The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-01-23
CURRE II GUM MtNI.

| in the courses in tue mountain region
| Of the sout.. will ~indisputably .
without 0oubt prove OF great value
and assistance to the industrial world.
There are in these hills hundreds OF
availa bic streams which could furnish
ample power for driving mill machin-
cry and it only remains for them to
be disCorered-that is to be placed on
records-that prospective investors
may have a source from which TO OBJ
tain knowledge of these things
Charleston Post
The democrats are casting about for
a Moses to lead them out of the wild
erness in Washington. a great num-
her of names have been suggested all
! nf them with a view to batting New
York, Indiana, Ohio and New Jersey
into the democratic column. Now lets
stop that. The democratic party is
the party of the south as we have had
occasion to remark before. Let US de-
mand southern leaders. North Caro-
lima has already offered her favorite
son Aycock for the vice presidency,
and the country could not afford a
man more worthy of the honor Let's
have Aycock. If German will stand
sOuarely on the democratic platform
let German carry the banner, if he will
not let us look elsewhere but keep our
| eyes on lldl SpcJloll lEOIU WHICH uSlliO-
cracv must look for her backing and
the conservation of the faith.-FlOr-
ence 6. CO Times.
State Comptroller Miller, it Is under
stood. will recommend to the leSisla-
ture an amendment to the tax of the
surplus and the undivided earnings
of the savings banks, which is found
to bean more heavily on small banks
j than large, so that the burden shall
fall equally on all banks. The tax now
Is l per cent, and is assessed upon the
par value of the surplus. AS the ac-
tual or market value of securities va
ries widely, q tax on the par value is
held to be ineQuitable. The experience
of the tax bureau is that large banks
being able to invest in securities with
II market value far above par, are less
burdened by the tax than the small
banks, which are often compelled to
invest in securities of a comparative
Iy low value. This condition, the con-
tr0ller thinks, could be remedied by
assessing the tax on the market value
Of the securities and lowering the rate
so hat it shall not increase the tax
the banks are now paying.-New York
Financial Review.
When the fifty-eighth congress as
sembies and Reed Smoot, of Utah, pre-
J SentS his credentials as Senator-elect
from that sovereign state, it is highly
probable that all the wild. windy op-
position to his of a seat in
the senate wlIl AVE died out. 1t is
not improbable that many of the good
people who are now Historically pro-
testing against his admission will, by
that time, AVE become convinced that
their zeal was several hundred per
cent in excess of their discretion. No
welI-informed person doubts either his
admission to or his retention Of the
seat to which his credentials will show
that he was duly elected. The Boston
Herald says: Mr. Smoot has peculiar
opinions on the subject of religion, but
, they are nobody's business but his
own. The only plausible objection to
him that we have seen on this point is
that he acknowledges a paramount al
legiance to the Mormon church over
the American government. The Hart
ford Courant reminds that this used to
be said of members of the Roman
Catholic church in k~now-nothing
days. We see no more reason to be-
liave that it Is true of MormOnS now
than it was of Catholics then, and 1t
has been long abandoned az q charge
against the latter" That Is q correct
view of the inter. he constitutional
qualifications Of 4 senator do not re-
iIlIc llldI lit SldlI De e(lulIptu Will
any particular set of opinions on reli-
gious subjects. \ senator may be a
Christian or an atheist. or entertain
any other views that suit him or have
M religious views at all. Some of the
ablest men who I've ever served the
country in the senate have been de-
cidediy non-Christian. What a man
believes is ~nobody's business but his
own. What 4 man does, if he be an
! oNnlipoy NJ for ~ coat I'm PnnrrACc
be the public's business. Mr.. Smoot
is charged with no unlawful or i'm
moral act.-Washington Post.
The shooting of Editor y. G.. GonzaI-
eS by Lieutenant Governor j. H. Till
man on the streets of Columbia. S. c..
has attracted more editorial attention
on the part of the newspapers Of the
country thar any other recent TRACE
dy.. North n south the act is Sc
verelv condemned. Inevitably the
name OF Senator TillnGan is drawn into
the discussion OF the matter. 4 lead
ing northern republican paper. the
Philadelphia Inquirer, says: "At the
! very time the senior senator from
South Carolina was G~enouncing Attor-
ney General Knox as n murderer and
hUrl;ng intellectual birthstone against
many men in public office, from the
president down, his nephew shot Town
in cold blood an editor of Columbia
who had dared to oppose his political
pretensions. The crime was the worse
because the perpetrator was lieutcn-
ant governor of his state" \ leading
democratic paper. the Brooklyn EasIe,
says: One who recalls Ben TiIlman's
animal animadversions on Grover
Cleveland, mis- brutal assault on Nc
Laurin. his verbal villainies toward
Roosevelt, and his assault. Thursday,
on Knox will admit that his MURDER
Gus nephew is his literal understudy;
and that the nephew OF his uncle and
the uncle OF his nephew are both men
OF whom South Carolina cannot be
proud inc whom South Carolina can
not keep in pIace-if that state would
retainer regain-the right TO be re-
garded as 4 member Of the family of
civilized commemorative" The opin-
: ion of q leading snutharn democratic