Newark post., 1912-05-29

. been President Jackson's personal
views on the subject. the failure
Of his health obliged him to aban-
don all thought (if he really ever
, had any thought) Of a third can
didacy. He retired at 70 to the
hermitage. as Washington retired
at 81 to Mount Vernon, feeling
with somewhat better rason than
Washington, that his work as a
public servant was done.
There has been just one Presi-
dent who established an unequiv-
ocal, well-considcred precedent on
this subject; that President is
Theodore Roosevelt himself. He
alone among our Presidents has
refused third term when it was
as nearly certain as any future
event can be that. if he consented.
he would be nominated. he would
be elected, and persisted in this
refusal although in the prime Of
life. full Of bodily and mental
vigor, profoundly interested in
the problems Of government he
had sought earnestly to solve and
undisguiscdly attracted by the in
cidents Of power and public life.
Unquestionably President Roose-
yelt's action involved a. recogni-
ton on his part, a recognition
maHe with all due lcIiberation, Of
what he called "the wise custom
which limits the President to two
terms. . and, whatever may be the
legitimate weight of mere prece-
dent on a question which has been
determined by the Constitution
itself in express words, such
weight must be given to the pre-
cedent thus established.
But beyond all reasonable doubt
this precedent applies only to a
third consecutive term; 10 eX-
President has ever refused a nom
nation after an interval. 1t IS
true that in only one case has the
question arisen; but this fact is of
very slight relevancy, for very
few ex-Presidents has been young
enough or strong enough phySl-
cally to make their resumption OF
50 arduous an office possible, and
:. in nearly all Of those few cases
the course Of our politics, after
their retirement from office, has
been such as to render their re
: nomination altogether impossible
quite independently Of any ques,
= ton Of eligibility. In 1880 Gen,
eral Grant sought a denomination
but failed to obtain it, although
. he made a very formidable show
ing in the epublican convention.
. This incident has. perhaps, no
: great significance either way; but
the question involved would seem
to be almost too clear for argu-
ment as Il matter of common
sense. All that can be said against
a third term is embodied in Ar
ticle 81 of our Maryland Declara-
tiOn of Rights. which asserts:
''That a long continuance in the
executive departments Of power
or trust is dangerous to liberty ;
"a rotation, therefore. in those de-
partments is one of the best Sc
curities Of permanent freedom. "
Whether this doctrine is or is
not sound we need not now dis
cuss; it is, at least, an intelligible
doctrine. Obviously, however, il
can have no application to a third
term obtained after an interval of
retirement; when the incumbent
has been duly rotated" out Of
"power" and Crust" it surely
cannot be dangerous to liberty, "
if. sixteen or twelve, eight or even
four years later, he shall be "ro-
tated" in again. The most vision,
ary doctrinaire, if he We're also
sincere, could hardly try to sus-
tain such a proposition, and the
plain man who lives in a work-a-
day world must surely hold it lit
tie better than a criminal folly for
a free people to deny themselves
the right to fill their highest office
with a man whose only fault is
that he has already filed the same
| office, and filed it well, for eight
years. this were as silly and con,
2 temptible as it was to Danish Aris
e tides because he was called the
: inst