The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-03-10
CURRENT COM MENT.

Admiral Crowninshield asks to be re-
ired. and Secretary Moody has de-
:ided to relieve him from active duty at
Dnce, and will grant his request. Ad-
.niral CroWninshield lacks two years
| get of the age of retirement, but no ono
will object to granting his request. 1t
would not hurt the navy one Bit
Florida Times-Union.
The minority party in congress is
helpless and on the whole has lone
Ipout everything it could have done.
Brilliant DeArmond, of Missouri, made
4 spectacular ass of himself by intro
ducing a bill instructing the president
10 ask the British government to put a
| price on Canada. He might ae well
will go down in history as one that did
not do a great many important things.
Memphis Appeal.
[ Democratic National Committeeman
Bruce, of Milwaukee, Wis. has started
a boom for Parker and MITCHELL as
the democratic national ticket for 1904.
the names Of course standing for
Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York,
and John Mitchell, president of the
United Mine Workers of America. 1t
was only a few days ago tina Mr..
Mitchell declared he would have moth
ing to do with politics. and gave it as
his mature opinion that labor and poll
tics should be kept separate.-Savan-
a News.
The situation in China continues to
grow graVer and it is being made ap-
parent that the Chinese government is
hardly equal to the task of coping with
the rebellion now under way in Can
ton. Ambassador Cassini, the Rus
sian ~diplomatist. who has had a large
part in shaping his country's successful
policy in the Flowery Kingdom, has
notified st. Petersburg that he regards
the Chinese situation as deserving of
the serious and immediate considera-
ton of the powers. This means that
the intervention of another foreign con-
cert is likely soon to take place.-At-
lanta Constitution.
Probably the most effective speech
that has been made in the house for
many a day was the short one of Mr..
Cannon Saturday. Some of the men,
bers being in q stew over the reported
sale of such sacred relics as a s%ideboard
alleged to havs been presented to Mrs.
Hayes while mistress of the White
mariiy settled the hubbub. when
Madison was president" he said. cit
was related that the washing hung in
the east room. My Godn he ejacu-
lated with mock severity, what has
become of the clothes line?" MY
God, what has become of the clothes
line" is a sentiment which should be
pasted in the hats of relic worshippers
all over this blessed silly land.-Cour-
i~er-Journal.
Party spirit may perhaps condone the
action of the regular republicans in
Delaware in choosing an Addicks man
for Senator in order to beat Addicks
himself, and to secure both the seats
for men who wear their own party la
bel, but decent people who have
watched the fight from a distance will
condemn such a compromise in the sew
crest terms. To take a tool of Addicks
instead of Addicks himself does not
make for righteousness. On the con-
trary, it enables Addicks to claim hat
his doings have been endorsed by the
republican party. Dispatches from
Dover say that he is intensely diSap-
pointed at the result, but we do not see
why he should be. He had no standing
before along the decent people of the
state. Now he is recognized in the
person of his man Alice, who gets the
long term las the real leader of the
party. His views, that is, his dollars,
will now receive consideration in many
places where they have hitherto been
spurned. and there is too much reason
to apprehend that he will be stronger
in 1905 thai he is today. If Addicks is
to be beaten in the next fight, he must
be beaten by democrats, not by weak
kneed republicans. That, however, Is
no reason for letting up for an instant
in the struggle, or saying that it
naught availeth.-New York Post.
AS the chief cause of trouble in the
coal mining business is an excess Of
labor-the presence of many thousands
of men over and above the number re-
quired to meet the demand for coal-it
is unpleasant to learn that the surplus
of labor IS increasing through immi-
grafton. We get this regretted infor-
nation from Boston by way of the Ad-
vertiser of that cit which reports the
transportation officials at Boston az
saying that large number of foreign
ers who are comm" in as immigrants
are headed toward the coal mining dis
tlicts of Pennsylvania and West Vir-
ginia. The Advertiser asserts that a
good MANY OF the Italians who have
come through Boston lately said that
they intended to go first to New York
n from that place they would prob
ably bring up somewhere in the coal
fields. One agent said that he knew
Of 125 italians who had told him that
| within two weeks. There is a suspicion
hat this trend Of immigration toward
| the coal fields is not accidental. 1t Is
looking. and therefore preparing, for
another great strike this spring.
Whether that be true or otherwise, it
is unfortunate that the available sup
ply of Automatically about % per cent.
in excess Of the demands being aug
mented. It means trouble. however
! amicably the operators n miners ma
ret alone. The greater the number OF
| men on the nay rolls. the longer will
be the annual shut down. the less the
| aggregate individual earnings in a
wear. and the heavier the pressure OF
: wan on many NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
| Post.