The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1913-06-12

4
of US drop tear of regret
We had a system of cOpy-booK writ
ing in the public schools, which
made us familiar with divers saws
and proverbs, such as How doth
the little busy bee," and "A stitch
in time" and EVERY chain is as
strong as its weakest link. This
last was a poser to a number of us
whose brains had not yet developed,
but later we saw the wisdom of all
the old saws, and scarcely a day
passes that we cannot apply some of
them to our daily life and it's prob
lens.
Every chain is as strong as it's
weakest link" and every country is
as strong as its weakest men.
One who reads closely the trend
of events in the daily papers is
almost appalled, at the revelation
which is taking place in every walk
of rife. The antics of the suffragettes
have passed the amusing stage, and
they have reached q crisis in Eng
land which makes one wonder for
the sanity of the women who have
taken part in the riotings, arson and
disordeTfy conduct which has
marked their appearances in public.
The dress Of the women and
young girls in this country is be-
coming as much a source OF alarm,
as the actions of the women in Eng
land.
Crime, in every phase, is more
rampant to-day in the United States
than it has ever been. There have
been more youthful marriages than
has been known in the history of
our people. The number OF suicides
of boys and girls between the ages
of fourteen and twenty-one is almost
beyond belief.
Man, in the concrete, has had a.
deal to say of the women who are
bringing this state of affairs about,
by their neglect of the home and all
that is meant when one uses that ex-
pression-and that makes it possible
for some Of us to rise and ask:
What Of our men?
In many cities of this country it
has been found necessary to estab-
lsh a court of domestic relations.
II you have not heard of it, it may
be Of interest to tell you that it is q
court which tries cases OF men who
are accused of having deserted or
neglected the families it has been
their duty to provide for. It is a
noticeable fact that the preponder-
ance of the cases belong to the for
eignerS who have become American
lied, and who have been tempted
from the path of domestic virtue by
the cheap vaudeville houses and
saloons which abound in all the
large cities. The warmth and bright
ness in winter, the GOODNESS and
brightness in summer appeal very
strongly to the man who has been
working all day in the factory or
the mill, or the sewer-and to the
wife is left the crying babies, the
sitting rooms and the Cheerlessness
of it all.
That's a bad state Of affairs, and
it is costing your Uncl3 Samuel a
very large sum of money in various
ways to realize the condition can be
traced directly to unrestricted i'm
migration, which has dumped on
these shores a horde of undesirables
who are filing our courts, jails, hos
pitfalls, orphanages and reform
schools with some very sorry ma
terial, out of which it will be almost
impossible to make citizens in any
sense of the word.
But there is another class of men,
and it is to them we are to trace
much Of the decentralization which
cannot be denied as existing among
our women. You may search the
pages OF history as far bach as you