The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-02-28
CURRENT

e@AA6Lo - AAA6(A "a Ii DuUl1I
that Joyous harmony exists in the
interstate commerce committee at the
present time. This raises the pre-
sumption that a favorable report will
lie made concerning railroad IegisIa-
ton in the future. The demand Cor
relief being 50 urgent and SO univer-
sal 1t could scarcely be otherwise. The
-! announcement of Senator EIkins
amounted, therefore, to little more
than an assurance that, despite 10y
Gus harmony" among the members
of the interstate commerce commit
tee. the senate would not take action
! concerning the most important eco
nor1ic question Of the day" until it
was absolutely compelled to do 3d.
News and Courier.
of course h attempt Of the state
Of Kansas to enter into the business
Of refining petroleum eve with the
aid of unpaid-for convict labor in
competition with the Standard Oil
Company will prove abortive. That
is attacking the oil monster in an i'm
| pregnable part of his anatomy. But
the state of Kansas is not helpless.
It can cripple the Standards pipe line
monopoly. and it can help efficiently
to furnish the munitions for success
FIJI val to the federal authorities if
/ the present zeal Of the administration
shall remain unchecked by the DOW
F, crful influences which unlimited cash
n cheek can bring to bear to pro-
, cure delay and to temper the ferocity
| Of sudden Observation-Disclosures Re
| ord.
"And now it is in order for our
proud sister states on the north Of us
and on the south, Virginia and South
! Carolina. who have often felt and
said of US as Nathaniel did Of Nazar-
eth, Can any good thing come OF it,
to remark that it is Strange that Mr..
Roosevelt quotes or the race Ques-
ton an Episcopal bishop Of North
Chronicle. We
do not believe that South Carolinians
ever said any such thing abou our
| sister state on the north. Do We not
go up in thousands every summer to
spend a portion of the hot season in
North Cardinals mountains? And
we always return home. Nothing
good come out OF North Carolina
Why Of course, we do.-Columbin
State.
That the territorists in Russia mark
their victims well is shown anew in
the assassination of the Grand Duke
Sergius. the 4th prominent reaction
airy violently removed in the past two
Years. The incident adds a compli-
cation to a cas- already dangerously
mixed. When overtures of the bure-
aucracy are answered by "hurled
bombs" and the agitation of mod
crate liberals is seized upon by the
Reds for a renewa of the old pro-
granme, it is clear that on boil sides
almost ~insuperable obstacles are Of
fcred to gradual reform. The Stay
ing of Sergius strengthens the hands
OF the reactionaries. YET horror at a
deed which promises little good and
may involve great evils, is mingled
with rather little sympathy for the
victim. Men of Sergius' stamp have
brought Russia to the present pass.
He was the natural target for a IA
natic's bomb, and in very few cases
could one more TRANQUILITY recall King
Humbert's epigram, that assassination
is merely n Of the professional haz-
ards Of royal position.-New York
Post.
Extraordinary interest is mani
tested in the war which has been be-
gun on the Standard Oil Company in
Kansas. With that state and the Ma
tional Government against it there is
much speculation as to whether it will
be victorious as it has been in other
contests in which it has been engag-
ed. The Kansas legislature has pass
ed laws regulating h price of refin-
ed oil in the state; also fixing the
freight rates on crude oil. It has ap-
propriated $500, 900 with which to
build an oil refinery, to be worked
by ~convictS. 1t looks. therefore, as
If the state We're in the fight in earn
est. Tt is a question, however, If alone
the state could do much oward de-
stroying a monopoly as powerful as
the Standard Oil. That company has
almost unlimited capital. and practi-
cally controls the price for refined oil
in the greater part of the world. I'm
der the circumstances it would be.
rather remarkable If a little refinery,
run by a couple of dozen of convicts.
could compete with it in Kansas. OF
ours the government may succeed
in discovering something that will en-
able 1t to render Kansas very great
assistance. It is, no doubt, the inten-
ton Of the President that the invest
tigation which he has ordered begun
shall be thorough. It is his purpose
to get at the bottom of the complaints
which are all the time being made
| against the great oil trust. If evil
dence sufficient can be obtained the
law will be enforced vigorously.-Sa-
| varnah News.