The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-01-04
What Others Say.
A YEAR OF PROSPERITY.

Baltimore News.
Except for the closing of the Boer
war-and that had long been foregohe
conclusion-the year which ends To-Day
has not been marked by national or IN
ternational events that have centered
upon them the attention of the Werla'
At it's very close, the Venezuela I'M
broglio doomed up quite formidably 1of
a while as a possible source OF entangie-
ments which might lead to results SO
grave as to become matter of world
wide concerned; but so far as can now be
Judged, that trouble will soon be brought
under complete control On the south
shore of the Mediterranean a cloud has
lust arisen bearing within it possibilities
of even more immediate and acute strug-
gle than that which might have sprung
from it's counterpart on the south shore
of the Caribbean; but this is too fresh
and undeveloped a situation to have be-
come as yet the subject of concentrated
attention on the part of the world in
general. And il national affairs, is IN
international, there have not been, in
any of the leading counties, any devel-
opments of so striking a character as to
become of absorbing interest. Even in
that most regular of all contributions to
the annual record, the neurology OF the
year, there has been no name of the first
magnitude to put down as one of the
shining marks which death has struck,
those of ex-senator Reed and Emile
lola being the most distinguished. The
two events which have excited most in
terest have been, one of them tremen-
dous and appalling manifestation of the
nf Mot, q
achievement of the inventive genius of
man. The series of great volcanic up
heavals, especially the terrible catastro-
phe in Martinique, will always remain
one of the marked features of the his
tory of this year. And the successful
spanning of the Atlantic with messages
borne from continent to continent with
no ether aid than that of the wave-car-
rying ether is a triumph which will place
1902 we'll to the front among the redlet-
ter years of Intentional progress.
Aside from these things, the thought
of the world has been centred, to a de-
gree probably unprecedented in history,
upon matters connected with the produc-
ton, the distribution, the accumulation,
and what may be called the TRANSFORMED
ton OF wealth. Indeed even the subjects
already mentioned may serve to illustrate
this state of mind. Intense and genuine
as had been the interest of mankind in
the heroic struggle of the South African
Republics, the commercial side of the re-
suit of England's conquest has come to
the front with truly modern rapidity and
has already almost thrown the national
and moral aspects of the matter into
background. In the case of Marconis
achievement, we hardly take breath to
make brief chorus of wonder over the
new addition to mans powers before we
are wrapped up in the consideration of
the commercial question whether the
MarcOni system can successfully COM
pete with the cable system for regular
Atlantic business. In another field
of human interest and progress, the domi-
nant role of wealth is likewise empha-
sized as never before. Gifts for the diff
fusion of learning and the promotion of