The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-10-28

past year or two been committed in
h southern states. and which even
the awful r~etribution visited upon IL
has scarcely served to check. Is an in
dication OF lat is the ultimate am
pi1ion or the more aspiring members
OF that race. Who would have believ-
ed nve years G that ii would ever be
possible for a negro newspaper editor
10 dare to publish such an article as
appeared in this city two or three
months ago.. or that IL he did so dare
that he would not have been lynched?
/ understand he is here still, and
doubtless If the white men fail in their
duty again on the sth of November
they viii be RECALLED with more of the
same sort OF literature. He was only
educating his race up to what will BE-
demanded as a right after a while, If
things go on at the present rate Of
progress.
Ihls same negro newspape only two
or three days ago, published some very
refreshing resolutions, passed by an
Organization OF Colored Ladies'" in
regard to the white demons who
have dared TO discharge their negro
employees.
IL Is not necessary to charge. and I
do not charge that any white man &C.
tualIy encourages or approves Of such
a thing as that, but l ask you. as peo-
pie who have lived among and known
negroes all your lives. if you believe il
could have happened in any m
ty where they and their allies are in
a minority, or where they have no
white allies? And. if it could not. then
why are their allies not Just as re-
sponsible for it as the actual perpetra-
tors Of the outrage? They confer with
them, they associate with them. they
vote with them, they hold office by
such association and votes, and are
now striving to continue the condi-
tons which make the outrage possible,
and would insure its repetition.
Oh! what a glorious thing it is to
have the privilege of living under a
republican administration in North
Carlina. and of receiving frequent Wis
its, as Wilmington does, from the great
and good man who greases the guber-
Material chair F! He has been here sew
eral times lately to counsel with his
"~savages." and they watched with
pride his Fatstaffian figure which "lards
the lean earth as he walks along per-
spring n ~conspiring for the degra-
datiOn Of the white people of this city
and of the state whose best interests
he has sOlemnly sworn to protect. Yes.
he has been here in his own august
person. Pressing the button at Raleigh
for the movement of his automatic
here was not sufficient. 1t would an
swer for any ordinary performance of
-N~AOAA u ~ a dCl
of Russellism, or the opening of lar
ger sluices of political infamy his per-
S0nal presence was necessary. SO he
came, saw, and-went back-whether
in a triumphant mood or not I am not
advised: but I really believe tina he
will enjoy himself better in Raleigh
than here. and / am quite sure, if the
people of North Carolina do their duty,
even the grease spot will disappear
from the executive chair next winter.
There are people who regard politics
as a mere game to be played by self
constituted leaders for the stakes of
office. AS with all gamblers, sometimes
the players become desperate, and the
game becomes dangerous. Such a
game has been going on in North Car
DINA for some time past, and it has
reached the dangerous stage now-for
the players particularly, and the by
ISLANDERS generally. The game will
V to stop, if the people intend to
preserve civilization, and 1 think they
do.
know that the people of Whining
ton are stirred as they have never
been since the seventies. when the
same eVer-infamOus party which is
now in power held sway, and had driv-
en- decency to the wall. The people
then scOurged them from the places
which they had desecrated, and re-
sumed rightful control of public af-
fairs. The My mistake they made was
that they did not render a second ex-
p~erlence impossible. If they fail to do
it after this second experience. hey
VIII deserve to suffer again more Sc
Verely than ever. If they do not know
now what republican rule in this state
means, they cannot be taught even by
a revelation.
L have said nothing about those for
mer infamies, concerning which the
older men here present are fully in
formed, for the reason that it was my
purpose this evening to confine my re-
marks to the one o~vershadowing issue
which confronts US; but the past his
tory of the republican party in North
Carolina affords ar exhaustless theme
for indignant denunciation by every
honest and intelligent citizen of the
state. That history has been one OF
unmitigated dishOnor-a history of
fraud and corruption, of e~xtravagant
expenditure and disgraceful incompe-
tency, of low morals, of shameless
trafficking in offices. of ceaseless pros
tlt'tlOn Of every department of the
pubic service, and of continual aggra-
walton of hostility between the races.
This is moderate language when one
considers that history generally and
in detail. When that political leper,
the carpet Dagger, fleeing from the
wrath of an outraged people dropped
his foul garments in his flight, the
native scallawag picked them up and
decorated his own person with them
n seems to be proud Of the costume
He does not possess the breezy aban-
don of his impudent predecessor. The
n was a wolf; the other is a hyena
The one openly proclaimed himself &
thief and a robber-the other sinks
I about, feeding on offal, and digging
| into graves. The one was a freebooter
the other is a sneak. The one was &
condor the other is a buzzard. The
one made no p%retence of having any
n of honor or any regard for tn
: public welfare-the other loudly claim:
: to have both, and Immediately begin.
to organize a conspiracy with any on.
who will unite with him to betray de.
cency and trade himself into an office
The field of his operations has grad
: ually contracted until ii is now chief.
confined within the limits of this state
And here. frightened by the swelling