Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1901-06-21
WILL NOT RUN AGAIN.
M.KlMLEv WOULD DECLINE a
THIRD NOMINATION.
President Write. a Formal Statement
Saying Hewould Not A ccept Anoth.
er Nomination If 1t We're rendered
Him-other Boom. May Now Inn ate.

Washington special:
President Mckinley aays ne is not a
candidate for u third term aud that liz
would not accept a nomination il it were
rendered him. A formal signed state
ment TO this effect Was issGel ut The
close Of he cabinet meeting Tuesday al.
%lternoon. The statement was written b,
the President himself. He prepared it
Monday, discussed it's contents ut an in.
formal meeting Of the cabinet and after
amending a few clauses at the regular
cabinet meeting Tuesday morning decid-
ed to make it public. In this decision he
was seconded by every member of the
cabinet us we'll as by others of his POI
litical and personal friends with whom
he discussed the advisability of taking an
;nneQutvocal position in regard to the
third term talk which has been running
IN the newspapers of the country for sew.
,eral weeks. 1t is only fair to the presi-
dent to say that the language of his
statement leaves little doubt about his
sincerity. 1t would have been difficult
for him to have written a letter which
would have presented his views in plain
,er terms. He says, among other things:
- will say now, once for all, expressing
a long-settled conviction, that I not only
am not and will not be a candidate for d
third term, but would not accept the
nomination for it if it were rendered me-"
President McKinlcy's letter comes as a
startling surprise to Office holders and
politicians and everybody who is directly
or remotely interested in his future plans.
Until he submitted a draft of the letter
ito his cabinet Monday night possibly
only three persons in Washington knew
that he contemplated taking the public
into his confidence regarding his desire
at the end of his present term. Ono Of
this trio was his secretary, Mr.. %t;ortel-
you. Another was Secretary Long, to
whom he communicated II statement of
the contents of the letter during a drive.
The third is Comptroller Dawes, who
learned about the Presidents contemplate
ed move during an hours walk through
the paths of the White House lot. The
other members of the cabinet We're, to
state their emotions without gge
ton, simply dumfoundcd when the Presi-
dent informed them what he was about
to do.
Nobody in Washington pretends to be
able to fatlom the Presidents motive for
making the announcement Mt this dis
lance from the next Republican national
convention except on the hypothesis that
he found the third term gossip was gain
ing strength and vitality at such a rate
owing to the avidity with which the
politicians and newspapers of the country
seized upon it-that he could not longer
afford to ignore it.
House Opposed to Third Term.
There is not only the unwritten law
against third terms for Presidents. but
.there is on file the expression of the
House of Representatives against it.
This was adopted by the House in the
Forty-fourth Congress, just before Nc
Kinley was elected IL member of that
body.
In the beginning of the Forty-fourth
Congress, III Dec. 10, 1915, Congressman
William NJ. Springer of Illinois intro
iduced the following resolution, which was
adopted by a vote of 23a3 yeas to IS nays,
SO not voting.
Resolved, That in the opinion of this
House, the precedent established by Wash
ington and other Presidents Of the United
States, in retiring from the Presidential
Office after their second term, has become,
by. universal concurrence. n part Of our re-
publican system of government, and that
amy departure from this time-honored Gus
tom would be llnwise. unpatriotic, aud
3raught with peril to our free Institutions.