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Show POOR JUDGE PARKER. B H ' I (By .William Marlon Reedy In St. Louis Mirror.) m I TJnondurably, dismally dull is Judge Parker's H I i letter . accepting the Democratic nomination for m I j President. His ponderosity Is not oven vivified B by tire personal force which redeems the same B j quality in most of Mr. Cleveland's utterances. H Judge Parker says nothing in the most "solemn- B choly" fashion imaginable. His platform is that B he is against everything the Republicans have B done, except the establishment of the gold stand- B ' ard. He Is opposed to imperialism, to thro en- B croachment of thG executive upon the constltu- B t'ibh, he is forninst the tariff and the trusts, but, B i dhi'how gingerly he treads his pathway! He qual- Hl ftlote, his antagonisms until they evaporate. He HI his "woazol words" galore to suck the life out of BB " every proposition. Wholly he evades the rnoe is- B sue at home, knowing that the race issue isn't an B w, I5 issue in the North, where he must look for votes. B ( I His lotted, compared ' with President Roosevelt's B j is "as moonlight unto sunlight, or as water unto B ? I wine." Oh, yes, it's a dignified document, all right. B hi I So dignified that not one reader in ten can stay B m awake and peruse its prosings to the end. The H J ' letter simply intensifies the flatness of the cam- H jl paign. It is a wet blanket on whatever enthu- H I siasm existed for Parker anywhere. There is no H C ring to it, no stir in it, no red corpuscle element. H They say that while and where there's life, there's H hope. Alas for Judge Parker, his letter has no H life, and he can have no hope. H t ! Judge Parker has no chance to win. This is B ? practically conceded at the Democratic headquar H tors in New York. There, the feeling is that the 1 j Democrats may carry New York, but will lose the H S country at that. The management isn't getting H 1 in any money. Even the jejune. Gassaway hasn't H 1 ccjughed up as was anticipated. The news from PB I Indiana and Illinois is bad. Sulking is general fiB '- in the silverite or Bryan states. Even in Mis- H souri the reliance of the party is that tire gub- B ernatorial candidate will save the state's electoral H i ' vote to Parker. Mr. Bryan is not doing as much H If as it was thought he would do. Tom Watson'p B ? riddlement.of the Democratic platform and candi- B I date is being used effectively by the Republicans B 5 . with the silver men. Indeed, Watson bids fair to B I resurrect Populism in the South and West. From B I all parts of the country comes the story that H I there is no interest in Parker and Davis, that the B H I people like Roosevelt. About all the strength B Parker has, apparently, Is with the Brahmin caste B I in New England, in the office of the New York B I Evening Post, in the Solid South, and in Hill's up- B I qountry following in New York State. That can- B ;. not help him. There isn't enough of it. Worst of B i all for Parker is the listlessness of the business HE I and speculative world. It was supposed to be BH ' afraid of Roosevelt. It was more afraid of Bryan. B " When Bryan was put down at St .Louis, business B was relieved. Wall street didn't care then how ! things went. It naturally fell back upon' Its nat ural political affiliation with the Repubicans. Wall I street doesn't care much for Rdosavelt, but It trusts Roosevelt's party, and whatever the Democratic Demo-cratic party may say in its platform, there is no certainty that firebrands will not appear, and no assurance that however Parker stands now, ba, would not "go with his party" In some crazy crisis, just as he stuck to regularity on silver in 1896. B- sides, it took wild horses to drag the gold telegram lfl I out of Parker after he was nominated. It was jHl I Joseph Pulitzer's Hammering that Parker must jB I declare himself for gold that forced Parker to Hfl j I do this. Parker therefore, is n quite so "safe jHI i i and sane" in business men's opinion as party jflH I leaders would have us believe, and every time the jBB ' I "safe and sane" cry goes up the Democratic lead- jHB 8 ers wno wer wIth Br?n feeI tbe implication mBB I I and insinuation against their mentality. Hi BBlBBj IBBi BBK38B Judge Parker is not satisfactory even to the forces that put him up.. 4The great New York Democratic papers have a querulous undertone in their editorials in his favor. They think he is "playing the dignity racket too strong." They want him to do something to wake things up. They don't like the apathy which Parker seems to radiate upon the campaign manager. Parkers' speech is worse than his silence. His letter doesn't give the party any rallying cry. His career as a candidate doesn't afford live mutter for comment. His personality doesn't make any headway. Politically Politi-cally he is a "wax flgger," and nothing else can be made of him. There is nothing to say about Parker except that he lives In a nice spot and has a red-polled bull Peter and a trned sow. On the other hand, with Roosevelt not saying much or doing much, Roosevelt is more in the minds and on the lips of Democrats than Parker Roosevelt dominates both parties. His opponents op-ponents are even more directed in their movements move-ments by his words and deeds than are his followers. fol-lowers. Egad, if it were not for Roosevelt there'd be no Issue for the Democrats, since they seem to approve all that McKinley did, and to object only to the McKinley policy because Roosevelt carried it out after McKinley's death. Roosevelt stays quiet and it must be hard work but since Parker's letter, there seems no use in saying anything. any-thing. It is no answer at all to Roosevelt's challenge chal-lenge to the Democracy to state specifically where it would overturn what has been done or change the policy of government now in force. Still, Roosevelt shouldn't be muzzled. The people have some rights in this campaign, or right, at least, to a thrill or a whooping up now and then. Parker can't give It, but Roosevelt can. Too funereal Is the $ampaign. There's no fun in it. Roosevelt Is the person we all look to for a little excitement. He has the capacity to interest us, even when he Is quiet, but as most of us are going to vote for him, even though he is to have almost a walk-over, ho should and I would not speak disrespectfully of the president-7-come out and do some little characteristic writing or talking "stunt" that would sound or look like giving us "a run for our money." |