The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-03-22

IL IL NS%I I'D fEO@EfSS
under Management Of False Leaders
Tile Situation Reviewed hy a
Prominent Business Maa.
| Editor Messenger:
Dear Sir:-Your leading editorial Of
10Th should, and doubtless will, be
favoroably received by all North Caro-
I1inians who have the development and
material progress of the state at heart.
1t is high time, indeed, that the press
| of North Carolina should raise it's
| voice in protest and lend its energies
TO the crushing out of a false leader
| ship that is constantly inf1aming and
leading the people on to the goal of
| discrimination, socialism. cOnfiscation,
anarchy and ruin. Some of these lead
| ers are, no doubt, sincere in their mis-
guided purpose; but most Of them are
! demagOgues who seek to ride into i'll
| crative office upon the crest of the
wave Of miscOnceptiOn. A careful poll
Of these men will show them to be
those who ride the impossible elephant
of temperance" who rode the wild
| doS VI H4lSt SlINcls dlu WHO WOllO
now ride the monster of "~confiscation''
The last legislature has given the
state a commercial setback from
which it will not ecoVe in five years,
even under good government. In the
short space of sixty days it has multi
fed the splendid efforts of the present
governor, his predecessor, the
present lieutenant governor, who have
but recently visited the northern and
eastern states, DrOClaiming our great
resources, telling of our educational
and industrial progress, and inviting
capital and energy-the TWO forces
most needed-tO join in our Develop
men It has effectually checked the
efforts Of our commercial bodies and
thoroughly discouraged a commercial
patriotism which North Carolina HIS
lot enjoyed since that spirit was
crushed in the early sixties.
Where is the honest North Carolin-
ian who can hook his capitalist friend
of another state in the face today
and say: 1--WE need and want your
capital to help us develop one of the
richest undeveloped states in the
world; come with us into North Caro-
ina and invest your energy and your
money. You will o regret it," If
you find such a man today, you will
find him among the gang that would
get the stranger in and then milk"
him.
Lack of sound and safe leadership
has so disrupted the national democra-
tic party hal there is practically no
national party. Men who endorse de-
mocracy have found it necessary to
vote the republican national ticket in
order to get somewhere within gun
shot of true democratic principles.
The national republican leaders have
been smart enough to incorporate a
number of democratic principles and
% administer them ~conservatiyely and
successfully. The result is hat the
~so-called democratic leader now rolls
around every fOur years and leads the
southern voter into the realization, on
the morning after the election, that
be has been voting in the air and that
the democratic party exists nationally
only in fancy. Much the same condi-
ton is threatened in North Carolina.
Under wise republican leadership
the state will go in the republican
column two years hence, and I am @
sure but that this result would greatly
| hnnnff tho nnnrJa II, o.z - L..
democratic party in particular.
The best governed and most per-
manently progressive states in the
country today are those in which the
people are strong, equally divided. and
not bound in political slavery to any
set OF leaders. In these states the
people think for themselves and vote
Tor Il best man up, irrespective Of
political utilization. The negro was
eliminated from politics in this state
nearly ten years ago and the white
people of North Carolina then de-
clared, we are now politically free"
Ii this declaration was and is true.
and I beliye it should be-, the time
has come for the exercise Of this
freedom
What shadow is it that comes over
our dreams when the speaker of a
great legislative body descends from
his lofty throne to that
tnose VINO TAIL to do his bidding shall
be read out of the party and there
after enjoy his eternal damnation ?
Is 1t not time for the people 10 read
themselves out of a party which
should, under it's present leadership.
suffer their eternal damnation?
Respectfully,
n 10 An~w-