The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-03-24
STATE PRESS.

80 ~NOtI ONA wv i -
taxing itself to realize funds for ad-
vertising purposes is away ahead Of
the balance Of the state.-Greenville
Reflector
With bulldog tenacity of
inspired by a lean and hungry yearn-
ing for a denomination, Roosevelt has
decided to close the door Of hope to
the white republicans of Charleston
and Will give Crum a recess appoint
ment.-Charlotte News.
a man who is anybody would hest
tate before shedding blood if he knew
that punishment was certain, out of
regard for his family if for nothing
else. But the trouble is that he knows
before committing h deed that the
chances are that he will be allowed to
go scot free.-Durham Herald.
The senate, we think, made a mis-
take in refusing to ass the bill com
polling barroOms to close at S o'clock
p. m. Most Of the other business houses
close about that time and we can't
see why the barrooms should not do
the same. as it is after that time that
the greatest danger comes to our
young men. We are glad to see that
the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce
was strongly in Of the BILL
Clarkton Express.
It turns out that the idol factory in
Philadelphia is owned by a German. In
an interview he defends his business
by saying hat the Buddhas that he
makes turn the attention OF the heath
EN- people who buy them to Buddhism,
which tends to make them soberer,
purer and better. \ mOdern Demetrius
this. crying out the old, time-worn de-
Tense: Great is Diana of the Ephes-
ianS!" But back of his religious zeal
Is the real gist of the matter: by
this craft We have u wealth" Char
lOtte Observer.
The bill of the Virginia Legislature
providing for a statue of Gen. Robt.
Z. Lee to be placed in the capitol at
Washington has become a law, al
though Governor Montague disap-
proved of it and refused to sign it.
tiOn-in the matter is that he believes
that the legislation is unnecessary,
unWise and i~neXpedient." The OBJ
lection to thus honOring the memory
Of Lee comes principally from Kansas.
A kick from that pestiferOus state
should not be regarded as anything
seriOus-WinstOn Journal.
Is North Carolina suffering from an
epidemic of bloOdshed? Two weeks ago
one man shot another own on the
streets of Raleigh. Last week a some
W 1I1l LII I1oSCuS at Ivy,
Montgomery county, and now at Tar
boro a third n occurs. All prominent
people, all carried pistols and in every
case the killing was the result of feud
of more or less long standing. Verify
the good old state seems to have fallen
upon an era of lawlessnessl Punish
ment no longer being certain, it is
natural that human life should be held
cheap.-ASheVille Citizen.
The pistol "toter'' has had another
demonstration in Tarboro, which has
shocked the state equally as much as
the Raleigh shooting affair. These
things are becoming entirely too fire.
Quent. Life is regarded with too lit
tie seriousness and the passions of
men are becoming u~nbOunded. 1t is all
the work of envy, hatred or malice,
that terrible trio from which all good
churchmen pray to be delivered, for if
these passions are allowed to control
men, either n of them will ead him
to ruin and destruction. The law in
regard to carrying guns should be more
rigidly enforced. Where a feud exists,
and it is known that bad loo is
boiling to the temperature where the
least friction will aus an explosion,
and parties carry arms to aVenge
wrongs on each other, friends on either
side Woul do we'll to intercede to save
the passionate ones from themselves.
1t would be an act of mercy to disarm
them and bring them to a sense of
law-abiding faith. There is a wa to
redress wrongs without resOrting to
blOodShed, and throwing families and
communities into the horrors of awful
tragedies. 1t is better for the law &c
lay its hand on d man before he COM
mits Il crime, than it is to deal with
him after he has lone the deed
II left bleeding and aching hearts in
the wake of a fellowman slain. In
force rigidly, and to the fullest extent
of the law the pistol '~'toter." And
the officers of the law should be more
viligant in watching out for them,
when there is reason to believe a man
is carrying a piStOl.-Durham Sun.