The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-06-21
Timely thoughts.

High lights of the recent Savannah con
vention of the Georgia Bar Association ar
the subject of comment by southern editor
as well as by business men, and echoes o
several of the leading speeches are still be
ing heard.
Hon. Reuben R. Arnold, wel-known At
1anta lawyer, who spoke on Tendencies o,
the Times-Are We Going Forward or Back
ward?" took up the newspapers and their in,
fuence upon modern life which has been re.
ceived with favor by many editors. There
never was time Mr.. Arnold declared when
conservatism in the printing of news was
more needed than now. and added
'Aany things need the silent treatment and
a still greater number of things which have
to be maintained should be treated with as
little sensationalism as possible. Class ha
treds should not be stirred up by unfortu-
nate publications. The appetite for the
scandalous and the morbid should not be
pandered to- Some of our newspapers give
great publicity to every meeting of ex-
tremists or radicals: as if they represented
something substantial. A handful of men
will meet, represent nobody but them
selves, and will speak and pass resolutions,
and their views will be aired in the press
as if they were to be taken seriously.
even the pulpit has been invaded by the
appetite for the sensational, Every sermon
by some preachers must be advertised if
it touches on some morbid subject. The
press, the pulpit the lecture platform and
the theatre ought to get together in an in
telligent effort to rid us of these tenden-
cies OF course no law can reach such sub
jects. 1t is idle to pass laws regulating mat
tiers of judgment and taste"
Mr. Arnold swept in his range of thought
the fields of history, the press, the craze for
new legislation, divorce, free speech, the
craze for constitutional amendments the
tendency to amend the constitution of the
United States every time somebody advances
a new and radical notion, and various other
aspects of modern life.
"More than anything else the world needs
a rest right now on new things" declared
Mr.. Arnold Every radical thought or
movement is instantly organized, incopor-
ated and capitalized. Everything must
have try-out, and the public must be call
ed upon to read about it, to contribute to
it. and earnestly urged to adopt it. We are
surfeited with novelties.
1--WE should realize that the world is here
for long time, that we have plenty of
tlIIle 10 WOIk Out Ill any orderly way all
needful changes and that we should not
try to do everything at once. We should
not scrap the whole edfce of civilization
until we can furnish better structure"
In his survey of conditions Mr.. Arnold
found many tendencies which he believed to
be harmful, but on the whole he took an opti-
mistic view of the situation His argument
was that change should not be mistaken for
progress, that human institutions have adj
vanced slowly by fundamental processes, and
that radicalism always destroys more than
It builds.
AS to woman suffrage Mr. Arnold thought
time would tell whether this amendment to
the federal constitution was mistake but he
said,
Being a new element in politics the wo-
men are being preached to by many So
called leaders and are being urged to act as
a class, as if they stood apart from society
in general. 1t is absurd to treat women as
having any interest apart from the men"
Discussing the Legislative craze"-which
is timely in view of the forthcoming leg
islative session-Mr. Arnold declared that the
craze for new laws must be curbed. every
legislature must pass some new law every
day, overturning fundamental principle" he
said. "The best work that a legislature can
do generally is not to pass single law. The
question of taxes, appropriations and other
routine matters ought to be put in the hands
of administrative bodies"