The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-09
Ghe 8lesseuwer.
RULE BY

primary. the candidates or the city
treasury. If it will throw any light
on the inquiry. we will state that IN
Raleigh the cost of the Localized pr1-
mary was paid by the candidates. each
candidate being assessed before the
election his proportionate part. which
all readily paid. Whether a defeated
candidate would pay. if assessed after
the primary. is a doubtful question. Ii
would look like making him pay for
his defeat-sort of rubbing ii in so
to speak.
We do not know VIA the law is
as to the Wilmington rimary but
when 4 primary Of n party is held
under the form of law the expense
ought to be paid by the city. Candi-
dates ought not to be subject to as
thus imposing a burden
UPON some that would not bear heav-
ilv uDon others. 1t is important that
money should not be needed in Dri-
mar;es or elections. Its honest use is
demoraliZing n often opens the
door for its corrupt use.
Bless your soul, my dear friend. that
was o the question which has been
bothering the people of Wilmington
since last Tuesday. The question was
not who should pay the expenses of the
primary. That was a small matter
compared with other questions which
have been agitating our people for the
last three days. We have not bothered
ourselves about such small matters as
that. With us more serious subjects
have been involved. For a while it
looked like the most serious questions
which could fall upon a community
might be brought face to face-not
only with the ten aldermen, but with
the people of the city.
We have a peculiar population here.
The people Of Wilmington have the
reputation of being inert, slow of ac-
ton, in fact, lazy. Well, they may be
but that is only when they have moth
ing to stir them up. But you once get
them aroused and they are the very
dickens to pacify. There are no other
people on the face of the earth more
determined and more jealous of their
rights. They are slow and easy going
as a rule. They are also forbearing,
and lOng-suffering. They will allow
much imposition ON their rights and
privileges rather than create a disturb
ance. But when they do make up
their minds that their rights have been
trampled upon, then those who have
been doing the trampling act had bet
ter sta / from under, or rather from
over. il. this case.
We pride ourselves upon being con-
servative and la%w-abiding. We also
take pride in the fact that we are de-
scendants of those men who brOOked
no interference with their liberties by
the monarch of Great Britain.
Among the people in this broad
try there can be fOund none more loyal
to their rulers, more patient under
misrule, more opposed to revolution,
but at the same time more courageous
in the face of danger and more deter
mined when they think the time has
come for them to act.
The truth is there is not a better
class of people on Gods green earth
than those who inhabit the good old
county of New Hanover. The longer
we know them and the better acquaint-
ed we gecome with them the higher
becomes our esteem and the greater
our love for them.
The same spirit among the people
which backed a Waddell when we were
subjects of the British government in
his open defiance of her rule of oppres.
sion, by burning the stamps and max
ing the stamp agent swear in the open
market place of our town that he
would never sell another stamp in this
city brought around the descendant of
that Waddell, the present mayor of our
town, the determined men who put
down negro rule in 1898 and who again
put him in office in this year of grace
and who were as ready to stand by
him now, as they did seven years ago,
when attempt was made by lawyers
through the much despised method Of
rule by Injunction" to thwart the will
of the people as expressed at the bal
lot box.
That this question has been finally
settled and the people have not been
deprived, ever temporarily, of the
fruits of their victory is a matter on
which they are to be congratulated.
The attorneys who advised and
sought the aid of a judge through the
instrumentality of a midnight ride on
a special train and application in the
dead hours of night to a judge to undo
the work of the voters of Wilmington
should be glad that they did not sue
coed. The lawful mayor and the peo-
people would, of course, ave l0beyed
m 100000 h- - 4 ~ 4ha