The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-20
SCRAP BOOK FOR TO-DAY


 That raucous sound that will be heard to-day need not cause alarm. for 1t will be due to the atmospheric commotfon caused by the screaming of the eagle in Charlotte. Not Char lotte, Mich, or N. Y., or Tenn, nor yet Chorlottetown, P. E. l., Xbut the big Charlotte, the metropolis of all the Charlotets, the capital of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, the historic scene of the signing of the Meclk1en- burg Declaration of Independence, first document of it's kind. It was on the twentieth of May, 1775, that the citi- zens of Mecklenburg county met in Charlotte and passed resolutions that served as a model for the charter adopted at Philadelphia on the Fourth of July of the following year. There fore, be it resolved" declared the cit izens of Mecklenburg county, that we do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country, and hereby apsolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Grown, and abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation''-"that we do hereby declare ourselves a free and indepen- dent people," And with those cruel words the people of Mecklenburg county drove their old mother out of the house and warned her never to darken their door again.
 Other municipalities may celebrate the Fourth of July as Independence Day, but Charlotte has long insisted that the Twentieth of May is the true day and date for making the eagle scream. In view of the facts that Charlotte is the biggest city of it's size in the world, that it has gained eighty eight per cent. in population i'll the last decade and is still growing like a weed, that half Of the looms and spindles of the South are within a hundred miles of Charlotte's city hall, that the city now has 8 population of forty or sixty thousand and that a Democrat has at last been elected President of the United States = in view of all these facts, and others enu merated in the small bills, the people of Charlotte have determined to make to-day's celebration the most non1en- tous in history. The mayor, and the sheriff, and the editors of Char1otte's newspapers, and other leading c:ti- zens, have been touring New York, Philadelphia, and other villages, in- vitfng the citizens thereof to, come down to Charlottee and see what a. real live town looks like. Many dis tinguished men who are unfortunate enough not to live in Charlottee will be that city's guests, and will sample southern hospitality.
 And as for those iconoc1asts who have cast aspersions and things On the authenticity of the Mecllenburg Dec laration of ndependence-jolly we'll for them it is that they are not in Charlotte to-day-jol1y well, indeed.
 John Stuart Mill, the great English political economist, was born 107 years ago to-day, and his memory will be honored by the suffragettes, since he was the author of the first bill for giving women the ballot ever intro duced in the British Parliament. In- cidenta1iy, 1t was on MilPs birthday, May 20, 1867, that this measure came to a vote, and was negatfved by 196 against 7S. The great philosopher took a prominent part in the organ ization, in 1868, of the National Socie- ty for Women's Suffrage. Whether the observance of Mills birthday in London will take the form of placing flowers on his tomb, or blowing up the Houses of Parliament with dyna- mite, has not yet developed in the news columns. Mill has been dead for forty years, and since then many bills similar to the one he fathered have. been introduced and have met the same fate. It would be interest ing to know what view the great scholar and savant would take of the militant manifestations of the 'swiId women of to-day.