The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-03-22

months after he entered his second
I I'm, and not long before his death
he said, in taking notice of sugges
ton that he be candidate in 1905:
| I will say now, once for all express
Ing long-felt conviction, that J not
| only am not and win not be canci-
date FOR third term. but would not
accept the nomination II II were tea
| dered me.
Theodore Roosevelt, It will be re.
membered, announced Immediately
after his election in 1904:
On the fourth of March shall have
served three and one-half years, and
these three and one-half years consti-
tute my first term. The wise custom
which limits the presidency to two
| terms regards the substance and not
the form, and under no circumstances
| VIII 1 De candidate for or accept an
other nomination.
Before the 1908 campaign he stated
that Il have not changed and shall not
change that decision thus announced"
incidentally it may be remarked
that none Of the above quotations
makes any exceptions or qualifications
In favor of third term after an in
terregnum. If the theory has always
been merely directed against three
successive terms, as The Outlook
tells us, 1t seems passing strange that
none of the various announcements
on the subject should have made the
qualification, But none did, and JEFF
ferson, as shown above, refused a
third term after an interregnum. AS
the New York Times says, Mr.. Roose-
velt's words, for instance, unquestion-
ably mean to the country that he
would never be candidate again, and
he tacitly accepted that interpreta-
ton Of them. To say now that he
meant third consecutive term" only
is, as The Times suggests, to revive
the doctrine of mental reservation,
according to which no oath is binding
IL the taker has his mental fingers
crossed when he swears, or to invent
new doctrine-that of subsequent
Interpretation, the nature of which
is sufficiently clear from it's name.
AS indicated above, the "only-man-
who-can- save-the-nation" talk is not
new, and it has been well answered
before. Hon. Matthew Hale made this
powerful reply to it in 1880:
The arguments in favor of a third
term and against the examples and in
structions of the fathers on the subject
are all based upon distrust of popular
institutions. The aim Of true patriots
should be to cultivate the opposite sem
in the constitution. faith in the intelli-
gence and patriotism of the American
people. This can be best done in the
present emergency by discarding the
to the teachings Of our forefathers;
needing the warnings of history, and
preserving our liberties and our repub-
lican form OF government by discourage
Ing the theory that any one man is
necessary to the prosperity and perma-
nency Of the republic.
And the matter has rarely been bet
ter stated than by Congressman Nc
Call in congress Feb 6, when he said
in concluding his speech:
From the time OF Washington to this
cay there fays found spirits
the country or Its institutions unless
some man We're elected to the presi-
dency FOR third term. And yet, al
than two terms. the republic has moved
steadily forward. The nation has no
poverty In men. 1t possesses hundreds
Of SfcS citizens Items capable Of performing with
And II will always be infinitely safer
to dip into the great mass Of American
citizenship In order to secure head
uniform precedent Of our history and
to remove the hallowed landmark OF re-
publican institutions established by
George Washington and sacrediy cher
ished by the nation down to this hour.
Proponents Of third tcrmism say
that fear of its results are unfounded
that the dangers which existed in
Jeferson's time have passed away. IT,
Is of course true that there is littlei
likelihood OF Col. Roosevelt or any
other man summoning the regular
army to his banner and attempting to
enter the White House by force. But
there are other methods than those
of tyrants Of the past. Congressman
Mccall says:
who chiefly delight in the glamour and
the fuss and feathers OF high office, |
who are swept away by its noise and
vociferation, and who will listen In rap
ture to the siren song of the political
caliope If only 1t can be made to play
upon the White House grounds.
A president who is at once an unprin-
cipled and skillful politician may aug
ment and utilize discomfort, may play
upon the celestial being OF the gallery
and may so WELD his vast power that
at last the country might come to think
that its safety depended upon one mar
and upon the sacrifice of it's institu-
lions.
And James Bryce tells us in his
American Commonwealth that:
A bold president who know himself
might be tempted to override
the law. and deprive the minority OF |
the protection which the law affords il. |
He might be a tyrant, not against the |
but with the masses.
Such, undoubtedly. is the third term
ism which the nation has need to fear
today.