The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-13
CURRENT

President Roosevelt's fourth annual
message has the fault of most OF his
MS state papers 1t is much too long
and much too prolix- The president
has discussed pretty nearly everything
in n heavens above, the earth be-
meath n the waters under the earth
except the tariff. The message
ought to be read, nevertheless; for IL
shows Mr.. Roosevelt at his best and
at his worst and at most of the inter-
mediate stages. Mr.. Roosevelt begins
with a panegyric to prosperity and the
government policies that have been an
important factor in it's development.
The people have emphatically ex-
pressed their approval of the princi-
pies underlying these policies" he
says, land the desire that these prin-
ciples be kept substantially unchanged
although. of course. applied in a pro-
gressive spirit to meet changing con-
ditions. York World.
The Philadelphia Ledger considers it
a national misfortune that the south
remains solid" and isolated, but il is
evident, it adds, that its solidity can be
broken only with the withdrawal of the
pressure which has caused il. and to
which some northern sentiment has in
the past contributed. That pressure our
contemporary sees is embraced in the
menace of northern effort to restore
negro suffrage; for it continues, lin
states in which the blacks outnumber
the whites. and where there is ever
present in memory the hideous expert
ence of black rule under northern lead
ership, the very thought of the possible
recurrence of such conditions must
keep the white men constantly on the
defensive and compel them to resent
any attempt to enforce or even to en-
courage the idea of negro equality
| which to them mean negro domina-
tion.'" The Ledger grasps the situa-
ton up and down, by n through
Richmond News Ledger.
And now Magma Charta is a myth
The George Washington Ratchet story
and he William Tell apple incident
have gone glimmering, and now unholy
hands have put their iconoclastic touch
on Runnymede. An English idol
breaker-appropriately named Edward
jerks, is the writer and historian who
tells US about it. He says the wrench
ing of the great charter from the hands
of King John was not a victory for the
English people and the barons, but al
most entirely for the barons. Moreover.
He says Magma Charta was opposed to
the interests of the people and delayed
the coming of their fuller freedom. In
stead of being a progressive movement
it was r~eactionary. Of tw~enty-even
concessions, he says, only five were
made to the people. The free men,
named in the instrument were gentle
men proprietors. They were not Of the
plain people. In short, this historian
says the celebrated character was "a
positive stumbling block in the path of
progress" Well. We are accustomed
to having our dearest traditions spoiled
by those who deliver industry tones in
order to contradict the world. But we
are quite sure that scattered through
out the history of democracy, are deeds
Of heroism and epoch making occa-
siOns that deserve our admiration. The
trouble appears to be that the historians
of those times failed to catch the sig
~nificance of their day. Just as we, per
haps, fail to understand the currents
Of our modern life.-Atlanta journal.
The reappointment Of John A. Mer-
49, GO PoSl "l "ooillllS tOh 10
not, if the pun be allowable. a reward
of merit. Far from it. The only
earthly reason for continuing him in
office is that he is protege of Senator
Thomas c. Platt. Merritt was seri-
ously blackened by the Tulioch
charges n by the report of Messrs.
Conrad and Bonaparte, sustaining
some of the weightier accusations
against him.. He was not the i~nitiator
of the crimes by which the Govern
ment was robbed; the leadership of
that buccaneering enterprise devolved
upon Heath, Beavers, Machen, ct al.
But Merritt allowed himself to become
a sort of fence. He let Heath stuff
the Washington office with favorites,
who did no work, or who worked else
where; and he also acquiesced in i'm
proper payments from the account of
h Office. He was the person who re-
moved Tullech, apparently for nc
cause except that Tulloch was "an OBJ
stacle" to Heath's villany. He was
h person who finally brought against
Tulloch a mass of allegations, some of
which he was forced to withdraw, and
most of which Messrs. Conrad and
Bonaparte pronounced false. He was
in short, whether he secured any per-
sonal profit or not, hand in glove with
the postal thieves. No man in the
public service-short of those who
have been indicted for felony-has
more conspicuously failed to maintain
a high standard of efficiency and IN
tegrity: no man is more grossly unfit
for reappointment. This is one of the
cases in which the presidents desire
to get things done,' to be ''practi-
tical.' has clearly overriden his desire
to secure good officers.-New YORK
Post.