Newspaper Page Text
TRUTH--JUSTICE
ATLANTARfGCEORGIAN
Text for the Dav
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall T
Jear?—Psalm XXVII:I—Text today by the Rev. Jas.
E. Dickey, Pastor First Methodist Church.
THE INSISTENT DEMAND FOR
FAIR RENTING REGULATIONS
HE GEORGIAN calls attention to the letter pub
' I lished herewith, because it is one of scores—of
hundreds—of similar import that have come to
The Georgian office of late.
It isn't a pleasant letter; but it undobtedly sets
~forth an opinion—a state of mind-—that not only ex
ists in Atlanta but is growing daily. It can not, in
common sense be ignored. Unless it is reckoned with,
it means extremely uncomfortable and perhaps de
cidedly troublesome times ahead for landlords of va
rious sorts—good, bad and indifferent. Here is the
letter:
Editor The Georgian:
Rampant, ruthless rent raising is one of the chief
causes of prevailing unrest.
Numerous people who have established decent
homes and places of business in Atlanta, small rent
ers in particular, after years of conscientious effort are
suddenly confronted by the demand for more and
more rents. This in many instances spells ruin for
them.
Landlords and dealers are entitled to a fair return,
but those who take advantage of economic disturb
ances unquestionably undermine the welfare of our
country and should be dealt with as “enemies within
our gate.”
Public policy demands that the city, State and
federal governments should control merciless profit
eers, who exact enormous profits from their helpless
fellow citizens. Respectfully, ATLANTAN.
The Georgian withholds this citizen’s name, upon
his request. He states that he doesn’t wish to “make
bad matters worse” by letting his landlord know of
his personal protest to this newspaper—that is, “not
at this time.”
A number of correspondents, plainly outraged and
perplexed beyond measure to make their incomes cover
their outgoes, nevertheless seem to stand in abject
terror of their landlords—a bad thing for landlords,
for tenants and for Atlanta,
The Georgian has recelved, as before stated, hun
dreds of similar letters. Many of them-—a genuinely
disheartening many—complain that the writers there
of, renters of small homes and apartments in'the main,
not only “were forced to stand heavy advances during
the fall and winter,” but have already been notified of
“further impending advances,” ranging from 25 to 100
_per cent, this spring, and in the summer or fall, as the
case may be, and rent contracts and leases expire,
The Georgian has stated before that it does not
believe rent “profiteering,” purely as such, is extensive
in Atlanta. We may be wrong about it; certainly a
distressing lot of letters state otherwise. DBut whether
we are right or wrong, there is grave danger that hon
est and fair-minded landlords are going to suffer much
of the wrath of public opinion when it does erystallize
fully and explode, unless they can and will find some
sure and definite method of curbing their rapacious
and greedy contemporaries in the renting business,
The Georglan is very sincere in its opinlon that
something like a crisis is approaching in this matter,
and that those who are truly wise will take heed of
the impending storm and govern themselves accord
ingly.
Citizens, apparently, are getting tired of the old
excuse—it is no longer a good and sufficient reason-—
that rents must be advanced “on account of the war"”
or “the extraordinary after-the-war conditions.” They
were boosted during the war and right after the war
to the limit on that.
Rents that were readjusted last summer and fall
upon existing conditions and enhancements in value
may have been accepted, but these old reasons can not
be set up again this spring and summer and fall for
further tremendous buwosts. Tnat Is, they can not be
set up honestly and fairly; and the general public
knows it. .
And that's why hundreds of people are kicking—
hundreds that likely will grow quickly into thousands,
unless a halt is called.
Plainly and bluntly enough, the public decidedly
thinks there is no excuse but greed for further big in
creases in rent in Atlanta. The landlords can not
plead anew increased operating expenses, rise in the
value of the property, depreciation of the value of
money, and finally, “everybody’'s dolng it.” Not one
reason is sufficient; the cause 1s greed, and the remedy
is law-—that's what the public is beginning to say, and
as if it means it, too!
Dealing in apartment houses, so many of the Geor
gian's correspondents hold, has become something
of a game—in which only the tenant loses, A man
buys an apartment house, paying $5,000 extra for
#good will.” That good will does not exist. It is merely
a license fee paid by the buyer for his opportunity to
~exploit. He knows that the only way he can secure
the return of that £5,000 is by raisiug the rent. The
property is no more valuable, the operating expense is
no greater than it was, but he has put an additional
‘“,(!)0 into the property and he must get it back. He
does so, gets his money back in a few months and
‘keeps the rent rate at the level where he boosted it
If he sells again he exacts so much from the new buver
for “good will,” and that next buyer boosts the rent a
jittle more. The tenant pays, or moves, and in mov
ing he falls into the same difficulty again.
" There are even lease brokers, se these Georgian
correspondents say, who make a point of going
to @& prospective buyer and telling him of an
apartment house, the income from which is now SI,OOO,
but can easily be increased to $1,200.. The real estate
man does this for his commission; he is not concerned
with the tenants who wust pay that increase, which
he has engineered for his own pocketbook. The de
tails of this piracy are known to every man who pays
rent. The remedy is not obvious, but it exists in that
canon of the law which is known as “public policy.”
Prohibition of alcohol is derived from that law
Prohibition of opium smoking, carrying of a concealed
weapon, the red light abatement—all these exist, be
cause of the belief that some acts which can ndbt be
condemned by the actual existing law can still be de
nied because they conflict with public policy, There
were many instances of that In the late war.
It is possible and just to pass a law restricting
inereases in rent and compelling a laudlord to make
application to a commission for permission-—just as
corpurations are compelled to apply to the Railroad
Cominission for the right to issue stock.
The landlord can be—and in Atlanta and elsewhere
in Georgia yet may be—-(;)mpelled to open his books
THURSDAY—Editorial Page of The Atlanta Georgian—MAßCHlS 1920
MAKING THE FACTORY BETTER.
Mr. Employer, are you dissatisfled with the pro-
Aduction of the machines in your plant? Who is to
blame-—the operators? Or is it that the machinery
is not working right
If you were reared on a farm you know that a
worried cow never gave her usual supply of milk.
The production of an operator on a machine
will never be up to the operator’s limit while the
machine worries him.
Worry about mechanical difficulties does not
give a mind free to get large production.
Put your machines in first-class condition, all
of them, and see how much better work and how
much larger your production, All machinery tends
to depreciate,, but will not deteriorate so much
from use as disuse. An old piece of machinery well
repaired, oiled and kept in running order is often
more dependable than new machinery.
If you can not believe it, investigate, aided by
some one in whom you have confidence, and you
will be surprised at the interest which your invest
ment in parts and a good general overhauling will
bring.
and show his actual expenses before the increase is
allowed,
A fair and honest and not too greedy landlord can
not object to this.
“All that the tenant will stand” is just as vicious
a maxim as “all the traffic will bear.” The law re
stricts the one: it can now restrict the other, and
public policy demands this relief,
All of which The Georgian very respectfully, dis
passionately and most sincerely submits for the calm,
careful, thoughtful consideration of landlords of all
sorts in Atlanta.
‘UNCLE SAM,” THE WELL-KNOWN
WORLD BANKER
INCE the war began, over five years ago, thig
S country has lent abroad a net sum of $10,000,-
000,000, This country has bought back from
foreigners American securities to an amount estimated
all the way up to another $10,000,000,000, This coun
try, furthermore, is increaging the world’s debt to us
every hour, with a foreign trade balance now ranning
in our favor at the astounding rate of very nearly
$4,000,000,000 a year. ;
Yet—and the news startles Americans—we are
shipping out gold.
What does it mean, they ask, that if everybody owes
us we are sending $15,000,000 in gold to South Amer
iea and may ship to Japan twice, perhaps four times,
as much?
Well, for one thing, everybody doesn’t owe us, The
world as a whole does; the world as a whole is up to
its neck in, debt to us; but here and there, like a speck
in the wide sky, is a part of the world we owe. In
South American countries we have been making more
trade purchases than sales. Examples are Argentina,
Chile and Brazil. The same thing is true in the Far
Bast, where the conspicuous example is Japan.
Besides this trade score, we have been investing
in foreign countries. We have been buying their secur
ities. Within their boundaries we have been building
American railroads, developing mines and setting up
mills and factories. So we pay. For another thing, a
nation can not be ereditor of the world without being
banker to the world,
: A banker to the world, like a banker to a com
\munlt_v. stands prepared to receive or to pay, to col
leet or to lend. A banker to the world, like a banker
to # community, must be ready to honor good drafts in
favor of anybody anywhere, So we bank with gold "
and we trade with gold. We buy gold, we lend gold, we
sell gold.
As for our gold supply—if we are to be banker to
the world—it is for just such use as we are now mak
ing of it and we shall make of it more and more, We
have it in prodigious store. We have the bulk of the
v;'urld's banking supply. We shall have it for a long
time.
Our stock of gold. as money, is over $3.000,000,000,
In the chief countries of the world there isn't a great
deal more.
Five years ago France and England were the
bankers for Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa
and South America. They were the bankers, pretty
much, for even our own United States. All that to
day is changed. Those countries and continents alike
look to us.
* Our shingle is out—bankers to the world.
BUY LAND, THE BASIS OF
GEORGIA’S WEALTH
O MATTER how much money yon are making, or
N how much you may have made and salted away,
you will, if you are wise, own a piece of farm
lund somewhere in Georgia, even if you are farm-rich
in other States, or have just got rid of some old farm |
with a gesture of relief, : |
And if you are a city man and are buying and pay
ing for a home near your work, still it is prudent to |
acquire a little patch of country land, which will in
crease in value and productivity as age comes on. {
When the city man comes to retive or is compelled
to quit, it is with great satisfaction that he will look
upon his little acreage on which he may pass the re- 1
mainder of his days in independence, with a garden,
a chicken yard and a small orchard to yield their l
fruits for his sustenance,
Farming is the basis of prosperity in Georgia., Not
that every farmer makes a success of it, but when one
fails here it is never an argument against the farm,
but a confession of fault by the man. Farmers have
been making money here for years. They will make
more money in years to come,
Georgia land values will advance——the value of farm
products will increase for the producer--let us hope
they will not inerease for the consumer, that more
economical means of distribution will be found. ‘
There can never be any more acres devoted ta grow
ing cotton or peanuts or grain or garden truck than
are adapted to these various uses. But the number
of mouths to be fed will keep on increasing,
Lately there was a perceptible movewment back to
the soil, but something—perhaps the war—interrupted
it. 1t will begin again and next time will continue |
until there is no more land to be taken up,
SO, when you obey the call of spring and take your
vernal trips into the country, as you must do if you |
would enjoy life to the full, think of the future and !
look on land as a utility as well as on the beauties
of the landscape. |
| Letters From the People | ‘
THIS YARK LIKED TOMMY,
Editor The Georgian:
Life is mostly a mirror; you see your own spirit
reflected in others.
The Buddies who found such bad treatment in
England had chips on their shoulders. They went
expecting to hate the British.
I served over there. I was quartered with Tommy
and 1 liked him. To prove it: | married Tommy's
gister, whom | met when on leave of absence in
London. 1 was entertained in one of the thousands of
homes opened to the Yanks. W. Ak B
Savannah &
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Comment
e ————————
DISCREDITED [INSTITUTION,
(Dalton Citizen.)
We strain every muscle and
brain cell to meet the ever in
creasing costs of living, intermit
tently complaining against out
rageous prices, and yet encourage
non-producers in their shirkings,
and it says that non-producers
form the largest contributing fac
tor to unreachable prices of every
day necessities. It then says: Car
nivals that have degenerated until
they are now but a conglomeration
of gambling devices should be
eliminated in the new scheme of
thingg.
As long as towns open their
doors to them, non-producers will
feed on the products the labor of
others has made, and by their
failure to add to the world's store
room of necessities, will make
prices go even higher,
Many Georgia towns have pro
hibited carnivals by refusing to
issue licenses, and the State press
shows public opinion to favor their
elimination. Were this plan uni
versally adopted, hundreds of men
and women who are alternately
smiled and frowned upon by the
gods of chance, would perhaps seek
forms of employment that would
insure regular incomes and remove
them from the parasitic class,
. /
TEN POINTERS,
(Rome News.)
It is a hard job to behave well
these days with polities, strikes and
what-not Kkeeping every one on
edge, But back in the second cen
tury one Marcus Aurelius Antonius
in browsing around Rome jotted
down pointers for his personal
guidance, For instance,
1. Simplicity in my way of liv
ing far removed from habits of the
rich,
2. To be neither of the green nor
blue party at the fights or games.
3, To endure labor, want little,
work with my own hands and not
mweddle,
4. Not to be led astray to sophis
tic emulation, nor to writing on
speculative matters, nor to hastily
give my assent to those who talk
overmuch.
6. To lave my Kkin, truth and
Justice.
7. To learn self-government and
cheerfulness in all circumstances
as well as in sickness.
8. Love of labor and persever
ance; firmness in giving to every
man according to his deserts,
9, To see things a long wayv off,
and to be a good manager of the
expenditure.
10, To do what is set before me
without complaining.
Old stuff? Sure. But Marcus
became boss of the Romans,
FINE FIELD OF ENDEAVOR,
(Macon Telegraph.)
It may be, however, if fond pa
rents would make use of the wee
jee board to picture the future of
their progeny there'd he fewer 210 -
pound lassies named Violet and
fewor sissy boys named Bill
HONK! HONK!
(Clayton News.)
Wouldn't the eountry get “rat
tled” if Henry Ford were nomi
nated? =
Military Training Did It
Ye Towne Gossip
By K. C. B.
I USED to know him.
- - -
YEARS AGO.
* - -
AND WHEN 1 met him.
* - *
ON A railroad train.
- - *
BETWEEN TWO towns.
* - .
| RECOGNIZED him.
* - -
THOUGH HE looked to me,
: e
LIKE A very sick man.
* - K
AND | shook hands with him.
* . B
HE WAS very nervous.
. * * :
AND THEN 1 saw.
. * »
AND IT wasn't my business.
- - .-
AND | didn't ask him. ‘
- - -
BUT LATER on.
- - -
IN THE smoking car.
- - *
HE CONFIDED to me.
* * »
THAT HE had been chairman,
’ * .
OF A local committee.
- * *
IN HIS little home town,
- - -
TO ARRANGE‘ a banquet,
- *
AND HE fixed for the banquet.
- - .
AND GOT a bright idea.
- - -
ABOUT EXPLODING some bombs
- - -
IN A vacant block.
- - .
JUST BEFORE the banquet.
- - -
AND THE committee said,
- * »
IT WOULD be all right.
o 9 -
AND ON that night.
* . *
HE HAD the bombs,
- - *
AND ALONG about seven.
* - .
HE EXPLODED one.
. - .
AND A butcher’s horse.
. - -
ATTACHED TO a wagon.
- - *
AND THAT hadn’t been told.
. - *
ABOUT THE bombs,
Ll - *
DIDN'T KNOW what it was.
- - .
AND RAN away.
Science Notes
A toaster that toasts all sides of
two pieces of bread over a gas
burner at once hus been invenged.
. . .
A British metallurgist believes he
has rediscovered the secret of the
ancient Spanish armorers in pro
ducing a tarnish-proof steel that
even resisis acids,
- . -
In producing print baper from
native grasses an Australian ex
perimenter discovered some new
vegetable dyves, . i
AND AN automobile.
* * *
IN A frantic effort.
* o *
NOT TO hit the horse.
* * *
RAN INTO a post.
* - *
AND BROKE it off.
* B *
AND IT tumbled owver. .
* * *
AGAINST THE window.
* * *
OF A druggists’ shop.
* * *
AND BROKE the window.
* * *
AND ALSO a jar.
* - *
THAT WAS filled to the brim,
* * *
WITH SOMETHING red.
- Wk
AND A light behind it.
= - *
AND THE runaway horse.
* * *
WENT AROUND a corner,
- * *
AND SWUNG its wagon.
* * *
AGAINST ANPTHER wagon.
» -
AND THE second horse.
** ' ®
HADN'T ANY idea.
-- * .
WHAT WAS going on.
* * -
BUT AS all was excitement,
* * -
IT RAN away, too.
. - -
AND BOTH runaway horses,
- - *
RAN ALL over town.
\. * -
FOR HALF an hour.
* - -
AND THE bright red stuff.
- - *
IN THE drug store jar.
- - -
RAN OUT to the street.
* * -
AND WAS tracked all over.
- * *
AND ALTOGETHER.
* . .
IT WAS the busiest time.
* - »
AND THE bloodiest time.
* . *
THAT THE town ever saw,
» - *
AND EVERYBODY.
» * *
WAS SUING my friend.
- - -
AND HE was going away.
~ - -
—] THANK vou
Leather covers to protect the
front* fenders of an automobile
wlile repairs are leing made un
der the hood have been invented
for use in garages.
. - -
With a new kitchen machine it is
possible to eut any vegetables into
severa]l different forms by adjust
ing the Kknives.
- . *
Driven by a 300-hersepower elec
tric motor, a stone ecrusher in a
Michigan limestone plant can erush
1,250 tons of rock an hour ‘
Pains and Aches
l T'hat Persist ,
By DR. LEONARD HIRSHBERG.
OU have a severe pain in your
' arm or shoulder and you say
you have neuritis. Several days
pass and the pain gets worse.
Finally you go to a doctor who looks
under the skin, intp the heart and
refuses to be dominated by such
useless names as ‘‘neuritis,” rheu
matism,” “cold” and the rest of
this motnerless brood. He analyzes
the pain, finds its origin, etc, Then
he excludes any peossible deep
seated cause.
Drs. D. Lewis and W. Gatewood
of Towa City, studied iQe victims
of such pains in United States Gen
eral Hospital No. 28, Private E.
G., wounded at Chateau-Thierry,
received a machine gun bullet in
left arm and the shoulder, which
split the nerves and bones. The
patient suffered such excruciating
pains that the nerves of the arm,
which had become imbedded and
pinched by scar tissue, were in
jected with 60 per cent grain alcohol
solution. Until then the “algia,”
or pain was so terrible that he was
on the verge of self destruction sev
eral times. Almost immediate re
lief was experienced when the al
coholic injections were carried out.
Similar relief from miscalled
5
“neuralgias,” “neuritis,” myralgia
and muscular “rheumatism” was
quickly brought about when 60 per
cent alcohol was injected into the
affected nerves of victims of lo
comotor ataxia, pruritis, tie dou
loreux, facial neuralgia and other
chronic aches and pains distributed
along the course of nerves.
Sometimes the alconol causes a
slight weakness or paralysis of a
few muscles. This, however, wears
off in sixty to ninety days and the
pain does not return,
Absolute alcohol, which is 30 and
40 per cent stronger, often causes
more paralysis. Sixty per cent, al
cohol appears to check the Sense
of pain at once, yet not to interfere
with motion and the nerves, which
control the muscles.
It is sometimes advisable to have
a surgeon expose the affected
nerves so there may be no danger
of mistaking them or of injecting
the alcoli! into a wrong place.
"When you have these chronic
pains and aches, whieh pergist or
return again and again consult your
physician,
False economy on your part in the
matter of X-ray examinations, blood
tests, stomach analysis and other
means to find the facts, may cost
vou dearly in torment and suffer
ing
PUBLIC SERVICE
)
C@@gfi‘fit
i . J
| IN THE -~
{
Cutrrent
— JamesßNevin
ELL R. WILKINSON has a
M marvelous faculty for get
ting himself elected presi
dent of things—organizations of all
sorts and varieties, big and little,
local and state-wide.
Tc¢ be sure, he makes a good
president of whatever it is he is
president of for the moment—-he's
president of the Atlanta Presidents’
Club for life, for that matter—and
I doubt whether he could escape
the presidential lightning even if he
so inclined, which he doesn't al
ways, as 1 happen to know.
It may not be known generally,
but Mr. Wilkinson is a domino
fiend. He is quite a sharp at that
ancient and honorable pastime, and
so are his friends, “Ed” Mcßurney
and ‘“'Chess” Howard. 'They play
together a great deal, these three;
and so, one night not long ago Mr.
Wilkinson decided they should or
ganize themselves into a domino
club, and he proceeded to business
briskly, after the approved Wilkin
son style,
“Now, to get this thing under
way right,” said Mr. Wilkinson, “I
will sort of call the meeting to or
der as temporary chairman. 1 will
now appoint Mr. Mcßurney and
Mr. Howard a committee of two
upon permanent organization, and
ask them kindly to retire and
bring in a norhination for president,
and | suggest that the president
be empowered to name all the rest
of the officers of the Domino Club.”
Whereupon Messrs. Mcßurney
and Howard retired solemnly and
brought in the name of Mr. Wil
kinson as president.
And that's how it happens that
Mell Wilkinson is still-one more va
riety of president than you thought,
gentle reader.
And I do not see how any op
posing candidate is to beat his sys
tem, moreover.
HE TEN,” which is one of
I the oldest of Atlanta's se
lect organizations—having
been actively in existence for more
than twenty consecutive years—
had as its guest of honor at dinner
Tuesday evening Mr. Harry Stil
well Edwards of Macon, one of the
really great short story writers of
America—a writer who, from sheer
standpoint of literary ability and
worthiness of production, is equaled
by few I know.
To my way of thinking, he is far
and away a greater writer of short
stories—or a writer of greater short
stories, rather—than O. Henry ever
was; and that's citing something
of a classic example in process of
discussion. moreover,
Certainly O. Henry was a popular
writer, if never really a writer of
ereat stories. He was a remarka
ble narrator of anecdotes, most of
whieh he dressed up to seeming
«hort story proportions, and to be
sure there are two of three of hisg
stories that might stand the higher
test.
But there are scores of Harry
Stillwell Jdwards’ stories that
atand the acid test amply. The
vages of Scribners, Harpers and
other standard magazines wiil
show them if one cares to look
them up, provided he has not al
readv read them.
Mr. Edwards combines robust
substance with charming and con
vincing literary form, which 18
something rare among writers.
Mr. Edwards’ fame grew some
what after the fashion of Joel
Chandler Harris' repute as a writer
of really great stories; it came
from the circumference in; it start
ed far away fpom home and worked
backward. That frequently is the
fate of writers. England discovered
Joel Chandler Harris long before
Georgia did; New England discov
ered I;(arry Stillwell Edwards long
before® Georgia did. However, the
fame of both is well established
now.
“The Ten,” by the way, is an un
usual organization. It was found
ed originally by a little band of
Baptist ministers, who gathered
together now and then for better
acquaintance and better under
understanding, It is not now so
strictly Baptist as it once was, al
though it still is predominately that
in its makeup of membership. Its
president-—whom it calls “Czar’—
is Marion L. Brittain, and its
scribe is Fred Paxon.
Just how Mell Wilkinson managed
to let the headship of the organi
zation escape his eclutches lam
sure [ do not know; but he made
up for it in a way, for he's the ex
ecutive committee, all by himsel?,
and also the entire committee on
devilment.
Asa (. Candler, who is somewhat
notoriously a Methodist, is a mem
ber; but the excuse inside the club
for that is “Mr. Candler is such a
good Methodist, he's almost a Bap
tist.”
Here’'s the full membership roll
of “The Ten”: Marcus W, Beck,
Marion L. Brittain, Asa G. Cand
ler , Walter G. Cyoper, Sam
uel D. Jones, William W. Orr,
Frederic J. Paxon, Henry Alford
Porter, Arthur G. Powell, John F.
Purser, Hugh M. Willett, Mell R.
Wilkinson. Honorary: Beaumont
Davison, Beverly D. Evans, William
Warren Landrum, John E. White,
Can you beat that for a splen
did organization?
UDGE ARTHUR G. POWELL,
] who was about to collaborate
with me in promulgating in
the preferential primary a rampant
Governor Edwards ‘boom, when
the governor ruthlessly shattered
our young dream by withdrawing
his name from consideration, does
not think the various street car
conductors of Atlanta should be
permitted to use misleading dia
lects in announcing prospective
slops,
“Now,” sald Judge Powell yves
terday, “I was going home quietly
Tuesday afternoon, when, as we
approached the intersection of
Peachtree and Marietta, the con
ductor yelled loudly and persua
sively, right there in my ear, which
wasn’t attuned to anything in par
ticular, ‘Five Pints!’
“Naturally, it startled me; not
unnaturally it sent my mind gal
loping off into strange ~or,
least, half forgotten by-ways. '\3
it suggested cruelly at least SSO, &
present day prices,
“The street car managera In At
lanta certainly should mgke thel
help behave.” i B