Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-11-08


 big banker, has been giving the matter much thought, but has not yet made up his mind as to the desirability of any changes. He said:
 q do not know, and no one knows, whether changes in the method of elec- ing the president would be beneficial. Sometimes man wishes the presidents term might be eight years, and some times eight minutes seems quite suffi- cient.
 q know that the business community feels very lyeenly the strain of the pFesi- dential election; but that is only one side of the question. How much more would we feel it if, after four years of an unsatisfactory administration, there yet remained four years without any prospect of relief? It may be ques- toned whether our government would stand such a strain as that. It is stand ing things as they are, and am one of those who would rather bear the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of"
 Six Years; No Reelection.
 Hon. Thomas L. James, banker, who was postmaster-general under Presi- dent Arthur, believes the present sys- tenn to be about right in the main. He said:
 q do not undervalue the educational phase of political campaign. It ed- ueates the people in economic and pc litical questions, and in that respect is ofimmensev value. People discuss, argue, read and investigate political questions which they never would have dreamed of considering, under other circum- stances. We must prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good We must let we'll enough alone. Our elee, tion machinery may not be the best that human ingenuity could devise, but in mortal affairs we never do get the best, and should make the best of that which we have. Hence, l believe that the president should always be elected pre-. eisely as now, but if the term were eN tended to six years, the educational value of the campaign would be fully as great, and it's disturbing effect upon business would be less frequent.
 ''I heartily favor proposition thai the president should not be eligible fo1 more than one term, unless there has been an intervening period. Every pres. ident who Las tried during his term oi office to eleetioneer for a renomiuation has failed. MT. Lincoln devoted him. self to the business of his office and was reelected. With Gen. Grant it was the same way. MT. Cleveland, seeking re- election, was beaten out of his boots, and Gen. Harrison $ experience was pre- cisely the same. Each one, out of office, was stronger than the other in office In other words, the political power of the president is a constant source of weakness.
 Views of Two Business Men.
 Mr. Charles Sooy Smith and Mr. Archer Brown, both well known in business if not in public life, favor the six year term. MT. Brown said:
 ''This nation, richly endowed, is just at the beginning of it's commercial greatness. It's possibilities are unIim- tied. Nothing but unwise leadership can prevent it's attaining sure su- premacy among the nations of the world But trade is singularly sensi- tive to influences of doubt and uncer- tainty. Its growth is nourished by set tied conditions. Presidential years are turbulent. Questions are apt to be mooted violently affecting business. The agitation strikes the commercial world like a chill blast. Hence pres idential years are proyerbially bad busi- ness years.
 Tt may be said that business thus missed is only delayed, and will all come forward during the quadrennium. That is wholly untrue of our immense and growing foreign trade, and it is partly untrue of home trade. We have had asingularly constant and rapid sue cession of political alarms the past five years, and most of the trade lost by ii is lost forever.
 Let the country know that it is to be free for six years from the excite ment of presidential contest and req sonably free from tariff agitation, and it would bound forward. Of course, HiA- cal lciIl lHcdilS tI SilgIe term, TOT q 12-year period would smack too much of life tenure for a distinctly republic an country.
 ''There are obvious objections to any change in system so long tried and in the main so sound, but if the destiny of this people is to be strictly commercial, the quicker well-recognized hindrances are topped off, the more sure and rapid will be our achievements"
 No one feels the interruption of busi- ness by politics more than I do," says Mir. Sooy Smith, ''but I do not see how this can be avoided, because, while the disturbance may be q serious matter for people who don't need the education that goes with it, it seems to me the only way the general public will be sufficiently enlightened, and I think that only by the present method will the people realize sufficiently for their contentment that this government is of