politicians have this obsession, but
business men also who attain unusual success or important posi
tiou too rapidly.
A conspicuous example of this hallucination was given by
George F. Baer, of the Reading Railroad, with his avowed inspi
ration and his arrogant action by “Divine right.’’
Vanities of this kind would be harmless enough if they did
not so often lead men to become inaccessible to facts and im
pervious to reason, and if they did not so often persuade men
that their own fallible opinions were direct inspirations from on
High, not to be modified or ameliorated by the opinions of other
men or the actual conditions which confront them.
The clouds which now hang menacingly overhead and
threaten the prosperity of the nation could have been dissipated
if Mr. Wilson had taken a broader and more liberal view in his
policies of tariff reduction.
He should have realized that tariff reduction, however
necessary for the benefit of the consumers, must fall more or less
heavily and disastrously upon the producers of the country.
He should have appreciated the necessity of compensating
these American producers for the markets which they would
lose here at home by opening to them markets which he could
easily have secured for them abroad.
The reduction of our tariff barrier allows our markets to he
invaded by foreign products, and our producers to be deprived
of a greater or less proportion of our American markets.
If a policy of reciprocity had accompanied the policy of
tariff reduction the markets of foreign nations would have been
reciprocally opened to the products of our American manufac
turers and producers. The advantages gained in these foreign
markets would have compensated our producers, and, perhaps,
more than compensated, for the loss of part of their home
markets.
Mr. Wilson should realize that the word “producers" does
not mean only the big business men who conduct manufactories,
but the workingmen, who are the partners in this production, and
the farmers, who are the most important producers of all.
However desirable it might have been to benefit the consum
ers, it was certainly as desirable, or even more desirable, to ben
efit the producers in this country. THE GREATNESS OF THIS
COUNTRY AND THE WEALTH OF THIS COUNTRY ARE
DUE. NOT TO WHAT WE CONSUME, BUT TO WHAT WE
PRODUCE.
The increase in the creation of wealth depends in great meas
ure upon proper encouragement to production, and the distribu
tion of wealth in good prices to fanners and good wages to
workingmen is obviously dependent in the first instance upon the
creation of wealth through profitable production.
Profits on production depend largely on the extent and ex
cellence of available markets, and any sort of ordinary business
intelligence or political intelligence ought to have observed the
wisdom of increasing and improving the markets for American
products.
In fact, the only kind of mind that could not see the practical
and sentimental, the material and human' advantage of such a
policy would be that type which believes itself to be the medium
for the direct transmission of Divine instructions.
It is certainly not incompatible with any moral obligations
to consider the material welfare of a country and the financial
prosperity of the individual citizens.
The material prosperity of the people is a matter worthy of
the attention and consideration of any Administration, but par
ticularly of a Democratic Administration, and Mr. Wilson's
policies, no matter how inspired he may believe them, should be
executed with due regard for the welfare of the nation and of
the citizens.
Indeed, it would be well if Mr. Wilson could realize that no
one man is doing God’s work on earth, but that all men are
doing it, in the place and with the power that God has allotted
to them; that vox populi vox Dei, that all men are entitled to be
heard, and that the moral and material interests of all arc right
fully to be considered and conserved.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
| s THE CITY HORSES
By WILLIAM F. KIRK.
P VTTENT. plodding. brsTel? toning,
Slipping on the Icy grade
Where the derll'n pot le boiling
In the city th«t he made;
Straining at the thoughtless urging
Of grim men as dumb as they.
Where the traffic’s tide Is surging.
See them on their weary way
Sick and eore, hot uncomplaining
At their humble, dreary lot.
Wet and cold when It Is raining.
tlizzy when the sun 1s hot.
Over pavements hard and endless.
See the city horses go.
Till removed, all still and friendless,
jep rasa* aa. .
Mr. MoOayhere shows one argument that will persuade our slumbering statesmen of the neces
sity for an adequate navy. Let us hope that a majority of them will wake up before this day comes.
Is Most of Our Labor Joyless?
§3
Selected by EDWIN MARKHAM
I N “The Use of Leisure," a re
markable book sent oat by
B. W. Huebech, Mr. Temple
j Scott ha* put some of hi* keen
est work. Prom hi* chapter
"TV An ted—Leisure" I cull n paa-
I *A*e:
“Buried In foul basement* and
bereft of sunlight and air, hun
dred* of thousands of younk men
and young: women are dally occu
pied in a deadly routine of em
ployment at tasks that concern
them only In so far as their ac
complishment brings them a
weekly wage
“And they are doing these tasks
from early morn till dewy eve
Out in the streets and In the
country the blue sky is effulgent
in golden sunlight, and trees are
blossoming, 1 irds singing, cloud*
sailing and gentle breezes blow
ing But the tollers see nothing
and feel nothing of what 1* going
on without. They have not the
time, they are too busy asserting
their God-given rights to 'life,
liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness’ ‘Blessed are the homy
hands of toil!'
“In stuffy little shop* are thou
sands of others—husbands and
wives and children—smirking,
genuflexing, tricking, flattering,
deceiving, cajoling customers into
buying the wares they are offer
ing for sale. From 7 or 8 o’clock
in the morning until 7, 8. 9 and
even 10 o'clock at night, they are
engaged In this degrading labor.
They hav* no tlms for anything
else; for If they took the time
their neighbor shopkeeper might
take customers from them More
over. they must, at any cost, make
good their Inalienable rights to
•life, liberty and the pursuit of
iiapplll***. 'IOil ou, UaL VU,
thou art In thy duty, be out of It
who may.’
“Watch the farmer at h1s work
and his family at their dally
tasks. The pageant of landscape
and of sky passe* by th*L. unseen
They are bowed and bent earth
ward. For a brief moment they
look up, but their eyes are blind.
For a short space they plod
homeward & weary way and leave
the world to darkness and them
selves to brutish sleep. He is his
own taskmaster, with the whip of
anxiety to srpur him on to effort
after effort. Yet they are als^
told that ‘to labor is to pray.'
“See the employer at his office
desk, tricking, cajoling, swin
dling. haggling, directing, smirk
ing. Juggling and doing the many
other worthy and unworthy acts
that he calls business. He also
is harneased to the mortar-
w'heel. He is the blind leading
the blind. He is the slave of hi*
enterprise, the creature of his
success. Listen to him, In his
hours of ease, at the restaurant.
In the theater, or at hls own din
ing table, and he is saying. ‘Dol-
lar*, dollars, dollars!’ If other
words fail from hls lips, they
have reference to dollars; If he
PUTTY: He Gets the Pup in Bad
ln=Shoots
talks of art, it is in terms of dol
lars; if he d scants of pleasure,
it Is In the language of the mar
ket place; if he speaks of love, it
Is with synonyms for money.
“He knows no god but the Gold
en Calf and no Joy but the fever
of desire, And he Is oppressed
with worry and depressed by
anxiety. If he makes thousands
in a day, he loses them in a night.
He is the gambler offspring of
competition and the millitariat
system. He Is Time’s slave; he
Is the chained driver of the com
petition car, doomed for life to
'rrxss and recross the Bridge of
Sighs. And in his wake follow
the groans of the hungry and the
moans of the stricken. Yet he
can not help them because he
is himself stricken; he is the
slave of the system which com
pels him to do what he does.”
Good morning; have you pick
ed your all-America team yet?
• • •
Man asked that his electrocu
tion be put off until he had fin
ished reading a joke book. Dis
counting his doom.
• * •
.Suffragettes will march seven
times around the White House.
Hope it’s better built than Jeri
cho was.
• • •
President Wilson has a cold.
Not stated whether he is taking
a cough cure or pursuing a policy
of watchful waiting.
• • •
Every time the Kaiser needs
more money he sells another cas
tle. The plain citizen has to slap
on another mortgage.
* * *
Man loses claim of $1,000,000
from Government for inventing
wax-page stamp books. In other
words, he was stuck.
Georgia Soil Produces a Crop
of Three Hundred Mil
lions of Dollars!
Three hundred millions of dollars—a dollar sign, a 3 and
eight ciphers--represents the value of the products of Georgia's
broad acres this season.
This is a sum almost inconceivable. It would be easy to
compute how 300,000,000 silver dollars laid side by side would
reach from Atlanta to England, or something of the sort. That
isn’t necessary. It is enough to realize that wealth beyond hu
man conception comes from Georgia soil every year, and that this
year Providence has so tempered the elements that the State,
with Atlanta as its commercial and financial center, is in the
midst of unbounded prosperity.
It is more interesting to explain how conservative is the
estimate, which is for the most part not an estimate, after all,
but sober fact.
There were ginned in Georgia, up to December 1, 2,064,792
bales of Sea Island ginned to the same date, it is certain that the
happy contrast to the sorry grades from the western and central
belts. The price has ruled well above 13 cents. Including 34,000
bales of Sea Island ginned to the same date, it is certain that the
average has been 13% cents.
This makes the amount ginned worth $139,373,480—the
figures which, published in The Georgian Monday, took away the
city’s breath.
Some experts think the total crop will be 2,500,000 bales.
Others say not. Put it at 2,250,000 bales, to give plenty of lee
way, the total crop, then, will bring $151,875,000.
A crop of 2,250,000 bales will yield 1,125,000 tons of seed.
About three-fourths of this will be crushed, statistics show. At
$20 a ton, the seed will net $16,875,000.
Then turn to the corn crop. Corn is $1 a bushel. If the
Georgian had to feed his mules this winter on corn grown in Kan
sas and Illinois, 13%-cent cotton would not help much. But he
doesn’t. He raised his own corn this year—72,000,000 bushels
of it, which leaves him $72,000,000 in pocket.
Now, add cotton, cotton seed and corn—the total is $240,-
750,000.
Where is the rest of the $300,000,000?
Why, in peaches, which Georgia sends to all the nation; in
syrup, which goes pretty nearly everywhere the peaches go; in
oats, of which Georgia raised the largest crop it ever knew; in
pecans, in truck, in yams, in swine, in cattle, in mules, in apples—
indeed, $300,000,000, were statistics for all these crops available,
■would be found a figure pitifully short of the mark!
The Act of Habeas Corpus
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
T WO hundred and thirty-four
years ago the English Par
liament passed the famous
Habeas Corpus Act, thus crown
ing the Great Charter which, 464
years before, had been -wrenched
from King John at Runnymede.
Magna Charter had for a long
time been practically ignored by
“those In authority.” Time and
again the venerable document had
been flouted by the Kings and
their henchmen, and the descend
ants of the men who won the
great victory over the King at
Runnymede were treated not as
freemen, but as slaves.
The business leached an alarm
ing stage under Charles the First,
and came to a climax in the reign
of the “Merry Monarch,” who
came to the throne after the fiasco
of the second protectorate. The
despotic and unscrupulous Clar
endon brought things to the pass
where the representatives of the
people were obliged to act, and
the result was the immortal bill
which forever put an end to all
trifling with the liberties of Eng
lishmen.
Despite the provisions of Magna
Charta to the contrary, Claren
don threw men Into prison right
and left, and kept them aa long
as he liked; but by the Habeas
Corpus Act of 1679 the old prac
tice of the law was freed from all
difficulties and exceptions.
Every prisoner committed to
Jail was declared entitled to his
writ, even in the vacation of the
courts, and heavy penalties were
enforced on Judges and Jailers who
refused the prisoner hls rights.
The Judge who delayed granting
the habeas corpus forfeited 609
pounds to the party aggrieved,
while a violation of the provision
that no Englishman should be
carried beyond seas for trial car
ried with it the same heavy pen
alty. At last Magna Charta was
a living realty, not a mere theory
For four centuries and a half
Englishmen had endured the vio
lation of the sacred charter, but
at last the age-long evil was
over, and the personal freedom of
Englishmen was assured for all
time.
Oglethorpe University
T
(From The Griffin Neics.)
vUE move to establish Ogle
thorpe University in At
lanta affects the South as
a section and is the most impor
tant educational enterprise ever
attempted in the Southern States.
That Georgia and Atlanta should
be the home of this great insti
tution is not remarkable—Geor
gia is one of he best States in
the Union and Atlanta has never
yet failed in an undertaking.
Oglethorpe will in many re
spects he as extensive and com
plete in its work as Harvard and
Yale and the people of the
South are loyal enough to support
it from the beginning.
Age and prestige are valuable
assets for any university, hut
that they are not indispensable
to operation has been convinc
ingly illustrated by the Univer
sity of Chicago, which is attain
ing results that compare favor
ably with any of the older Insti
tutions of learning. What has
been done In Chicago can he done
in Atlanta, and Oglethorpe will
be a lasting monument to the en
terprise and liberality of Geor
gia and place it in the education
al history of the future.
Atlanta has undertaken io
raise $250,000 of the required
amount and it Is pleasing to note
that Griffin is co-operating hand
somely in this work of construc
tion.
All the eminent educator's are
not employed by the older uni
versities, nor is It Impossible for
the South to succeed where oth
er sections have made good.
Backed by the unlimited capi
tal that will eventually material
ize, Oglethorpe will prove a glory
to the South and a credit to the
nation.
Stars and Stripes
Life 1* Just one divorce after
another—in some society circles.
• • •
Dewey wants 48 battleship*’
That’s the right sort of peace
talk.
• • •
No money bill, no holiday foT
the President. Can't have a
ChrUrtmas without bills.
• • •
Aviator's motor stopped as
looped the loop. Hospital report
shows the airship went on.
« * *
Wall Street brokets complain
their only active accounts now
are relating to expenses*