Iditarod pioneer. (Iditarod, Alaska) 1910-19??, 1912-05-11
OUTLOOK GIVES
POOR ARGUMENT

which Col. Roosevelt is assO-
ciate editor, printed an edito-
rial in it's issue of February II
containing the following. 1t is
not a very striking argument,
and is of interest mainly because
Col Roosevelt is connected with
the magazine:
In Jefferson 5 time there were real
dangers against which the anti-third
term was directed. 10 the early his
tory of the country it was not impos-
sble that a President might so in
trench himself, by the use of patronage
and the support of otfice-holdirs, as to
make it difficult 10 elect an opponent,
even when the country desired to do so
We think those daarers have passed
away, and we see no reason why an
efficient President of the Unit ed States
dent of business corporation. as lOrg
as he does his work satisfactorily. We
repeat what we said thirty-three years
ago when the debate was acute re-
garding a possible third term" for
General Grant. In the issue of this
journal for April Is, 1879, when it was
under the same editorial direction
which controls its opinions today, there
appeared the following editorial:
"'This idea of a one-term limitation
is an invention of small politicians, who
want fair chance at the Presidency:
it is the cry of the small boy in the
shooting match, "My chance next" #
is based on the idea that the american
people have not sense enough to know
when they are we'll served, and to
abne gate the right OF free citizens to
be free in their choice. 1t says to the
people, You may choose any man who
is raw, but man who has learned The
work, who has experience, you must
not choose. As to The fear of bureau
cracy, if the bureaucracy does not hurt
the people enough for them to rise and
throw it off, it does not really hurt
them at all. There is no objection to
three terms or thirty terms, if the man
is u good one; no re,170.1 why America
should not keep her Prime Minister
aud the President is her Prime Minis
term office as long as England kept
Pitt in his place. Indeed, good
Presidency that should last twenty
years would be great boon to the
country, which suffers very serious in
jury from the Presidential battle. which
not only occurs every four Years, but
keeps the great political parties Skin
mishing all the meanwhile.'
But those who do not accept this
view, and think that it is still unsafe
to elect Il President for third term,
should recall the fact that the obiec-
lions to d third term were formulated
against third consecutive term.
StanwoodS "History of Presidential
Elections" states chat many opponents
of President Grants third-term nomi- |
nation in 1876, joined the movement to
nominate him in 1880, on the ground
that an election after an Interval of
four years would not be breach of the
'unwritten Constitution" against a
third term" A man who leaves the
Presidency, and is reelected after a
lapse of Jour or eight or twelve years,
has no body of office holders behind
him, does not possess the power of
patronage, and therefore stands on the
same footing as any other private citi-
zen. In Mr.. Rooseyelt's specific case
it is sometimes said that his statement
in 1904 and 1907 that he would not ac-
cept another nomination would make
his acceptance of a nomination this
year Inconsistent. What Mr.. ROose-
welt said in 1904 and 1907 referred, of
course to n consecutive third town,