The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-21
TRYING TO DIsCREDIr PARKER.

TRYING TO DIsCREDIT PARKER. There is no doubt in the world that the talk of the failure of the Parker senti- ment is primarily due to the Republicans. With them 1t is a case where the wish is father to the thought, for in Judge Par ker they see a real menace to the suc- cess of their own candidate That the supporters of Hearst should join in with the Republicans to discount the strength of Parker is not to be wondered at. While we do not believe that there are many
 men of intelligence in the United States who think Hearst stands the ghost of q show for the nomination there are doubt less some. and they know that the senti- ment for Parker knocks out the last
 vestige of hope for their man.
 It is downright amusing to read what
 some newspapers have to say about .'the
 fading out of the Parker sentiment" just
 as if all the Democrats in the country
 had declared for him and had then gone
 back on him. It is absurd of course.
 There Is a much stronger leaning to him
 than to any other Democrat, but it was
 not expected or hoped by his friends that
 his name would take the country by
 storm and carry everything before it. It
 is sentiment which is building up and
 growing day by day. and those who are
 congratulating themselves on its decad-
 ence are growing too soon.
 As we have said, 1t Is the Republicans
 who are most enthusiastic in trying to
 discourage the Parker candidacy. True,
 some of them, in an effort to put patriot
 ism above partisanship. have expressed the hope that the Democrats would noml-
 nate a conservative and well qualified Democrat, so that, in case of his election, the country will have safe and credita-
 ble President. but deep down in their
 hearts they dread man like the Judge and hope he will not be chosen. If the choice could fall on Bryan ,who, as Gov ernor Odeil expresses it, would be 'so easy to beat" or on Hearst who would be still easier, it would relieve Republican they would feel that they had trifiing job before them. It is not too much to say that Bryan twice elected Mckinley, and the nomination of such a man would as certainly elect Roosevelt
 If the Democrats choose such a man | as Parker ,and place him on a real | Democratic platform. the result is much | more than doubtful. with the chances | largely in our favor. The Republicans | are not satisfied with Roosevelt. Their | party conventions go on endorsing him | because they can do nothing else, but the | best among them know that he is not | the right sort of man for the office. There are many thousands of them upon whom party obligations are loosely binding. and they would vote for a safe Democrat in preference to an unsafe Republican. | When we add to these the great army of independent voters who look more to the welfare of the country and the credit of the government than they do to parti- san lines the chances in favor of good Democrat are distinctly encouraging.
 Meanwhile, it is the policy of our op- ponentS lo ulsCreult fdrker g. SHenBth, and it is to be regretted that they have assistance, but they should not rejoice too boisterously just yet. He may not be nominated it is true, for few things are more uncertain than politics. and political conventions sometimes take wholly unexpected turns but it is per fectly safe to say that 1t will be Parker or an equally safe Democrat. It is not going to be man of the Hearst or Bry- an sort.