The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1898-05-19

| A0aiV Md1I1cu OpdIlIstIu, IL Is SalO
and the might-have-been Mrs. Dewe,
is now in tears.
The Southern Baptist Convention in
Norfolk last week maintained the higt
ground it had formerly taken in {
''truceless fight" against the liquor
traffic.
Truly there is no evil in all the land
that is more aggressive in its destruc
tlon Of every comfort and good of hu
manlty than intemperance. 1t is past
comprehension how any true patriot
and lover of his race can be otherwise
than opposed to the traffic.
Jumping at conclusions and hasty
actions frequently bring about awkward
and embarrassing results. This was
illustrated the other day In New York
when the Democratic Club OF that city
elected the now famous Dewey an hon.
orary member. One OF the members
stated that Dewey was "the soundest
kind of Democrat" but it developed
after he was elected to honorary men,
bership in the Democratic club that he
Is Republican and has been all his
life, though like most of the officers In
the service he takes no active part In
politics.
There was one remarkable fact about
the last presidential campaign, namely !;
that the two candidates were above re-
proach In their private lives. We do
not remember to have heard a word of
disparagement concerning the private
character OF Bryan or Mckinley.
We hope that the time may come
when this will be the case in every
campaign, and every candidate from
township constable to president. Let
us have pure minded and upright men
to vote for always. We ought not to
have to make excuses for the private
character of man for whom we cast
our ballot.
With all the disgust that one feels
sometimes at the overzealousness in
political matters by those who
are looking for something, it neverthe-
less remains fact that every good
citizen ought to take enough interest
in political matters to know something
of his duties as a freeman. One can
read, and think, and learn, and act
without talking the top of his head off
or trying to impress the world that his
hat band is very tight.
Long time ago we heard men say,
"Still waters run Deep" and empty
wagons Keep more noise than loaded
ones" II that was true then we think
it is true still.
The safety of the people demands
more speedy trials for certain classes OF
crimes. Indeed we believe that the
ends of Justice would be more surely
met if we could have speedy trials for
almost every crime committed against
the peace and dignity of the State"
The COMMONWEALTH believes that
some arrangement ought to be made
whereby criminals could be tried
we are quite sure that
there are certain classes OF criminals
that would oftener receive the proper
punishment if they were tried immedi-
ately after the crimes are committed.
To be sure, there might be instances
where the criminal would not get JUS
tlce by reason OF lack of proper evld-
ence that might be obtainable later ).
but the criminal oftener is the subject
of manufactured sympathy after a long
delay than does the State suffer Tor
want of proper evidence in speedy
trial.
Many old soldiers now feel the ef-
fects of the hard service they endured
during the war. Mr.. Geo. S. Anderson,
of Rossville, York county, Penn, who
saw the hardest kind of service at the
front. is now frequently troubled with
CT had q severe attack