The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-05-24
CURRENT

- -
through runs in the south and south
west about as soon as in any other part
OF our country. The development Of
these sections has given a great i'm
pulse To the building and improving of
railroads., and the wide stretches OF ter
ritory TO be traversed between centers
OF population tend to increase the de-
man for higher speed. As traffic con-
ditions warrant more and more expen-
ditures VIII be made upon the great
ines of transportation that VIII result
in q very high development of track,
which is the very foundation of all
practical efforts to provide high-speed
express Observation-Disclosures Rec
ord.
The opinion of the United States su-
preme court upholdirs the action Of the
immigration authorities at New York IN
deporting the Anarchist Turner and af-
firming the decision of the circuit court
in refusing a writ OF habeas corpus has
a bearing beyond the individual case.
1t is a qualification, an important
qualification. of the doctrine that we
II offer an asylum for the oppressed
OF all nations, which has brought so
many undesirable characters to BUR
shores; and means that hereafter the
bars may be put up n kept up against
anarchists, nihilists and such cattle
Richmond News Leader.
A New Jersey judge has ruled that
a boy is worth twice as much as a
girl. Before him were two suits against
a railroad for damages in the killing OF
children. The jury gave a verdict for
$1,000 in the case OF the girl and for
$4,000 in the case of the boy. The rail-
road filed a plea of excessive damages
In both cases and the judge dismissed
- 1% - -
the other to the extent of reducing the
award to 5000. He held that a boy
should b. accounted doubl the. value
Of q girl, because of his larger capacity
to earn wages. A girl may become a
wage Garner, said the Judge, but a boy
must. Now, how would that ruling
work out against the actual conditions
in one of these international matches
between an English lord and an Ameri-
can heiress ?-Charleston Post.
Let Freedom shrek as she has not
shrieked before since Kosciusko fell!
Free speech is no longer sacred in this
land of the free and home Of the brave.
John Turner, the gentlemaniy, philoso-
phical anarchist, who says he does rot
advocate assassination because he
thinks that the man who sits back
safely and urges upon another to do
something he thinks ought to be done
is a coward" is finally excluded from
the United States, in spite of the efforts
of the true friends Of liberty and the
protests OF MI. John De Witt Warner,
of Mr.. Edward M. Shepard I'D Con-
gresham Baker, of Brooklyn; OF Mr..
Hugh O.. Pentecoct, Nr. Ernest II. Cros-
by and THE New York Evening Post
The United States supreme court yes
terday not only upheld the constitution
ality Of the law excluding a person
disbelieves in or who is opposed
to all organized government" but de-
cided that Mr. Turner fell under the
prohibitions of the law and was prop
erly arrested and ordered to be deported
by Secretary Cortelyou. The opinion
in the case was written by Chief JUS
tice Fuller, an anti-imper1alist and the
leading exponent in the court of true
Jeffersonian democratic doctrine.-New
York Tribune.
In its decision in the Turner case the
supreme court emphasizes q fact that
has generally been disregarded by per-
sons who have criticised the act OF
under which the immigration
authorities undertook to deport the
English anarchist. Referring to the ar
gument that the act deprive Turner OF
the rights guaranteed by the first
amendment, the court admitted that
such was the case. 1T is OF course
true" said the chief justice, that il an
alien is not permitted to enter this
country, or having entered contra y to
law IS expelled. he is in fact cut Off
from worshiping OF speaking or pub
fishing or p~etitionirg in the country,
nut that is merely because of his exclu-
sion therefrom. He is not one of the
people to whom these things are secur-
ed, and cannot become such by an az
tempt forbidden by law" In other
words, the rights guaranteed by the
constitution do not extend to aliens who
have not been formally admitted to the
United States; yet even here the court
is cautious and hedges about with due
restrictions the authority Of the execu-
tive department. Justice Brewer, in an
individual opinion, took pains to ins st
that ministerial officers had no final
adjudication in such cases, but that
the courts might and must when cal
ed upon inquire by habeas corTus SO to
the right of any individual RESTRAINED
of his liberty TO be discharged from
such restraint" This does not cave
much play to the forces OF despotic au-
thority.-New York World.