The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-09-18
CURRENT COMMENT.

In Georgia the other day q negro
was brought into court on the charge
of swindling. In evidence Of his good
character. it was cited that he had
made a speech denouncing the negro
policy of President Roosevelt. The
judge dismissed the prisoner, saying
that "a niger who had sense enough
TO cuss Roosevelt for appointing Crum
could not be very bad" So. after all.
in this particular case. at least, the
presidents course in the Crum mat
ter opened the loo of hope and Of
liberty to the negro, though by q line
of reasoning quite the opposite of what
he had intended it should.-Charleston
Post.
Referring to what it regards as full
lent Roosevelt in sending warships to
Beirut" the New York Press says:
Those unhappy folk who pray day and
night hat President Roosevelt may
make some horrible break n who
would delight to see him make one
even at the expense of International
| contempt for the nation he serves so
we'll, are once more disappointed.
| Without entering, in this article, into
| a discussion of the question of justifi-
cation, we may be permitted to inquire
who and where are those unhappy
folk? We should be in international
contempt up to our necks # the views
of the New York Press We're the in
| ternational NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Post.
While Postmaster General Payne is
still explaining the removal of Miss
Todd-We believe that it is the third or.
fourth explanation" which appears
| his morning-President Roosevelt has
dealt his cabinet officer a most uneX-
---.~l Ilo-- nv ~ ~ r-11N.h
charges to Messrs. Bonaparte and Con-
rad, his special investigators, for a de-
| cision as to their correctness. Mr..
Roosevelt is really very unkind; did
| not the postmaster general say months
| ago tina the Tulloch charges were
| merely hot air.? And did he not
dispose of them at least six times,
each time admitting that there was
| more truth in them than he previously
conceded. while declining to apologize
| for his abuse of Mr.. Tulloch? Things
have, indeed, come to a pretty pass
when the president declines to take
the word of a cabinet officer, particu-
larly when he is such an authority on
wind and air. And then there are
Charles Emory Smith and Perry S.
Heath, both most estimable gentle
men. Does not the president remem-
Der their Indignation at Mr.. Tulloch's
4 d ulO L lS llSl LSSNS1 vi liz
explanations? Really, this campaign
against poor Mr.. Payne is going toe
far. Here are the Press and Tribune
the leading republican papers of this
city, abusing him in the most out
spoken language. What base ingrati'
tude for his past services to the part!
and his readiness to turn states Owe
to senators.-New York Post.
At last. after half a century of con
tinued growth, during which more thar
three billions of dollars were expended
on account of the various wars, TIA
pension roll shows signs of diminishing
and the commissioner of pensions an
nounce that the list of pensioners viii
probably never cross the million mar
again. The total number of pensions
ers now on the rolls is 996. 545, of whic
129, 653 are widows and dependent:
, There are still five pensioners on tn
roll on account of the war of the rev
olution. About &c, 900 are on accour
of the war of 1912, the Indian wars, an
Mexican war. The great bulk {
course, are soldiers, Widows and de
pendents on account of the civil wa
703, 456, "invalids' and 24S. 800 widow
and dependents drawing pay from tn
| government by reason of that struggle
Is the tide of pension really turning
: 1t is too good to be true. Despite TT
= 4 havoc played III Tie IdIlhS VI SclcId oil
, by the natural course of morality; de
; spite the fact that poets ha
begun to sing of 1.-The rem
nant who wore the blue" the numbe
| of civil wal ''invalids" continued t
. grow instead of diminish, until it e1
ceeded seven hundred thousand men
two hundre thousand in excess of TT
. entire number in the confedera1
: armies during the war, and nearly one
third of the total force put into tt
4 field from the beginning of hostilitie
: until the surrender. 1t was the mos
colossal and widespread graft Of hi:
5 tory. The decrease in this years pei
: sion roll is 2,901. The fact that out
304, 500 applications $50, 100 were admit
, ted and 113, 1874 were rejected, is som
! what encouraging. There seems to /
at least the semblance of an effort
the department to curtail the FRAUD
ulent obtaining of pensions and
abolish some of the defects and waste
full features of the system.-Atlant
S Journal.