The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-03-17
CURRENT COM

| he knows where Parker stands. We
have no desire to hurry matters but we
would be glad to know whether it is
the duty Of good democrats to support
the nominee whatever may be their
| personal views? 1t seems there was
once a declaration of that sort from
somebody.-Florida Times-Union.
We don't want to see a vigilance
| committee at work in a Connecticut
town, but the supineness and futility
of the constituted authorities in Water
bury and of Waterways public senti-
ment in the presence of these continu-
ing crimes are trying to Connecticut's
patience. A portion of the towns dis
grace-and no small portion, either
falls upon the state.-Hartford Cour-
[ ant.
With German at one end of the
halter and the democratic donkey at
the other, lively pulling and hauling
may be expected, but the latter will at
least and at last have a muleteer very
far from being so complete an ass as
itself. German possesses some dis
course of reason and a looking before
and after, and can give the party a
kind of leadership from which it part
ed some time ago, but which. restored,
| does not promise to keep it put of the
| ditch. 1t ends to that, hoofs upward,
all the time, no matter who leads it
before or kicks it behind.-New York
Tribune.
In view of certain recent public exr
| pressionS Of German authorities regard
ing the Monroe doctrine, the New York
Times remarks that it was a fortu~
49,. q I1+r-Ao- 49, 1ooata
and the house, in the closing hours OF
congress, by which two battleships were
added to the programme of the navy
and authorized to be put Immediately
under construction" Watched pots
boil slowly, out it would not be surpris~
ing if his one should begin to bubble
almost any day. The gentlemen, on
both sides, who have the ordering OF
war ships are plainly of that opinion
News and Courier.
President Francis of the ST. Louis
exposition is giving the world a fine
exhibition of what we know in this
country as hustling. During his brief
stay abroad in the interest of the eX-
position he has devoted scarcely more
than a day to q, country. After a chat
with King Edward he crossed the chan
mel and had a chat with President
Loubet. He then hurried to Madrid
and talked over matters there. The
kaiser at Berlin heard him for an hour,
and from Berlin he went to Belgium
and conferred with King Leopold. He
was successful, it is understood, at
every point. Interviewing royalty On
the fly would make a good title for a
lecture, and such a lecture would make
81 ~nn1 faofnro for tho & T.n11iS show
Washington Star.
With a cash balance in the treas
ury of something over 1922, 900, 600,
treasury officials are said to fear that
the payment of $40, 900, 90 for the rights
Of the French company in he Panama
ana will cause a money Stringency.
With this immense balance there is
| actually in the United States treasury
only $73,0 00, 900, national banks hold
ing $3.50, 900, 900 as federal deposits. As
the treasury will not reduce it's actual
holdings below $780, 900, 900, h banks
will be called upon for ST., 900 600, or
about one-ninth of the United States
| money they hold, to make up the ball
| ance of the $40, 900, 900, and this is expect
ed to cause financial trouble. Some
thing must be radically wrong with the
financial system n with the methods
of the treasury in using the pap spoon,
! when II per cent of the governments
| deposits cannot be withdrawn without
| causing "stringency.''-Columbia State.
Mondays news brought the details of
two Virginia tragedies in which the
| ever-ready and e~ver-present piston
played its part. In Richmond a jeal-
ously crazed person murdered his
sweetheart and then sent a couple Of
bullets into his W body. In n of
the counties a drunk-maddened son ia
tally wounded his father as the result
of a drunken row. The moral of such
incidents is plain. The man who car
rieS a deadly weapon with him, unless
he has special reasons for doing so,
which would absolve him in the eyes
of the law, not only proclaims himself
a coward, but places within easy reach
a terrible temptation. Perhaps neither
of the men referred to would have
stained their hands with the blood of
their fellow creatures if their revolvers
had not been handy. At a critical mo-
ment, however, they threw self-control
to the wind; the temptation was pres
Newport News Press.
Philadelphia Is all torn up and its
proverbial quietude gon glimmerins.
Not long since one of its drummers in
the Orient, in the face of keen Euro
pean competition, o an order for
a choice assortment of heather graven
imagines, from Buddha down to the ug-
lest god in the Brahman catalogue.
When the order reached the home Of
flee, its novelty caused the enterpris-
ing manufacturer to give the reporters
a good story" for it is not every day
that, the American INVASION reaches
out and supplies the idol trade of far
Cathay and the treasured Ind. The an
nouncement startled the staid old city
where the missionary sentiment has
been peculiarly strong since the day
Founder Penn did a little original trad
ing with the aboriginal heather there
abouts. Philadelphia is proud of her
expanding commercialism, but manu-
featuring genuine gods for serious
heather worship was more commercial