The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-17
CURRENT COMMENT.

It mghtn1 OF be a bad idea for the
new governor Of Indiana to send ex-
Governor Taylor of Kentucky back TO
his own state to stand trial. The tenn
per Of the Bue Grass people ought 10
have modified sufficiently to pe-nI.
this gentleman { have a fair trial. 1t
Is time that Taylor faced his country
men like a man anyhow.-FToreuce
Times.
The new theory that a federal pris-
oner cannot confer with his legal cou1-
sci at will may be technically sound
law, but it will strike mot people as
extremely arbitrary and unworthy OF
American institutions. The federal
government has no a~utocratic control
over a man who has not been coz.
victed Of crime and sentenced to ths
penalty. The strength OF the federal
courts lies in their supposed freedom
from purely local pre5udices and the
permanency of the judges. There is no
surer way of rendering federal autnori-
ty uncomfortable h by making it au-
tocratic.-Louisville Herald.
The beginning Of every year has it's
DOUBTS and uncertainties, its hopes and
D-.nlires, and as these develop, they
shape the nations welfare, whether IL
be IN manufacture, labor OF politics, or
nance. The yea. at he outset, = is
found, misgivings are less and under
lying conditions stronger than they have
been fer many a twelve month Rare
ly las a new y opened with bright
er rounding or feelings of create
confidence. True, there are yet to be
solved, vital problems Of federal legtsIa-
ton oven corporations engaged in uIer-
state business. regulation Of railroad
rates by congress, the tariff and the
momentOus question Of labor.-Philaiel-
ph:a Telegraph.
Associated Press dispatches from st.
Petersburg contain the rumor that Che.
Russian minister. Lamsdorff, has adj
vised the car to seek peace 1t is truss
Lamsdorf reasons, that if peace were
made now Russia'S prestige would suf-
fer; but beyond the loss of military
prestige nothing else would be lost to-
Russia except Manchuria-and Russia
at present stands pledged to the evac-
lsation Of Nanchur.a anyhow. The dis
patches do not say so; but it is proba-
BILE that Lamsdorff has also formed the
opinion that it will be better for R,.s-
STA TO pocket her present loss in mill
tary pretige and make peace than To
tempt the fortunes of var further. h
has lost prestige nov, n he may be
lieve hat she q n more chance TO
lost further prestige than she does TO
regain what she has losA-Atlauta
Journal.
Il Mr.. Tillrnan succeeds in his efforts
to get a report from the judiciary COM
mit1ee of the senate upon his reSolu-
ton calling for Interpretation of the
constructive recess fiction, he will do
Letter than we anticipates. True, he has
been given some sort OF a nebulous
promise that the subcommittee to
which the matter was referred, will
act before the adjournment of abe ses-
sion, buE that the senase lawyers Wi.
go into he meat3s of the inquiry we
very much doubt. Most of the leading
republicans in congress do not hest
tate to let it be known that they dis
agree wholly with President Roosevelt
3pon his proposition tha1 there was a
constructive reeess'' between twelve
o'clock noon of one day and twelve
o'clock noon of the same day, bzt they
attempt to quiet the inquiry by deelar-
irg it a. certainty that mo- other Dresi-
lent will ever resor to such a subter-
fuge as Mr.. Roosevelt did in d to
keep the Crum nomination alive The
question is however; too large a one TO
be dismissed in that mannea. Now that
the Crum case is out Of the way, the
republican leaders of the senate ought
in their jog over it's elimination, to DE
willing to have 4 judicial Interpretation
of the constructive recess question
Atlanta Constitution.