The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-06
CURRENT COMMENT.

AAS
state in advising southern congressman
to aIiay their fears that debts OF south
ern states for ~repudiated bonds can be
collected through arbitration treaties
now being sent TO the senate for rati1-
cation BY the a how would it do to
oreE a night school In Washington for
the study Of the constitution of the
United States Of America n require
that all congressman shall show prof.
cheney before drawing their pay certia-
GATES? President Roosevelt might be
induced occasionally 10 deliver a lee
ture before the class.-Columbia State.
Scarcely a day passes III which there
is not recorded the acquittal of a man
charged with a serious o~ffense, or the
I par6oning of some one convicted of a
crime against the public. In Minneap-
oils Friday the State board of pardons
granted a pardon TO a nan who. as
chief Of police, "A convicted Of graft
ing during his brothers administration.
His brother, wno, as mayer OF Mime
apolis, CAV the city an administration
which brought it into disrepute. was
likewise permitted to so free, and thus
two men who did more TO injure the
community in which they live than all
the moral forces that can be mustered
! will be able to o4fset are at liberty 10 do
as they choose. It is such examples as
these that contribute in a large degree
TO. the increase in c~rime.-Detroit Free
Press.
The time Secretary Taft is bestowing
on the Philippine tariff question is well
spent. He understands the question
J +I1~0,r~hIy and hn~- IF
who consult him receive information of
value. Legislation should be enacted
at tI.is session. The law now applying
in the premises is injurious both to the
Filipinos and to ourselves. Our trade
with the archipelago and the archipel-
ago's trade with US should be develop
ed by every business-like means, and
in a spirit of liberality. This tariff ques-
ton is not allied to the general tariff
question, and hence should not be post
poned, as that has been to the next
congress-. 1t has in it's favor an argu-
ment of it's own which is in every par
| ocular SO strong and convincing that
favorable action should follow. soon af-
ter the termination Of the holiday re-
! cess.-Washington Star.
The national administration having
| negotiated a series of arbitration treat
les with various foreign powers and
one of these powers being Great Brit
ain, a campaign to defeat their ratif1-
| cation by the senate has been opened.
| Such an undertaking proved successful
during the first Mckinley administra-
! ton. For several years succeeding that
failure of the arbitration treaties the
! subject dropped almost entirely from
! public discussion, but lately Secretary
Hay has taken up the matter, quietly
negotiated several treaties and, appar
emily, all was going as merry as
! a marriage bell' until Ambassador
| Choate, in London, announced in a pub
lie speech that a treaty of arbitration
between the United States and Great
Britain was being prepared and would
! shortly be submitted for ratification Of
the two governments. That
, ment awoke the Clan-na-gael and other
belligerent Irishmen in America and
the campaign to defeat the arbitration
i treaties was begun. Probably we
I should have seen none of it had Great
Britain not been among the powers in
Guided in Secretary Hays negotiations,
but the idea of any possible, however
IClIIOlCy dSC140S " VoA 'AbA So
! being closed is not admissible to the
mind of the alien Observation-Disclosures
/. Post.
IN an address before the American
: Association for the Advancement OF
Science in Philadelphia the other day
tPl cfessor William H. Lynch, of the Sa-
lem schools, presented a forc5ble argu-
! mem. for reform in the methods Of in
struction in the public schools Of the
country. He contended that too much
attention is beng paid to textbook IN
struction and not enough to actual
study of living topics, such as are dealt
! with i'll the press each day. The latest
advance in scientific knowledge" said
! Professor Lynch, "tle newest inventions
| and discoveries in every branch OF HUI
| man endeavor are all heralded in the
morning or evening dispatches. Years
hence the text books will, as It were,
| mbalm them in their solemn pages.
| Why should the child now be compelled
to sit ir arkness with the light OF
| knowledge blazing all round him
through the columns Of the newspa-
.pers??' Professor Lynch's idea is not a
new one, but it is gratifying to those
who have urged the need of more mod
ern method in school instruction to find
the plan being advocated before such
an association as that which has been
meeting in Philadelphia. The Post a
frequently pointed out the ~desirability
Of a live topic course in the public
: schools, and it is glad to know the sug-
gestion has been quite generally adopt
ed. In some of the Washington schools
the teachers have installed bulletin
boards and invited students to contrib
Ute news and opinions touching events
OF general interest. The result has been
most satisfactory, and has done much
to attract attention to the value Of the
press as an education medium. The
whole purpose of school instruction is
mind training and development. It is