The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-11
PARKER'S WORDS
 HAVE TRUE RING
DweIls Upon the Cardinal Principles of Democracy In Speech of
 Acceptance.

l In accepting the nomination Judge Par ker spoke as follows:
 MT. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Com
 mittee:
 | have resigned the office of chief judge of the Court of Appeals of this state in order that I may accept the responsibil- ity that the great convention you repre- sent has put upon me, without possible prejudice to the court to which I had 1 the honor to belong, or to the eminent members of the judiciary of this state, of whom l may now say as a private citi- zen I am justly proud.
 At the very threshold of this response and before dealing with other subjects must in justice to myself and to relieve my sense of gratitude, express my pro- found appreciation of the confidence re- posed in me by the convention. After i nominating me and subsequently receiv- l ing a communication declaring that l re- garded the gold standard as firmly and 1 irrevocably established, a matter con- cerning which I felt it incumbent upon me to make known my attitude so that hereafter no man could justly say that l his support had been secured through in- direction or mistake, the convention re- iterated its determination that I should be the standard bearer of the party in the present contest. This mark of trust and confidence I shall ever esteem as the l highest honor that could be conferred upon mean honor that, whatever may be the fate of the campaign, the future can in no degree lessen or impair.
 Platform Is Admirable.
 The admirable platform upon which the party appeals to the country for it's confidence and support clearly states the principles which were so well condensed in the first inaugural address of Presi- dent Jefferson, and point out with force | and directness the course to be pursued through their proper application in order | to insure needed reforms in both the | legislative and administrative depart ments of the government While unhes- l itating in it's promise to correct abuses and to right wrongs wherever they ap- pear or however caused; to investigate l the several administrative departments ! of the government the conduct of whose 1 officials has created scandals, and to pun l ish those who have been guilty of a breach of their trust; to oppose the grant ing of special privileges by which the few may profit at the expense of the many; l to practice economy in the expenditures of the moneys of the people, and to that l end to return once more to the methods of the founders of the republic by ob- serving in disbursing the public funds the care and caution prudent individual ob- | serves with respect to his own; still the l spirit of the platform assures conserya- | tive, instead of rash action; the protec- tion of the innocent as well as the punish | ment of the guilty; the encoura cement of industry, economy and thrift; the pro- lection or property and the guarantee of | enforcement for the benent of all of mans l t1 in the Declaration of Independence, are | life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness" Liberty as understood in this l country, means not only the right of free | dom from actual seryitude, imprison- ment or restraint, but the right of one to use his faculties in all lawful ways. to live and work where he will and to pursue any lawful trade or business. These es- l sential rights of life, liberty and nron- erty are not only guaranteed to the cit | izen by the constitution of each of the several states. but the states are by the fourteenth amendment to the constitu- ton of the United States forbidden to | deprive any person of any one of them without due process of law.
 Limitations Are Disregarded. l Occasionally, by reason of unnecessary or impatient agitation for reforms or be- | partments of government by the consti- tuition are disregarded by officials deslr- | ing to accomplish that which to them | seems good, whether the power exists In | them or not, it becomes desirable to call | attention to the fact that the people, In | whom all power resides, have seen fit, | through the medium of the constitution, | to limit the governmental powers con- | ferred and to say to departments created -r.14 f1xrxs m | farfher" To secure the ends sought the people have by the constitution separated and distributed among the three depart ments of government-the executive, leg islative and tudicial-certain powers and if is the duty of those administering each department so to act as to preserve. rather than to destroy, the potency of the coordinate branches of the govern ment. and thus secure the exercise of all the powers conferred by the people. . Quotes Jefferson's Words.
 Thomas Jefferson, in letter to Will liam c. Jarvis, touching the perpetuity of our institutions. written many years after he had retired to private life, said: sIf the three powers of our government maintain their mutual independence of each other, it may last long, but not so If either can assume the authority of the | otner. IL iiluSt Dc SOHAeSScN e4''se .A '"N course of our history executives have em- ployed powers not belonging to them; statutes have been passed that were ex- pressly forbidden by the constitution and statutes have been set aside as unconsti- tutional when it was difficult to point out the provisions said to be offended against in their enactment; all this had been done with a good purpose. no doubt, but in dis regard, nevertheless. of the fact that ours Is the government of laws. not of men. deriving its just powers from the con- sent of the governed. If we would have our government continue during the ages to come, for the benefit of those who shall succeed us, we must ever be on our guard against the danger of usurpatior