The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-09-09

his proceeding In the postal scandals
not a shuttle designed to suppress.
whilst seeming to expose Were his
operations against the Northern Secur
sites not the merest play TO the gal
leries. achieving thus far nothing be-
yond the throwing OF a little dust into !
.he eyes Of urthinking people? Does
not his whole career. illustrated oy
his writings, his sayings and r,s do
:ngs-his needless criticism. mis- spec
tacular explorations. his r-roken prom
ises-reveai TO US a seIf-wilIed adven-
turer upon n fIsh-seas OF public
life. having no rudder or ompass ex-
cept ais Own ambition. no principle
or rule OF conduct save that Of decking
the machine with the fiounces and fur
bellows Of civic righteousness. whilst
violating the spirit and sacrificing the
actualities of the civil service by a line
OF partisan appointments to office
surpassed during the worst
times of the spoils system he has -
~stigmatized and exempliied? Was
jackson, whose ignorance he rebukes.
more personal and autocratic than he
is himself? Was Grant. whom, in
life. he persistently antagonized, more
Indifferent to the ~admonitions Of pub
lie sentiment? And IL We have seen
such things I'm the green leaf. what
may we not expect to see in the
brown? II elected President ir 1904,
why not again in 1908? The tradition
broken, what may not be the posi-
bility in 1912?
such risks; as an American, i shall not.
] dread the one-man power. Still
more / dread the one-party power;
absolutism at length ~barricading itself
against the reach of the people: the
opposition thoroughly debauched. and.
because OF the generalization and m
potency, only a degree less corrupt
than the a~utocracy; h government a
close corporation OF organized inter-
cstS, slowly but surely breeding cast
distinctions; OUR public men a race of
| Mcclellan princes, without the learn
ing or the arts of Florence; the old,
free system of Washington and Frank
lin and Jefferson, a very syndicate or
wealth and officialism, a Republic only
in name; a world power in fact more
imperial in its aggressiors and re-
| ~Splendarcy than Rome itself.
If we want these things, let us By al
means elect Theodore Roosevelt. Let
us destroy all healthful and response
bile opposition. Let us construct an ir-
risistible power at Washington. Let
us relegate conservatism to the rear.
Let us bring to front only Socialism
to fight with absolutism a battle which
| no matter how it ends. is bound to be
dangerous W lHe llpcI klSS VI thS pSO-
pie and the peace Of the country. Al
| ready the Republican press is making
a hero of Tom Watson, the coming
Robespierre, harranguing the sections.
and preparing the way for another
Reign of Terror, by and with the adj
vice, consent and s~ustenance of the
Republican national committed.
Behind Theodore Roosevelt stands
a group of radical Republican leaders
ready to do his bidding. If the pre-
decessors of these radical leaders had
! been given their way after the war o.
sections. we should, at this, moment,
lave in the South another Ireland, a
second Poland. Wherever they ave
had their way from old Ben Wade to
Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore
Roosevelt, We have seen higher taxes,
renewed sectional disturbance. total
disregard of the written law and the
constant menace of force. After forty
three years of but twice broker d.
minion this party oligarchism is pro
ceeding with as high a hand unda
Theodore Roosevelt, as, after but ?
little longe dominion, the Democratic
! party proceeded, under Pierce and Blu
ana and from the same cause The
believe that it has the world in a
sling and may do as it pleases.
! Public opinion needs to rise upon its
| hind legs and kick the stuffing out of
| it; at least to kick it into a realizing
| sense that there is something yet great
er than money and partyism n pat
ronage; that the machine is not in
vincible: that there are yet a people
that there there is still a God.
Nor ever could a chage of parties be
effected with as little danger to exist
ing conditions. What risks do even
honest Republicans take in setting
Roosevelt and Fairbanks aside and iii
prefering Parker and Davis The o
ey of the country is safe beyond HUI
man agency to disturb it. The revenue
laws are not likely to be adjusted to
suit me and men like me, until manu-
facturerS come to see as they surely
will, that the protective tariff is a hin.
drance and not a help to Ameciran in
dustry. Where, then, is the danger
| My able, learned and ingenious friend.
the recent secretary of war. finds -
in the age Of our nominee for vice
president. If Mr.. Parker is elected
president, says Mr.. Root, he may make
Mr.. Hill secretary Of state. Then Mr..
| Davis, the vice president, might die.
Then. some Guiteau or CzolgotZ might
| remove President Parker-and then
why, then Mr.. Hill will be president
That recalls the familiar story Of the
good wife who was found by her low
ing husband in the throes of a gre
sorrow. Suppose" she said, between
her sobs, suppose our Mary Jane
should grow up and marry a man by
the name Of Jones; and suppose they
should have a littla baby named Sal
lie Ann; and suppose the baby should
fall into a we'll and De drown-n-ded."
But even this luxury Of grief has been
denied Mr.. Root. for Mr.. Hill a y he
won't be secretary of state. 1 always
knew Mr.. Hill hated the Republicans,
but / never before conceived the inten-
, sity of his hatred.
For n 1 believe in the Democracy
| of the Declaration of dence
and the Constitution Of the United
States / believe in expansion, but in
that expansion which carries with Z
| the promises of the Declaration of In
dependence and the principles of the
| Constitution of the United States. ]
believe "a the flag. but beneath it only,
and always. uniformity of laws; / be-
lieve in the tariff but in a tariff levied
solely for the support of the govern
| ment economically administered. / be-