The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-13

, IoAoHSl eDSler gave me much need
ed light, awakened ne to a proper
comprehension Of the vileness and de-
structiveness Of the cigarette trust.
and prompted me by his vigorous.
We'll directed criticisms and exposure
to a more careful consideration of the
trust and its much blown over beney-
olences- 1t was all new to me. 1 was
ignorant altogether of the enOrmities
perpetrated. the absolute appalling sin
in the whole business. / did not when
l wrote to Duke see ii in the light OF
subsequent information and develop
ments. l positively did not know Of its
so foully and r%uinously despoiiing the
arTner of a considerable part of their
products of tobacco. robbing them OF
the fruits Of their honest toll, and op-
pressing them. Colonel Webster has
published letters from many ware
house men in several towns, and every
man of them t~estifies that the tobacco
growers have been robbed Of quite one-
fourth-25 per cent.-of their crops. and
some even put ii higher il / recall the
facts correctly. I have not The Week
ly at hand containing the letters.
When I wrote TO old man Duke did
not know that his cigarettes We're poi
soned, and were killing SO many Of the
youth Of our land, and by the tens of
PEI dpS n any Idlc, JuuSe
Thomas Sutton, a Methodist layman,
stated in a speech in the last legisla-
ture that the cigarette business was
killing an average of 200 youth an
nually in North Carolina, which opin-
ion was based upon information he had
gathered. I wrote to Mr.. Duke, as I
have said, believing in his character as
a Christian-in his ~benevolence and
u~prightness, and I wrote in supreme
ipn0ra nca as If fI1rnp1 n1rT of tho TIC
in which the money was obtained. If
I sinned before God in the appeal in
behalf Of a church matter I most hum
bly, pray His forgiveness. Of you sir.
I ask neither favors nor mercy. There
is nothing to be ashamed Of in my two
letters, and they can only injure me
among ignorant people under the ma
~nipulatiOn of a clerical demagogue. I
acted in ignorance and in behalf of
what I thought right. I thought Mr..
Duke and his money all right. If I
had known what I know 10Y it would
have been highly improper and I'M
christian in me to have solicited a few
dollars for a church urpo or any
other good thing. 1t would, I freely
grant, have been a most inexcuSable
Inconsistency to have lone so, knowing
the facts, and then have in any wagon
demned others for availing themselves
Of his benefactiOnS It would surely be
a very great sin for me to ask Mr..
Duke now to contribute to our Strug-
Cling little church. I believe in my
sou that the cigarette trust is satanic
"a rObber, an OppresSOr, and a MUIR
derer, as Colonel Webster has branded
it. I write here with all responsibility
to God for what is written, that if I
had known in 1891 or 1894. what I now
believe to be true-that Mr.. Duke is a
member of a combine, a conspiracy
that is organized for wrong doing and
for oppression and plumber, and that
his money came from wrOnging and
Outraging the hard worked, heavily
burdene9. farmers, and running the
health and shifting the young Of the
land, I would no more have thought
of him in connection with gifts for the
church, in connection with acts Of be-
nevOlence and money, than I would
have thought of a pirate on the high
seas, seeking fortune by selling a YES
sci of helpless victims. I would posi-
lively as o have thought of going
to the cocatrices' den and saying:
Come forth and bless mankind: or to
the home Of the rattlesnake or the
cobra and saying-Come forth We
benignant ones of earth and of your
fangs bestow healing upon the smit-
ten mes that they may live, as to have
gone to a cigarette trust for help for
a llttle CnflStldG CnufCn ueUlcal6u ID
God, and built OF the Christ.
I have had to consume so much space
over the Duke letters that farther con-
sideration of your attack must be de-
ferred until next week some time. One
or two points of your attack will be
brought under review before I am done
and also the fine way you talk about
me, your insulting message and your
bitter threats. I remain, in the Ian
guage of the mart,
Yours to command,
T. 3. KINGSBURY.