Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-09-18
DEFENDS CRITICISM OF CANALS
UT ISSUES BEFORE THE PEOPLE
GOOD WORDS FOR THE PRES1DEN,

At&s
FiIIea.
SYRACUSE. y. " Sept. l7-Theodore
Roosevelt returned to the defense OF his
new nationalism today. as was specifically
indicated IN The t'tle o. MS addr sss at the
state fair here. The New Nationalism
and the old Morality"
THE new nauonalism." he reiterated,
means nothing but an application to new
conditions of certain old and fundamental
mortalities. 1t means an invitation to meet
/ the new problems OF the present day in
precisely the same spirit in which Lincoln
and the men Of their day met the new
! problems"
/ To his critics, he put this issue. rs any
party willing to take the other side OF the
! propositions OF which complaint is made?
III So IT would be good thing to have
the issue before the people for in the end
the people would most certainly decide In
(NyN, cG the principles embodied in the
ne" HAd,uAlim NpcNVsV otherwise this
/ country could noe continus - ~ trva
republic, true democracy"
Criticism of .,ourL Defended.
! The speaker followed with a Justification
/ of hls attacks on the supreme court of
! the United states. lie chose two argu-
| ments-one, that IN his criticisms he had
merely echoed the minority opinions OF the
court itself, the other r:,at he had IL
/ instrious precedent, namely the example
| Of Abraham Lincoln. who, he said had
/ been far more outspaken than he himself
had ever been and the example of Presi-
dent Taft from whose utterances fifteen
years ago in favor of pubhc criticism of
! the courts he quoted.
! Take for instance he continued, what
/ said in reference 10 two decisions of the
| supreme court. one decision was In the
! Knight sugar case In which, according to
the dissenting opinion of Justice Harlan.
! the Judgment OF the court placed the pub
! lie. 50 far ds national power is concerned
(the only power which could be effectivel
entirely at the mercy of the combinations
which arbitrarily control the prices Of
articles purchased to be transported from
one state to another state.
Il merely took the view which the learned
justice had taken in his dissenting opinion
Those who criticise me are also criticisng
| a justice Of the supreme court, Mr.. Har-
| Ian DO my critics take the positic1 that
the people shall not be able TO control the
| activities and management Of these great
monopost corporations doing an inter-
state business. IL so. let them frankly
avow their position. Ii not, let them cease
their criticism
The other case mentioned was one pro-
hibiting New York state to regulate hours
of work in bake shops and again. the
speaker said. he had based his criticism
on dissenting opinion within the court
itself.
i Example az LIneSEz,
"Fifty-three years ago" he continued,
Abraham Lincoln was assailed for his re-
peated criticisms OF the supreme court in
the Dred Scott case. AS regards this de-
csion. he announced not once, hut again
and again, that he held 1t to be not merely
the right but the duty of citizens who
felt that judicial decisions were erroneous
and damaging, Loyalty to abide by the de-
cisions as long as they stood, but to try
hard TO secure their reversal his language
, on one occasion being as follows:
We do not propose TO disturb the
rights Of property thus settled We pro-
pose, resisting the decision as to have
il reversed If we can, and a new judicial
rule established upon the subject
He repeated this statement In slightly
differing language In speech after speech.
Moreover, he used very strong language
about the decision, far stronger than [
dream of using or than it would be proper
to use about the decisions with which I
now deal But his view as to his right and
duty to call attention to an erroneous de-
cision which vitality affected the rights Of
the people. was l think, entirely sound
At any rate, II have erred in commenting
as / have commented upon the decisions
in question 1 err in company with Abra-
ham Lincoln. The criticism OF me is per-
hsps well summed in the following speech
Of an eminent public man:
a. He makes war on the decisions Of the
supreme court. / wish TO say to YOU, fell
low citizens. that have no war 10 mako
on that decision or any other ever rem
dered by the supreme court. I am content
10 take that decision AS II stands. delivered
by the highest judicial tribunal on earth.
tribunal established by the constitution
OF the United States for that purpose, and
hence that decision becomes the Law Of tho
land binding on you on me, ana on every
other good citizen, whether we like Il or
not. Hence / do not choose 10 20 into
an argument to prove, before this audience,
whether or not he Cthe chief justic,p under
stood the law better than Theodore Roose-
velt'
Two Words Changed.
Now, gentlemen, have made one
change IN the above quotation The laxt
words were not Theodore Roosevelt" the
last words were Abraham Lincoln and
this attack, made nearly ffty-threc years
ago against Abe Lincoln, is precisely and
exactly the kind OF attack made upon ms
at the moment Abraham Lincoln felt
and professed throughout his life the same
profound respect for the supreme court
that Of course, l feel. and that I have
again and again m public speech and mos.
ssges, as president OF the United States
expressed. An upright Judge II a higher
and better public servant than any other
man can possibly be. and IL Is a cause OF
pride TO every American citizen that our
supreme court 10 the most influential judi.
cal tribunal in the entire world / have
quoted Abraham Lincoln; let me quote
him again:
e We believe in obedience TO and respec,