VOLUME 7, NUMBER 33
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The Commoner
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The Commoner;
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THE COMMONER, L'ncoln, Neb.
It costs $5,000 a day to run the Lusitania,
Must heat it with a furnace.
The republican convention in Nebraska de
clared for Taft for president. In 1908, not 1912
or 1916. " ,
It will be noted that Mr. Burton is care
fully preserving his congressional job for use
as. a safety net.
..It is rather a compliment to Tom Johnson
that it takes the whole national administration
to make a fight interesting for him.
It appears that the Standard Oil company
has been working in Texas 'under a disguise.
JuBt like other highway robbers, eh?
; "Wemust walk in the light," remarks the
truly good Mr. Rockefeller. To be sure. What
will the price per gallon be next week, sir?
It may yet come to pass that the people
will decide that the best they can do is to hitch
an onacting clause to each federal judge and
.let it go at that.
A contemporary tolls about milking by elec
tricity. That's not at all new. Ever hear the
hired man use shocking language while work
ing at tho chore?
"Must the republican party in Iowa be de
feated before it can bury factionalism?" plain
tively queries tho republican Tama Herald.
We'll cheerfully admit that it ought to be.
The Pittsburg Gazette-Times says Pennsyl
vanians will be glad if Burton leaves congress
"because he is always against them." That's
one good word we have heard for Mr. Burton.
The bureau of commerce and labor figures
out the relative advance of wages and living
oxponses by using a pencil and decides that
wages have advanced most. The housewife fig
ures it out with the family pocketbook and
knows to a certainty that the bureau is wrong.
Yes, Secretary Taft was unanimously en
dorsed by a little less than two-thirds of the
members of the republican state convention of
Nebraska, but tho endorsers were caroful to
state that they had no intention of forestalling
the convention, which will select the delegates-
if this be enthusiasm, make the most of it.
The Courts and the Peop
e
George L. Loomis, democratic and populist
nominoo in Nebraska for associate, justice of the
supreme court, addressing the democratic con
vention held In Lincoln September 24, said:
Gentlemen of the Convention: Please ac
cept the assurances of my deep gratitude for
tho honor done mo in selecting me as your can
didate for judge of the supremo court. A seat
upon the bench of the highest court of the state
is an honor that may well excite the laudable
ambition of any lawyer.
In our system of government, with its three
co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive
and judicial, it seems to me that the judicial is
of the greatest importance, and should be of
deepest concern to the people. The people of
this state havo adopted a written constitution
in which they have clearly defined the powers,
privileges and duties of each of these branches
of government, and have expressly forbidden
each to exercise any of the powers conferred
upon either of the others.
Whilo these three branches are properly
called co-ordinate, yet the judicial has to a cer
tain extent a supervisory control over the others,
and to that extent may be deemed their superior.
In it is vested the power to construe, apply and
enforce all provisions of the constitution, and to
see that none of them is violated.
The legislature may enact statutes and the
governor approve them, but they still must come
before the courts for judgment, there to be en
forced if valid, and annulled if for any reason
they infringe constitutional provisions.
The courts are very jealous to see that the
legislature does not in the least exceed its con
stitutional powers; they should be equally jeal
ous to see that they do not themselves offend
in the same way. The supreme court, for in
stance, being the sole judge of its own jurisdic
tion and power, if it should overstep constitu
tional limitations, and undertake to exercise
powers that the people have not conferred upon
it, there is none to call it to account for, save in
that extremely small per cent of c'ases involving
federal questions its judgment must be final.
Having, then, an arbitrary power not possessed
by oither of the other branches of government,
it seems to me, as I have said, that the courts
of the state should be of deepest concern to the
people.
In order that our government may be peace
ably and efficiently carried on, and its laws and
institutions be obeyed and respected, it is of
supreme importance that the laws shall be en
forced impartially and certainly, and without un
necessary delay. And it is of equal importance
that the people shall have confidence in -the
cdurts that this will be done.
It has been well said that where law ends
anarchy begins. It may ' a equally well said
that when the people lose confidence in their
courts then a resort to lawlessness and violence
begins, for when they come to feel that they can
no longer depend upon the courts to enforce
the laws and mete out justice with certainty and
dispatch, then are they likely to "take the law
into their own hands," and by resort to unlaw
ful means seek to inflict a punishment that their
sense of justice tells them is deserved.
Should the people lose confidence in a gov
ernor or legislature, they may, within two years,
at the most, elect a successor, but it is far more
serious when thoy lose confidence in the courts,
for that is a matter of a more permanent nature
and which affects more deeply their feeling of
personal security and safety.
It is of first importance, then, that the
. confidence of tho people in their courts shall
not be impaired, and this confidence must ex
tend not only to the ability of the judges to know
the law, and to their disposition to enforce it
but also to their personal integrity, which
should be of such unquestioned character as to
make impossible a suspicion, even that any
judicial act has been prompted or. colored by
any improper influence or unworthy motive. If
your candidate for judge does not meet this
test he is unworthy of your support.
Again, I believe, that public confidence in
th) highest court of any state is strengthened
b5 the fact that the judges of that court are
not all of the same political party. Many cases
of more or less political interest do get into the
courts for consideration, and, while I do not
myself believe that the judgments of courts are
often colored by political considerations, yet we
must recognize the fact that a great many' people
do believe that in such cases the decision will
reflect the political views of the court. It is
always noticeable in such cases that the peoplo
of the same political party as the judges havo
more confidence in the outcome than do those
of the other parties. This should not be, for
to that extent confidence in the integrity of the
court is impaired.
People will believe that judges are human
and that they are liable, at least to bo influ
enced by the same causes and considerations
as others. Hence a non-partisan court, or court
whose judges are not all adherents of the same
political party, will have the confidence of morn
people than a partisan cotrt can have. This is
one reason why public sentiment in favor of
non-partisan courts is growing throughout tho
land, and is being indorsed by men of all politi
cal parties.
In closing permit me to assure you, that in
case of my election, the state shall have the ben
efit of all that I have gained in knowledge and
experience during more than thirty years of close
application and hard work in my profession. Let
me further assure you that I appreciate the re
sponsibilities of the position, and the six years
of hard work that it would bring, but I have
been accustomed to hard work in the past and
shall not fear it in the future; that I shall go
upon the bench unhampered by any promise,
obligation or influence that might, by any pos
sibility, affect any official act of mine in any case
whatever, and with the sole aim and desire to
help enforce all the laws of the state as I shall
find them, without fear, favor or partiality, and
without adding to or detracting therefrom by
judicial construction.
Gentlemen of the convention, the platform
that you have adopted has my unqualified ap
proval. Every plank has the true ring. They
express political principles which I have enter
tained for years, and which. I feel sure are en
tertained today by a groat majority of the peo
ple of the state.
If we desire to win this election we must
deserve to win, and wemust be willing to work
for success. If you, gentlemen, will go homo
and stir up the people and get to work as though
you expected, to win, you will find when tho
votes are counted in November, that to the sur
prise perhaps of some, but to the great joy of
all, ' you have elected a judge of the supremo
court.
take
LEARNING TO WALK
One-step to mother and one step to me
A little babe walking the byway of glee!
One step to mother, with hands in the air,
And a "Baby, be caroful," and "Baby,
care."
One step to mother :away he goes
On his round bare heels and his bare pink toes!
One step to mother, and back again
With a gurgled laughter of heart's refrain;
One step to mother and back to me
For ridc-a-cock-horse on a Banbury knee.
One step to mother O, little feet,
That walk where the roses of life are sweet.
One step to mother, and this is the way
The baby is learning to wander today.
One step to mother, and to and fro,
As I swing him high and I swing him low. -One
step to mother across the room,
A lily of life like a wind-swayed bloom!
One step to mother ah, do not slip,
Nor spill the sweet laughter of baby-lip!
One step to mother now one, now two;
Come, little fellow, the lesson will do!
One step to mother and over and o'er,
A sunbeam that toddles across the floor!
One step to mother, a hand in her hand;
All is so fair in the babyhood land;
Learning to wander and learning to walk.
Learning to chatter and learning to talk'.
One step. to mother with rattle and ring.
A bud on the bough and a bird on the wing.
One step to mother and one step to me;
Love keeps his feet in the pathway of glee!
Ever the road, be it short, be it long,
A velvet-sweet byway of laughter and song!
One step to mother a butterfly boy,
From bloom unto bloom on tho rose-wings of
Joy! . Baltimore Sun.
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