The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-05-24

Sec s.s~soo aoA VIC party iuulVluudl'
and cliques-the part of the Who'll,
I-men and Office and personal ag
grandizement for the popular veal
The crying complaint Of the times i,
against the filing of offices in VIC
lence of popular choice. All thi!
tends to magnify the responsibility
involved in the selection of candi
dates. Party purity is but the ag
gregate purity of individuals, anc
party power as surely declines wher
individual character is ignored in The
choice of public officers as individual
power ceases with loss of personal
reputation.
do not mean to advocate the
maxim "men, not principles, ;
which embodies no more of polite.
al wisdom than does that other false
maxim, principles, not men,
There is no safety for the State when
either is divorced from the other
and the popular suffrage is asked fol
anything short Of both principles
and men. But the lesson of the
hour surely is, that if party creeds
differ more in words than ideas, even
though one of them be but mask,
that party shall pluck the victory
whose banner iscarried by the good
liest men; that, if other things be
equal, character and fitness shall
win the day.
Peace conferences" and this con-
vention, and all conventions that
may be held while time endures,
may declare 'that public offices con.
stitute high trust to be admins
tered solely for the people : $
with the same efficiency, economy
and integrity as are expected in the
execution Of private trusts" and
such declarations will be barren of
results unless, and until, public Off
GERS are selected upon the same con-
siderations of fitness and with the
same care as influence the selection
of administrators of private trusts.
Our duty here to-day calls US to
the declaration of such principles as
are consistent with the history of a
glorious party, but demands also as
a pledge of our sincerity that we
place the right men on any platform
we make. Personal purity, acknowl.
edged competency, devotion to the
principles of the Republican party
as they have been and still are de-
clared, with no divided loyalty to
man, men or faction. and added to
these the spontaneous, uncontrolled
Endorsement of the people at large
these are the essential qualifications
to be possessed by any man worthy
the suffrages of this convention and
the people it represents, for any office
within their possible gift.
But when the Office to be filed is
that Of a Judge of our highest court,
then are there especial considera-
tions to be weighed. To sit in that
court as one of its Justices is to reap
an honor worthy any mans ambi-
ton, and involves grave responsible
tiles. Its history is one long line
of light, without intervening cloud,
shadow, or break. No man sitting
as a Judge in that tribunal has ever,
in any way, tarnished the spotless
purity Of its ermine. 1t has never
felt the foul breath of suspicion, and
in its presence the fouler tongue of
slander has withered ere ever it
spake. For strength of reasoning,
accurate and thorough knowledge OF
legal principles, and all the qualities
that establish faith in law as the
embodiment of Justice, history fails
to point to its superior while there
have been those of its judges that
among all men, the wide world over
and all times included, need call no
man master. Over its sacred door
way may be written in letters of liv-
ing light that sentence from the Mag
ma Charta of King John, glowing
through the mists of more than two
centuries, to which it has ever lived,
true I'VE sell to no man, We will de-
ny no man, or defer right or justice" !"
It is, in spite of prophecy and theory,
an enduring monument of the peo-
ple's ability to rule in wisdom; an
unanswerable argument in favor of
an elective judiciary. Allegheny
county has a man worthy, she thinks,
and we trust you shall think so too,
to sit on the bench of that Court.
His name is Adam Mercer Brown,
and we ask that it be inscribed upon
our ticket as the the nomination of
this convention. do not believe in
eulogy for the living, and this man
needs nothing more than the ungild-
ed truth. Measured by the STAN
dard that have already outlined,
he will stand the test. A Republi-
can of Republicans, from the birth
of the good old party until this hour,
he has lent to the maintenance ofits.
principles both heart and brain,
voice and pen, and life consistent
with its doctrines. Never an office
holder nor an office seeker, he be-
longs TO no clique or faction is nc
mans man has no entangling al
liances, and can be celled by no
name but Republican. He is be-
fore you to-day with the indorse-
ment of the Republicans of Western
Pennsylvania, at least, without quail
living distinction. Thirty years
Of practice at the bar has given
him the ripe experience whose fruits
are Justly the property of the Com
To the intellect of a
lawyer, education and training have
added the character without which
a LAWYERS talents are for evil and
not for good. Two qualities he has
that, in my humble Judgment, are
the crown and glory for Judge
saving common sense and superb
moral courage. For, believe me, al
cowardly Judge is worse than a cow
ardly General. A judge ,of all men,
should never falter. He must stand
like q tower, four-square to all the
winds that blow. Neither wealth
nor power. organized or unorganized,
nor prejudice, nor popular clamor,
though it roll to the foot of the
Bench, may affect the Judge who is
worthy to sit in our highest tribu-