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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1902)
June 27, 190a before the congressional campaign, but their plan is to pass bot!i it and the ship subsidy bill at the second session, after the election is over. If re publicans were as well informed as they ought to bo they would seize the opportunity offered by this fall's congressional election to administer such a rebuke to the leaders of the party as to save th-) party from the disgrace that such legislation would entail. JJJ A Popular Plan. Two facts aro generally recognized. One Is that the people of the United States, regardless of political prejudice, are in favor of the proposition that United States senators be elected by popular vote. The other is that the members of the United States senate are opposed to this popular proposi tion. Democratic conventions should get in lino with this wholesome public sentiment. Democratic conventions should lay down as a rule that candi dates for the United States senate, who ask for the votes of democratic members of the legislature, shall pledge themselves that they will advocate and support any and all measures providing for the submission to the people of a constitutional amendment for the election of United States sena tors by popular vote, and, if need be, to introduce such measures themselves. No friend of the popular vote plan need be in the least discouraged because the United States senate, as at present constituted, has shown its unfriendliness toward this good plan. By an over whelming majority the American people are in favor of this proposition. To be sure it Is an in novation, but it is an entirely desirable one. It seems that it will be necessary to use a bit or per suasion in order to establish this method. Let it be understood that no democratic mem ber of the legislature will ever vote for a candi date for the United States senate unless that can didate pledges that under all circumstances he will give faithful and cordial support to the proposi tion that United States senators be elected Dy u vote of the people. JJJ ' What Other Evidence? The Chicago Record-Herald has made a state ment which it says "will clear the air regarding the attitude of President Roosevelt and his ad ministration touching the future status of the Philippines." "It is not to be taken as a statement issued by the president," says the Record-Herald, "but ex cept that the president of the United States is never interviewed, it can be accepted with the force of an interview." The Record-Herald then proceeds to say that the president has been asked by some personal and political friends to consider whether it would not,be better to change the policy of the United States especially in the direction of giving the Filipinos ultimate independence and to make that announcement so that the' islands could know that some time in the future they would be treated as Ciiba-has been treated. The Record-Herald says: These friends have told the president that they were impressed with his speech at Arling ton, in which he spoke of the time when the Filipinos might show capacity for self-government, and they have asked the president to go further and consider whether it might not be wise to say now definitely that the Filipinos would be given independence. To this the president has given an unqualified answer in the negative. It was pointed out by the president, so thp Record-Herald says, that if the Filipinos wero given assurance that they might expect their In dependence one, two, or ten years hence, "the re sult would be nullification of all the work that The Commoner. has been done there since the end of Spanish rule." In the light of this statement we may woll be lieve that Mr. Roosevelt meant what he said when he declared that the flag would stay put in the Philippines. Mr. Hoar, and the very large number of re publicans who believe with him, "lay the flatter ing unction to their souls" that tho republican party will yet give independence to tho Filipinos. How much more ovidonce do these gentlemon need to convince them that there g no hope for inde pendence under the republican party? How much longer will they vote with a party that represents notions which they have told us are repugnant to their conscience and hateful to their Americanism? JJJ Anxious for the "Fat Frying." In a dispatch to tho Chicago Record-Herald, under date of Washington, May 26, Walter Well man says: So great is the anxiety of the republican managers about the coming elections for mem bers of congress that they are endeavoring to induce the president to lend them a helping hand. What they are most anxious the presi dent should do is to aid them in raising money for their campaign expenses. Today Chair man Babcock of tho congressional committee visited the White house and had a long talk with the president over the coming battle. If the republican managers are so disturbed, why do they not urge the republican congress to do something that will allay their anxiety? It is, however, thoroughly characteristic of these managers that when they become alarmed concerning their party prospects the thing they are most anxious to do Is to "raise money for cam paign expenses." That Is the republican notion. "Money makes the mare go." Whatever wrong the republican party may commit, "money for campaign expenses" will cover a multitude of sins. , JJJ The Lawyer's Duty. The law schools aro now turning out another crop of lawyers, and it is as important that tho young attorneys should understand tho duty of the lawyer as it is that they should be learned in their profession. Some Imagine that it is tho duty of the lawyer to secure for his client any ad vantage within his power, and often he is not scrupulous about the means employed. No oho who understands the foundations of Justice, or ap preciates the importance of the lawyer's part in the administration of justice, can hold such a view. The lawyer is an officer of the court, and it is his place to assist the court to understand the facts in the case at bar and tho law applicable to those facts. Usually there are circumstances that weigh on each side of a contested case, and it Is the duty of the lawyer to see that his client nas the benefit of the law and the benefit of such cir cumstances as affect his rights. But the lawyer who goes beyond this, and prides himself upon his ability to secure for his client that which his client does not deserve, or to shield his client from a punishment which his client merits, will llnd that he cannot thus prostitute his ability and his learning without ultimately feeling tho affect of it upon his own moral character. Those find jus tice who search diligently for it, and when one accustoms himself to concealing justice ho grad ually loses his power to discern it, and in the end, not only becomes a different person himself, but becomes less useful to his client. Not only does tho lawyer owe It to himself to maintain his integrity, but he finds in this In tegrity his most substantial gain. Tho words of a lawyer are of little value except as they have be hind them a character to give them weight. When a judge learns that a lawyer does not deceive him that when he states a legal proposition ho has no mental reservations he will come to rely upon that lawyer's judgment. When the mem bers of the jury are convinced that the lawyer is trying to assist them in understanding the case and not trying to mislead or decoivo them, bin words will have great weight in their determina tions. No capital is so valuable to a lawyer as the confidence of tho people, and that confidence Is nover earned nor enjoyed by one who gots the re putation of boing tricky. The young lawyer wno enters upon his profession with high Ideals ana a determination to bo worthy of tho respoct of those among whom ho Uvea, will find that in tho long run his ideals will determlno his place at the bar and in tho community. Ho will be respected oy others in proportion as ho preserves his self-respect. JJJ Panama Route Selected. The senate has declared in favor of tho Pa nama route for tho canal. Tho bill as passed by tho senate instructs tho president to secure if poa siblo tho right to such land as is necessary and proceed with the construction of the canal, and In case canal rights cannot bo secured at Panama work is to bo commenced on tho Nicaragua route. While tho railroads have been suspiciously active in favor of tho Panama project tho public is moro interested in the speedy completion of tho work than In any particular route, and in spite of fears will hope that there may be no moro delay in tho commencement of this great waterway. JJJ Trial by Jury. The New York Tribune, commenting on tho fact that Senator Lodge offered an amendment to tho Philippine bill extending to tho Inhabitants of the islands the bill of rights, excepting the clause guaranteeing jury trial and the right to bear arms, asks: "What moro can the Filipinos ask, and what more can anybody ask for them?" Tho guarantee of tho right of trial by jury is regarded, in ttio United States, as a very important provision of the bill of rights. Mr. Jefferson re ferred to trial by jury as one of tho "fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline." In a letter to Thomas Paine, Mr. Jefferson said: "I consider trial by jury as tho only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government . can bo held to the principles of Its constitution." In tho declaration on taking up arms, it was complained of parliament by the American colon ists that "they have deprived us 9l the Inestima ble privilege of trial by a jury of the vicinage In; cases affecting both life and property." Among the complaints enumerated in tho Declaration of Independence, is that King George was guilty of "depriving us in many cases of tho benefits of trial by jury.' In the reply to Lord North's proposition, that proposition was said to be "altogether unsatis factory" because it "takes from us the right of a trial by a jury of tho vicinage in cases affecting both life and property." In his first inaugural address President Jeffer son said: "Trials by juries impartially selected I deem one of tho essential principles of our gov ernment and consequently one which ought to shape its administration." In a letter to Dr. Price, Mr. Jefferson said: "I doubt whether France will obtain, in its pro posed constitution, the trial by jury, because they are not sensible of Its value." Another time Mr. Jefferson said: "Trial by jury is the best of all safeguards for the person, the property, and the fame of every Individual." At another time he said: "By a declaration of rights I mean one which shall stipulate trials by jury in all cases." The New York Tribune explains that trial by jury is denied to the Filipinos because it is "obvious that jury trials among a people oven tho most advanced of whom have not tho slightest conception of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence would be a complete failure. Instead of being a guarantee of justice it would amount to a denial of justice. . . . We guarantee tho substance of the Anglo Saxon liberty freed from forms unsuited to Philip pine conditions." Tho republican platform promised the Fili pinos all the liberty they are capable of enjoying. Tho republican position, as defined by Senator Lodge and the New York Tribune, would mean that in the courts of the Philippines the Filipinos are to be given all the justice they are capable of enjoying. We have heard much in this country of trial by a jury of one's peers. We deny that the Fili pinos are our peers. Wo refuse them a trial by a jury of their peers, and, while setting ourselves up as dictators in the making and the execution of their laws, we do not overlook the important fact of seeing not only that their laws are interpreted according to our whims, but that the facts upon. which depend their liberties and their property are. determined by imperial authority.