The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-05
CURRENT COM MENT.

The south is warned TO prepare for
the Cleveland storm. With thanks we
desire TO say that the south needs no
preparation for such q cataclysm-she
clinss 10 the platform under all cir
CumStanCeS like a 'pOSSum TO the toss
ing limb-wIth claws and teeth and
exc a clasping tail. The winds may
blow and the boys shake that tree, but
the south knows that tearing dogs Turk
below. and that when the tail-hold
breaks" there will be a banquet of the
eaters in which she cannot play a part
save as the victim.-Florida Times
Union.
In view of the commonplace enor-
| nifty of the federal pension graft Incl
dent TO the civil war, the country may
be in a state of moral obtuseness
which can regard with Indifference the
remarkable fact that $1,000 American
citizens, for the most part young n
| healthy, have applied for pensions as
soldiers of the brief brush with Snain.
Of this number, which about repre-
sents the actual fighting strength of
the Americans in Cuba, l. 5000 have
been favorably acted upon and other
thousands will be.-Atlanta Constitu-
| ton.
Note the regard of Mr.. Cleveland for
the susceptibles in his comparison of
the Russian OuJrdSeS uDOn the Jews at
kiSchineff with American mob works.
Others who have brought these things
into conjunction have generally refer
red to the lynchingS of negroes in the
south as comparable to the KiSchineff
horror and thereby nave caused of
fence both to the Jews, who thought
they We're put in the category with ne
grOes. and to the people of the south,
who felt that a thrust at them was in
tended. Mr.. Cleveland goes for his eX-
amples to the 'murderouS assaults up-
on Chinese in Wyoming and italians in
louisiana" Ponderous he NAV be. but
for intelligent avoidance of sensitive
Charleston Post.
The New York Mail and Express
warns Mr.. Carnegie that he may be
wasting his $1,000. 900 in building a
palace of peace, for the uses of The
Hague Tribunal. and Quotes the great
and wise Emerson as saying of war in
general: War ennObles the country:
searches fires it acqUaints it with
its resources turns it away from false
alliances, vain hopes and theatric at
titUdes: puts 1t on its mettle-'in our
selves u safety must be sought
gives it scope and object; Concentrates
history into q q inventS means;
SySteamtiZes everything 1t is fairly
questionable. however, whether the
great and wise Seer knew the differ
ence between u pistol and a noker. He
had his NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and Courier
Senator Dryden of New Jersey. may
We'll be YeXed at he rumOr that he
cOntemplateS reSigning from the senate
on account of his multiplying business
affairs. As he intimates in his denial.
his critics entirely misunderstood the
position of Il modern senator. The
more outside interests he has or rep
resents, the more important it is that
he should be III the senate. A pretty
pass we SHOULD come to defend rail
roads and trolley ines and mergers of
various sorts from unjust attacks.
With a president so careless in such
matters. it i doubly Important that
senators like Mr.. Dryden should not
desert their post of duty. OF course,
! their private concerns take up most of
their time. and they cannot be expect
ed to make Sneeches or undergo the
drudgery of committee work: but
| there is always u s~prinkling of lawyers
III the senate to attend to that neceS-
| sary but comparatively unimpOrtant
work-New York Post.
With the perversity which is y c01n-
l mon trait of humanity. the foreign de-
| voices of the road LOCOMOTIVES. ycLept
| the automobile. are planning future
| lOng-diStance road races, in the face
of the horrors which attended that
which was recently attempted from
| Paris to Madrid. Efforts are to be made
to persuade the French government
authorities to revoke their decision and
| permit the use of the public roads in
| the future for this purpose, under con-
| ditiOns absolutely precluding the pos
| sibility Of accidents happening to spec
| tatOrS. whatever nav befall the partic-
| ipants. That is to say. the are
TO be blocked off from all ordinary
uses during the hours of the races. the
people being kept at a distance from
the sides by means of sOldiery. The
scheme RAIDS as though the autOmo-
bilists regarded the roads as provided
primarily for their uses, with the peo-
| pie as a necessary evil to be removed
by force whenever occasion may arise.
Washington Star.
There are persons VINO would like to
make it appear thar the adminEstra-
ton has been unwilling and dilatory in
prosecuting the investigation of post
office scandals, but they will NOT sue
coed. 1t is true that the postmaster
general who was rot in Washington
when the first serious charges were
made. did not Immediately upon his
return cOncede that gross offence had
been committed. He was evidently in
Clned to believe as we'll as hepe that
Irregularities had been exaggerated in
TO crims and that only a few Instances
Of w~rongdoing instead of somewhat
extensive manifesance wOuId be dis
closed. Nor. on the face of things, was
that a discreditable attitude. Mr.
Payne would nave been badly diScred.
tied if inactiOn a ACCOMPANIED his
conservative statements. and hopeless.
" ~disgraCed if he had eEdeavored t.
battle the inquiry: but. While Derhap:
failing TO COMPREHEND rs quickly a:
others the gravity of the situation. h,
has done nothing to impede the pursui
OF WrOngdOerS on the contrary. h
has acted promptly and vigorously a!
soon as the evidence has appeared t
him cOnClusive.-NeW York Tribune.