Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-08-01
THE THIRD TERN DANGER.
(Frem the Brooklyn Eagle.)

The Eagle has discussed and oe-
posed the idea of the third term moee
earnestly and more often, this cam
paign, than any other journal. We
have regarded it as danger to our
system of government, and do so re-
gard it.
This view has been resented by not
a few of our younger readers, for
whose spiritedness we have respect,
but for whose Judgment not. They
say that opposition to and dread of a
third term imply a reflection on the
capacity of each generation to take
care of itself. Well. let that be con-
sidered Many preceding generations
took care of this one. By the past,
not in the present, government by
consent of the governed was estab-
lished among men. By the past, not
in the present, trial by jury was put
beyond repeal By the past, not in
the present, the writ of habeas corpus
was made inviolable in times of peace.
And by that past was established free
dom of the press, of discussion, of
assemblage, of petition, with liberty
to buy, to sell and to travel
won these rights, just as doubt
less now they could not be deprived
of them. But unquestionably they owe
them to the men of the past and
should be mindful of the obligation.
The men of the past in achieving them
for themselves bequeathed them to
those who should come after them.
These rights as legacy inure to
millions compared with the thousands
by whom they were acquired. The
Declaration of Independence and the
constitution did not originate them.
They only claimed them as our own
and organized them into our govern
ment for ourselves and our posterity.
Our cocky young friends at this
point remind the Eagle that in all
this is no prohibition of a third term.
That is so, but there are facts to show
that in all this and in other facts is
the belief of the fathers there should
be no third term and would not be.
Washington refused a third term.
Every president since Washington has
repelled the idea of a third term ex-
cept two, Grant, a great soldier, was
willing to allow desperate politicians
to try to get it for him. They failed
and he wrote he was glad they failed
Roosevelt, not a great soldier, is try
ing to get a third term for himself.
Soldiers both, unequal soldiers, but
soldiers withal, each has against the
third term the example of Washington
and the adherence to that example
of every president from Jefferson to
Cleveland as to whom the idea of a
third term was suggested. Character
istic of these presidents and of Wash
ington was a long and wise far
sightedness our young friends would
do well to keep in mind.
knowledge of the military spirit
when untempered by the civil spirit
justified the belief that a third term
would tempt him who obtained it and
would tempt the people who awarded
it to put the military above the civic
power; as the case is in Mexico, in
Central America and in South Amer
ica, and as we trust never will be the
case in the United States We regard ii
as fortunate, indeed as most significant
that every essay toward a third term in
the United States has aroused an aver
sion and dread which have de-
feated it. We hope that will always
be the case, and we have confidence
that the people and the states will
soon set a prohibition of more than
a single term in the constitution it.
self, incidentally lengthening the one
term from four to six years, with ne
reelection, as could have wisely been
done at the start
The term could we'll be heightened
to reduce strain on term of the
present duration 1t could well be
made incapable of repetition. to re
move from any president the temp
tation to prevent his service and pa.
tronage to the continuance of himsel
in place and to stir in each party tht
growth of statesmen fit to make int
presidents A result would be The
rating of statesmen on az plane O
presidential eligibility with soldiers
and the impression hereafter on what
ever military c1fieftains were choseI
presidents of the fact their soldiershil
or their instinct of soldiership coull
well be subordinated by them to al
ambition for craftsmanship which il
a nobler aspiration alike for nation
and for chief magistrates.
After October /, absinthe frappe
will be thing of the past as far a