Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-31
Man Who Was Friend of Lin
coin and Sat in War Con-
gress ReVisits New York
After 40 Years Absence
BY MARGUERITE M. MARSHALL

BY MARGUERITE M. MARSHALL
NEW. YORK.-"The world is at
least a hundred times finer than it
used to be, and it's improving all the
time. That's what civilization
means"
There you have the unexpectedly
| CHEEKY verdict of one of the most
interesting and experienced judges
| of the cosmos-a judge who has
been ION the bench" of this old
world not less than hundred years.
He is former United States Senator
Cornelius Cole, born in New York
but adopted by California, who will
be one hundred years old next Sep
TENDER, who was a forty-niner and
Lincoln's friend, who sat in the Civ
il war congress, and, as senator, took
part in the Impeachment of Andrew
Johnson.
He leaves New York today for the
beautiful home just outside Los An
geles, from which he journeyed east
to accept an honorary LII. D. from
Wesleyan university, of which he is
! the Oldest alumnus, and to revisit
| Washington and this city. His cit
| tie daughter" as he playfully calls
| the tall, comedy matron who watches
over him like a mother, says that
he has stood the trip wonderfully
well. And he really is an amazingly
youthful oldster, both in appearance
and in his point of view. Many a
man Of sixty has more wrinkles, and
Cornelius Coles eyes are bright, his
white hair and beard are abundant,
his handclasp is warm and firm.
When I saw him at the Hotel Am
bassador there was just one all-in-
elusive question I wanted to ask
him, and I imagined I knew his an
sWer. I wanted to ask if he thought
the world had improved or gone
back in the hundred years Of his &C
quaintance with it. And I felt quite
certain that he would join the chorus
Of elderly whitherdowe-dr ifters, the
persons who are perfectly certain
that we grow no better very fast
and that our time is far inferior to
"the good old days"
World Getting Better
Here's where Cornelius Cole fools
you He not only admits-he
asserts-that the present is superior
to the past, that we're way ahead
of what we were hundred years
ago, and that-like the late lament
| ed J. Walker-we're still going
| strong.
1.-THE world" he promptly an
| swered my leading question, sis a
| much better place than it used to
| be when I was young. The fellows
who try to tell you that it isn't are
talking utter nonsense. The good
old days were all right, but the good
new days care better. In the hun.
dred years that have lived America
has grown at least a hundred times
greater in every way. And we're
still a new country and still lmprov-
ing.
Then we spoke of the different
ways in which former Senator Cole
considers the world has progressed
| "The first thing Of which we
think" he remarked, 'is the prog
reSS in science and invention. There
| is the advance in transportation
from the stage coach and the pony
express to the transcontinental ex
press, the automobile and the aero
plane. There is the advance in com
munication: First the improved
mail service, then the telegraph
then the telephone, and now this
wonderful new radio service. There
are all the hundreds of thousands
of machines which have increased
and improved production, which
have brought comforts and even lux
uries within reach of an ever in.
creasing number of people.
Wonderful Progress
"The progress in comfortable and
luxurious living during the last
century Is a wonderful thing to
the person who has seen life at both
ends of it. 1 don't mean the luxu
ries of very rich people, but the ev
eryday conveniences of living which
are enjoyed by people with moder
ate incomes-and which would have
seemed sheer luxury to similar
groups of hundred years ago. The
people who are always prating about
the good old days don't seem tc
realize how much more comfortable
life is for those who live today"
But you don't think" 1 sug
gested to this shrewd old optimist
"that our progress has been wholly
along material lines?"
IT do not" he declared prompt
ly. 1--WE have progressed in in
telligence and in social idealism. Ed
ucation is far more general in its
scope and application. Some Ameri