Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-04-30
ThIrd Presldentlnl Form.

there Is popular tradition against more than
nne re election Vt President. q nd although the
question OF a third term is not practically be.
fore the country, yet as n general question,
there is no sound reason against ths re election
uf President for a third or MS many terms
Ms the electors shall see st.. Now, this
Is exactly the opposite " 0ur view which
Is that as a general question, there are reasons
so cogent against a second re election that they
must not be set aside In favor of any man,
even " he we're George Washington. These
we shall endeavor to stste.
The arguments commonly stated for this easy
| assumption Of ratiOnaiiy against popular tra-
dilion and unbroken custom, are these;
| l. There are no reasons against third term
that do no: apply equally to the second.
2. Any reasons against the reelection OF
President would apply against the re-elsction Of
| Senators, whose reelection IL the general GUS
tom and is thus approved by the people; and
| likewise TO the reelection Of Representatives,
| aud 10 all re-eleetioas.
3. Il is accepted ns a rule that capacity to
administer the office increases with experience;
therefore rule which forbids selections for as
| long time as the people shall desire deprives
the country Of the higher capacity in its efforts
tor the sake " mere rotation In office.
This, we think, is a fair statement of the
| common arguments offered to show that the pop
ular opposition to the third term has no real
/ foundation in reas n. The first aud second,
| numbered above, are examples of that easy
| style Of reasoning which starts upon a small
| point, which,iis0lf is mn minimizing assumption,
and expands thereon logical pyramid. First,
as to the reelection Of President no party or
considerable class Of publlc or thinking men,
since the establishment of the Government, has
ever maintained that the reelection nf Presi-
dent was free FROM serious evils On the CON
trary, both parties have declared against any
re election of President at times when each
was free from the embarrassment of a Pres-
Z L.. .s.-N -. Al = 3 =
declaration. The m1st prominent statesmen nj
the land have pronounced against It, Some, il
not all, ct those who have been re elected have
gwen expression against the practice. The ad-
mtted evils Of n reelection are the ground
upon which start all,the propositions To lengthen
the Presidential term and forbid reelection by
constitutional amendment. There is not, at
thus time nny conviction with regard to govern
mental practice better settled in the mind of the
American people than that the existence nfthe
question whether President may be reelected
at all is an evil which ought tD be removed.
Snmuch fur this apex on which the inverted
logical pyramid has been made to stand the
point iself is an assumption, needless of uoto-
rious facts. but the swlli answer will be made
that the custom begun bY Washington, OF one
reelection, has been accepted by the people,
who have thereby rejected the theory at the
evils of a reelection. But in truth thcv have
not Tor side by side with the continuance of
preston Of the evils of reelection. Th're Is
good reason for this for these re-electiuns
themselves, although accepted by the respect
i've Administration parties Of the time, have
excmplifed the conditions which make the ex-
istence of the possibility Of re elciion mn evil
aud positive danger. The acquiesence Of the
Administration party in one reelection is, in
reality, the acceptance Jf that as thing of
custom which IL could not refuse If il should
try. Tie vested Interests iu keeping Presi-
dent in Office are SO powerful That, II backed
by the perms ssion of this use nf him, they
would be able to make a conflict which would
be almost certainly fatal to the party's posses
sion nt the Government. This and the line Of
high precedents which have made one Fe-elac-
tinn tOlerable makes one denomination a fore
gone conclusion, il lie shall permit it.
The vast patronage in the hands Of the Pres
iient Is dispensed, by his favor, through the
hands OF Senators and Representatives,, who
use It to control the local organization Of the
party in their own behalf. Thus they make
their own political existence dependent on tAe
President. Thereby the President, instead of
weakening his own power by farming out his
patronage. increases il BY engaging the inter-
ests Of the Congressman Of bis party, and by
making the peoples representatives de-
pendent on the Executive. Should \ Senator
or Representative rebel against the President,
he can quickly terminate the rebels political
existence by bestowing his patronage to form
an opposition TO him in his State or district.
All this and all the vested interests in the con
tinuatinn Of the possession place in the Pres
ideut's hands the control of all the machinery
of the party organization, in all its ramitica-
tions, with all the Administration Senators and
Representatives subnrdinnted. He thus has
power to raise contest inside the party for his
own denomination, which would sacrifice its
possession of the Government. This contest
would be raised in behalf by the holders of Of
passive. Nothing but his positive refusal, in
~d-~-vt, vr-,I r---.-t;.-
This fact, that, except on some extraordinary
condition Of Presidential weakness and unpop-
ularity,a President may disrupt and defeat his
party, if it refuses to rennminate him, and the
fact that custom. established by line Of high
precedents, allows two te ms toa President who
has not made himself obnoxious to his party,
make the denomination Of President for Sec
ond term almost inevitable. In large degree
IL is a matter to which he succeeds by virtue
of the first election and Of the power it places
IN his hand 10 re-eiect himself.
II is not till this power runs against the pop
ular tradition, winch limits one mans Presi
dency To two terms, that it can be withsioOd,
under ordinary circumstances. Aud even then
there may be doubt whether a President cnuld
not raise an internal CO nhict which would com.
pass the defeat Of his party if he passvely per-
mitIed bis retainers to run him for a third nom
lnation. All this shows that the second term,
instead Of being an argument for a third is the
strongest testimony Rgainstil. The conditions
which we have alluded n are such that the
mere fact of a Presidents denomination can
never be taken as absolute proof that he was
the choice of the people.
This argument OF third term concludes
with an admission of its equal applicability to
any number of terms, and 10 the life tenure,
which is thing in antagonism TO the very
foundation principle of our government.
We come now tn the second OF these third
term arguments-namey, that the unlimited
reelection OF Senators is II custom approved
by the people, and that if Presidential re-elec-
items are evil, Senatnrials are also; but inas-
much rs the practice denies that repeated re-
elections Of Senators are any evil, therefore il
aliirms that repeated re-electOns of President
would not be. But the print chosen as base
on which to build this logical pyramid is as un-
fortunate as the other. II Is now the general
conviction that the contests Of Senators for
their re elections are the most corrupting ele-
ments in our political system. There is bnt
one thing that could be mlre corrupting, and
t1ati the contest Of a President for re-
nomination for third term beyond what Gus
tom allows. IL would set at work n national
scale and in deeper degree those demoraliz-
ing influences which these Sena torial contests
bring into the politics Of The States severally.
The executive custom allows 10 Senators the
dispensing Of large amount Of political pat
r"hARe, winch naturally they use to fix the par
" Organization to secure their own return.
They actually corrupt the Legislature aud en-
tire political action OF a. State TO compass their
reelection. The evil is so great that very many
thinking men are convinced that the C0nstiu-
tinn ought to be amended so that Senators shall
be chosen by direct vote Of the people. For
TITS they argue that a nominating convention
would not be 50 convenient to be wrought as a
Legislature, and that, in case that were car
ried by the means which uOw dem0rAlizs Legis-
latures, the electors would still have a recourse
on the ballot. To make the re-elections Of
Presidents an open question would extend to
all the United States at one time, and in more
intense degree. that work Of GENERALIZATION
and corruption which the reelection Of Sena-
tor now spreads over State. As 10 the repre-
sentative districts, this oorrupIing element ia
greatly reduced in Dimensions, and reduced al
so because there 10 no intermediate legislative
body to be corrupted by the election of'a Rep
resentaIivei but in some degree the evil exists
even there.
A a n tha third nf Tho cop,p,nF ID farm,