OCR Text |
Show BLOT ON i JUDICIARY j Idaho Outrage Greater Stain Than the Dred Scott Decision New York. Feb. 12. Former President Presi-dent Roosevelt made his first public appearance In the councils of the Progressive Pro-gressive party for many weeks tonight to say itiat so far as he was concerned I there would be no compromise no amalgamation, no yielding in the fight for the party. 'The Progressive party has cornel to stay," he declared. The ex president again attacked the supremo court of Idaho for its deel j slon denying the Progressive party a place on the ticket at the fall election Many of the conspicuous figures In I the Progressive campaign last fell I gathered for the Lincoln day dinner of the National Progressive club ftfanj women were present and hun drcds of spectators filled the balco nles of the hall in which the dinner was held. Vlbert .1 Beveridge. Progressive candidate for governor of Indiana, at the last election, Oscar Straus, who ran for governor in New York, William Wil-liam H Hotchkiss, former Progres slve state chairman, and ex Congress man W Bourks Cochran also made speeches. Against Amalgamation, t'olonel Roosevelt declared unequiv ocally against the amalgamation of the Republican and Progressive par ties as recent ly proposed by one ol the leaders in r Progressive cam paign last fall "The Progressive party." said he. "will amalgamate with neither of the two old parties. Both of which are boss-controlled and privlloge-rlddcn We believe that In each of these par ties, however, there are hundreds of thousands of good, honasf men and women who are Progressives The only place for them is In our partv We will welcome them In and we will ireat them on an exact quality with ourselves, paying not trie slightest heed to whether they formerly were Republicans or Democrats We all are Progressives together and noth ing else, wo of the Progressive party and ours is the only party competent to mold aright th; future of this mighty republic.'' Idaho Decision Dark Blot. Colonel Roosevelt declared that the decision of the supreme court of Idaho Ida-ho was an even greater blot on the n:erlcnn judiciary thap the Dred Scott decision Itself,'' and added that "no anarchist eve? can or ever will 1 1 11 r f tho courts as they are hurt by such action as this of the highest court of the slate of Idaho " Such a decision, he asserted, "shows tho need of the povser of popular recall of the judiciary." Colonel Roosevelt tonight returned re-turned to the subject of the dc-is.on of the supreme court of Idaho in the election cases, and again voiced the opinion that this de-1 de-1 on constituted "an even graver at fmse against Justice and decency, and an even greater plot on the American Judiciary than the Dred Scott decisioi Itself." The court characterized as "tho moat potent instrument In this denial of justice. Uses Lincoln's Words. Colonel Roosevelt spoke to Progressives Progres-sives at their Lincoln birthday ban quet. The first political utterance he has made in months, his address was permeated with passages from Lincoln's Lin-coln's writings and speeches In Lin coin's words he replied to the critics of the Progressive party, likened Republican Re-publican leaders to the old. exclusive silk stocking whiggery.'- which ' oppos ed Lincoln before the Civil war. " and declared that the time had rome for the people to act as the court of last resort He said, In part . Scores Idaho Judges. "At this moment there has occurred in Idaho a decision by the highest 1 state court which, within its own limits, lim-its, is an even greater offense against Justice and decency, and an even graver offense against Justice and de-cenoy, de-cenoy, and an even greater blot on the American Judiciary than Ihe Dred Scott decision Itself The reactionary Supreme court of Idaho has played Into In-to the hands of the Republican ma 1 hine of which It was Itself a part, j precisely as Justice Taney and the majority of the supreme court of tho nation In WLl played Into the hands! of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan nd the reactionary organization of which he and they were parts Grave Miscarriage of Justice In Idaho the result was as grave ,hs miscarriage of Justice at the elec-l tlon as had already occurred at the 1 nominal Int. convention, and the eour: became the most potent instrument In j this denial of JiiHiiic This derision 1 held to have been an outrage upon the people of Idaho, and not merely upon them, but upon the people of all the United for any interference with (the right of an American in any state I to cas his vote and to hae it counted , tor the president of his choice is in l offense against the Americans of all j the states. "I think the result of the vote showed show-ed that if we had been given our clear and undoubted rights Idaho's electoral vote would have been in the Progres sU'e column. The action of the rear-tlonary rear-tlonary court, taken In combination with the action of the Republican niu-I niu-I chine, resulted In the deprlavtlon of Jthe right of the people of Idaho to express ex-press their choice for president "Abraham Lincoln aid thai ba be lleved the Dred Scott decision repr-sented repr-sented a conspiracy aglanst liberty between the then supreme court ami the leading officers of the reactionary partv to which that supreme court be longed 1 believe that ith even mor-Justice mor-Justice Abraham Lincoln. If alv lo-day. lo-day. could make the same statement about the action of the reactionary ourl In Idaho In connection with the reactionary leaders of the Republican 1 machine of Idaho Idaho Paper Was Fearless. "But tho court did not sjop here There was in Idaho a newspaper fearlessly and In entirely proper man nor condemned the rourt for this outrage out-rage The editor and publisher of that paper, and another man connected with them. hav been thrown into jail and fined heavily for contempt by th-court. th-court. The court in Its opinion ha Ited the numerous dvnamite outrages and th like that have occurred as justification for their action. No more I extraordinary plea was ever made. I yield to no man in the horror I feel for the anarchists and for all other criminals who do murder, whether h dmnmlte or In any other fashion "But the damage they do. though great, Is by no means as great to the cause of law and disorder as is that 1 done by a decision such as the deel-1 slon in question: and no anarchist ever can or ever will hurt the courts as they are hurt by such action as this of the highest court of the state of 1 Idaho Remember that if the position of the Idaho court In punishing Us 1 ritlcs for contempt Is proper, th'.n I braham Lincoln should have been ; Jailed and fined for his words aboui the supremo court of the United States In conectlon with the Dred Scott decision ' Abraham Lincoln was no more or less guilty than the three men whom the supreme court of the state of Idaho Ida-ho have Imprisoned for contempt be-rause be-rause thiy criticised, in less severe language than Abraham Lincoln, a de cislon as indefensible from every standpoint of law and Justice and popular rights as the Dred Scott decision de-cision itself. Recall Needed. "A case like that in Idaho shows (he need of the power of popular recall re-call of the Judiciary a need which I believe could probablv be best met b. having the Judges appointed or elected elect-ed for life but subject on petition to recall by popular vote eery two years. This action would not. however, meet ail Ihe difficulties of the case In this state, for instance, there hare been many well meaning Judges who. In certain cases usually affecting labor, la-bor, have rendered decisions which were wholly improper, wholly reactionary, reac-tionary, and fraught with the gravest Injustice to those classes of the com munlty standing most In need of Jus-ilce Jus-ilce What Is needed here is not th right to recall the Judge, who In some one Instance gives a mistaken and r actlonary Interpretation to its const' 1 tuflon, but the right of the people themselves to express after due deliberation delib-eration their deilriltp Judement as to what the constitution shall permit In the way of legislation for social and Industrial justice. "I hold that In such a case thS bakeshop case. In such as case as the workmen's compensation act. in such a case as the tenement cigar factory act, In such a case as the act provid ing for the safeguarding of a danpc r ous machinery. In such a case as the eight hour law. that It is for the peo pie themselves to decide whether such n law Is or is not to stand on the statute stat-ute books 1 do not care whether you call this action ofthelrsconstruing th constitution, or making the constitution. constitu-tion. I hear for the fact and not for the name " Substitutes Word "Progressive." Substituting the word "Progressive" for "Republican" in a letter written by Lincoln the substitution being. Colonel Roosevelt said, only that of the name of the Progressive party of today for the Progressive party of Lincoln's time Colonel Rooseveit read the letter, as follows- "'As to the matter of fusion, I m for It If it can be had on (Progres sive) grounds, and I am not for It on any other terms. A fusion on any other terms would be as foolish as un principled It would lose the whole (of what we have) while the common enemy would still carry (nil the vote that Is hostile to us). The question f men Is a different one There are good patriotic men and able statesmen (in this territory opposed to usi whom I would cheerfully support if thev would now place themselves on (Progressive) (Pro-gressive) grounds but I am against :.ttlng down the (Progressive) standard stand-ard a hair's breadth ' "What Lincoln then said as to plat form principles, men and methods applies exactly to all attempts to fuse or amalgamate the Progressives with any other partv in our own days." William F Mc Combs, chairman of the Democratic national eommlttee, was st the dinner as Colonel Roose elf's guest at the imitation of Theo dore Roosevelt .Ir |