Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-08
MENACE TO NATION
Third Term Issue the Vital
Question of the Campaign.
ITS DANGER RECOGNIZED
Warnings From the Patriots of the
Past.
EFFORTS TO CURB AMBITION
One Reelection Of President Held to
Be the Limit of Safety for Our
Form Of Government.
EFFORTS TO CURB AMBITION
To the Editor Of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star
Your recent vigorous and timely edi-
torials in The Star. entitled THE Third
Term ISSUE" struck the keynote of the
J ipresent presidential contest in so far
\ as any vital issue before the patriotic
Ipeople Of our country is concerned. All
other questions, even that of the tariff
raised by the verbiage of the several
! platforms-republican. democratic and
progressive-are largely academic. and at
most are matters Of administrative policy
looking. from varied viewpoints, toward
the betterment Of the social and financial
) conditions Of the people
All Of these questions have had for
! centuries the best thought of the greatest
minds without satisfactory solution. and
they will have to pass through the travail
OF added experience and experiment to
final maturity under the fostering care
and safeguards Of our Constitution,
whichever political party may from time
to time be in the ascendancy.
I But the issue Of a third term (and its
sequences) involved in the self-inaugurat-
ed candidacy of Mr.. Roosevelt for the
presidency is not one of administrative
policy, but is an issue that touches and
threatens the very stability of form
Of government. And its dangerous import
has been recognized in the past by all
the people, by all the parties and by all
the Notwithstanding Mr. Roosevelt,
who is now endeavorng to make the
stride across the Rubicon of safety be-
tween our republic and monarchy.
Inscriptions Ambition.
This is no new thing In other days
other men OF like INSCRIPTIONS ambition
and similar characteristics in the name
, Of the dear people and for love of
! country" have overturned established
governments and set up empires of their
o ..,!I1, Napoleon Bonaparte was but a
little corporal a soldier and officer OF
! the Republic OF France and a loyal and
patriotic Frenchman, but the republic
merged into an empire under his master
. ly activities. with himself it's emperor
and the most pronounced dictator the
world has ever known.
; No argument of living man can approx
innate the force and power of warnings
from the patriotic dead.
The names of Washington Jefferson
Jackson, Harrison and others of the ia
! theirs Of our republic have been used Cor
mfSusedD by Mr.. Roosevelt in his nu-
merous addresses in support Of some of
his Kaleidoscope covenants to catch the
votes OF their devoteeS. But even he has
not dared to quote from them on the
subject of third term.
Voices of the Patriotic Dead.
On this issue let republicans and demo-
Gratis alike listen to the voices Of our
patriotic dead, to whom Mr. Roosevelt
has appealed, and then. as patriots and
lovers Of our country, decide for them
selves and for their children whether they
should follow the lure Of the bull moose
into forbidden and dangerous path
i Washington refused a third term.
Jefferson labored to have incorporated
in our Constitution inelisibility Of a Pres
ident for reelection to a second term
jackson in his annual message to Con-
gress advocated single presidential
term OF four or six years and ineligible
ity for reelection.
William Henry Harrison proclaimed the
same doctrine. and pledged himself to re-
fuse a second term
Il Henry Clay, In his great Hanover
speech, said:
How is it possible for public liberty to
be preserved and the constitutional dis
tributions of power among tllte depart
ments maintained, unless the executive
career be checked and restrained?' and
he urged a single presidential term, with
ineligibility to reelection.
And even the tremendous following of
President Grant bowed submiSsively to
the mandate OF our unwrtten law-that
no man shall have a third presidential
! term.
And the expressed grounds for this op-
position to a second or a third term are
Identical with those Mr.. Roosevelt and his
adherents now affect to laugh to scorn
What great public service has Mr.
Roosevelt rendered to the country that he
should be intrusted with this great author
ity and honor, declined by Washington
and denied to Grant!
His welding of the big stick over
Congress. his Disregard for constitutional
restrictions and his general dictatorial at
titude while in the presidential office and
his present attack upon the independence
and stability of the judiciary. together
with his other self-serving eXpedients and
vagaries, would surely not secure for him
!, the commentator of Washington Jeffer-
son or Harrison for another presidential
term.
Few indeed Of our citizens have read
the Messages of our Presidents and 1t
is surely well worth the space in The
Star to present them, with some extracts
upon this vital subject, which should car
~, conviction to their minds
/ jackson Urged Limitation.