The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-05-03
CURRENT

OF course, We must believe Mr..
Bourke Cochran when he asserts that
he received no compensation in mon
ey for his services to the Republican
IL it be preferred, the anti
Democratic-cause in 1896. A great
many quondam Democrats went over
to the enemy that rear. Some OF
them a risen to prominence. chief
ly, IL not wholly, through the favor
n promotion Of the party. Others
a never sought Office, or held
office, or grown rich in office, and
they owed the Democratic organiza-
ton no ~calculable bedt Of gratitude.
We do not classify Nj. Cochran, for
we know nothing of his antecedents.
For all we know, he may originally
have taken Tammany up and made
it potent and respectable. For all
we know. 1t may have been the other
way. There are instances of many
kinds in Tamany's long and very in
teresting history.-Washington Post.
The pretext IN which the whole
| sale meat dealers add a quarter of
a cen a pound to the price of beef
is the familiar one that the stock on
hand is insufficient to meet the in
creasd demand. Yet the complaint
from the ranges is that the price of
cattle has been steadily falling for
two years. Hoof cattle now bring
$3.50 a hundred pounds, as against
tary Martin, of the national associa-
ton, stockmen have lost ~$750,000,0 600
within less than two years through
this shrinkage of values. The loss
has been due not to the operation
of the law of supply and demand, but
in spite of it, and directly to the
action of the packers combination
a. q - la--o-~~ l. --o of
live stock, while forcing up that Of
dressed beef. Having taken their
toll from the cattlemen, they are
now again taking it from the house
holder. What are antitrust and
anti-monopoly bills for if they can
not prevent his kind of robbery
New York World.
The simultaneous appearance Of
the Vladivostok squadron off Wonsan
and of a brigade of cossacks in north
ern Korea hardly indicates an attack
more likely to be a time-gaining
operation-a reminder to the Japa-
nese that their rumored ffankins
movement at the south may be
promptly countered at the north.
AS a matter of fact. Kuropatkin'S
army is not yet strong enough to
undertake the invasion of Korea at
any point Least OIL all can ne dlOTu
permanently to eaken the force at
the mouth of the Yalu. So the cos
sacks, oerating in northern Korea
far from a railway base, are merely
a notification that the Japnese con-
centration about Wiju has its dam
gers. The fact that the cossacks a
not been seriously opposed how
pretty clearly that the large body Of
Japanese troops that landed at Won
san within a fortnight of the first.
fighting was not directed towards
Vladivostok, but has Joined the force
on the lower Yalu.-New York Post.
To what base uses we may come
is as true of the material world as it
is of humanity. In her day the
Great Eastern was the largest steam
ship that cut the waters of the globe,
and in whatever port she
attracted thousands of visitors, some
of them travelling hundreds Of miles
to gaze on her ~stupendous proper
IONS. The original Niagara suspen-
sion bridge was REGARDED as a tri-
umph of engineering skill, which a
reached the limit, and for a long
time was the only span over the,
Niagara ychasm. The Victoria tubular
bridge at Montreal was in its day
one of the modern wonders, ranking
almost with the proverbial ancient
seven of this terrestrial ball, and the
city of Rome, while she f1ourished,
was famous as a record-breaking At
lantic liner. Gut now an iron and
steel plant in the province Of On
tario. Canada, exploits as IN adver-
tisement and a right to distinction
that it has reworked the metal Of
the carcasses of all these marvels
into bar iron-a good deal Of which
will doubtless be in course Of time
transformed into mule shoes.-Rich-
mond News Leader.