The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-02-09
CLIPPINGS FROM OUR EXCHANGES.
CURRENT COMMENT.

-
The negro problem. serious as It Is
u sooA b fairly met by the people
OF n North. especially the people in
Philadelphia I can say that the Ques-
ton has grown to be a most alarming
one. Philadelphia today has a negro
population OF 5000. and there are from
five TO six thousand negroes coming 10
this city from h South every year
And those negroes belong to the very
worst classes in the Southern Stafes.
Now. hat are you going tn do about
IL L am thoroughly in accord with the
views OF u judges who give these
Southern thieves and burglars the ra
imum punishment for a IL wha- tar
deserve. You cannot transgress the
laws of God unless you suffer the men
tai anguish and physical pain liz
must necessarily follow. There IS no
communication OF this punishment and
there should be no communication or SYM
pathy offered to these vile ~wretches-
animals-which attack our dear ones
on public highway and steal and muir
der. The people OF the North have.
therefore. a tremendous task before
them. They have made a serious mis-
take in saying that the negro Is the
equal OF the white a He IS not :he
equal of the white man and he has
found this out in Alabama and Georgia
and other Southern States. In those
NllC IL pCOpAC nave C1S nSBEo
his place and he has to do what he is
told. It is when he doesn't like the re-
strictions placed upon him there that
he comes UP here and ranSgresses our
laws.-Philadelphia Press.
Delaware still holds to the whipping
post as a cherished institution. But
from reports recently given out, THU
mode of punishment does not appear to
an outsider to be very effective as a
means Of preventing crime. The ward
en- of the New Castle county (Dela-
ware) w~orkhouse. speaking at a Will
mington conference on prison questions
the other day, made his Statement
Since November 22. 1901. fifty-four
men have been whipped the second time
fourteen the third. four the fourth
time, and n the fifth time, at least.
This. l am sure. is nowhere near the
full number. for the convicts come
back under assumed names. n in
many instances 1 am unable to tell il
they have previously been punished"
Experts in penology are agreed that
any punishment which tends to degrade
the criminal. to destroy self-respect and
to brutalize him. is the worst form Of
! punishment. 1t is true that the main
object of Furnishing crime is to deter
others from committing crime, and the
whipping post may be effective in that
direction. But the government is sup
| posed to have a more humane purpose
in view. 1t should endeavor to reform
the criminal and make of him a good
citizen. But it is hard to believe that
this can be accomplished by resort
to the brutality and degradation of The
= whipping OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
If we understand Alright Mr.. Bryan's
New York speech, he is under a mis-
apprehension. He seems to think thai
there is q purpose among some Cenlo-
Gratis to set UP a new party creed IL
St. Louis. If there is such a purpose
The Post has not seen any evidence OF
it. Mr.. Bryan says: When the Dem
ocratic convention undertakes to write
{. new platform it will find the last oae
q model of ciearness and Conscientious
ness and OF squar dealing; and l hop:
that the delegates to the convention
will be instructed by the various states
to indorse it. And how about candi-
dates? 1t does not matter much what
! the name il the candidate is. bat it does
matter what he stands for and in what
direction he is going to lead the party.
| Let the Republican party be challenged
to meet the moral issue; this is plt'l-
otto. If we lose it it will be but a tenn
| porary defeat and Will bring no disgrace
with it. If we win, h victory vi
/ mean much for our country and the
| world" OF course the last platform
was sound in morals and statesman
| ship. but a totally different platform on
other issues may also be sound IN
| craftsmanship and morals. The plat
form Of 1900 differed from the platform
of 1896 in respect to Imperialism which
| had since arisen as a new issue. The
| platform of 1896 differed from the plat
form Of 1892 by making the distinct
issue of the free and independent COIN
| ~ of silver the ratio of sixteen to one
and by making mucn less OF the tariff
issue which had previously been sc
| Observation-Disclosures POST.