The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-09-12

President Mckinley aiiudes often to
| maintaining the homo of the flag. yet
| ne i~nterposes his authority to retain
| In the service. on full pay, an army
| officer found guilty of advertisement by
| court martial-Durham sun
This war with the Fflipinos would not
| be so bad IL the pension frauds were not
| certain to follow IL up. Now that thirty
| years have elapsed since the civil war
| the pension list resulting from IL shows
very little II any decrease. IL these
pensioners were wounded seriously they
| must have remarkably strong constttu-
tions-Durham Herald.
A cadet has been expelled from West
Point for hazing and IL Is stated hat
it Is the intention OF h Secretary ot
War 'to infiict the most u1nmar ex-
empiary punishment upon all cadets
detected in hazing new cadets" The
cowardly pratice 81 hazing should be
stopped. not only at West Point but nj
the colleges n Standardization Sem
incl.
We believe the negro is here to stay.
and the only thing that can be- done to-
lessen the friction is TO make :: posi-
Bile for him to be an important factor
in the elections. This II 10 proposed to
do in North Carolina next year by the
adoption OF the constitutional amend
ment. The privilege OF voting has
been a curse to the negro race.-New-
ton Enterprise.
But IL Judge Clark had said what ia
attributed to him. was il not ali true
He is alleged to have said. that the de-
monetizatlon OF silver had crippled the
prosperity of North Carolina, that high
freights had taken the profits out Of
trucking and that large capital WAS nee
essary for success in cotton maaufac-
turing. Are not all these things true?
Yet for these alleged statements he Is
assailed because. they say. The abused
his state" &c this be treason, let them
make the most OF it-Rich Square "a
ron and Cleaner.
North Carolina ought to produce five
times as much wheat as IL does. Wheat
can be grown to some extent In nearly
every county in the state, and in some
counties the yield rivals the production
Of the rich soils OF the west. An Item
was printed a few days < stating
that a new roller mill in the extreme
western part of the state wouldl have
To draw it's wheat from Georgia and
Tennessee for the next two years: and
the mill is located In one OF the finest
wheat growing unit in the state
Charlotte News.
Lately it has beer said that many
republicans would Join the democrats
and populists in voting for the amend
ment, and ex-CongresSman Settle has
in the past few days declared himself
for it. So We may say that the amend
ment is as good as carried and by a
good NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Observer.
The theory of the law Is, as We un-
derstand il, that 1t is better for 80 gull
ty persons to go free han that one in
nocent person should suffer. The Nc
Kinley administration seems TO have
reversed things in Florida, where It
has closed a p~oStoffica and punished a
whole community because a mob whip
ped the postmaster because he employ
ed a negro as his MISUNDERSTANDING
Citizen.
A part Of the democratic party may
decry free silver, but the fact remains
that a majority Of the party believe in
it as firmly as ever and will never be
satisfied that 1t will not prove the sal
walton OF the country until it has been
given a fair trial and proved a failure.
The leaders may sidetrack it for politi-
cal purposes in conventions but this
will not destroy the faith of the com
mon people in the white metal-Dur-
ham Herald.
One reason for the lack Of prosperity
in the south is shown by the following
item from a Georgia newspaper: A
old negro man living ten miles in the
country walked to town a few days ago,
bringing a sack of bones on his Shout
der, which l-a sold to Nh. Billings =
six cents" In Charlotte one d.. 80.
week the writer noticed four able
bodied negroes who spent an entire af-
terrOon laboring to get the chorus TO
the minstrel song, "All I wants Is my
black baby back" That seemed to be
their sole object in life for the time be-
ing. There are two classes that never
add anything to the wealth OF the con-
munity: One is those who are always
out Of employment and refuse TO work:
the other is composed of men who
work but spend their time in unprof-
table Observation-Disclosures News.
1t is a notable fact that the counties
which are dependent for their p
on farming alone have not been pros
| porous FOR the past ten years. In the
| decade just ending the state has pros
pereG wonderfully, and has gained
largely in wealth and population. But
this gain has not been in agriculture.
In many sections the farmers are much
poorer than in 1889. n farm lands
have fallen greatly in value. This is 50
even in communities where railroads
and other improvements have largely
increased the actual value OF the lands
and where there should have been an in
crease instead of a decline. When a
farmer has been raising five cent cotton,
he finds himself at the end OF he year
further behind than at the beginning.
In nearly every department agriculture
has declined. The counties that are pros
porous are those that have engaged in
manufacturing. Mecklenburg, Ala
nance, CASTOR, Durham, FORSYTH and
the ike are the counties hat shots
marked increases in population AMI
wealth. As for the purely agricultural