The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-04-26
CLIPPINGS FROM OUR EXCHANGES.
CURRENT

Mr.. Bryan has hired q hal IN Chica- |
go for Saturday night with the object
of ventilating his views on politics in
general and OF the New York Demo
cratic platform in particular, "at his
own expense" This Is an agreeable
change. In the last two presidential
campaigns Mr.. Bryan's talking on ma
tional platforms n on the stump was
done at the expense of h democratic
party. And highly expensive II was
1t cost the democrats the presideno
and the control Of b senate Inc house
Of representatives. It cost them pretty
nearly every governor In all the north
Il cost them the confidence and respect
Of the country. II is a good omen that
Mr.. Bryan resumes his campaign by
hiring a hall" and speaking tor him.
self n cat his own expense."-New
York World.
A correspondent OF The New York
Evening Post writing from Jackson,
Mississippi, gives a brief account OF a
quiet invasion OF the south by north
ern farmers. We are told that the
movement is not towards the cities
generally, but towards the farming
district. and that those concerned
are home seekers rather than land
spectators, az of families rather
than young men. and as a rule native
Americans" The correspondent sug-
gests that this movement o it's start
with the opening of the health resorts
on the south Atlantic coast, and along
the gulf in the SOS, and that shrewd
capitalists who ~urney hitherWard
during those years saw for themselves
the vast stretches of uncultivated lands
in this part of the country and invested
their money in these u~ndeveloped re-
gions in the belief that their natural
fertility and the climate conditions of
this section would in time bring this
way a most desirable and thrifty pop
| ulation.-News and observer.
Indications Of a Hearst bolt from the
| democratic party continue to be delight
| fully strong. Presently we shall see the
| republican newspapers turning around
/ patting the Hearst people on the back
and telling them that they have been
| badly treated. In Massachusetts George
Fred Williams, leader of the Hearst
forces, announced that the district del
egates who are for Hearst will pay no
attention to he action of the state con-
vention instructing all the delegates
from the state to vote as a unit. 1t ap-
pears that the Hearst forces in Massa-
| chusetts, as in West Virginia. gave
their attention to the congress district
DELEGATIONS and succeeded in con
trolling several Of them so that they
elected Hearst delegates to the nation
al convention. The state convention,
however. was against them. on a test
vote 614 to 210, endorsed Olney and in
structed all the Massachusetts delegates
for him. Mr.. Williams declaration is
J an attempt to repudiate the action of
the overwhelming majority of the par
tvs representatives, and is fragrant dis
regard of party discipline and obliga-
tons. 1t is an attempt to make the
congress district instead Of the state
the unit in representation in the nation
al observation-disclosures News Lead
er.
Experts, professional, amateurs. and
students of naval matters in general
and nave warfare In particular are
just now busily engaged in considering
the modern battle-ship. There has al
ways been a difference of opinion as
to the practical merits OF this huge
mass of intricate and complex machin-
cry, but hitherto the controversy has
been chiefly academic. some q
ago. one OF our officers prepared an a
ticle for a New York monthly maya
zine settling the whole question on pa
per and telling exactly % the mod
ern battle-sh1p would behave in action
1t was a very interesting excursion into
f, the fowery fields Of imagination. but
not particularly useful to the dealer II
facts. Then came the war with Spain
but there was no demonstration from
| Wl1Cn any accurate lnI0TeTCcS COulQ DE-
drawn. Dewey had no battle-ships al
Manila The Spaniards had none al
Santiago. There vas unlimited oppor-
tunity for conjecture. but no materia
for exact deduction. The question re-
manned open. Now come the japanese
operations before Port Arthur. attend
ed so far by disaster to the Russians
but throwing no light whatever upor
the battle-ship's merits as an engine OF
ofense or defense. The japanese have
steadily refused to try conclusions with
the land batteries, and, though they
have wrought considerable havoe in
the Russian fleet. it has been through
the medium OF torpedoes almost exclu-
sively. The Russian cruiser Variae
was destroyed in action off Chemulpo
but there was no test OF battle-ships
as against battle-ships involved in thai
affair. "A Russian cruiser. accompanied
by a small gunboat, encountered a pow
erful, an overwhelming Japanese force
and the inevitable ensued. Not yet hat
any vessel of the type under discussion
engaged another of it's own class, and
therefore. no one is in a position tt
say, with any approach to authority o.
confidence. whether the ba~ttle-ship is
a factor of strength or a source U1
weakness in the equation OF nava.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Post.