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TRUTH, JUSTICE
Is This a Country That Can
Not Take Care of Its Soldiers?
TLIIONS of men in this country were
M taken away from their homes, their
work, like so many trees uprooted.
They were sent across the ocean to France,
sent to camps all over the country, prefera
bly as far as possible from their dwelling.
They were put in uniforms, drilled,
worked, and while others were making great
fortunes, or making greatly inereased salaries
out of war, these men in the army received
half the pay of a competent messenger hoy.
The men thus taken did net rebel or com
rn‘ They knew the country needed men.
hey were MEN, they were willing to go,
willing to fight, willing to be shot, able to
smile nhncrhSly as they lay in the hospitals
Wme country needed men it took them
and the men admitted that the country had a
5
the MEN need WORK, and the coun
try ought to admit that they have a right to
demand it,
There is plenty of work in this country,
. there is plenty of work that needs to be done,
there are roads that need to be built, swamps
.10 be drained, deserts to be irrigated, public
enterprises of all kinds waiting,
There are millions of acres of land that
eould be made fertile and produetive. The
could be cleared, irrigated or drained by lofi
diers, paid decent wages, working in a body
undef comlretent direction. Then the land
should be divided up into small holdings and
given to the soldiers, or sold to them at a low
price on part time payments——to as many
soldiers as cared to take up farm and coun
try life.
Many excuses are made now. But the man
who was called upon to go to war did not
make any excuse. And if he had done so it
~would not have attracted mueh attention.
The Government has no right to make ex
cuses NOW, 1t is big enough, rich enough,
intelligent enough to use productively and
without waste of a dollar every able-bodied
man at good wages.
There are countries at least TRYING to
solve the problem, not merely talking,
Germany announces that she will build a
million small houses to give work to soldiers
while they are building, and homes to the sol
diers afterwards. That is her antidote to
Bolshevism, .
France is putting her men on publie works,
although France, compared with the United
States, is a finished country, ahead of us in
roads, canals, railroads, publie buildings, eco
Some Questions That Can Not Be
Answered Satistactorily by Any Editor
) An Atlanta woman writes that she pities
poor editors, who, she says, ‘‘have to wrestle
_with erude ‘urges’ that will not down.”’
Editors don’t really wrestle with crude
urges. 'lm Just go along, work, make a liv
‘u'; die are {orgotten like other diggers
For some mysterious, pathetic reason,
many believe that to be an editor is to be
something ld#fily worth while and highly
1 loteresting. at is a mistake,
Much more interesting than an editor are
the following questions the lady sends, with
a re;mst that they be answered :
ofl us why one so seldom finds a really
b Mzm personality, or a satisfactory
wealfth so often proves such an impas
fim-vhr to mind or soul culture?
Why those who do alms before men, and bow!
S B e e
e accorde e
world’s prizes?
Why the poor have to stand for all the dis
grace and publicity, while even the names of
3 their wealthy accomplices are so carefully sup
pressed?
Why Is It that adversity makes grouches out
A of some folks and salnts out of others, and
f which of these make the best employees?
l Why should we punish so austerely when so
| few have had a chance in the way of oppon
tunfties and example?
; Why should we spend #o much time ab.
! horring Judas Iscariot |, when we have so
H many modern members of his cult “in our
| midst :
And what is the work that is before us if it
Isn’t the threshing out of such vital problems?
You quote Voltaire as saying, “Cultivate your
garden,” but can't we cultivate weeds as well
as flowers, and Is it best that we continue to
} look upon our own thoughts as weeds and
| . those of any other as flowers?
H We ean not answer those questions satis
| faotorily. It doesn’t matter, for those that
| #sk deep questions are pleased when you
| ecan’t answer,
1 You remember the Sphinx, She had a
| happy life answering questions, and asking
% one question and killing those that couldn’t
answer it.
| ‘When it was answered she got so mad that
i she threw herself down from a mountain and
§ . ended her career.
it ,mr correspondent, for her comfort, may
i rettember thag this world is as vet a half
i baked concern, “We are not civilized, nor are
§ we anywhere near it.
Thé-earth is like & house that hasn't been
painted, no plumbing installed, to say noth.
; *’ a :kit,chpn range or an iet hox.
: ? .
. Ry - - ~ ——— e e
nomical agrieulture and almost everything
else in the way of material completion.
For one striking example, look at Australia,
right under your feet, on the other side of the
world. .
They realize there that men sent thousands
of miles across the oeean to fight, to save
their country and the British Empire from
anxiety, have a right to demand that THEY
when they come back shall be free from
ankdety also,
The Government of Australia, through Hol
man, Prime Minister, says that laws will be
passed compelling employers to put back the
returned soldiers in their old jobs. Thou
sands of soldiers will be settled on farm
lands. And work will be found AT ONCE on
public works for those that do not find other
em'Floymont‘
he Government beging promptly by ap
propriating large sums of money to be lent
to local boards that they may earry on pub
lic works as needed, unins the soldiers in the
work and paying them decently,
This eountry is rich, generous; it appre
ciates what the soldiers have done. Every
man appreciates it, from the head of the Gov
ernment down to the poorest eripple.
The trouble here is lack of initiative, lack
of somebody to say a word, lack of a con
erete BEGINNING,
The demand that soldiers be kept em
ployed, without loss of a day, after they have
seen their friends and visited their homes, is
not a mere Fersonal demand from the sol
diers themselves. It is a demand based on
the welfare of the whole country.
If a million horses had gone to war and
had come back, you would think farmers
very foolich if they didn’t put the horses to
work right away. You would say that farms
¢ould not prosper if they were feeding a mil
lion horses and the horses doing no work.
If a horse is important to a farmer, a first
class worker, a healthy, highly trained, en
thusiastie young soldier is infinitely more im
portant to the country,
Every day that he is unemployed is a waste
to the nation as a whole.
Every day that a million men are unem
ployed is a clear waste of five millions of dol
lars. In thirty days the idleness of a million
able men would represent a waste of labor
and skill sufficient to build another Panama
Canal, sufficient to conneet the Great Lakes
at Chicago with the Mississippi, the Gulf of
Mexico and the oceans of the world.
Men should be put to work, well paid, kept
contented. There should be no waste of hu
man labor or human intelligence.
We haven't even drained the swamps, ir
rigated the deserts, or enabled the people to
live comfortable on the land, of which there
is more than enough for all. We are like a
lot of barbarians, camped out on a desert
island, too mueh for some, too little for
- others, nothing for the very unfortunate
~ That will change some day, and if our lady
friend returns in a million years she will find
~a very respectable world, plenty of people
to answer her questions—in fact, the ques
tions will have been answered by that time.
In a zoological garden, in the monkey
house, you have to ask, ‘“Why does that big
monkey always steal the peanut from' that
poor, little sick monkey?”’
You move away from the monkey house to
the Red Cross hospital, and you see the big,
strong man handing the doughnut to the
~ little, weak man, .
| i e
|
THE WAR WORK OF THE
ORDER OF ELKS
\ The membership doesn’t make a great déal
of noise about it, to be sure, but the Benevo
lent and Protective Order of Elks ‘‘did its
bit’’ grandly and nobly in the big war, it
seems.
The Elks organization is founded upon
patriotic ideals, anyway; never a session is
legally open unless a flag of the nation—Old
Glory-—drapes the altar.
Here is part of the Elks' record:
Purchased $3,000,000 worth of Liberty
bonds.
Donated $300,000 to the Red Cross.
Donated $1,100,000 to other war funds
Turned 300 Elk clubhouses over to pit!
otic agencies,
Members signed 250,000 food conservation
pledges.
More than 30,000 members wore the coun
try's uniform. Among the Elks in uniform, one
is a general—John F. Pershing—two are major
generdls, six are brigadier generals, 80 are colo
nels, 85 are lieutenant colonels, 400 are majors,
1,600 are captains, 4,700 are lieutenants, 2,000
are sergeants and 500 are corporals.
in the navy the Elks have one rear admiral,
12 are captains, four are commanders, 20 are
lieutenant commanders, 100 are lieutenants, 150
are ensigns, The rest served in the ranks.
This great order is to be congratulated
upon the fine and genuinely patriotic and
helpful showing it made. z
And, for that matter, it still is on the job,
helping returning soldiers and sailors
wherever and whenever and however it can,
And the God That Answereth by Fire, Let Him Be God.—First Kings 18:24
(Text for today was selected by the Rev. B. F. Fraser, Pastor Wesley Memorial Church, Atlanta.)
ATEANTA - GESRGIAN
Saturday, March 22, 1919
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T L fe Sl T
THERE WAS cold air.
d . -
INSIDE OF the radiator.
- - -
AND IT wouldn't come out.
. - -
AND A cool wind.
- - -
BLEW IN from the sea.
- . .
AND WE needed warmth.
- . .
FOR AN hour or so.
- . -
TILL THE sun came round.
. - -
ON ITS western trip.
. . L 4
AND | telephoned.
. *.9
TO THE hotel office.
- . -
AND TOLD the clerk. ..
» - .
AND A few minutes later,
- . -
CAME THE hotel plumber,
. - .
IN OVERALLS.
- . -
AND UNDER the window,
- -.-
BY THE radiator.
- . -
HE SAT him down.
- - -
AND HOWEVER it happened,
. - -
I DON'T quite know.
M
BUT IT wasn't long.
. . »
’EFORE I. ha.d learned.
THAT HE‘had six kids,
. -
AND 'I’O':E.ol(:elk eleven,
AND W.H‘.RE. he lived. *
WAS A?R?I, the bay.
AND OY!! l.n Berkeley.
WITH A. z:u: big vard,
INCLO?I? I.Y a fence,
AND N.ON‘I (.hf the kids.
HAD l\‘llf t:cen sick.
AND 'fl':l.reuo. m for that,
SO THC' pluu:ber said.
.
WAS lscéuu of the skill.
OF THI. woneerful woman,
-
WHO W‘Al. h:- wife,
AND W:QI'N 1 suggested,
THAT IT must be hard.
ROLL UP A WHOPPER
ON THE wages he got.
. . -
TO CARE for so many.
. - -
HE SAID it was.
- - .
AND THEN he added:
. . .
“BUT BELIEVE me, sir.
- - “
“IT'S WORTH it all”
- . -
AND ALL the time.
. . -
WHILE HE talked to me.
. . -
HE KEPT fussing around.
B T
TILL THE cold air came,
- - -
AND THE radiator.
- . .
CAME BACK to life.
- - -
AND THE odor of warmth.
- - -
PERVADED THE room.
. - -
AND THEN he arose, S
. L 4 .-
AND WANTED to know.
. . -
IF I'D mind very much,
- - -
IF HE should come back.
8.0
WITH A picture he had.
. . .
OF HIS group of kids.
. » -
AND | sald 1 wouldn't.
. . .
AND H!‘O‘ gone down now,
- .
TC WH.!R‘EVER it is.
.
IN THE hue'ment mazge,
- .
WHIRE. H‘i hangs his coat,
.
AND BEFORE he comes back.
- - -~
I'M GOING to find.
. - - .
A PICTURE I have.
. . .
OF THAT nePhew of mine,
. "
THAT 1..1V.1C. on the ranch,
AND IF he's got one.
L I
WHO CAN.bout that kid,
MELL !l.uolnc some, .
BUT, A!W:NA‘Y.
HE'S A‘ml.ght.y fine man.
AND HE".‘nrmed me up.
" -
INSIDE AND out.
- . -
! THANK vou
More Truth Than Poetry
By James J. Montague
& : —
‘i N ;f. Y .
l 7ly //\".fi gy SR )
JUST A SUGGESTION .
] HAVE looked at the languorous lion ¢
Who loitered about on the screen, !
With a drag in his step and so lacking in pep
That the hero could get away clean;
And I have wondered how wide-eyed producers
Could pass up a beautiful chance
To enliven the screen with an animal scene
That would sell out six months in advance.
WHAT is needed in the movies is a wildcat,
Who will never slack or soldier on his job,
Wheo will furnish yov with action to your utmost satisfactlon
And supply you with one long, continuous throb.
Though the hero may be handsome and athletic,
Though he wear the hero type of easy grin,
When atflia;t they come to mix it, there will be no way to
5 X
And it's safe to bet the wildcat’s going to win.
TOO often are crowds disappointed
When the hero escapes from the stage, )
And the lion, too weak to give voice to his pique,
Makes an effort to register rage.
They came there expecting a battle— ’
And a battle worth seeing, at that—
But there wasn’t a fight or so much as a bite,
And the show fell exceedingly flat.
BUT just liven up a movie with a wildcat,
Just enclose him with the hero in am,
And yw'n“ai:v; there will be fighting is golng to be
exc ¥
With some wildly thrilling moments now and ‘then.
Give the wildcat haif a chance to get things started,
Do not let the hero dog it or evade
An cucc;unter with the creature, and yow’ll have a movie
eature
L That will beat the greatest picture ever madel
? - e~ .
7 S s
PUBLIC SERVICE
Timely Topics
of Today
By Arthur Brisbane.
OU have heard this qunestionc
Y “Which came first, the hen
or the egg?
Henry Ford, in “Mr. Ford's Own
Page” of his weekly newspapes
raises another question:
“Which comes first, the ifea or
the words with which to express
the idea?
Says Mr. Ford:
“Among the tools we work with
are words. Words stand for iteas,
but ideas are often held back for
lack of words, as freight is held
up for lack of cars. Many men
who possess ideas are hindered
because fihfly do not posesss enough
words deliver them:. You may
notice this in current discussions
of our social problems. It some
times happens that people who in
dulge in these discussions exhibit
a lack of word tools with which te
complete their mental work:”
Mr. Ford's answer to the hen-or
egg, thought-or-word question is
different from that of Milton, whe
wrote “Paradise Lost;” and as, see~
retary for Cromwell shewed him
self a good word fighter as well as
the world's greatest epie poet.
According te Milton, the trouble
is lack of ideas, not lack of words
He says that when a man Is really
in earnest and controlled by the
“serious and hearty love of truth,
his words, like so many nimble and
airy serviters, trip about him at
command, and in well ordered files,
as he would wish, fall aptly inte
their own places” .
The greatest French authority
on style, Boileaun, also rejeets Hen
ry Ford’s theery. Boileau says;
“That which is well cenceived ex
presses itself clearly, and the
words 40 say it arrive easily:*
The egg came before the hen, or
else a miracle happened.
And the idea comes befgre the
word. Animals with ne thought
get along nicely without language.
It was the birth of complicated
thought in the mind of man that
compelled him te invent language,
just as a desire for the skin of the
bear, and its meat, compelled him
to invent a spear with' which te
kill the bear.
I Men of powerful emotion and I
i earnest thought sometimes, not
often, think themselves lacking in
words. That is because they have
not read even a little or written at |
all, 3 |
| Mr. Ford would never have made ‘
{ an automobile had he not learned
I something about mechanical eon- *
| struction. But he had to have the |
automobile in his MIND before he f
could make it and set it running, [
Let.no man who thinks he has I
ideas worth while worry about ]
lack of words to express the ‘
| thought. «1t is the idea. that makes |
the word, not the word that makes '
the idea.
It is true that the Bible says: .
“In ‘the beginning was the word.”
~But in that passage our English |
“word” is the best equivalent that
the translator could find for the
Greek word logos, and that Greek |
word means many things. Little
hoys that learned Greek in French
gchools were taught to translate
o logos—le disceurs.
And the French word discours,
“digeourse,” a very comprehensive
expression, is a more nearly exact,
although inadequate, translation 0f
o logos. . .
Don’t believe for a moment, if
you are not able to interest others
in speaking or make a living writ
ing, that your trouble !s lack eof |
| words. i 1
Robert Louis Stevenson, alleged
by many to have written the most
nearly perfect English prose, which
he did not, says that Bunyan did
more than any other to teach him
how to write. *
And Bunyan was a ronr. ignorant
man, who went to jail because b&
respect for what he belleved
be the truth was stronger than his
fear of imprisonment.
In his case the “serious and
hearty love of truth” was sufficient,
in spite of his simple mind and lack
of education, to make him a mas
ter of style, whose writing outlives
that of tens of thousands of Oxford
and Cambridge men that possessed |
in abundance the words that Mr,
Ford rightly calls “tools we work
with.*
Nobody knows better than Mr,
Ford that tools are useless to the
man who is not a mechande, ‘
Words are useless to the man
who is not a thinker, ; 3
Tens of millons speaking Wng- |
lish have possessed more m
tion than Shakespeare,
speare had the thought and the
IMAGINATION,
He uses more different words
:.‘h;n hlny other writer in the Eng
-5! l.’fll%fi. or In any
g‘\;t the 0%?.S daia m
aiespeare. genius made
the words.
Have THOUGHTS worth while.
Make sure that yon are moved as
the great Milton was z “serfons |
and hmny‘lova of * Then
you will write well, in proportion
to your intellect, whether you be, .i
like Milton, a man of thorough
education and lofty ambition, or, |
lnkeßunmoarbmm.‘ \
humble man with a teee hoset.