Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-31
Qbc Ca,lfastcr 1ntelligc,lfer.
LANCASTER, JULY 81, 1885.
Let Them Alone.

l
be done with our ex-presidents," has ap-
peared in popular magazine and, as
might have been expected from writer
who proposed such question as one of
popular Importance, the author suggests |
that they become senators of the United |
States for life, with half the salary received
as president. In support of the proposition |
and against the suggestion that they might |
constitute a body of serious Importance
in numbers, it is stated that we
have recently had only three living ex-
notwithstanding Grant, who is
dead and Hayes who was never honestly
elected--since the retirement of Washington
we have never been without one, and save
in 1S61-62, when there were five, we have
never had with us more than four in any
single year.
The suggestion that these ex-presidents
be made ex-senators, though not entirely
novel, is exceedingly silly. 1t has no war
rant in the constitution and no foundation
in the spirit of our institutions. 1t is true
that the Senate, as composed, is the subject
of good deal of popular complaint.
There is deep-seated dissatisfaction that
Nevada, with half the population of Ian
caster county, has as much senatorial re-
presentation as New York, and that the
vote of Rhode Island, Colorado or
Florida, balances that of Pennsylvania.
But all of this is in accord with our con-
stitutional doctrine of state rights; and,
though il may some day be subverted, the
chances are that there will always be
enough of the little states, with great in
tetests at stake, to prevent the necessary
three-fourths for a constitutional amend.
ment, altering the senatorial representa-
ton.
The proposition to make life senator's out
of the ex-presidents meets no existing com
plants and.remeGies no inequalities. II
is q purely personal affair, mooted out OF
cnusideration for peculiar class, who it is
- npianed are put into an '' awkward ant
= Embarrassing position," sat once the mos
conspicuous and one of the most powerles
n esiyatSua tizens of the republic; "relega
n comparative obscurity of private
X unsupported by single expression o.
"a he nation gratitude or the slightest otlicia
~ recognition of the loss the public service
sustains in parting with his unique expe
rience and trained familiarity with publi
affairs"
1t is further argued that if thus transla
ted to the Senate the ex-presdents woult
be completely independent, with no obliga
tions to serve and no ambitions to crafty
hence they would be the wisest and safes
counsellors, the purest protectors of tn
republic.
All of this is, of course, dreary nonsense
not even fit for the " midsummer" mum
Der of first-class periodical. A man VIII
has held the executive chair of this gov
srnment leaves it as he went into it, a cit
izen of the republic. If he discharges hi
duties well he can never be less than a
honored, heroic figure. He can retire wit
dignity to private life and always be a
hOnored citizen, a sage and adviser of hi
party; or if in health and vigol
he can, like John Quincy Adams
re-enter the political arena, win ne,
laurels, and die in the harness with III
dimmed lustre; or he can, like Mr.. Al
thur, consistently and properly resume tn
pursuits of private life, and exemplify th
spirit of democratic country, whose cit
zens when they cease to serve the publ
take no " titles " nor I" ribbons into thei
retirement because they never ceased to b
citizens. If they ran an inglorious career
like Hayes, they deserve to relapse lik
him into obscurity. Each is pretty cel
tain, in the long run, to get his own. LIE
the ex-presidents alone.