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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME PAPER
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
Published by THE GEORGIAN COMPANY
At 20 East Alabama Street. Atlanta Ga.
Catered u Mroed-rlaM »*tt m at po^tofflr* at Atlanta, under art of Marc# i. 1ST a.
The Best Way to Get a
Better Navy
President Wilson will have no heartier supporter than The
Georgian in his program for an adequate navy and adequate
preparation for national defenses.
His letter to the Navy and War Departments, instructing
the Secretaries to get expert advice, to put the “best minds in
the army and navy” at work upon a “definite program that will
meet the altered circumstances,” is exactly the right thing to do.
And when the best expert minds have worked out the prob
lem and have agreed upon a plan, if the President will adopt it
and recommend it to Congress with all his energy, he will receive
the thanks of the country.
It is not a partisan question, it is not even a political ques
tion in the ordinary sense. It is a national question.
He will need the support of Republicans in Congress, and
he will get it. Most of the “little navy men” are to be found,
we regret to say, in the Democratic ranks, a fact all the more to
be regretted because the work of creating our present modern
navy was begun in the briliant administration of William C.
Whitney, in President Cleveland’s first term.
The worst enemies of efficiency in the navy are not the
peace-at-any price weaklings. They are negligible in public and
private life. But its worst foes in public life are the represen
tatives in Congress who want navy yards where no modern bat
tleships can float, and army posts where all important railroad
facilities and population are lacking.
We have now more navy yards than Great Britain, with
three times our sea power, and more army posts than Ger: :any,
with ten times our organized army.
The reason is political. Congressmen refuse appropriations
for the national defense unless their home constituents are first
provided for.
When Republicans are in power the navy yards at Ports
mouth, N. H., and Kittery, Me., hum with activity. When the
Democrats are in power, Portsmouth and Kittery go on half
time, and New Orleans and Key West bristle with life. All these
navy yards are uneconomic, inefficient and wasteful—they are
products of small partisan politics, and wasteful Republicans
and Demorcats alike should be ashamed of them.
How and where the work of creating adequate national de
fenses can best be done is a question for experts.
The three most efficient agents in the present European war,
aside from men and money, are the submarine, the aeroplane
and th« rapid-fire machine gun. They are all American inven
tions. Bushnell, a Yale graduate, in 1790, followed by Robert
Fulton in 1812, and Holland in 1893, invented and perfected the
submarine. The Wright Brothers invented the aeroplane, and
Maxim, the Maine Yankee, the rapid-fire machine gun.
Thomas A. Edison, the greatest inventor that ever lived, has
now patriotically offered his services as the head of a board of
experts to pass on all new appliances submitted to make our
navy and coast defenses the best in the world.
President Wilson is fortunate to have such aid, and more
fortunate still to have a united country behind him in hi3 new
program.
America Must Learn to Make
Her Own Dves
It seems hard to believe, yet among the country’s thousand
and one activities there is still one in the embryo—the manu
facturing of dyes and dyestuffs.
It took the war to demonstrate vividly the overwhelming
superiority of Germany in the production of coloring matter, and
our almost complete dependence on that country and a few other
European nations for our coloring supplies.
Complaints emanated early in the war from cotton goods
and silk factories to the effect that their visible stocks of dyes
were evaporating so rapidly, with no immediate repletion in
sight, that by the end of the current year, dress materials, rib
bons and the like would all of necessity be sober-hued. Now ink
manufacturers and lithographic concerns also complain of the
color shortage.
Realizing the opportunities, with Germany temporarily out
of the market, many chemical companies turned all their ener
gies to the solution of the pressing problem. They are meeting
with a measure of success.
To help things along the Department of Commerce, which
recognizes the importance of assisting one of the very few re
maining infants, has delegated an eminent chemist, Dr. Thomas
H. Norton, to go thoroughly into the situation. Dr. Norton, to
that end. is now in the city conferring with men high up in in
dustrial chemistry. Preliminary reports indicate his success in
interesting both capital and experts.
Following the conclusion of war it is likely the great Du
Pont de Nemours Powder Works, seeking employment for the
added facilities introduced to turn out the huge war contracts,
will convert them into dye producers.
Better Business Conditions
Commercial failures, never an inviting topic, now, however,
illustrate the country’s gradual climb out of the slough of finan
cial despond.
In January of this year there were 2,378 business failures in
the United States, with aggregate liabilities of more than $50,-
000,000. Month by month, without a single exception of moment,
there has been a consistent shrinkage, both in number and in
amount of indebtedness. In August, according to Bradstreet’s
compilations, there were 1,262 defaults for $12,300,000, a re
duction since the first month of 47 per cent in number and 76 per
cent in liabilities. No purpose can be served by dodging the fact
that failures last month were the most frequent for any August
since 1893, but as regards liability, they were for the smallest to
tal in five years.
The business pessimist and alarmist notwithstanding, there
is room for real rejoicing over the solid, steady improvement in
all )ines of trade. Depression is a wo*d being used less often to
characterize current conditions.
• » }’ —
The Adventures of Nobody Holme
! Hello No boot!
SaX if You WAht
To PICK up A BUNCH
(OFCHANCrE fbTA
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THANKS For
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A SIX cylinder
AHO TAKE ATRIP
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Some Neighborhood Comment
by the Dixie Press
MAYBE SO—YES.
(Lumpkin Independent.)
Don’t muss up your hair or
scramble your brains because
some fellow called you a liar. He
may have told the truth.
HERE’S HOPING.
(Milltown News.)
Governor Harris is having a
tough time as Georgia’s chief ex
ecutive. but they say a tough be
ginning will make a good end
ing. and here is hoping that it
will prove to be so in this case.
NOAH’S GREATEST GLORY.
(Pickens Progress.)
They are now trying to prove
that Noah was the first man who
fell and not Adam, but they can’t
rob old Noah of the credit of being
the first of the race to go on the
water wagon for a 40-day ride.
NOTHING PERSONAL, BUT
(Rogsville New Age.)
We think we know of some
would-be “jury fixers” who are
only “fixing” themselves. How
ever. there’s nothing personal
about this, and we’ll all await fu
ture political developments with
awakened eyes and keen memo
ries.
DID YOU, DEAR READER?
(Campbell News.)
Dear reader, did you ever try
to write a column of readable par
agraphs for a “long-suffering pub
lic" when your m‘.nd was all torn
into smithereens by business
cares along other lines? If you
never did, you can hardly appre
ciate what a task it is to gruide.
your mind intelligently along sev
eral lines of conflicting thought at
the same time.
WILL HAVE TO HUSTLE.
(Albany Herald.)
Cranston Williams, son of Edi
tor J. C. Williams, of The Greens
boro Herald-Journal, has been
e’ected editor of The Americus
Times-Recorder. one of South
Georgia’s prosperous small dai
lies. Young Williams is a tal
ented newspaper man. but if he
beats the “old man” getting up a
lively paper he will have to do
some extra good hustling.
AVE ET VALE.
(Macon Telegraph.)
Ham Patterson Anally an
nounced. Good-bye, Ham.
EXCELLENT ADVICE.
(Marion Patriot.)
Never mind the imperfections
of your neighbor. If you correct
your own you will be doing all
the community expects of you.
ONE DOUBTING THOMAS.
(Albany Herald.)
Wq don’t believe a word of that
latest scandal the scribblers have
started on Father Noah in their
gratuitous efforts to vindicate
Father Adam of that little affair
with Eve In the Garden of Eden
in which he fell.
THE CHEROKEE ROSE.
(Lawrenoeville News-Herald.)
The Cherokee Rose has been
adopted by the Legislature of this
State as the official State flower
of Georgia, yet it is not to be
found in many rose gardens. It
is a dainty, delicate flower of
modest beauty, and should be
more generally cultivated. The
reason why it has been so neg
lected is the fact that only a com
paratively few of the lovers of the
rose know that it was adopted as
the official flower of the State a
few vear« ago.
FAIR ENOUGH.
(Lawrenceville News.)
Some of Senator Hoke Smith’s
political enemies are charging,
that his protest against the un
lawful blockade of American cot
ton from neutral ports was made
as a German hireling, which every
man of ordinary intelligence
knows to be a lie out of the whole
cloth. His position on that ques
tion ought to be that of every true
American. Factional bitterness
ought to subside when the inter
ests of .a whole people are at
stake. We are not, nor never
have been, one of his satellites,
nor expect to be, but we are hon
est and nervy enough to indorse
him when he is right, as we
stand for that rather than for
men.
GRIGGS’ GOOD WORK.
(Tifton Gazette.)
Although he has been dead over
five years the work Congressman
Jim Griggs did for his district
and in fact for the whole country
continues to bear fruit. A Geor
gia boy who Is prominently men
tioned in the news dispatches is
Captain Edward A. Greene, who
is an officer in the United States
marine corps, and who was in
command of one of the landing
forces that recently went ashore
at Port au Prince, Haiti, to pre-
Old Wine in a New Bottle
News of Atlanta Five and Ten Years Ago.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1905.
Mrs. May Yoh«-Lady-Hope-
Put nam-Bradlee-Strong is stop
ping at the Piedmont with hubby
and Japanese maid.
* * *
School enrollments number 13.-
636.
V-* • • *
“For Rent” sign almost obso
lete in Atlanta. Houses hard to
get.
• • •
Otto Jordan punches Prank
Buxton, sporting editor of The
News.
Rube Zeller shuts out New Or
leans, 2-0.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1910.
Courtland S. Winn now ex
pected to announce for Mayor.
* * *
“Polly of the Circus” at the Or-
pheum.
* * *
Jake Wells suggests a South
ern League, composed of Rich
mond. Roanoke, Atlanta. Chatta
nooga, Memphis. Nashville, Bir
mingham and New Orleans.
Crackers wallop Baron#.
Griffin outpitching Fleharty,
3-0,
serve order. Captain Greene was
raised at Fort Gaines, in Clay
County, and Congressman Griggs
got him a' lieutenancy in the ma
rine corps just after the Spanish-
American war. He is reflecting
credit on his State, on the service
and on the man who got him his
job. Judge Griggs did more of
this good work. He secured a-
lieutenancy for E. J. Williams, of
Tifton, who is now captain on
duty at Manila, P. I., and who
ranks with the most efficient of
ficers in the service.
ARRIVAL OF THE WEEVIL.
(Savannah News.)
Official announcement that the
boll weevil has been found in
Georgia as far east as Thomas
County means that the day has
arrived that farmers of Georgia
have been expecting for a long
time, and for whjch many of them
have been making preparation.
The war in Europe and the conse
quent low price of cotton have
helped along the work of prepa
ration and so have really been an
aid to the farmers in their plans
to reduce the ravages of the wee
vil in this State to a minimum.
There are two ways to make
the invasion of Georgia by the pest’
less costly than it would be if no
effort were made to combat it.
One is by planting early maturing
cotton and taking every precau
tion to prevent the spread of the
weevils and the other is by diver
sifying farming operations so that
even if the cotton should be rav
aged by the weevil the farmer
would have food for his family
and feed for his stock and some
thing to sell in order to have some
ready money.
Nobody in Georgia is going to
throw up his hands in despair be
cause the -weevil is at last in the
State. What every Georgia
farmer should do Is to get busy,
follow the instructions of the
State Department of Agriculture,
keep down as much as he can the
destructiveness of the weevil in
his cotton and diversify his crops.
If he will do that he won’t suffer
as some farmery In other States
have suffered from the pest.
Borrowers Should Study
^*••5*
Says Ella Wheeler Wilcox
+•+ +•+
The Etiquette of Debt
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
D EBT is a world malady
which few of its denizens
are able to escape. Sooner
or later the burden of debt is in
curred for a longer or shorter pe
riod of time. It Is a misfortune,
but not a crime, to incur debt.
The man who owes somebody
hag a much larger company with
whom he associates than the man
who lends.
So old and so almost universal
is the position of the debtor that
a debtors* union ought to be
formed.
Every union, every organiza
tion of any kind, has its certain
laws, formalities and obligations,
both written and unwritten,
which make what might be called
the etiquette of the order.
The borrowers of the world
need such a union, and are sadly
in need of an understanding of
its laws of etiquette. Here are a
few outlines of those laws:
You who have asked and re
ceived money or influence from
anyone in the world to enable
3 r ou to further your own interests
will understand that these laws
are outlined for your special ben
efit, and if you have already ob
served them you will be glad to
know in your heart that the re
proof they convey to the delin
quent, the thoughtless or the in
different does not apply to you.
The reproof is intended for the
thoughtless, the delinquent and
the indifferent.
AFTER RECEIVING THE FA
VOR SOUGHT, TOO MANY
LAPSE INTO SILENCE.
A struggling youth, intelligent,
moral, industrious, found himself
in temporary embarrassment,
and wrote to a friend asking for
a loan. The loan was granted
promptly, and with words imply
ing the pleasure it was to be able
to bestow this favor. A grateful
acknowledgment of the accom
panying check was received in
reply. Then an utter silence en
sued.
Months became a year, and no
word was heard from the young
man who had been benefited, save
an occasional item of informa
tion through casual mutual ac
quaintances.
The etiquette of the Debtors’
Union should demad that at least
twice a year a courteous and
friendly note should be •written
from the debtor to the lender,
telling of his doings, his inter
ests, his efforts toward success
and his belief in final attainment
of the goal he was seeking. No
continual reference need be made
to the debt, but the individual
who is sufficiently Interested in
another to lend him aid of any
kind is sufficiently interested to
feel the wound of silence and
neglect.
Another young lad had passed
through great sorrows and un
usual tragedies, which resulted in
the breaking up of his home and
in his becoming adrift in the
world without kith or kin. He
wrote to a lady who had known
him from childhood, asking for a
small loan, with which he could
provide himself decent raiment
to wear in the fulfillment of du- ,
tie* he had recently secured. He
assured the lady he would repay
her one dollar a week until the
small debt was liquidated.
The check was sent gladly, and
The Spread of Cosmic Energy
======== By EDGAR LUCIEN LARKIN. -
I NTERCEPTING—cutting out
of space—of radiant energy is
the chief problem at present.
Cosmic energy radiates from sun
to sun, and from all suns to all
planets.
Law: Energy radiates between
all separated portions of matter
having any difference of poten
tial.
The specific speed of cosmic
energy, as adopted by the United
States Government and published
in the Nautical Almanac (I am
quoting *from the Ephemeris for
1916) is 186,324 statute miles per
second.
It is well for the reader to
pause and think of this fact and
permit the mind to again revert
to it during the day and during
life. This number. 186,324, cost
220 years of arduous labor, be
ginning with Roomer, the Danish
astronomer, in 1675, in his now
classic and historic researches on
the motions of the moons of Jupi
ter to determine the velocity of
light.
This final result is that obtain
ed by the great masters, New
comb and Michelson. And as this
value of the speed of light has
in the accompanying letter the
lady said she accepted his terms
of payment, as she felt it would
enable him to feel more manly .
and to form businesslike meth
ods. Her bank returned the
voucher of her check, which had
been cashed, but In that way oniy
was she even aware that it was
ever received. No acknowledg
ment was sent to her, and even ,
a letter of inquiry, after more
than six months, brought no re
ply.
A young woman appealed to a r
personal friend for money with
which to launch herself forth on
a certain line of endeavor. It was
a considerable sum, but it was
supplied. Two or three brief
notes of apprecia'tion and grati
tude followed in quick succes
sion; then utter silence while
months builded themselves into a
year. Not even the social notes
and kindly inquiries after health
and happiness which had marked
their acquaintance previous to the
loan. •
Still another young woman,
with beauty, talents and ambi
tion, asked a friend to help her
out of financial difficulties. She
was promptly helped, and assured
that she need not hurry about 1
the payment One grateful let
ter ensued; ther. silence. Through
a newspaper item the lady learn
ed the interesting experiences
which had come into the young
woman’s life. •
It would seem that a sense of
common decency, womanliness
and courtesy would have caused
this young woman to write her
benefactor Immediately of the
avenues opening up before her
and of the interesting experiences
through which she was passing."
BORROWERS SHOULD NOT BE
TOO SENSITIVE TO REFER 1
TO DEBTS.
These are but a few illustra
tions of what seems to be an al
most universal habit of the bor
rowers of the world. To lend
money to one's friend seems al
most invariably to cause a de
terioration of character and a
loss of high ideals and nobility of
thought in the borrower. It may
be urged by the borrowers that
they feel sensitive in regard to
their debt and do not like to write
until they are able to liquidate it.
But if they are not too sensitive
to ask such favors they should
not be too sensitive to refer to
them after they have been
granted.
There are shining exceptions,
of course, to these dark exam
ples. A woman struggling in dir
est poverty with a sick husband >
and a large family of small chil
dren (a woman of refinement and
education) borrowed $100 in an
hour of great despair. That was
ten years ago. Two or three
times a year the benefactor re
ceives a few words, at least, and
often a long letter from the one
benefited, and even small sums
have been insistently enforced
upon the lender to lessen the
debt in order that the borrower
might retain her self-respect.
In that way half the sum has
been paid, but, better than that,
admiration and affection for the |
borrower have been strong fac
tors in enriching the life of the
lender. Here was one who un
derstood without being taught the
etiquette of debt. But they are
few.
also been adopted by the Paris
conference of astronomers and
physicists it is final.
• * .
These values are means or av
erages, for the orbit of the earth
is not a circle, but an ellipse,
with result that the earth is 3,-
115,498 miles nearer to the sun
on January 2 than on July 3.
But the values in the tables are
computed for an orbit reduced
mathematically to a true circle.
And the orbit of the mon is an
ellipse, so that the distance from
the earth varies as follows:
Miles.
Greatest distance of moon
from the earth . . . 253,113
Mean distance of moon
from the earth .... 238,863
Least distance of moon
from the earth .... 221,654
Time for light to reach the
earth from moon, 1.228 seconds.
Thus, light requires slightly
less than 1 1-4 seconds to reach
the earth from the moon. As
the moon is an exceedingly poor
i-adiator, It being a mere reflector/
radiant eneri.y capable of appear
ing as heat upon striking the
earth is very feeble.