The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-29
CURRENT

That which a lot OF diAy-dadying,
hdputian statesmen had been wfshiny
and ocheming to bring about for over
half a century, Theordore Roosevelt de-
cided TO do and did do In less than hatf
a day. People oa him erratc. impul-
v But tbs does not Justly or Or -
erfy describe him The only difference
between him and other statesmen O.
h Theodore Roosevelt vii. take
ABOUT one-tenth the time to commit An
error OF policy or do a great ded that
the average politician requires. The
consequence Is that he gives people
more to criticise or to praise IN a given
period OF tine than any other ten pub
lie men that We awe yer known cd.
With him one event follows SO fast
pon h heels OF another that It may
happen that we are hardly through ac-
oording him deserved pralSs for one
thing when he has done something else
that does not meet with OUT approval.
And thus It is that those Of US who
are EOneSt with ourselves. are not
mere claQueurs OF q political party, do
not know half the time whether we are
for or against his admin .stration.-
Goodrich On. d., FfckertaiI Flicker.
Senator Platt is not a hypoc. tie. Ii
is his sincere and ~unaIterabie belief
that everything o fly the repuh lean
part Is sanctified. everything attempt
ed by democrats is in its origin and ma
u sinful His ethical sense q COM
pletely satisfied by the Nicaragua al
legation. II President Roosevelt had
personally led United States troops
against the forces Of Colombia; IL he
had used the treaty of 1916, the Deolar-
alton Of Independence. the Ten Com
mandments, and the Revised Stat -tes
TO light hiS camp fires. and the consd-
tuition to wipe his ensanguined blade
upon, Orvife H. Phtt OH have of
fered no word OF criticism. Anybody
who denounced the presidents a. q he
would have exposed to the world al
a Nicaragua Schemer, and 50 have set
the president right. Sin might smear
it's crimson stain all over the republic
can party, yet it would seem as white
as nOW to the cO,or-blind conscience ct
so good a thick-and- partisan as
Senator Plart Of Connecticut-New
Yor Times.
After an is said n done. it is public
opinion that is responsible for law
lessness and it is publ.s OPP tia.
must he relied upon for its suppression.
The action of the people OF Aiken in
assembling in mass meeting TO endorse
n governors acton looking to the
suppression Of lynching in a eaithy,
hopeful sign. Let h people OF every
courthouse town bravely voice their
~diSpleasure when a sheriff or other
county official fails in his duty. and
that duty will thereafter DO much NOR
frequently MISUNDERSTANDING State.
When Napoleon made his famous pro-
pflecy that eventually the world would
be all CosSack or all free, he meant we
take it. that finally the result wou d be
a worldwide contest between Russia
and the United States-the Russian
Tsr ina,r'n a c-a / CT fI.a hrnnrjaon n~in
dpie Of government, and we bei-va
that sooner or later that conflict Will
come. Russia and the United States
are the great undevelopsd. powers OF the
earth. Each possesses vas undeve1Op-
ed territory of it's own, and each has
contiguous territory, which, by force
of arms or by other means, may be an
neXed. Russa already has Siberia.
which is an empire within itself. 1t
has secured a foothold in Manchuria
and it hss ambitions to acquire China
and Japan and possibly India If this
ambition should be realized r 8 i
would AVE an territory
containing more than half ths inha l.
tants of the globe. On the other hands,
the United States may acquire canada.
on the north, and Mexico andaCentrAl
and South America, on fha
thereby putting it i'm possession
h Western hemisphere. Vi what
would become of the the powers O
Europe in the event of such a condition
were a. matter Of the vaguest s~pecula-
ton. But ID Russia. should control the
Eastern hemisphere and the United
States the Western hemisphere, Eng
land. France, Germany. Italy. Spain !
and all the smaller power weurI b.
compelled to take siies with one.or the
other of the grsat powers. Then wo Id
come the great conflict between tw !
of government dame, rtca .ly |
opposed-the Russian prictple os the
for THE government and the Ameri-
can principle Of the government for |
the man.. The conflict via not Come in |
generation! but there Gre many |
that it will come by and by
TiIneS-DiSpatch. |