The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1912-01-31
FLLlAYS TEDDY
Says RoossVsIts Critcisan is Against
Supremacy Of Ihs Law.
JUDGE PARKER SPEAKS

Distinguished Jurist, in Speech Be-
fore South Carolina Lawyers, De-
clares that Unjust Criticism Of
Bench by Former President Begin
ming of Lowering Of Standard.
Judge Alton 5. Parker, of New
York, who once contested the Presi-
Dental election with Theodore Roo
sevelt, delivered an address in Co
lumbia Thursday right before the
South Carolina Bar Association, in
which he expressed himself as op-
posed to the recall of the judiciary,
| and took exception to some Of the
criticisms of the Bench made in the
past by Mr.. Roosevelt. He" said IN
part:
II put into practice and carried
tc its Inevitable conclusion recall OF
Judges is the substitution Of popular
opinion for legal rroe edure-lt is jus
tice or injustice meted out, not ac-
cording to the law Of the land, but
according to supposed public senti-
ment. Recall Of Judges spells in the
ultimate result recall Of the judi
cial system and the substitution Of
vigilance committee.
sfNever before, think, in the his
tory Of civilization has any blind lead
er Of the blind advocated as pro-
gressive return 10 the chaotic con-
ditions inherent in administration OF
justice by caprice rather than by the
rules Of law.
"The recall Of Judges, however, is
but the first step toward the cher
ished goal Of the leaders of the move
ment against the judiciary. Their
ultimate aim is the recall Of the pow
er OF the Courts to declare void such
Legislative Acts as are forbidden by
the constitutions, State and Federal.
What has happened Of late to lead
$50 many to favor stripping the men,
bers Of the judiciary Of their inher-
itance and shearing them OF the
power to enforce the Constitution.
Surely the judicial standard has not
been lowered OF late. The cause Of
the change in public sentiment then
IS not to be found N the lowering Of
the judicial standard. It had its be-
ginning during the incumbency OF
the last President. More combina-
tions to restrain trade and prevent
competition came into existence dur
ing his incumbency of the Office than
in all our precious history.
"When the protests of the people
against the rising tide Of higher
prices began to be heard, he sought
with his accustomed political shrewd-
ness to shift the responsibility from
the shoulders of his party. To that
end he inveighed against the impo-
itency Of the law and the well mean
ing but fossilized-cf-mind Judges
laying the responsibility Of our evil
state to the law and it's ministers.
'Was ever accusation more un-
Just? From whence came the spec
ial privileges against which protest
is raised? From The Courts? No,
not in single instance. They came
By statutes passed by legislative bod
les and in most instances approved by
chief executives.
.:The reports which came TO him OF
the effect OF his campaign against
the judiciary enabled him to go out
!ot Office fully appreciatins that
through his skill MS administration
and his party had escaped, for time
at least, the responsibility which was
justly theirs. What his present mo-
tive may be we need not conjecture.
"His grievance IS that the deces-
ions are in such fragrant and direct
contradiction to the spirit and needs
Of the tines 1t means to his null
titude Of readers that Courts should
Ceclde, not as the people have COM
manded in their Constitution, bat ac-
cording to the notion Of himself and
his followers as to the needs OF the
times
Through his leadership. while
President and since, a large and un-
informed following has been recruit
ed throughout the United States who
are waging, many Of them uncon-
sciously, a battle agains tthe suprem-
acy Of the law. The uniformed
think because they have been de-
ceived, the Courts are in effect Veto
ing legislation that the people want,
not that the Courts are merely set
ting aside enactments that the pee-
pie have forbidden the legislative de-
partmelt Of the Government to pass.
Il they should be made to understand
the whole truth before it is too late,
the movement, in form against the
judiciary, but In reality against its
power to hold in check the would-be
usurpers of power not granted by the
/