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EDITORIAL PAGE
Is This Nation as Great as Its == =
Obligation and Its Opportunity ?
The thoughtful American must be more and more powerfully
impressed with the perils that menace civilization and that become
more menacing with each recurring day of slaughter and woe and
waste.
This awful and dreadful spectacle of Europe’s madness and de
struction begins at last to weigh upon the souls of men; it has become
an unbearable burden of sadness.
The whole world lies in the shadow of this dreadful night, this
blackness of darkness. This incredible tragedy in which the lords of
hell seem to have broken loose to make the earth the stage of their
furious and horrid carnival of hate, lust, rapine and murder, is no long
er tolerable to the peaceable peoples.
It has reached that pass that not only the civilization and the
wealth and the useful lives of the warring people are being irreparably
weakened and wasted, but that the civilization and the wealth and the
vitality of the peaceful nations are also being sapped and weakened
and dangerously imperiled.
The continuance of the numbers, strength, wealth and progres
sive achievements of each white nation is absolutely essential to the
continuous safety of all white nations.
The peoples of the United States, of the South American repub
lics, of the Scandinavian kingdoms, of Holland, of Switzerland, of
Spain, of each and all of the nations at peace, are as vitally interested
to preserve the wealth and strength and civilization of Great Britain
from destruction as are the Britons; to preserve the wealth and
strength. and civilization of Germany from destruction as are the
Germans; to preserve the wealth and strength and civilization of
France, Italy and Austria from destruction as are the Austrians, the
Italians and the French.
For, citizens, the domination of the white race and the extension
over the world of the wonderful and benign civilization of the white
race can be maintained only so long as ALL OF THE WHITE NA.
TIONS MAINTAIN THEIR STRENGTH AND THEIR VITALITY.
What hope of domination is there left to the white race if the
powerful white peoples of Europe continue this insane war until they
have wasted their wealth, destroyed their resources and killed or made
useless cripples of their manhood?
Every day that this insane war continues, tens of thousands of
the white race are being destroyed upon whose lives our future SAFE
TY depends.
Every day that this insane war continues millions of wealth are
being destroyed—wealth upon which our future PROSPERITY de
pends; every day that this insane war continues Christianity is being
destroyed—that religion which differentiates us from the Oriental
pagans, and which is so intimately knit up with all the institutions of
the white race.
Every day that this insane war lasts the civilization of the white
race is being destroyed—that civilization which is both the mother and
the child of the white man’s power, riches, renown, achievements and
happiness.
Every day that this insane war continues civilization takes an
other step backward, for the nations at war are not marching forward
toward a higher civilization. They are marching steadily rearward to-
Their faces are not set toward the twentieth century. Their faces
are set toward the Dark Ages.
Day by day their anger grows more bitter.
Day by day they thirst more eagerly for each others blood.
Day by day they kill and burn and waste with a more implacable
fever of hate.
Citizens, this awful war should stop.
And we are the one powerful neutral, friendly people who can set
on foot the effective measures that will stop this war.
The time has come when any idle part is no part for the United
States to play, when to sit inactive, waiting for peace to come through
Europe’s self-exhaustion and final destruction, is suicide on our own
part.
The time has come, when not only in the interest and for the
security of civilization, but in our own interest and for our own safety
and security, we must actively and forcefully bring pressure to bear
upon the powers to end their insane warfare.
We have it in our power to stop this war.
There IS a method which is ready to hand, if we have the courage,
the humanity and the larger statesmanship to use it.
That method was set forth by Mr. Hearst in a series of editorials
recently published. In an editorial printed in this paper on July 26,
Mr. Hearst said:
“It seems to us that OUR Government is the one govern
ment peculiarly able to suggest and to form a league of all neu
tral nations and an arbitration tribunal composed of representa
tives of all the neutral nations. We would prevent in this way
any extension of this war, which even now threatens to cripple
so severely the Caucasian race and the high development of its
civilization.
: “Furthermore, such a league of the neutral nations and a
board of arbitration so constituted would be in a wonderful posi
tion to bring this war to a quick termination.
'THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
“It could bring to bear not only the persuasian of an impar
tial body, but the direct influence of a very powerful league—a
league powerful enough absolutely TO COMPEL AN END OF
WAR in case it elected to exert its power in a forceful way."”
The conditions pointed out by Mr. Hearst in July are infinitely
worse in September. _
In these weeks thousands upon thousands have died, thousands
upon thousands more have been mutilated, millions of treasure have
been wasted, and extensive territory and unhappy peoples given over
to rapine and to the extremities of fire and steel.
The remedy pointed out by Mr. Hearst in July is still the one
effective remedy in September.
. The united voices and the united powers and forces of the neu.
tral nations can bring about peace.
A league of the neutral nations can be formed.
That league of neutral nations can bring persuasion to bear.
That league of neutral nations would be “powerful enough ab
solutely to compel an end of the war.”
Citizens, why do we stand idle while the men of our race are de
stroying each other, while the wealth of our kindred peoples goes
up in flames, while civilization of a thousand years is tumbling in
hideous ruin, and while Europe is becoming a charnel house and place
of tombs above which all the devils of rapine and lust and murder
shriek in the orgies of death and hell. .
May God inspire us with the determination and the wisdom to
put an end to these infernal orgies, to save Europe and ourselves from
the cataclysm which threatens to swallow up all that our race has
achieved and wrought through so many centuries of struggle and ac
complishments.
Citizens, let us all this day resolve, with the help of God, to play
a courageous part in this crisis of the white race’s existence.
Let us resolve, each and every one of us, to exert our utmost in
fluence to-day and every succeeding day in support of a definite plan
to bring this war to an immediate end.
The United States stands to-day in the splendid position of the
greatest nation on earth, with the greatest opportunity in all history
to do a great and glorious deed.
You, the reader of these lines, are one of the powerful and re
sponsible citizens of this great nation, possessed of your own share in
this opportunity. '
Your words are heeded by those in authority, your influence is
felt, your voice and vote are effective in determining the policy and
destinies of the nation.
If you believe that it is the solemn obligation as well as the glo
rious opportunity of this nation to bring peace to our brothers in
stricken Europe, write to-day to your Representative in Congress, to
your Senator, to your President, and express with courtesy and dignity
the opinion, which it is your right and duty as a citizen to hold and to
speak.
Write in your own words, or write in the follo!ving words, and
say:
"I believe that this nation should use the great power and
position which God has given it for supreme good in this over
whelming crisis in human affairs.
"I believe that this nation has the unique ability and the un
exampled opportunity to bring about peace in Europe, and
should move promptly and positively to accomplish this benign
and beneficent result.
"I believe that this nation can form a league of neutral na
tions whose right to arbitrate will be so unquestionable and
whose influence will be so powerful that neither side in this Eu
ropean conflict will dare to refuse the arbitration it will offer.
"I believe that the United States alone, if it had the courage
and the conscience to withhold the arms and the money which
are so absolutely essential to the continuation of the war, could
compel the consideration of peace and the speedy conclusion of
the war.
“I do not think that this nation will secure any sufficient
credit for itself or confer any sufficient benefit upon humanity
by waiting until the war is over before moving to end the war.
"I do not think that this nation will perform its full duty or
any part of its duty to its brother nations abroad or to its own
people at home by postponing its activities in behalf of peace
until peace has been compelled by universal destruction and ex
haustion.
"l believe that when this nation has within its hands the
power to end this war and FAILS to end the war, that this nation
then and thereafter shares in the responsibility for every man
slain in agony upon the field of battle, for every innocent child
left an unprotected orphan, for every sorrowing woman left a
dependent widow, for every grief-stricken mother, for every des
olate home, for all the woe and want, destruction and destitution
of this wicked war.
"I entreat you, respected sir, as the representative of this
peace-loving American people, to act, and to act now, to bring
Sthe blessings of peace to our brothers in Europe and the reward
which God has promised the peacemakers to ourselves.”
THE HOME PAPER '
Saturday Evening
A Week-End Clearing House for Notes of Men and Affairs.
ATLANTA’'S WAY.
It was a great and enthusiastic
audience that packed and jammed
itself into the Auditorium-Ar
mory Thursday night to see
“Georgia in the Movies"—to see
its own State in motion pictures,
from the mountains to the sea, or
“from Rabun Gap to Tybee Light,”
as the politiclans express it on
the hustings.
Moreover, it was a typical At
lanta audience that gathered in
the big hall of the Auditorlum—an
audience exceeding in proportion
even some of the magnificent
gatherings assembled there to
hear grand opera now and then.
Not only was every available
inch of space in that tremendous
hall occupied by cheering thou
sands, but a sufficient number of
people to have half filled a hall of
similar proportions were turned
away.
Probably 8,000 people saw
“Georgia in the Movies” Thurs
day night, and undoubtedly there
were four or flve thousand more
who wanted to see, but who were
absolutely unable to get inside
the doors.
It is thoroughly characteristic
of Atlanta to do a thing of this
sort in that way. These pictures
are to be exhibited throughout
the State, and after the State has
been thoroughly covered they are
to be carried into the far corners
of the natlon, to advertise, to
boost and to boom Georgia and
her resources abroad.
Not only are the people of the
nation to be told by word of
mouth and in written pamphlets
and circulars all about this great
State, but they are to be shown
in splendid motion pictures just
exactly how true all the good
things that are said of Georgla
really are.
This initial exhibit at the Au
ditorium-Armory was arranged
for the purpose of starting the
work as it should be started—
with a whoop and a hurrah and a
tremendous measure of enthusi
asm!
To the call sounded by the
Georgia Chamber of Commerce,
Atlanta responded as she always
does, in overwhelming numbers
and in supreme enthusiasm.
When the Capital City of the
State was selected as the place to
start in motion these magnificent
“fireworks,” the “Atlanta spirit,”
far famed and responsible for the
larger part of Atlanta's great
ness, was aroused—as it always
has been aroused, when appealed
to in the right way—and the pro
posed grand and glorious boost
ing and booming of Georgia
abroad weze inaugurated as At
lanta alone, of all cities, not only
in Georgia, but in the entire
South, seems able to do that sort
of thing!
If the other cities of Georgla
will respond to the bugle call of
the Georgia Chamber of Com
merce and turn out to see these
pictures and to cheer them and to
write of them and talk of them
as Atlanta has done and is doing,
then when the pictures are sent
abroad Into far and distant
States of the North, East and
West, they will go with all of the
helpful enthusiasm and indorse
ment of Georgia itself behind
them. And this is as they should
go.
It seems quite likely that these
motion pictures are to accomplish
a fine work for Georgia and the
South, and as Atlanta has done
her part in making the get-away
a whooping succeses, so will it be
the great pleasure of the Hearst
newspapers in the East, the Mid
dle West' and the far West to
carry on the work of boosting
and booming these pictures
abroad, as The Georgian and The
Sunday American have boosted
and boomed them at home.
When the pictures get into the
vicinity of New York, Mr.
Hearst's American and Journal
will tell the people there what
they are. When the pictures get
into New England, his Boston
papers will proclaim throughout
that section the object of this
Southern invasion—and the same
will be true in the Middle West,
where his Chicago papers cover
the surrounding territory thor
oughly, and on into California
and through the Southwest, and
back to where his Los Angeles
and San Francisco papers join
hands with The Georglan and
The Sunday American. The
Hearst newspapers will be found
booming and boosting Georgia's
motion pictures in all of this vast
territory!
This is a service the Hearst
newspapers delight in doifig—it
is a quality of work that appeals
tremendously to the energiesand
powers of this great chain of
newspapers, stretching from Bos
ton across the continent to the
Golden Gate, and back again to
the Sunny South,
The Hearst service is equipped
Zor this work as no other news-
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
paper service, having close at
heart the welfare of the South
can ever hope to be equipped—
and all of this far-reaching and
searching agency of publicity is
now in this particular matter at®
the beck and call of the South,
Just as it has been in the past and
it always will be in the future.
The Hearst papers and publica
tions ask no happier task than
that of boosting and booming
Dixieland. ;
T i
THE WORTH OF WORRY. i
A correspondent writes me
after this fashion:
“I read your ‘Satu’% _&vgn,.
ing’ regularly, and, in«the main,
I rather like it, and generally
approve of what you say. I pare
ticularly liked the article you
wrote not long ago in which you
took the position that ‘mankind’s
besetting sin is intolerance.” Do
you not think that mankind's
greatest fault is worrying—un
less it be that worrying is more
his misfortune than his fault? 1s
it not true that we worry too
much?”
It all depends upon what this
correspondent means by “worry
ing.” If he means worrying over
trifies. or over circumstances be
yond his control—things he can
not help—why, then, of course,
that sort of worrying is a griev
ous fault and produces nothing
worth while,
It is true, no doubt, that cars
killed the proverbial cat—when
ever and wherever that was—but
the cat who worried itself to
death undoubtedly was a cat
given to worrying over things it
could not help!
Looking at it from a different
point of view, there is nothing so
utterly essential to progress and
human happiness as worry. In
the first place, happiness itself is
merely a relative term, for no
man can hope to be happy who
has never known what it is to Le
miserable. It is only by way os
contrast that he knows he IS
happy.
If it were not for the fact, for
instance, that such men as George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson
and Patrick Henry worried, and
worried themselves profoundly
and continuously, over the op
pressions of Great Britain in the
later Colonial days of our coun
try, it is not unlikely that we
should be subjects of another
King George to-day.
Theirs was a quality of worry
that produced tremendous and
far-reaching results, and that
brought eventually to this nation
those early blessings of inde
pendence that served to start us
along the road to national happi
ness and content, and to that
great measure of freedom we en-
Joy (or, at least, think we enjoy)
to-day.
It is only the raan who “wor
ries” at his work because he
wants his work to be the very
best of which he is capable—and
&uspects that it may not be—wha
really produces thoroughly es«
fective work. -
Do not worry because therears
some things about which you
MUST worry—for, after all is
€ald and done, it is out of your
righteous and sensible worries
that will grow the bulk of all the
great and good deeds you per
form.
-—
CONCERNING WATERMELON.
Up In bleak and dreary Ten
nessee, where they do not grow
waterrhelons and know very little
about them in the natural order
of things, there is raging among
the populace a great joint dis
pute as to whether one in eat
:n‘ his watermelon should salt
t
The State is split into two dis~
tinctly hostile and warring camps
in the matter of salted water
melon, and save and excepting
the famous prohibition row, which
started up there about the year 1
and apparently never will end,
there never has been anything
that quite so wildly agitated the
minds of Tennesseeans,
Of course, there really are not
two sides to this question, how
ever much one may incline to in
sist that there ALWAYS are two
sides to every question. No per
son of sufficient intelligence to
eat and really enjoy a watermel«
on thoroughly would think of
salting it. There are misguided
people, of course, who salt thelr
watermelon, but they are people
who never knew in the first place
how palatable and toothsome wa
termelon In its original and une
adorned estate can be.
If one selects a dainty morsel
from the heart of a red-ripe water
melon, cool, but not cold, to the
euto. and inclines not to eat it
ithout salting it, one coneclusion
alone Is warranted—and that is
that the eater is a person of de
praved and degenerated appetite,
incapable of appreciating any
thing really good to eat, anyway.
Such a person after a while pos
sibly would weary of watermelon
plus salt, and would elect to add
to his melon a portion of Wee
cester sauce or perhaps a dash
of tomato catsup.
In Georgia and those few bless
ed States of the South wherein
watermelon reaches its ultimate
perfection and final I!mit of good
ness, a natlve could not be bribed
to salt his melon in eating. He
would feel, If he did, that he had
disgraced himself as a son of
Georgla and kindred watermelon
dom and disqualified himself as
A gastronomic expert touching
those pecullarly and particularly
delightful articles of diet grown
within Dixie's borders.
There are in this world, pere
haps, people who pepper their ice
cream and put molasses in their
soup. If so, 1 should think they
would qualify in about the same
Class as those who put salt on,
thelr watermelon, A