The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-02
CURRENT COMMENT.

off. Arkansas Jim Jones is. however.
still fioundering about in the politicai
shadows. Nothing but the digging of
q canal can get him out to deep water.
If the president would m pass out
that commission.-Charleston Post.
There seems TO be no end to the be-
uevolence OF the agricultural depart
ment. Its m~inistrations expand and
multiply with each succeeding day.
From the simple nucleus seeds and hog
cholera. it has dilated and spread u
into larger and larger horizons until
il threatens to include the universe. We
have by degrees been made familiar
with CHAMBERS, peach-blows. bortS.
rabies, hollow-horn. oX-warbles in Mis-
Sigsippi. ensilage, wire-grass, bugs Of
ell kinds, the dietetic properties of sa-
licylic. acid. pip. pink-eye, and a thou
sand other things of inestimabln value
to the human race. And, now, Profess
sor GeorAe H. Shull has been sent forth
into the bowling wilderness of North
Carolina TO study the prandial habits
of aquatic birds by way of increasing
our store of sapience and adding u
the sum of mortal happiness-Wash-
inatOn Post.
Although this is hardly the weather
for propOunding cOnundrums. The Wall
Street Journal demands to know
What is the trouble with Chicago?'
Never was i~nterrogatory easier enswer-
ed. The trouble with Chicago is that
the municipality is in the hands of 2
homogeneous junta of ~Self-seeking re-
publicanS. predatory 'refOrmers," and
all-rOGnd "grafters." who use as their
instrument a feeble-minded man. who
acquired office through his fathers
name and has retained it by grace Of
the junta. 1t is this junta thar has
b~ankrupted the city treasury, fostered
crime. driven away business. and rem
dered the thOroughfares of this city as
squalid and filthy by day as they are
dangerous at night. 1t is this iunta
which is making Chicago a way sta
ton on the highways of commerce be-
life II property are nc longer
safe here. That is the trouble with
Chicago but it is trouble enough
Chicago Chronicle.
Former Postmaster Genera Charles
Emory Smith. who is the proprietor of
the Philadelphia Press. was minister
to Russia during President Harrison's
administration. Mr.. Smith recalls. in
connection with the recent massacre
at Kischineff. that in 1891 he was in
structed by the department of state to
make n friendly representation to the
Russian government that certain pro
scriptive edicts" which had been is
sued against the Jews in Russia. were
having q serious effect upon the United
States because of their tendency to
flood the country with impoverished
immigrants faster than they could be
a~ssimilatesd. The Russian government
was practically requested t. modify
these edicts if it could see its way
clear to doing so. and Mr.. Smith says
that some relief actually resulted.
Now. there is very little difference be
tween n prOscriptive edict and one or
dering the Jews to refrain from de-
Tending themselves when attacked. Il
does not seem. in view of Whit Mr..
Smith has said. that precedent would
be strained to any considerable "Xtent
if similar representations should be
made in 1903.-Norfolk Landmark.
This is the carnival week in the town
of ReidSville. y. c.. Reidsville is some
what noted for enterprise n hustle.
Her people are quick and energetic.
and they can find a drawing card
and utilize it for revenue as quickly
and as energetically as any people on
earth. but they Ound more than their
match in the professional carnival
managers, who came to pull off the dig
scheduled for this week. 4 negro
named John Broadnax was hanged at
w ii last Nteh loI ii lpIlIouS
murder, and the body having been
properly embalmed. was at Reidsvillc
awaiting shipment to a medical College.
The professional managers of the car
niyal thought they saw a small fortune
in that areas and they actually en-
tered into negotiations for it to be
placed on exhibition as one of the curl
Osities Of carnival week. They mad &C
tuaIly secured the body and were &C
-@l1r -S-- - =.
a tent as e side show. This was a lit
tie too much enterprise for the enter
prising people of Reidsville, and they
proceeded at C to break UP that
part Of the carnival programme. The
professionals protested and wanted to
have their own way. but those Reids-
vile people were not to be trif1ed with.
and they said that carcass had to leave
town peaceable, If possibly, but by Wig
orOus force, if necessary, and 1t vas
taken hence. Good for R~eidsyille.--
Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Mr.. Norman E. Mack, of Buffalo. the
New York member of the democratic
national committee, remarks further
as follows. on the subject of a financial
plank IN the next platform which shall
be satisfactory to all democrats: IF
the national convention were to be neld
today the great point or difference
among the democratic forces would be
the financial plank. 1t is easy to see,
that unless a common ground is estab-
lished-and one can be established
the same will be true a year from
now" But it is not so easy to see by
what formal or informal process tie
common ground car" be established
prior to the actual meeting of the cur1-
VentiOn Of next year. Open letters ard
replies and rejOinders between eminent
democrats holding different views Of
financial policy do not seem likely 10
promote the desirable unity of opinion
which Mr.. Vac believes an be
brought about before the convention.
The premature discussion of possible
| refnements and articles of phraseoloEy
| is quite as apt to emphasize differences
| as to quiet the same. The possibility
| of united action q ear and more henc5
will depend less upon any previously
devised verbal formula han upon thC
| spirit actually prevailing in the democ.
racy at the time Of the convention: anC
that prevailing spirit. in its turn. Wi,
depend o conditions that cannor