Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-05-04

! union members, were compelled to &c
| to the state capital and force tn,
| passage of laws against rent profit
| GERS.
II have heard it said that that the
| chief reason for all this is that We
have elected to our legislative bodies
nOn-representtive men, but there is
a better Interpretation of it than that
People Are Aroused =.
Does it not mean, instead, that the
| people have at last been sufficiently
aroused so that they have become
willing to take the time and trouble
| and to spend the money necessary for
| the conduct of definite and we'll or
| ganized efforts to achieve that which
is justice?
Enthusiastically it has been true
| in the past that Americans have
| sometimes been willing to accept in
| Justice rather than to take the trou-
BILE to cambat it, If at last the re-
times that we live in. Otherwise they
are not. Perhaps the nation may
have gained through the fact that eX-
treme offensiveness, upon the part Of
| these who in the past have erred less
boldly, at last has fully aroused the
people.
"$f it shall prove to be the case that
the orgies of the profiteers have so
aroused the citizens of America-and
I very definitely but not especially
include organized labor when [ speak
| of American citizens-that in the fu-
ture they will pay more attention
than they have paid in the past to the
administration o ftheir government
and the justice fthe laws upon
which that government is founded,
then the movement now progressing
is truly one toward constructive de-
mocrary rather than toward anarchy,
although the men hit by it may cal 1T
the after in tones as oud as they can
manage.
Pubic DatcheG Government
at seems not improbable to me
that careful analysis of several
things now happening and glibly
characterized as anarchistic by those
opposing them would reveal them to
be the logical results Of public atten-
ton to the minute detail of that gov
eminent which, in the past, before
conditions became utterly intoler-
able-as they recently have in certain
details-have been left to the tender
mercis of tn politicians and those
whom they have sent to represent
them in the nations legislative
bodies.
What makes a thing revolution
ary?' During the war, we cheerfully
accepted many things which were eX-
actly that, because we recognized
their grim necessity if we effectually
were to meet war conditions.
These and other abnormal condi-
tions may have produced situations
which will in the near future require
other legislation quite as 'reVolu-
tionary' to those hit by it. In other
words it may be that we shall have
to make an effort almost as great
in order to get out of war as that
11y1oi ali, cd in nr6pT, fn crat into
war. The thought seems not unreal
sonable to me.
"And from our participation in the
war. came some things which were
good, think, as well as some things
which were bad. Personally 1 do
fact that the American workman
now regards as necessaries some of
the things which in pre-War days
he and his wife and children classed
as luxuries and unattainable.
War Demands Penalty
''It is said that every war demands
a penalty and gives a gift. Heaven
had it's penalty. Is it not within the
bounds of possibility that it has,
given to the vast majority of men
in the United States gift-the gift
Of a determination to live fuller, more
comfortable lives, and give greater
opportunities 10 Luelr lOVSu OIl6S
Such, q determination by the Amer
lean majority would be not out of,
but in line with the American ideal;
would not be RADICAL would not be
revolutionary but would be fully con-
sistent.
II believe the worker in all parts
of the world. realizes that he was the
greatest factor in the war and that
his eyes have been somewhat opened
by this realization. Understa nding
that he was the greatest factor in
the winning of the war which saved
human liberty, he feels it not unreal
sonable to demand his fair share of
that liberty, and considers that it in
cludeS a higher standard Of living
than in the old days was possible
not only for himself but for his fam
Nation Will Benefit
'"This nation as a whole will bene-
fit. in the end; it is benefiting now
by this evolutionary process.
We have tendency, | think, to
consider too infinitely the present
generation and to forget completely
various recent speeches I have asked
the q. question:
from now every man and woman now
active in every department Of this
nations work either will have gone
on to whatever lies beyond the grave
Or at least will be past the peak Of
power-value?'
sit is a thing worth thinking Of
We, the workers, not more nor less
than the employers, must remember
this. thinking of it gravely now and
to the nation and the race only if
we develop all men and women to
a higher competence than that
achieved by those Of today. If they
are nothing more than equal to this
generation then we shall be at a
standstill and standstill inevitably
means 'retrogression.
"To go forward is the natural
I'm the last analysis most of tho
are rather for it's posterity than for
itself, 1t realizes that no lines must
be drawn which can hinder the nat
ural development of the people if we
are to. have as good or better in the
future.
Profit from Profiteers
WAR service has aroused men to
this realization; war service ever
makes men think. Anything which
makes men think is beneficial, at
least to the degree that it accom-
plishes this.
ITO that extent the profiteer has
been a blessing. L do not regret him
offended and oppressed us, and our
offense at our oppression has stirred
us to activity. He is responsible for
most of the unrest and discomfort,
not only of the worker, but Of the
entire nation, because he unbalanced
and disorganized the entire social
fabrict
There is no nook or Granny in the
whole civic or social life of this or
any of the other advanced nations
influence of the profiteer has not
penetrated.
by doing so it has threatened the
stability of some nations to the point
Of wreckage. but has threatened the
stability of this one, 1 believe, only
to the point Of stirring us out of
1ethargic tolerance into a militant
determination which in the end will
not only refuse to let the swindler
have his loot, but will get fuller,
f1s, q