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MAIN SHEET-Part II. THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPORTING and AUTOMOBILE NEWS 1 k ATLANTA, GA., SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1!»13. Wind Shows Cause for Empty Stocking Fund *•+ *•+ + •+ || I® J[| Noted Musicians in Free Concert for It To-day ALL DQDGEO Question of South American Pol icy. Evaded Forty Years, Put Up for Debate in Style Which May Embarrass the United States. Nations’ Right to Intervene When American Is Convicted Included in Program for Conference Ap proved by Secretary of State. W ASHINGTON, Dec. 20.—Ii\ giving his approval to the program for the fifth Pan-American conference to be rield in Cantiago de Chile next year Secretary of State Bryan has opened the way for the discussion of a vital principle affecting the rights of Amer icans in Latin America which the smaller countries oJ this hemisphere have for a generation urged the Unit ed States Government to abandon. Of eleven topics for discussion at the conference, all but the last on the program are entirely Innocuous and within the usual strict precautions taken to prevent the raising of em barrassing questions at Pan-Ameri can meetings. The last number, however, agreed to by Mr. Bryan as chairman of the program committee is a topic which has never before been permitted to ome before the Pan-American con ferences and one which former mem bers of the conference regard as charged with dynamite so far as the Interests of the United States Is con cerned. Here's the Dynamite. The eleventh topic for discussion is: Declaration as a principle of American policy that aliens do not *njoy other civil rights or other re courses than those guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of each coun try to the citizens thereof.” , International lawyers of experience In Latin American affairs regard this proposal as revolutionary in so far as :t seems to have the assent of the present Administration through Sec retary Bryan's having acquiesced in » appearance on the program. It Is regarded as nothing less than an attempt upon the part of certain of the smaller and less stable coun tries to draw the United States into an agreement to curtail its right to Intervene diplomatically on behalf of an American citizen in any of those countries. Taboo for 40 Years. For 40 years efforts have been made from time to time to induce the United States to accept the proposed principle either by actual incorpo ration in a treaty or by giving full recognition to statutes to the same ef fect enacted in those countries. Throughout the entire period every Secretary of State has flatly refused to yield any such limitation on the right of American citizens t. appeal to their Government when in difficul ty in a Latin-American country. There is reason to believe that Mr. Bryan accepted the proposal at its face value and in perfect good faith without acquainting hin?self with the traditional attitude of his Govern ment toward such a principle. Ho •?ems to regard the principle laid down as In accordance with United States policy. Had he looked in the work of John Bassett Moore, counselor for the State Department, he would have found in >he “Digest of International Law" many declarations of the determined opposition of the United States ro proposals depriving American citi- z-rs of the right of appeal to the Washington Government from deci sions of Latin-American courts or authorities. Secretary Blaine's * iew. Secretary Blaine in discussing the reaty clause proposed by Ecuador, to the effect that an American tak ing part in international questions •hould be treated, tried and con demned as a citizen of Ecuador and should not appeal to hie home gov ernment, said: The general principle which main- ataa u that the judgment of the ' ourta a country can not be ac- ' % Pt*d a& finally determining its in- •mational duties and liabilities. Once admit that they are to be so accepted, •ach nation Is left to fix the standard I of If® own conduct and the measure L it* obligations” Heartiest Appeal of All in Christmas Charity Project To Be Made at Entertainment at Forsyth Theater. Dirty, gray clouds shut out the sun Saturday, and a biting wind whistled up and .down the crowded business streets. It Avas the bodily visitation of winter. It Avas a real, direct, irresistible appeal that has been made to Atlanta’s Christmas charity. Up in the editorial office of The Sunday American and Geor gian a ribbon on one of the typewriters has been worn to tatters. The “sob sister” and her masculine cousin have written for weeks, day after day, their request tfiat Atlanta men and women open hearts and purses and give to the Empty Stocking fund. They have written sincerely, with a knowledge of the great need. There have been benefits. Great actors and ambitious ama teurs have given of their time and their talents to help Atlanta’s poor toward a happy Christmas. But nothing that has been said or done or written voiced so clearly the need that exists among Atlanta’s poor as did the wind that bleAv out of the gray sky Saturday, with its message that Avin- ter is here, and that want is here, and bitter cold. LUCKY ONES, THINK OF THE POOR. I Fur-clad women and men in comfortable overcoats, as they threaded their Avay through the crowds on Peachtree and White hall, must have realized, with something of a remorseful pang, that there are some people who don’t possess furs and overcoats to keep the cold away. And Avhen they dreAv their chairs close to the snug radiator or toasted their toes before a glowinr fire Saturday evening, they must have felt within them the birth of the thodght that somewhere in Atlanta there are homes—humble, drab homes, without fires of any kind, or, at the most, only struggling, despairing flames, about which poorly clad wom en and children are huddled. And surely, when they cuddled their own boys and girls, and lis tened to happy talk of Sa..ta Claus and next Thursday, these fortunate folks of the furs and overcoats MitSt have thought of the ether children whom Santa Ciaue doesn’t know. Mighty Message in Gray Sky. There is a mighty message to be read in the gray skies, and to be heard in the chill wind. It is a message more eloquent and impelling than anything the Christ mas Editor or his lachrymose help ers can write. ATVhistling around the downtown corners, and gnawing its course be tween tall buildings, th& wind Satur day made people on the street to draw tighter their overcoats and wraps, and to hurry on to their shop ping, rather than dawdle before the T HE largest Christmas tree in the South. It will be lighted Christmas Eve and Christmas night for the big Empty Stocking festival. Below at Jho left are Mayor Woodward and Alderman A. II. Van Dyke admiring it. The others are a member of Lee’s Hatvaiian Trio, and the Steinway Four, Avho will appear at the free concert this afternoon at the Forsyth Theater. : . windows as they have for days and days. The same wind whistled in the sparsely settled corners of the town, out among the little cottages where live Atlanta's poor. No doubt its whine cut into the heart of a hun dred poor mothers, who thought of shoes and warm underclothes and the other unromantic necessities, and at the same time remembered that next Thursday is the day of dreams for their little, half-doubting folks. Gloom Poverty’s Emblem. And the work at the mill Is hard, almost as hard as the pay la sma lt was a mournful wind that sounded to these mothers. But it is an ill wind, indeed, that blows no good. Frightening the hearts of the unfortunate poor, tin Saturday chill at the same time must have spurred the consciences of rich er, luckier people. It is not easy to frame in your mind a picture of suf fering and want at a time when the sun is shining warm and the skies are unseasonably blue. But when the wind cries and the skies are gray, then the world itself seems an embodiment of gaunt pov erty. Atlanta has had too mu?h brightness and warmth, deceptive of Continued on Page 8, Column 2. / Knights Templars Observe Christmas Commanderie8 Will Drink Toast to j | Grand Master at Exercises at Masonic Temple. The two Atlanta commanderies of the Knights Templars, Coeur de Lion and Atlanta, will observe the custom of the Templars the world over on Christmas by drinking a toast at an appointed hour to the grand maste- The members of the commanderies will meet in the Masonic Temple at 11 o’clock Christmas and closely ob serve the ritual. W. C. Warfield will make a brief address on the progress of Templarism. Robert V Maddox will represent the Coeur d© Lion Commandery. J. L. Mayson, Dr. A. H. VanDyko and C. H. Essig make up the commit tee from the Coeur de Lion Com mandery which has charge of the ceremonies this year. The committee representing the Atlanta Commandary consists of P. L. Blackshear, J. R. Dickey and Thomas H. Jeffries. George F. -lubanks will preside. LA FOLLETTE SEAMAN'S BILL San Francisco Chamber of Conjmerce Appeals For Assistance in Obtaining Congressional Hearing of Protest on Measure “Under Which Japanese Vessels Alone Would Profit.” ‘We Didn't Gro So Fast' Says Woman of 102 NEW YORK, Dec. 20.—"In my youth we didn’t go so fast," Haid Mrs. Priscilla Ayres Inslee, of New Bruns wick, N. J., who is 102 to-day. "We didn’t have sterilized milk, and we got our water from th© pump which sometimes was near th© barn, something forbidden now.” Christmas Feast for Poor Negro Children A Christmas dinner will b© served to poor negro children In the Institu tional department of the negro First Congregational Church at noon Christmas Day. One hundred will be invited, including the negro ew3boys of Atlanta. John Bozeman, of No. 185 1-2 Au burn avenue, Is chairman of the com mittee to receive contributions. SAN FRANCISCO. Dec. 20.—William Randolph Hearst, New York: There is no one in the East who so knows the West, nor who so keenly appreciates the needs of this great section of this nation, nor who has more earnestly endeavored to promote the upbuilding of the American mercantile marine than yourself. It is because of your knowledge of the West, its conditions and its needs, that we are appealing to you to aid the commercial interests of the Pacific Coast in a matter which we believe most seriously affeots the future 'welfare of this great Western slope. There is before the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries a bill which will soon be reported to the House of Representatives, the provisions of which are the most drastic ever proposed by any legislative body in the world for the regu lation of navigation. The bill passed the Senwie Avithout an opportunity given to any commercial interests of the United States to be heard on this measure of so vital a chaiacter. As you know, there have been a number of bills introduced in both the House and Senate with a view of amending the navigation laws, especially viith regard to securing greater safety of life, several of which have passed and are now in successful operation. But the LaFollette bill, officially known as Senate bill No. 136, now before the House, has several provisions which most seriously affect the com mercial interests of the Pacific Coast, the seriousness of which could not have been appreciated by our representatives in Con gress, or they would not have refused to grant us a hearing. Therefore, we ask that you help us to get a hearing, so that we may be able to show how some of the provisions of this bill will affect the commerce of the Pacific. If this bill becomes a law the Panama Canal will afford but little of the long-expected reward to either the shipping or other commercial interests of the Pacific Coast. The LaFollette bill, instead of placing upon the shipping interests of this country nation-ivide provisions looking to the safety of the traveling public, will, in fact, greatly add to the danger of far greater loss of life in event of accidents at sea. The bill nullifies every attempt to effect the highest standard of efficiency. The bill deprives the American shipoAvner from aiding in the restoring of the American flag to the sea. It also deprives the Amerioan boy from becoming an Amer ican sailor, but, above all, as far as the Pacific Ocean is con cerned, there is not a possible chance for an American ship or that of any European nation to be operated in trans-Pacific com merce under the provisions of this bill. The passage of this bill will positively, definitely and abso lutely turn over to the ships of Japan the shipping industry of this coast, because by reason of the provisions of this act ships manned and officered solely by Japanese are the only ships that can be operated under the requirements of this bill. Should we be denied the right to appear before Congress to present our objections and our reasons for opposing the LaFol lette seamen’s bill? We do demand that before this bill is re ported out of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries we be given an opportunity to present our views be fore final action is taken on this bill. From a national vieAvpoint and in reference to the interna tional conference now being held in London, a meeting inspired and fathered by this Government, the conclusions of the eminent men now assembled in solemn discussion of problems of deep interest to the commerce of the world should be received. Then this Government, Avith the other maritime nations of the earth, can ably pass laws which will by international action increase safety at sea. Every effort in this attainment we cheerfully and earnestly join. We appreciate, Mr. Hearst, your ever willingness to rise when the Pacific Coast calls you. We believe that in this instance you, through your chain of powerful neAvspapers, can ■win for us from Congress the hearing that we ask. The whole West now asks for your earnest and deep sup port in its efforts to prevent legislation which means the life of the shipping of the West and requests your aid in preventing the turning over to Japan of the commerce of the Pacific. Thanking you most sincerely for whatever you can do in our behalf, we are signing as individual members of the San Fran cisco Chamber of Commerce. San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, William T. Sesnon, presi dent; Robert Newton Lynch, vice president and manager; G. M. Mason, Northern Flour Company; R. B. Underhill, Jr., president Selby Smelting and Lead Company; E. L. Bosqui, E. L. Bosqui Printing Company; Burt Fisher, Fisher Flouring Company; C. B. Sharp, Hammond Milling Company; H. M. Lee, Tubbs Cordage Company; W. C. Duncan, vice president S. L. Jones & Co.; F. B. Maldonado, president Maldonado& Co.; C. M. Culver, manager the Western Transfer and Storage Cpm- pany; A. A. Brown, F. A. Somers, Somers & Co.; George A. Beanston, E. N. Bray, Bray Bros.; C. M. Brown, president Pioneer Salt Company; Joe Durney, president Griffith U Company; L. A. Maiaon, Hunt Bros. Co.; P. E. H<-