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EDITORIAL RAGE
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published by THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama Strait, Atlanta fja.
Kntmtd •» nw-rnii rit»* matter at poaUiSca at Atlanta, under act of March S, 1A7S-
A Small Investment That Will
Pay Big Dividends
It Was a Course of Instruction in Common Courtesy, and It Was
Made by a Great Corporation.
Recently a big railroad company, at an expense of less than
$100, issued to its employees a card on which instructions in
courtesy were printed in red and blue letters, in large, clear type.
rf'iiu the card were directions to tack it up in all stations,
freight offices and other places where the patrons of the com
pany come in contact with the public, so that the public may
know just what the attitude of the railroad company is toward
them.
The $100 spent in printing and circulating this card will
bring real returns to the railroad.
In the first place, it will serve notice on the people that
they will be treated politely, and people who expect to be po
litely treated are very likely to be polite themselves.
In the second place, it will improve the conduct of the rail
road employees, who are often gruff and short with the public
—as any human beings would be likely to be after thousands of
foolish questions had been asked them, and after dozens of short-
tempered men had snapped at them through the ticket windows.
Politeness saves time and tempers. It makes people well
disposed toward a corporation whose employes are polite. Nat
urally it increases the receipts of that corporation, for people
will not long patronize any institution which permits them to be
uncivilly used.
All travelers remember kindly the ticket agent who is pa
tient and accommodating and is willing to go out of his way to
supply information that it is really not his business to supply.
They remember with equal kindness the brakeman or con
ductor who is willing to answer questions civilly, and who seems
to take an interest in matters unimportant to him, but very im
portant, indeed, to the passengers.
The ticket agents are the salesmen of the railroad, and the
first requisite of good salesmanship is courtesy.
The brakeman and conductors merely operate the train, but
they can, by politeness, help to satisfy the purchaser of a ticket
with the goods he has bought—that is, the ride over the road.
Together they create in the mind of the passenger an impres
sion of the railroad, and on that impression the improvement of
the railroad’s business depends.
In the stores it is the patient, kindly, polite salesman or
saleswoman to whom a customer returns again and again, and
whose books show the biggest business at the end of the day.
The entries in that book spell advancement to the one who
carries it. In the main office of the store, in the big positions,
you will find the men and women who are there because they
early learned the value of politeness.
It is a cheap, an easy and a sure way to success, providing
always that there is intelligence behind it—and there usually is.
The general public has little understanding of the nerve
strain of those who deal with crowds of customers. They make
no allowances for the impolite or rude employee. They turn
naturally to the one who is polite.
And the polite man soon discovers that his politeness breeds
politeness. Just as the polite customer gets better treatment
than the "snappy” one, so the polite salesman does more
business than the uncivil one.
Good feeling and mutual respect are promoted all around.
The example set by this big corporation is one that ought to
to be followed by all corporations dealing with the public. And,
incidentally, if it was followed by the public, shopping, whether
for dry goods or railroad tickets, would be much less wearing on
the human system.
You Can Not Muzzle Disease
Germs
Through the long winter the house fly has been hibernating
in the cracks in the floor, beneath the garbage heaps that ineffi
cient city governments allow to collect on the outskirts and on
vacant lots.
The first flew warm days waken the fly and start him on his
travels. Naturally, after a long fast, his first thought is food,
and the best places to get food suitable to his needs are the
kitchens and corner grocery stores.
To these he journeys, therefor, pausing on the way to alight
on the clothing and the hands and face of every human being he
meets in his travels.
The fly is a very unclean insect. He prefers filth to any
other surroundings—filth that breeds disease and swarms with
the germs of disease.
In the winter quarters selected by the fly are billions of
germs, and these, either active or dormant, manage to transfer
themselves to the fly in very large numbers, and to travel forth
with him when he begins his spring wanderings.
The spring is the time to begin the warfare on the fly. The
first thing to do is to keep them out of the house by carefully
screening the window's and by destroying quickly all those that
manage to get in through opened doors.
The next thing—and this is highly important—is to cut off
their base of supplies at the grocery stores. The grocer can do
that, and he will do it if you insist upon it.
Make him keep covered by screens everything he sells that a
fly will eat—fruit, vegetables, sugar, crackers, cheese—products
cf every kind that are sold by bulk.
Gareful grocers do this already. Every grocer will do it if
his customers insist upon it, for it is inexpensive, and requires
only a little care.
After the grocery store is attended to see that there are no
heaps of fly breeding material left in the yards or in the street.
Bet fly traps wherever possible, and do not forget to keep a
"fly swatter” handy with which to destroy all the blockade
runners.
If the people of any given city will set out with determina
tion to get rid of the flies in their community they can come
pretty near doing it in a season.
They can at least vastly reduce the number and make the
final extinction complete in a year or two.
It is a work that will require time and unflagging industry,
but it will save thousands of lives and prevent many cases of
serious illness, and it is well worth doing.
I <
The Atlanta Georgian
Good-Bye, Winter!
THE HOME PAPER
Saturday Evening
A Week-End Clearing House for Notes of Men and Affairs.
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
More Truth Than Poetry
By JAMES T. MONTAGUE.
ANTE-SEASON SERIES.
HEN the glass is broken
** In irate suburbanites’homes.
When hot words are spoken
By persons with badly bumped
domes.
When small forms go shooting
Straight through the puddles,
like trout.
And strident young voices are
hooting:
"Go chase yerself! Sure, he is
out!"
Although not a robin has sung us
His gladsome matutinal call,
We know that the spring is among
us
For the boys have begun to
play ball.
OR FOR A SUBSCRIPTION TO
THE COMMONER.
The White House baby has
sent a check to charity. Now that
it has been discovered that he
can write checks, he’ll be kept
busy writing them for Democratic
campaign funds.
UNNECESSARY EFFORT.
A means has been found of
making Connecticut tobacco grow’
bigger, but no one can be found
to Justify any such proceeding.
THE EXCEPTION.
Apparently John Bull intends
to respect the American flag only
when he is obliged to use it to
protect his own ships.
METHOD IN IT, MAYBE.
Before we congratulate those
heroic British women who refuse
to run down cellar every time a
Zeppelin appears, we might as
certain whether or not there are
mice in the cellar.
INVALUABLE.
There is a species of white ants
in India which destroys all books.
How useful these little creatures
would be in the offices of some of
the corporations about to be in
vestigated by the Government!
Japan's One Wise Way
By JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES.
Washington.
I N no small degree does tne
world’s peace—now and in
the future—depend upon the
elections soon to be held in Japan.
The War party and the Peace
party are struggling for control of
the government.
Bismrack is the ideal of the
War party—an empire conceived
in force and builded in blood and
fire.
But there are great men in Ja
pan—statesmen and thitike r s—
looking far into the future. These
Old Wine in a New Bottle
News of Atlanta Five and Ten Years Aqo
" #
APRIL 10, 1905.
George R. Donovan elected
cashier of Atlanta National Bank
to succeed Herbert R. Blood worth,
deceased; J S. Floyd becomes as
sistant cashier.
• • *
Joe Hill Hall, of Macon, in At
lanta. says conference of political
leaders 'soon to be called to name
candidate for Governor.
• * *
Bobbie Walthour reinstated by
National Cycle Association, his
manager, Jack Prince, pushes
plans for $50,000 hippodrome,
which is to make Atlanta sporting
center of the South.
* * •
Mrs. M. E. .Marks, physician,
released by Judge Broyles from
a charge of beating hack hire, de
clares she hypnotized Recorder
and made him do her bidding.
* * *
Tech beats Georgia, 11 to 3.
• • •
Atlanta bidding for Charley
Jackson, Cleveland pitcher.
APRIL 10, 1910.
Sunday.
men know that an empire found
ed on the sword is destined to
perish by the sword—whether in
the hands of enemies or under the
weight of staggering budgets.
They' would build an empire upon
a nobler and more enduring base.
' Japan has a trifle more than
50,000.000 people. It is now car
rying a national debt of $1,254.-
720.000. One-third of the income
of every citizen goes for taxes in
one form or another. In any
other country' this status would
result in revolution. Japan’s
great men realize that the em
pire could not stand another
"successful war.” "One more
glorious conquest and the empire
would go into bankruptcy.
The Peace party is making a
great fight with good prospects
of success. The policy of the
Peace party is not to rob China,
but to strengthen China and win
her friendship on an honest basis
of fair play. A strong China
would be Japan’s best ally and
protection. Some day the last
battle with the Slav must come.
And so the Japanese need the
friendship, not the hostility, of
the United States. Sooner or lat
er Japan would go down before
the power and resources of the
Great Republic.
Japan’s wise policy' is to join
fast alliance with the United
States—not to quibble and wran
gle over our California land
laws, which are not conceived in
hostility. The Island Kingdom
needs America’s heln to strength
en and develop China as a free
people. >
K
OUR NEWEST VIRTUE.
A writer recently said that “our
newest virtue is telling the truth,”
and I believe he is right.
People are more truthful with
themselves nowadays, and with
one another, than ever they were
before.
Only the trirthful advertiser has
a permanent and respectable
standing in the newspapers, and
only the truthful man has a per
manent and respectable standing
in the business world.
It is also considered the correct
thing nowadays to say "no” when
asked to take a drink, if you do
not want it. Men used to be
lieve that there was some inviola
ble obligation of courtesy in
volved in accepting an invitation
to drink, regardless of whether
the drinkee desired the liquid re
freshment. That day has passed.
The merchant who lies to you
about the quality of his goods,
the real estate dealer who tells
y'ou falsehoods about the construc
tion of a house, even the book
agent and the lightning rod men
who make a practice of w'andering
away from the truth, do not last
long in the business world of this
day’ and time.
May this new era of telling the
truth grow. If everybody in the
world told the truth about things,
there would be precious little of
evil to combat.
And we are telling ourselves
the truth nowadays of a good
many things that heretofore we
have deliberately deceived our
selves about.
We look upon the Ten Com
mandments now not only as rep
resenting the sum total of Divine’s
command, but as pretty much
the sum total of common sense.
We are not lying to ourselves
about religion as we used to. We
are not lying to ourselves about
politics quite as much as w'e used
to.
It is somewhat novel that truth
should be exploited as extensive
ly as it is nowadays; but it is a
distinctly hopeful symptom, for
w hen one considers the awful war
in Europe, one may be moved to
wonder if civilization has made
any progress whatever.
The truth abdut the present
war in Europe is going to be
written after a while, as it never
has been written about any oth
er war; and if anything in this
world ever brings about the total
abolition of war, It likely will be
the real truth of the present war,
as told after its conclusion.
THE GLIDE WALTZ.
It is rather a curious thing, but
at a recent dance in Atlanta (a
programmed dance, by the way,
which is somewhat old-fashioned)
three plain, everyday, ordinary
waltzes were listed for the pleas
ure of the guests. And that was
just one-third of all the dances
on the program.
This is very strange, very novel,
but, to my way of thinking, very
pleasant.
I have no objection to modern
dances, in so far as they may
give the young folks pleasure.
Some of them are very pretty,
some of them are very difficult
and some of them are rather silly,
but none of them are anything
like as engaging as the old-fash
ioned glide waltz. No dance ever
was as graceful as this one.
Of course, it was too much to
hope that young folks would go
on forever and ever dancing th'is
one style of w-altz, Inevitably,
they must have other dances—the
tango, hesitation and maxixe, and
such things were bound to come.
And even though we return again
to the old glide waltz we shall
not stay there long, for there shall
be other things to come again,
and we shall be off again in the
mad rush of the novel.
I believe in dancing for young
folks. It may be that it isn’t the-
right thing for some people. Cer
tainly it isn’t the right thing for
people who are conscientiously
opposed to it; but I do not think
any great harm ever came of it.
The person who is going to make
evil of dancing is going to make
evil of something else, possibly
not as w ell w'orth while.
But I am mighty glad to see a
disposition to return to the old-
time glide w r altz. Of all dances it
was and is (and probably always
will be) the prettiest.
And in this connection the fol
lowing clipping from Modern Me
chanics may be interesting:
"Modern dancing furnishes ex
ercise and recreation for the Gov
ernment employees during the
noon hour at Washington. The
new r building of the Bureau of
Engraving and Printing has a
spacious roof, which forms an
ideal place to dance, and every
noon many of the employees of
the plant gather to dance away
they half hour not used in con
suming lunch. The heads of de
partments say that there is a no
ticeable difference in the work
which those w ho dance are able
to do In the afternoon, as the ex
ercise increases their efficiency.
"Roofs are being utilized by
many private corporations for
noon games among the employees
so that they may get a period of
exercise during the day and come
back refreshed to their indoor la
bors. Recess periods for outdoor
play have long been considered
essential for children.”
CLEAN-UP WEEK.
It seems that Clean-up Week
throughout the State of Georgia
was a very great success. Cer
tainly a great deal of good was
accomplished In Atlanta, through
a persistent pushing of the clean
up campaign.
Of all seasons of the year,
spring is the time when we ought
to make a new start in all direc
tions. As a day of good resolu
tions, Easter always has seemed
to me to be a much more fitting
occasion than the first day of
January. As a matter of fact,
Easter and not the first day of
January should be the beginning
of the new year, for Easter her
alds the coming of spring and the
resurrection of flowers and green
things.
There was no particular reason
for making January 1 the begin
ning of the year. November 9 or
February 16 might just as w’ell
or just as sensibly have been
picked out, but there would have
been a most excellent reason for
making Easter the first day of the
year.
Of course, the fact that Easter
is a movable feast stands In the
way of making that precise day
arbitrarily the beginning of the
year. What I mean is that Eas
ter, fixing an average of April 1,
say, as the day upon which Eas
ter falls, might well be made the
new year. Certainly Christmas,
which is not a movable feast,
might have 'been selected with
more common sense than January
1 as the first day of the year.
Anyway, getting back to the
main idea, spring is a mighty
good time to clean up. It is also a
very good time to clean out. A
real healthy spring always means
a healthy summer and a healthy
fall, for if things are cleaned up
and put in a sanitary condition
in the spring, we inevitably are
going to get that good start which
in ail probability will carry us
safely and sanely through the
summer.
A POSTSCRIPT.
Quite a number of people are
good enough to write me from
Jime to time with reference to
things they read in these columns
on Saturdays. Most of the let
ters I get are cordial in tone arid
either amplify or emphasize some
phase of some particular topic I
have been discussing.
Frequently, to my very great
interest and enlightenment, scat
tered along through this corre
spondence, are a number of let
ters criticising me rather sharply,
and now r and then comes one run
ning almost to abuse.
It is a fine thing for folks to
differ about matters. This would
be a very monotonous world if we
all agreed. Nobody is a bigger
bore than the fellow who always
says "Yes, you are right; I agree
with you,” and never offers an
opinion of his own.
Sometimes, too, critics are un
reasonable and rather small. For
instance, I had a very long letter
from a correspondent a day or
two ago with reference to an arti
cle I wrote last week about Gen
erals Grant and Lee. In the
course of this article, which was
designed to be an appreciation of
both men (and I believe both were
great and good), I referred to the
Confederate leader at one point
as "gallant” and to the Union
leader at another point as "su
perb.” This was the crux and
climax of my offending.
In the eyes of my correspond-
- ent, I had committed an act of
high treason in speaking of Gen
eral Grant as “superb” and Gen
eral Lee merely as "gallant!” .
It takes a great many different
sorts of people to make up this
world. Some people excite and
agitate themselves about small
things, while they pay very little
attention to large things. Not a
few people make a practice of
straining at gnats and,swallowing
camels.
If it will make my correspond
ent feel any better, however. I
withdraw the word "gallant” as
applied to General Lee and the
word "superb" as applied to Gen
eral Grant, and hereby reapply
the word "gallant” to General
Grant and the word “superb” to
General Lee!
Now, it reads: “That superb
Confederate chieftain General Lee •
and that gallant Union leader
General Grant,” etc., etc.
If that makes anybody feel bet
ter, it affords me very great
pleasure to promulgate it!
It seems quite likely we shall
have a very beautiful . .m