The Springfield herald., 1904-09-30

with all the trust questions which come
up Parker must have known, but he
probably forgot. that. from the very ma
ture or things, yon can't apply the com
mon law in Il national court. our federal
! courts derive all their power from the
Constitution of the United States. Con
gress can only lc;i>..tte under the Consti-
| tuition, and. while we apply seaernl prin-
! ciples in interpreting the law. it is i'm
possible to secure amy Affirmative action
in the United States court. except as the
result of statute law duly passed by
| Congress and approved by the President
| of the United States. y man like ,Olney.
| who has hccn Interested in public af-
| fairs at Washington. would never have
made the blunder Parker made. He
seemed to have written his speech of ac-
ccptancc as if he were dealing entirely
| in abstract questions which had been pre-
sented for settlement by his own court.
| His exposition of the general principles
| of the Constitution wIs not bad from 4
! legal standpoint. but when he came to
| deal with the question of trusts he seem
ed to have forgotten that he was respond
ing to nomination from national CON
vention, which had selected him to act as
President of the United States in which
capacity he would have to execute Unit
ed States laws only, and would have ab-
solutely nothing to do with the common
| law. This aIluson of Parker to the
! common law. AS n means OF attacking
| the trusts, has been u source of surprise
and amazement to the profession all over
| the country. Judge Parkcr's decisions in
| New York State have always taken high
rank. and it was this which made the
| amazement all the greater. We could
not understand how it could possibly be
| that any good lawyer could have made
such blunder, and we have been forced
to the conclusion that Judge Parker alb
solutely forgot that he was writing on
Il national topic. This is only an in
stance going to show the unwisdom of
| taking man off the bench for political
position. especially such a position as
that of President of the United States.
Experience Necessary.
| "TO administer the affairs of the gov
| crnment successfully, experience is just
as necessary as it is to run n hotel or Il
railroad. A lawyer in active practice is
! necessarily thrown in to a large extent
with the ordinary business affairs of the
country. but with Il judge on the bench
it is entirely different. He deals with
matters of abstract right and wrong.
and all his training goes to remove him
from business problems. In point of
fact. the successful judge in court OF
last resort should he as far removed
| from the influences of daily life as posi-
| bic. The ideal judge is n legal machine
| settling abstract principles of law, where
as the ideal President is exactly the oppo-
| site. He executes the laws as he finds
| them. suggests new ones to meet new
| conditions, and acts as the personal rep
resentative of the people who make the
laws. 1t is not his business to interpret,
| but to do. and the things which make a
| man good judge make him bad Iresi-
| dent, and vice versa. Parker would new
cr have made that awful blunder If he
had had any recent experience in Con-
grcss or in an executive position ut
| Washington, where he would have been
in touch with current opinion on this
subject. l don't wonder that Roose-
welt picked him up on this, and, in my
opinion, the Presidents paragraph about
| the common law as applied to the federal
| control of trusts is n most luminous eN-
position of the powers and the limitations
of the federal government. But it's GER
tainly a knockout blow for Parker"
| The Tariff Issue.
81 was glad to sec," said a successful
looking man, who explained later on that
he was n manufacturer in northern Yer
mont, II was glad to see that the Prcs-
| dent made such point of the tariff
! issue We had II dose of Democratic free
trade theories up our way about ten
years ago. which we will never forget.
| We are so near the Canadian border
| that we get the worst of every reduction
| in the tariff rates. We have to enter
into competition with the cheap labor
of Canada When the Wilson tariff bill
went into operation, just ten years ago,
| it shut up my factory inside of six
months, and l tell you, gentlemen, l
didn't open again until after Mckinley
was elected and the Dingley tariff law
went into opera ton. 1t was time Of
manic, rs you know. thousands of labor
| ing men were glad to work for any
wages. and yet, at the same time, l could
not run my factory and compete with the
Canadians. who flooded our part of the
country with goods made by the cheapest
| labor, such rs l could not secure even
| in those tiIaes of starvation. There are
| some pieces far in the interior where
| freight rates protect them from foreign
competition in times of free trade, but
| those of us who are near the border are
| the first to feel this competition. l got
! it in the neck ten years ago, and got it
| good and hard. If there weren't any
| other issue between Tue Two paGtleS,
would vote for Roosevelt. because he and
the Republicans generally stand for the
| protection of American manufactures
/ against the competition of the cheap la
Dor, not only of Canada, but of the
world at large. We all believe in reci-
procity which is reciprocal. and not in
free trade under the guise of reciprocity.
| Roosevelt's story of the disastrous effects
| of the Wilson tariff of 1894 is not over
drawn in the slightest particular, and
am glad to see that he has kept the
| tariff issue to the 'front.' because in all
| this talk of Imperialism and extrava-
| gance and the trusts. and one thing and
| another, people seem to forget that the
Republican party is pledged to protec-
ton. and that the Democratic party is
| pledged to free trade. We haven't for
| gotten that up our way. however. and
| tell you, gentlemen, that the big Repub-
| lican vote in Vermont was largely, If not
entirely. produced by the determination
of our people to put themselves on rec
ord against the free trade principles and
| platform of the Democrats"
"It's frank, it's honest. and it's fair"
| said the clergyman to "A seat-neighbor in
| the interior of the car. when they were
| discussing the same letter of accept
ance. I'm not much OF Il politician my
| I