The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-02-17
STATE PRESS.

The decision of the ward committed
men not to call a primary on February
23rd for the purpose of voting On the
proposition, whether or not a mayor
can be elected to three successive terms
Of office, meets with general public ap-
proval.-New Bern Journal.
We do not believe prohibition to be
the solution of the whiskry problem
for the reason that no state has Dfen
able to form a law that would prohibit.
The real friends of temperance should
be willing to accept the best law th5y
can get regulating the traffic.-Durham
Herald.
That plug of tobacco was put in the
coffee of the Virginia postmaster fUr a
Joke. The joker owns up to it. Men
whose ideas of fun are of that characS
ter should be deprived of their liberty.
They are criminally funny. The post
master, by the way, has recovered.
though he was sick nigh unto DEATH
Winston Sentinel.
The south should hail with satisesc-
ton the announcement of Professor r.
H. Dabney, of the chair of history of
the University of Virginia. that he IS
TO undertake a history Of the recon-
struction period, and his request that
he be furnished with ne~wspa pers, pam
phlets, letters or other materials from
which he may gather data for the work
should be met with ready
Charlotte Observer.
If there is one thing the present leg
i~slature ought to do, it is to appoint a
code commission. The last time tie
public laws were codified was in 1859.
The Legislature has met every TWO
years since that time. and IN cOnse-
quence a great number of laws, entir-ly
new Or a~mendatOry of the cod laws
have BEEN passed. The present code is
unreliable and the man who relies On
the statutes contained in it, for the law.
will be badly deceived. To find cut
what the law really is one in many IN
stances needs to not only read the code
of 1888, but all the acts of assembly
since that year.-Rocky Mount Motor.
The latest phenomenon in the world
OF trusts is the indefinite closure of the
great refineries of the sugar trust at
Williamsburg, y. Y. By this sudden
operation not less than five thousand
workingmen are thrown out of employ
ment. and many thousands more, in
Guiding helpless women n children
deprived of bread. The explanation is
that the trust has a large store of sugar
on hand, and has suspended in order to
keep up the price and declare larger
dividends. There is no telling how
much farther the evil may extend
Goldsboro Headlight.
1t is curretnly reported in Washingt m
when the senate committee on c1u.-
merce had under consideration the az
pointment of DR.. Crum collector of me
port Of Charleston. Senator Tillman in
opposing the appointment, old them
that I'VE still have ropes in the south.
and if the policy of appointing the ne
gro to office is insisted upon, we know
how to use them" 1t needs no assur-
ance that I'VE still have guns in the
south and know how to use them'-the
tragic fate of Door GanZales proved it.
No one has profited quite so much by
the late evil race agitation as the Till
man class-it has come on as a timely
screen for that hideous deed at the
South Carolina capital. Between the
evil passion stirred by the Crum ap-
pOintment and the uses of it by the
Tillmans, Teddy has brewed a fine hell
broth Observation-Disclosures Gazette
Messenger.
According to the Standard Oil Com
pany'S sworn statement in the hands
of the attorney general of Ohio says
the Denver Post. "a barrel of refined
oil costs that concern just 20 cents. or
tWo-fifths of a cent a gallon. In that
cost is included raw material. treat
ment and the expenses of refining the
oil. From this it would appear that
some one is making an outrageous
profit by charging the consumer 20
cents a gallon for an article which costs
but two-fifths of a cert to manufacture.
With each gallon the consumer lays
for the manufacturing of a barrel. The
oil could be produced and delivered at
, cents a gallon in any part of the
90
gallon would bring an immense profit"
Is it IN wonder that Mr.. Rockefeller
can endOW colleges? With this whole
sale robbery OF Peter it is rot hard TO
scatter a few crumbs to ~Paul.-Char-
lOtte News.