The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-06
PUBLIC OPINION.

It may be true that these large COM
b%inations are better able to produce
staple products at a lower price II they
so desire than they can otherwise be
produced; and it may be that the loss
es which follow over-production and
a continual cutting of profits by COM
petition may be thus prevented, but
what are to be the effects Of such or
CARNATIONS in the conduct Of business
upon the masses OF the peOple? Are
we to a a few great capitalists, a
few great captains of industry, or
ganizing all production under this
system, reaping for themselves the i'm
mense profits which accrue from a
small percentage Of gain from the con-
duct Of such colossal business enter
prise, while the masses of the people
must act as employees for these great
industrial organizations on such terms
and at such rate Of wages as those con-
trolling the machinery of these various
lines Of production see fit to offer them?
The question as TO the ope meth
DDS of industrial production and the
regulation or destruction Of these great
industrial trust organizations is one of
the greatest questions with which the
people and our government have to
deal at observation-disclosures (Va.) State
dem.
Mr.. Wilson," says "Senex," sis a
pau w., AZ q
whose learning and experience as a
professor. together with his practical
capacity as al administrator admira-
bly, fit him for the position to which
he is appointed. You will see that he
will vindicate his selection" 1t may
be hat Mr.. Wilson will be a success
in the post to which he is called. We
deny him non Of the qualifications
claimed for him. But We do maintain
that it is not q proper spirit which
moves the choice Of so representative
a partizan to preside over an institu-
ton Of learning which is itself, or
ought to be, strictly nOn-partiZan; lat
it is a bad policy which thus puts even
seats Of learning in the way Of place
hunting politicians, and annot fail to
have injurious effects among the stu
dents, if not the faculty of the univer-
sity, Inc also it's patrons; and that it
is a sad mistake, when we have so
many ripe and able scholars in Virginia
to pass them by cOntemptuously and
go to another state to choose a man SO
identified with certain views on the
chief questions that nov divide the
country, the state and even our house
holds. Yet "Senex" is as free to hay
his opinions in the matter as We are
Norfolk Pilot, ind.
OF course there are no end of schemes
of monetary reform advanced from
the standpoint of the gold contrac-
tionists. The trouble for the republic
cans is that no TWO men agree on the
same scheme. That this should be so
is not unnatural, for there are very
few men who n what the small
group of men who constitute the pivot
of the contraction movement are aim
ing at. These men aim at what they
cannot get if they o it openly,
namely, a currency of irredeemable
paper issued and controlled by the
banks. So they set out to hide their
purpose and aim to attain their ends
by gradual steps and by the use of
blind tools. And SO as they set out to
keep their tools blind and only instruct
them as to n step at a time, it is
not surprising hat these tools should
not work out a broad plan Of monetary
reform or which they can all agree.
The only plan that can put our curren-
cy on a sound foundation under the
gold standard is one of I'VE currency
contraction, which means bankruptcy,
and ultimately an irredeemable bank
currency. OF course there is no general
agreement o UGH a plan, for as Soon
as a blind tool works out such a plan
the scales fall from his eyes, he sees
the enormity of such a policy, and
thereafter he a be counted to oppose
all schemes Of the currency monOpo-
Observation-Disclosures American, rep.