The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1908-11-18
VlnAf We have DONE
WITH OUR PRESIDENTS

Mr.. Roosevelt Win Find Distinguia
Private Lie or Returning to Pu
Rank Than That Of the Preside
Johnson Went to Congress Ate
Some one once said that Americ,
was getting to be . nation of unwrittel
laws. It was before the day Of emo
tional murders and the term referret
entirely to the number of recognized
but baseless customs growing III
among q supposedly democratic people
Nothing in the ordinary course Of m
tional events will more readily illus
trate what is meant than the discussion
centering about the mission ofa Presi'
dent after his term has expired. Theo
dore Roosevelt is about to retire from
his Office and it is already rumored
that he may, if he should 80 desire
succeed the ancient Thomas Collier
Plat Is senator from New York
This rumor alone will form the pre-
mise for . lot of speculation.
It is 4 little remarkable, but quite
truth, that the president ofthe worlds
greatest free government" is bound
about by numerous more or less staid
and archaic usages, the disobedienoe Of
which is stunned with all sedulity.
That no man shall hold the highest
Office more than two terms, though
probably . desirable rule, is yet one Of
those traditional usages, and it has lent
its force to many minor Offices as we'll.
That the President shall not leave
the bounds of the United States under
any considerations while in Office is
another of this unwritten but firmly
established laws, albeit the present
Chief Magistrate rudely disturbed it
on his Panama trip. There are many
who contend that Panama is part Of
the United States and that, therefore,
no rule was broken. yet this argument
is easily set aside.
In Mr.. Cleveland's administration,
many may remember, the President
was taken to task for going into Cans
dian waters while fishing among the
the thousand Islands and q fuss was
raised about it, though Cleveland had
his headquarters on IN American is
land. Again, in his administration,
Cleveland went more than three miles
to sea on steamer trip from the Caro-.
linas to Washington. The authority
of q government reaches only three
miles to sea, so that Cleveland did
leave the United States on that trip.
President Roosevelt went much further
to sea than Cleveland.
Harrison once walked out on q
bridge across the Rio Grande where
it forms the boundry between the
States and Mexico. In mid.stream q
line painted across the bridge marked
the precise border, and across it Har-
rison would not pass. Mckinley saw
the same bridge, but did not approach
it.
All this is, perhaps, irrelevant, and
has to do with the way these traditions
are kept, rather than with what they
are.
Mr.. Roosevelt will have one of these
customs to disregard should he decide
to accept q senatorship At the hands of
his state. It has always been q more
or less vaguely defined, but we'll es-
tablished custom that ex.Presidents
shall retire from politics or aggressive
interest in government. The rule
probably was established when WASH
western Cincinnatus they
called him for having come from
bis farm to the Revolution and the
Presidency, went back to it at the
of his second term in Office,
to die in retirement three years later.
Menroe, whose general polish and
breeding gave the Presidency more
than one, added to the
strength of this custom when he declar-
ID that no ex.President should be o.
party leader and refused to take part
in politics.
But, for that matter, the rule had
been broken before Monroe really es-
'ablished it, not by the actual holding
If Office, but by the public interest
John Adams manifested after his dis
and retirement.
It may be interesting to know just
What the Presidents did after their re.