The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-07-22

Q as his partner, and opened a law
Office in Kingston.
During the II years in which he
practiced law in Kingston Judge Par
ker built up a good practice and won
several important cases. but he was
never at any time under the control or
OF Ian ge corporations.
Now came his first experience Of
puDl1c office. He was nominated and
elected surrogate Of Ulster county, and
when his term expired he was elected
again.
Although Judge Parker has always
been deeply interested in his party,
he showed no desire to take part in
active politics until he realized that
his old employer, Judge Schoonmaker,
had been driven into retirement by a
conspiracy of his political enemies.
The young lawyer o up the old mans
fight. He believed that Judge Schoon-
maker had been wronged and de-
clared that he would never rest until
he had been v~indicated and restored
to his old position of influence and
popularity.
Judge Parker pressed the fight SO
hard that he was soon recognized as
he most capable and energetic young
Democrat in the county. Samuel ].
Tilden, then u~ndisputed leader Of the
party, sent for him and asked him to
revise the list of working Democrats in
Ulster cousty. Mr.. Manning, Tilden's
lieutenant, consulted the Jealous young
leader. 1t vas in those days that Judge
Parker net David b. Hill, Curtously
enough, while he was the most poten-
t1aI Democrat in his county, he refused
to assume h titular county leader
ship, but freely advised and assisted
the organization.
In 1884 the judge went as a delegate
to h Democratic national convention.
president Cleveland offered to make
him firSt assistant postmaster general,
but he declined the office.
Now am the test of his qualities as
a politician. In 1885, when David B.
Hill was nominated for governor, Judge
Parker became chairman Of the execu-
tive committee and managed the cam
paign. Mr.. Hill was elected governor,
and when Justice Westbrook of the
Supreme court died Judge Parker was
appointed to fill the unexpired term.
AT the end of his term he was 43
years old He was unanimously nomi-
mated by his own party for the Su-
preme court bench, and so deep an
impression had he made by his judicial
record of one year that the Republicans
refused to put a candidate in opposi-
ton. No a vote "a cast against him,
He served in the Supreme court and
in the appellate division until his eiec-
ton as chief judge of the court of ap-
peals by a majority OF $4,000 in 1897,
the year after the Bryan defeat.
His Politics.
Although Judge Parker voted for Mr..
bryan in 1896 and in 1900, he is not and
never has been a~radical.
Relieving in tha rnln of tha ma iprifv
as a Democratic principle, he gave his
party his vote, although he had no
sympathy with the free silver pro-
gramme.
He may be properly called a Tilden
and represents the policies
of his party in the days before MT.
rose to national leadership.
During his 10 years service on ~the
bench he has refrained from discussing
political questions, but it is well known
to- his friends that he believes in the
old-fashionaed ideas Of Democracy.
He believes in party responsibility
for government, and, in that sense, is
organization" man.
His Opinions.
In 1896 Judge Parker declared from
the Supreme court bench, in the Blue
stone case, that it did not matter
whether a combination in restraint of
trade was reasonable or unreasonable,
the existence Of Such a combination
was forbidden by the common law. 1t
must De remembered that he was not
constituting a statute, but was declaring
settled public policy.
That decision was sustained by the
of appeals, n is now the es-
tabliShed law of the state.
Judge Parker again laid down the
rulc against monOpolies in the court
of appeals in the case of the envelope
trust when he wrote:
Such a contract threatens a M
oily whereby trade in a useful article
may be restrained and its price I'M
reasonably enhanced, and it matters
that the parties to it have so mod
erately advanced prices that the sum
persons reasonable
The judge believes hat corporations
should be made to pay their just share
Of the public taxes, and sustained the
corporation franchise tax law, which
a chartered right 10 use the
streets for railways as taxable real
estate.
His opinions indicate strongly mis-
hatred of paternalism or OF any gov
interference in~the ordinary,
legitimate business pursuits of the
This attitude was very marked in his
opinions in labor cases.
Here is an extract from his opinion in
the case of the National Protective as
ISOLATION against Cumming, in which
the right of a labor organization to
strike in order to secure the discharge
of a non-union man was disputed:
Stated in other words, the PROPOSE
tons quoted recognize the right Of one
to refuse to work for another on
any ground that he may regard as suf-
ficient, and the employer has no right
to demand a reason for It. But there il,
l take it, no legal objection to the en-
ploye giving a reason, IL he has one,
and the fact that the reason given is
he refuses to work with another
who is not a member of his organiza-
ton, whether stated to his employer or
not, does not affect his right to stop
york TO the workman to whom he OBJ
jects because the employer sees fit to
discharge the man objected to rather
than los the services Of the objector.