Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-20

| fact is that Fame has an affinity for
single names. Th!rty-one times In our
national life have we chosen a Presi-
| aent, and only eight times in these
| one hundred and twenty three years
! lave we elected a man with more than
ono Christian name. And even this
small number, strictly computed.
should be reduced to seven; for John
Quincy Adams was elected by the
House of Representative in defiance
of the peoples choice of Andrew Jack
con.
Every time, therefore. that we as
American parents attach to a boy of
ours more than one baptismal label,
we handicap him in the race for ma
tional distinction. To saddle him with
three names is inevitably to ruin him
for all possible chance for greatness.
American chronology contains no i'm
mortal triple name. Here and there,
twinklng with uncertain light amid
the galaxy of immortals, is binom-
ial; but the great, steady blazing
names are single. Never under any
circumstances can Il triple-tagged gem
tleman be President of the United
States. In all our century and a quar-
ter of Presidential campaigns there has
been only one such man that has ever
succeeded in touching even nomina-
ton. This was Mr.. ], F. r. Leonard,
nominated in 1900 by the United Chris
tan PARTY. Mr.. Leonard received exact
ly LOSE votes out of total
votes Of fourteen million, the smallest
vote ever cast for any Presidential
candidate ON any ticket. And yet alas,
there are today tens of thousands of
rosy-faced, innocent little boyS-pat-
riotic boys. ambitious boys.-running
around the land ornamented with null
tiple names. which, truly enough look
pretty and sound well and please the
families, but which, by an inserutable
law of destiny, mus. forever debar
them from occupying the White House.
What might have been the present
complexion of this nation had the fond
parents of Mr. Bryan been content
simply 70 cah him william, Also. who
among us shall declare where the
changed current of events would have
led Us had not Jim Blaine been named
lanes Gillespie? Ambitious and deter
mined, he too doggedly defied the or
jinance OF fate, but with even less
| success than Mr.. Bryan. Five consec-
utive times he endeavored 10 lay hold
upon the nomination, but was success
| full only once; and then, meeting
/ one named opponent, he straightway
dragged his party down to defeat. And
before Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Blaine.
there was Charles Cotesworth Pinck-
ney, another American patriot whose
fate offers pathetic answer to Juliet's
hirpant question, What's in a name?"
Four times was he a nominee for the
Presidency and four times was he de-
feated. and each time by man with
one name.
To him who would forecast the COM
ing momentous election of this year.
| the unadorned historic facts here set
| forth and the law that they involve
may prove of service. The parry that
| presents a one-name candidate as
| against a double name candidate will,
| seven chances to one, prove the wins
| nor Also, in this connection. it Should
| be remembered that fifty Years aG1s
| AIr. Emerson called attention to-
| verify that elections go by avoirdN
weight: that the strongest idea IL
mates itself in the healthest and -
| gest. and that if we could put alf#of
! the candidates of each of the different
| parties on the hayscales we could
| nredct with certainty the outcome of
! the election. Instead, therefore,, of
Wasting our lungs and our precious
| time in predetermining the event ac-
| cording to our personal wishes. let us
! avan ourselves of the onpertunities Of
| ferod by impartial science.-Lippin-
| COTS.