New Britain herald., 1916-07-11
MISSES THE JUDICIAL SPIRIT.
In the Political Utterances of Candi- date Hughes. -E..... S

,.s& In letter to the Springfield Re publican, writer from Halifax, 1.-Two,
 who signs himself J. NJ Anderson,
 has the following interesting com ment on ex-Justice Hughes: .- As for many years unidentified
 with any political party, though giv-
 ing considerable of my vote and re-
 gard to the party of my intensely an-
 tl-slavery parentage and youth, I must
 confess to bitter disappointmef1t over
 one feature. of the Hughes candidacy
 namely, it's notable eclipse of the ju-
 dicial spirit. @.,.+.
 "Mr. Hughes. record had ; been a.
 signally fine one. As eats1awyer in
 the prosecution of ma1efactors of
 wealth, then as twice govern or of the
 greatest of our states then as < dis
 tinguished jurist in what is likely the
 most eminent court in the world, his star had been second to, none ip our
 galaxy. And with these conspicuous
 features of his record there was as
 sociated a rare reputation for .estdf1-
 able church membership, family
 life, worthy of clerical parenta g-e. and training in one of the most venerabl&I of our universities And to multfti1da8
 including myself, these features have
 been accentuated by his course in not
 turning a finger to gain the nomina-
 tfon.
 "All in all, it seemed as if the coun-
 try and our time were to be cOngrat-
 ulated on our having now two pres
 idential nominees, Hughes and Will
 son, representing the very best in po-
 litical life, and destined to lead to new
 attainments, new era, indeed, in the
 dignity of our political campaigns
 The expectation was that that the two
 candidates while scontending each for
 the superiority of his own party in
 principles and record, would be court
 eous and judicial in full recognition
 of the favorable side of the other par ty and its candidates.
 '"This was especially expected of Mr. Hughes in view of his experience
 on the bench, Such a spirit is ofathe very essence of court principles and
 procedure It is of the very alpha
 bet of the law that every man is to
 be held innocent till proved guilty be- yond a reasona ble doubt. The judge is to see all sides of everything before him. but always with the kindly eye. |
 "Indeed this judicial principle is es- | sentfa1 not only in court procedure but in many another sphere. Whether or | not HegePs dictum was right that there is no true criticism that Is not based on reference there assuredly is no true criticism that is not based I largely on the Golden Rule and the. Christian charity taght- in the great charity chapter. There can be, for in stance, no true writing of history, with it's constant criticism of evidence, without that judicial and kindly atti- tude. s4l
 And encoura cement to hope for the best has been furnished to hope for the evidences of growth in this good di- rection. Even ir party politics, the citadel of unreason, there have been such evidences. The south. in the person of Senator John Sharp Will jams and others, has furnished, In po1r tiles, signal illustrations of the ju- |, diciaI temper. The Walsh Mccall last year, in Massac achusetts, f furnished another. MT. Taft's judicial r fairness never fails him, even as to the cheery recognition of his own linn ltations. Yea more than a half-cen- tury ago, Tn the very bitterness of the slavery agitation, the Lincoln-Douglas debates blazed the better way.
 we had, therefore, the best of rights to expect that MT. Hughes, with his great attainments and fresh from the 1 and to the world a distinct advance beyond anything yet seen in the mo- oility of political campaigns. Some of IS, unlike others, were not alarmed Nrrt rratifed rather by the calling on ,he bench for a candidate believing Ei -.at, as in woman suffrage, the al- 1 eged down-pull on the one side would Z 0e more than balanced. by the uplift ( on the other. e-s
 |'But what do we see? have read md reread the various deliverances tof Mr. Hughes since his nomination, as ] llso those of MT. Roosevelt, including, , lis 1ndorsemept of MT. Hughes and ly3 ierce arraignrnent. of MT. Wilson, and. Ifi n all candor it seems to- me that the ,x-justicer has gone to the colonel far nore than the colonel has gone toj he ex-justice. MT. Hughes's denuncia- ion of MT. Wilson toE the limit, with lot a word of commendatior1t not a , lint of encoura cement to a cmpetitor nd greatly burdened incumbant, , eenS little else than an echo of the ,