Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-07

limits the President to two terms regards
the substance and not the form, and I'M
der no circumstances will I be candi-
date for or accept another nomination
And again In December, 1901, he de.
clared: I have not changed and shall!
not change that decision thus announced
Record Of Presidents Clear.
'Thus the record of the precedents is
clear. For century and quarter the
bound prescribed by Washington has been
severely respected. No man has served
in the presidency more than two terms.
In only single instance did any one
permit himself to be candidate for a
third term, and he was defeated even IN
the convention of the party of which he
had been the idol.
Where a usage is not contrary to the
terms Of the Constitution. but supple
ments 1t. 1t can acquire as valid force
as ever the common law had In England
Take. for instance. the method Of elect
ing President. Under the Constitution
an elector has, practically unlimited dis
erection, provided he votes for a cand1-
date who has the constitutional qualtfi-
cations Indeed, 1t was the purpose OF
college to delegate to few wise men the
power to choose the President and Vice
President. But by long usage an elector
has become merely ballot, bearing the
name Of the candidate Of his party. ana
II his candidate lived and he should bring
about the election Of another. the act
would create q revolution.
THE restriction imposed by Washing
tons example was never SO salutary as
today. The army of federal employees has
grown from few hundreds to nearly q
half million. Through the extension OF
our territory and the development Of
commerce and industry the activities OF
the national government have expanded
H. hAxr- r- H. HHnv a
total amount Of our annual expenditures
under Washington is now expended by
the government each year for inspectors
and detectives, for supervising what we
write, what sort of contracts We make
and how we conduct our business The
central authority may know what every
man does. This knowledge or ability to
know business secrets, and an unlimited
power Of prosecution for loosely defined
statutory crimes, enormously increase the
scrupulous President might employ to
continue indefinitely In office.
Among the Possibilities.
ga President who is at once an unprin-
cipled and skillful politician may aug
ment and utilize discomfort, may play
upon the celestial beings of the gallery
and may so WELD his vast power that at
last the country might come to think that
it's safety depended upon one man and
upon the sacrifice of its institutions.
But 1t is said that the rule against the
third term has application only to those
who are actually in the presidency. The
utterances of our Presidents, however,
were not ambiguous. They were against
three terms and not merely against three
consecutive terms. President Roosevelt,
for instance, said:
"'Under no circumstances will be a
candidate for or accept another nomina-
tion'
There is no equivocation there. The
rotation of which Washington spoke to
Madison did not leave room for passing
the Office on to favorite to be passed
back again.
'From the time of Washington to this
day there have been found emotional
spirits, fearful that destruction would
come to the country or its institutions
unless some man were elected to the
presidency for q third term. And yet, al
though no President has served more
than two terms, the republic has moved
steadily forward. The nation has no
poverty in men. 1t possesses hundreds
Of citizens capable of performing with
high honor the duties Of the presidency.
And 1t will always be infinitely safer to
dip into the great mass of American citi-
zenship in order to secure head Tor
the state than to do violence to the uni
form presidents OF our history and to
publican institutions established by
ished by the nation down to this hour.