Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-09-21
Judge Parker's View.

| That Iut!@" Parker i Il great lawyer
| is certain from his speech of accept
anca He believes in the law and the
| constitution and the full liberty of the
| citizen under tie law. He believes in
| freedom. but not license or laxity. The
! chief doctrine of government which the
| fathers of the republic laid down and
/ the people ratified. of a free people gov
/ CriiinG themselves under orderly liber-
/ t. by law. is the keynote of Judge Par
| kcr'S speech and runs all through it.
| He believes i'll that old American priu-
, cipIc of the right of all under the law
| to life, liberty and happiness and Of !
| strict construction of the powers grant
ed To the legislative judiciary and exec
Gtivc branches of the government. He
| is especially severe upon executive
uSurpation. and, although he does not
| single out any executive as having eX
! CCcdcd the powers granted, yet he
warns the people that their liberty and
rights may be lost 10y condOninG the
evasion of the law or the constitution
by those in authority. TO him tEOre
is no orderly government without duo
process Of law for all alike, be they
high low. rich or poor.
When he comes to treat of the is
sues Of the campaign AZ laid down i'll
the platform he is of the same mind.
He believes in enforcing the law now
on the statute books or the common
law against the trusts and evidently
considers it sufficient To protect the
citizen from the pillage of those glgan-
tic corporations il strictly enforced
without fear or favor.
His uttcrancc on the tariff is CON
Scrvatiyc, and while emphasizing the
existence OF gross injustice in many of
the schedules he frankly admits that
even with 4 Democratic president and
house OF representatives the RcPub-
liCan ma jority in the United States sen
ate viii be an iusuperable barrier to
reform. He ventures to hope that Re
publicans who believe in tariff reform
| will aid the Democrats ana through the
force of public opinion force an unwlll-
ing senate 10 accept Il reasonable re
vision of the most obnoxious schedules
in spite of the hold that monopoliSts
have upon So many OF the members.
The strongest and most important
part of his speech Is the denunciatiOn
of militarism and the plea TO his cOun-
trymcn in behalf of ultimate Philip
pine Independence.
He points out that the grave COnsti-
tUtional questions that confront us ana
the lapse from American tradition of Il
free people governing colonies and sub
| jccu peoples are foreign to oUr form of
government. Judge Parker declares
that if elected he will not be a candi-
date for denomination and gives as his
chief reason for such Il course that in
deciding the momentouS questions that
might come before him he should he
uncmharrasScd by any possible thought
of the influence his decision may have
upon anything whatever that may af-
feet him personally" He concludes by
saying:
1t il simply my judgment that the
interests Of this country are now 50
vast and the questions presented are
frequently of such overpowCring mag
nitudc 10 the people that il is indispen-
sable to the maintenance of 4 befittiHg
attitude before the people not only that
the chief magistrate should be indie
pendent. but that that Independence
should he known OF al men"
Every voter should carefully read
and ponder upon Judge Parkcr'S
speech and his letter of acceptance,
which will more fully ap3rise his coun-
trymeu Of his position on great issues
that are TO be decided at the election in
November.