The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-04-19
Is The South Really n Longer Dis
counted by the North!

SouiiCCu " tie NOfID. \
The Washington Post is the really
great independent newspaper of thel
ountry New YcrA. Boston, Chicaso,l
are provincial, and the press of eachI
takes IN the local complexion. wash-l
lngton Is natolil. no 20 say cosmo-I
politan; and In.: ost, having. there-l
1ore, a wider range or vicion THANH
the newspapers of the financial andI
commercial cea'Ils, aid being norI
only able but frae-miuded and can-l
DID, gives utte-Lnce u thir gs which,
are important, a. coming . from it'll
winch would &c Of mall consequence
coming from many another paper OIL
a larger city. Ne are merefo re muchl
surprised and mu~h impressed by al
recent editorial liz it Hnich runs asI
follows:
The southern attitude regardingI
presidential "a ;Gidate and party
I~eaderships continues 10 excite as
constituent n ctiec parts of the coun-l
try. Indeed, hat section seems toI
monopolize the assumption that thel
nomination OF a southern man woulol
necessarily ann't-'ate the prospects OIL
the party which adopted such Il ticket.
Only the other day. The Galveston|
News, n Of the most substantial and
conservative .a:crs In the United
OIdlSS, SIdNcly ESildThGU tEdC CnOu-
sands of northern democrats would
refuse to vote for Z southern candi-|
date, no matter nov notorious his
ability, his patl )tism, AND his attain
mentS- Our G3,eened contempora-
ries beyond the Potomac have been
repeating this remarkable proposition
SO long and SO thougntleSSly they have
almost without exception, come to be-
Eeve if.
ssyUh OF inonr>Soyc ~ Ia fhA In Oonnr,c
wonder with when 90 many northern
newspapers regard this hallucinatiol.
hallucinatjon II surely is. Such
e~xponents Of enlightened public opin-
ion as The New I.rk Sun. o in
stance, treat it with unconcealed con-
tempt. The Sui took occasion to say,
apropos of The Galveston News
wholesale disparagc.aent of southern
men, hat wherea7 there may be
doubtless are-m. politicians at the
north who for b purposes en-
courage the idea in question, there is
really no deflII''e sent ment of the
kind in any important quarter. Nat
urally, the nor.h accepts the south's
remuneration. 1t would be too much
to expect opposIuon and e~xpostulauon|
from that quarter. But as a matter of,
simple fact, The New York Sun un'
derstands the situation much better
tina The Galveston News does. and
violates neither well-known truth nor
reasonable probability when it as
serts tina the voters at large will this
year take 'prec..l rs little account OF
the candidates place OF residence.
For our par we venture to Sayl
that not only northern democrats, butt
northern inden.ndent- to a greater
or less extent, will ST pport the ST.
Louis nominee provided he represents
safety, stability. and conservatism
Nobody worth considering any longeri
cares whether the president be a nal
tive of Massachusetts or MISSISSIPPI
Ohio or Kansas, New York or Texas
They want a man as to whose attitudeI
respecting the great public questionsl
of hi day there can be no uncertainty
in any mind. They do not want ex-l
periments or adventures, however,
Fascinating, and will accept neither ~
they be furnished with ar alternative.l
But there isn't the slightest doubt asi
to what all thinking men prefer. SEM
sible people dismissed the southernI
bugaboo from their philosophy several
years, ago." !
It is to be wondered if the fact CAM
be so. The Post is always just tol
the south. May it not be thai in thlsI
instance 1t is too generous? 1t hasl
exceptional advantages for overlook
ing the country, but are h men III
sees ana from WlOHl IL dliC i@i
opinion on this subject truly represent
tative of the men among whom theyl
live? The facts which 1t alleges, If
they are facts, are subversive of all
that we have heretofore believed Thel
opinions of a people are best gath-l
cred by contact with them: next best,
through their preSs-preferably, Of
orU wants general public opinion, theI
country press. There is much dist
counting OF the south by the ethyl
papers of the north and west, and of
ten there falls into our hands q. week.
" paper of these sections WHICH,
breathes a dislike and distruSt of thel
south which we cannot think It would
manifest except it had an a~pprov1ngI
constituency behind it We are all
largely Influenced by small circum-
stances, and it is upon the .u~tterancel
Of these-in a sense-inconseQuentiaI
papers, added to speeches in Congress,
speeches and resolutions of the Grand
Army raiders, and other evidences not
necessary to refer to, that we, in conf
mon with the people of the south In
general, have based a firm convictionl
that the general northern mental at,
men is o materially different from
what it was forty years ago.
The testimony of The Post, %support-
ed as it is by that of The New York
Sun. is pleasing and surprising, if not
conclusive. The south has for sol
long regarded itself as a step-child in
the family hat this has become a
fixed habit of thought-the condition.
considered irremediable if not agree-l
able. But The Post quickens thought
in an opposite direction. n it might
not be wholly i'll fer the southern dell
egation to the national convention to-
lend themselves to reflection upon its
suggestion.
This thing appears to the candid
mind as perfectly certain: OF all the
persons suggested in the north for
the nomination there are but two who.l
il either were nominated, would stand
a ghost of a chance at the polls. Therel
are two southern men who. If thel
convention rejects both OF the north-I
ern men in question-and 1T will
either of whom Is as fit to run as anyl
man the north can furnish And i'll