Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-07
Parker a. . Mud Singer.

stump by Alton b Parker. his ii"e
ing denunciation Of these charges aS
.ur,u.,ifiedly and atrociously false
and his challenge to Parker to present
y s;nple scrap of evidence to support
rho assertions he has made put tho
Democratic candidate and his mani
ayers in a very bad hole. The lie IS
i,ed and now what will the liars do
about ito They will writhe and squirm
under the awful flashing given them by
rho President, but the American people
wi,, enjoy their discontinue and bury
them still deeper under an avalanch OF
votes. tomorrow. Our country knows
ito President and trusts him, and will
Justly resent the malicious insult OF
cowardly maligners.
Decent people throughout the coun-
FRY irrespective Of political affiliations
can only regret that Parker has seen
fit in these closing days of the CAM
naign TO make a series of bitter attacks
upon the personal honesty of President
Roosevelt and Chairman Cortelyou OF
the Republican national committee.
Aside from the political blunder in-
yolved and the fact that no good can
result from it to his own candidacy. it
ia great pity that a candidate for the
presidency should stoop to personal
abuse of another candidate for the
same high office, who in this instance
happens to be already in possession OF
the executive chair. 1t is bad enough
for Parker to show absolute ignorance
of the facts by the charges and asser-
tions he has made. but it is infinitely
worse for him to resort to mud-sling-
ing of kind which is nothing less than
blackguardism. AS silent candidate.
Judge Parker was weak enough.
Heaven knows, but how much smaller
and weaker he appears when viewed
in the light of his speeches upon the
stump. He acts as if he were deter
mined to deliberately throw away the
esteem of every American citizen.
whose good opinion is worth having.
Certainly such a penalty is none too
severe to pay for the offense Parker
has committed.
Every intelligent man in the world
has faith in the absolute honesty of
| Theodore Roosevelt; and yet Parker,
following the lead of two or three ire
sponsble partisan newspapers has de-
liberately accused the President Of
selling out to the trusts. body and soul.
and Matchmaking them for great cam
paign funds in exchange for protection
promised during the next four years.
The accusation is the most serious one
presidency. 1t has not been backed up
| by a single bit of evidence. Everybody
knows that it is both false and absurd.
If it We're true. it would also be true
that the man who has been most spe-
cially marked for integrity in American
public life in our generation has sud-
denly become the worst rascal who
ever aspired to the presidency.
Never before in all his varied and
notable public career has Theodore
Roosevelt been accused of dishonesty.
His record is absolutely clear. and as
one studies the pages, it is evident that
his integrity has been his most valua-
bic political asset. Yet Alton B. Parker
the Democratic nominee for the presi-
dency, solemnly assures his hearers
that President Roosevelt has suddenly
changed his moral nature; that he has
become a blackmailer; that he is seek
ing to buy the presidency. and that. in
short. he is man who should be
promptly impeached and removed by
Congress from the high office he holds.
What will the American people say to
such scurrilous and libelous charges
as these? And what will they do to
the man who has made them without
producing scrap of evidence in their
support? Those questions will be ans
wered, tomorrow. and they will be ans
wered with an emphasis which will
drive into obscurity forever the man
who has insulted the intelligence of the
American people by charging Theodore
Roosevelt with corruption and dishon-
esty.
Inc braZen nerve required by Parker
in making such talk as he has been
guilty of is much more apparent when
one considers that the trust magnates
of Wall street were responsible for his
own nomination. and have managed his
own campaign for him. To make the
contrast clear between the accused and
the accusers in this case. let us look at
the list of Republicans prominently
charged by Judge Parker as being
members of "a government whose off,
GERS are practically chosen by powerful
corporate managers" Here they are: