The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-04
A wEAx AaauMENr.

A WEAK ARGUMENT.
 The amount of time and space wasted in the effort to prove that Washington was. opposed on principle to third term would accomplish some good If put to . useful or sensible purpose. The first President refused to stand for another term because he did not want it. and said so. He was tired of public life and said so. We know of nothing in his pulp lie deliverances to indicate that he thought a third term in the office would be wrong. To assume. as we find one paper doing. that he refused to stand for third term because he thought that more than eight years in the presiden- tial chair would menace the republican form of government" is absurd.
 The truth of the matter is that Wash ington did not express his opposition to a third term as a matter of principle. He had been almost continuously in public life for close on to a quarter of a cen tury ,and much of that service was of the most exacting nature. He was getting to be an old man, and longed for rest and peace. He was surfeited with public hon. ors and wanted no more of 1t. Possibly, too, he foresaw that his candidacy for another term would arouse bitterness and opposition among those who were ambitious to succeed him. and this he wished to avoid. But 1t matters not what causes operated to fix his decision, there was no question of principle at- tached.
 Jefferson did more to fix the anti-third term idea in the public mind than any one else. by announcing towards the close of his second term that he would follow the precedent sct by Washington" He. too. had been long in public life and was approaching the Psalmist's limit of hu- man life. He wanted rest, for he was doubtless sadly wearied by the turmoil and machinations of his political enemies. as well as by the exacting duties of his dent set by Washington" he was but ex- pressing his own feelings and wishes. He was not trying to lay down a party law or to bind feiiow-citiens.
 We are aware that the Democrats form ally expressed themselves on the subject in 1875, when MT. Springer intro duced into the House resolution declar- ing that the precedent set by Washing ton and other Presidents ought to be observed, and that "any departure from fhio f;vxaa. .hnrnpad cuutny, uo,,Id ha pn wise, unpatriotic and fraught with peril to our free institutions" We believe it is on record that every Democrat in the House voted for the resolution, as did most of the Republicans.
 But what has this to do with the ques- ton now? The conditions and circum- stances are entirely dissimilar. When that resolution was adopted, General Grant was closing his second term His administration was not a thoroughly position to him, both among Democrats and Republicans. The country was tired of him and his rule. but there was fear that he intended to stand for a third term and the country dreaded 1t and wanted no more of it. That was why the resolution was adopted by a vote of 223 to IS. No such majority as that could have been obtained if the Republicans had not been tired of him.
 What folly, then. to say that Grant was the idol of the Republicans" as one paper does, and to argue that because Grant was unable to secure a third term Mir. Cleveland cannot. Grant lacked very much of being an idol in the estimation of his own Party. He had a very strong following in 1880. 1t Is true, when he made his third effort, but his administra- tions had not been forgotten. He could not get the nomination and we do not be- lieve he could have been elected. .
 Opposition to Cleveland should be put Democrats who bitterly oppose his finan- cial views. There are others who do not agree with him on the tariff and there are still others who oppose him because he did not always reward those who thought they had claims on him. These and various other grounds of opposition to Mir. Cleveland may be adduced with some show of reason, but the third term argument Is exceedingly weak. It is weaker, a great deal, than 1t was in Grants case. and if MT. Clevelands ene- mics or friends can find no better or sounder argument than this to use, they had better remain silent
 IT IS UP TO THE PEOPLE. 1t will be remembered that at the re-