Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-05-19

why don't you leave something alone and lei
it stay the way it ISL And ! said, If you Will
guarantee 10 me that il will stay the way II Is
/ will LET il alone: but il sou knew anything
Won would know that if you leave live thing
alone ii. will not stay where 1t Is. 1t VIII de-
velOp and will either 90 IN the wrong diFectioh
or decay / reminded him of this thing that
the English writer said, that if you want TO keep
white post white, you cannot let 1t alone.
IL will get black. You nave 10 keep uolns
something to it. In that instance yen nave
got TO keep painting it white. and You have
got to paint it white very frequently IN order
10 keen IL white because there are forces az
work that will get the better of you. Not only
will IL turn black. but the forces of moisture
and the other forces of nature will penetrate
the white paint and get at the floer OF tne
wood and decay will set in, and the next tIlne
Won try to paint IL you Will find that t1ere Is
nothing but punk to paint paint. .,o Rad ouoen
in alice in Wonderland, or Alice Through
Looking Glass; forget which, II has been 50
long since I read them-who takes Ance Oy the
hand and they rush along at great pace, anu
then when they stop Alice looks around and
saws But we are just where we were when we
started Yes says the Red Queen y You law
to run twice as fast as that TO get anywhere
.sThat is also true. gentlemen. Of the worid
and of affairs. You have got 10 run IsSt
merely to stay where you are, anu i. ~ oiue es
to get anywhere you have got to run twice a.
fast as that That is what people DO not reahze-
That is the mischief Of these hopeless dalhs
against the stream known as reacuoharIes anu
GfandOdftpTS,
That Is what is the matter with hem; hey are
no even staying where they We're They are
sinking further and further back in What VIII
some time comfortably close over their heaos
as the black waters Of Oblivion. i sometimes
imagine that | see their heads going down, ana
I am not inclined even to throw them a life
rreseryer The sooner they disappear. the bet
fer We need their places for people VINO are
awake and we particularly need now, gentle
men men who will divest themselves or party
passion and of personal preference and VIII try
TO thinl in the terms of America. Al man
describes himself to me now in any other term
I love the fellows that come into my office
sometimes and say, Mr.. President, am an
American Their hearts are right, their In
stlnct true they going in the right dlrec-
ton and will take the right leadership II they
believe that the leader is also man VINO
thinks first of American.
''You will see, gentlemen, that / did not
premeditate these remarks. they would have
hsd some connection with each other. They
would have had some plan. I have merely given
myself the pleasure of telling you what has
really been in my heart, and not only has been
in my heart, but is in my heart every day Of
the week. if / did not go off at week ends
occasionally and throw off. much as IL Is
possible to throw off, this burden. I could not
stand it, This week I went down the Potomac
and up the James and substituted history for
politics, and there infinite, sweet calm
in some of those old places that reminded me
of the records that made in the days that
are past. and ! cOmforted myself with the recol-
lection that the men remember arc the dis
interested men who gave the deeds that
have covered the name Of America all over with
the luster of imperishable glory