The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-20
CURRENT COMMENT.

The farmers of the south have it
within their power to raise the price
of cotton simply by planting less of it
this year. lust as soon as the con-
sumers are convinced that they pro-
pose to do this the market will
strengthen and prices are bound to go
up. Alabama is showing a very lively
interest in the acreage reduction
movement and If the rest of the cot
ton states display a like interest there
is no reason why the plan cannot be
made Observation-Disclosures News.
While the farmers of this section
are looking for something to raise this
year instead of raising cotton they
might turn their attention to the mat
ter of raising sheep The county aud
itor tells us that there are over three
times as many dogs in the county as
there are sheep and goats together.
That is a bad state Of affairs in a sec
ton Of country 80 we'll adapted to the
raising Of sheep as this is. There is
money III wool and there is a saving
and a comfort to be gotten from this
industry. If the farmers of this sec
ton would take this occasion to look
for something new hat could be done
with profit they will lose nothing by
the low prices of cotton.-FIorence
Times.
The president must be getting proud
these a because of the increasing
evidence that many of those who
were recently supposed to be hostile
TO him are now. if they have not been
all the while. friendly to him. Mr..
Bryan is saying things that must De
grateful to him, and at the meeting
of the Virginia electoral college one Of
the Parker electors made a speech
that is attracting much attention. His
name is Barksdale, and among other
things, he said that Mr.. Roosevelt wa
fast becoming a good democrat" and
that if he came much further down
the road the democrats would gladly
name him as their standard bearer
Mr.. Rarl<sdale is a Bryan democrat.
During the campaign, Mr.. Watson. the
populist candidate for president, pre-
ferred Mr.. Roosevelt to Judge Parker.
If we are to believe statements that
have appeared in the public prints.
From the foregoing it would seem that
the republicans are the democrats.
lust why this is SO we are not pre-
pared to say, but it is queer to say
the least of it, that among Bryan
democrats n poDulists there is so
much sentiment in favor of Mr.. Roose-
velt.-Savannah News.
Trustworthy reports indicate that
the first intimation Stoessel had of the
reverses suffered by Russian arms in
Manchuria and the hopeless isolation
of Port Arthur came throgh Japanese
sources after he had surrendered.
Stoessel stated that his last direct
message from Ruropatkin was re-
ceived the first week in October and in
substance alleged that Port Arthur
would soon be relieved by the Russian
forces. Stoessel says he was subse-
quently misled 'Fby Chinese spies,'
who reported hat kuropatkin's forces
were within twenty miles of the be-
leaguered fortress. Thus, when he
learned that the Russian commander
had been severely beaten before Muk-
den, suffering a loss of fifty to sixty
thousand men. the revelation was a
staggering one. Hardly less surpris-
ing was the news that R~oiestvensky
had made paltry progress in his ex-
petition to the Far East and that. on
the mos liberal allowance, Port Ar
thur would nave been compelled to re-
sist the Japanese two months longer
before it could have expected relief by
sea. These facts indicate pretty con-
clusively that the bureaucracy at ST.
Petersburg deemed it best to prod
Stoessel on to his work by allowing
him to entertain fatuous hopes of
early relief. Not possessing sufficient
confidence in his courage and integrity
20 entrust him with the deplOrabie
truth. it let him fight on, sacrificing
hundreds of lives. in the belief that he
might expect help by land Or sea mo-
mentarily. For it is more han prob
abe that Stoessel shields the cruel
policy Of ST. Petersburg under the
guise of treachery Of Chinese SPIES"
Undoubtedly, he was fed With ur-
truths respecting Rojestvensky and
the rate of speed at which he was
travelling, and his apprisal of The
dilatory methods Of the admiralty and
the criminal incompetence exhibited
by the officers Of THE Baltic fleet, must
AVE come with a harsh shock to the
mind of the man who had exhibited
the very opposite qualities in the de-
Tense Of Port Arthur-Atlanta Con-
stftutfon.