The Washington herald., 1913-12-28
IAF Hap q pOSSIPI AUTOBIOGRAPHY aREE II

insisting that. as I had served only three
and half years Of my first term, COM
ing in from the Vice Presidency when
President Mckinley was killed, 1 had
really had only one elective term, so that
the third term custom did not apply to
me; and / wished to repudiate this sug-
gestion. / believed then land l believe
now the third term custom or tradition
to be wholesome, and, therefore, L was
determined to regard its substance, re-
fuslng to quihble over the words usually
employed to express il. On the other
hand. did not wish simply and specif-
ically to say that would not be a can
didate for the nomination in 1905, because
IL / had specified the year when I would
not be a candidate, 1t would have been
widely accepted as meaning that / in
tended to be a candidate some other
year; and had no such intention. and
had no idea that / would ever be a can
didate again. Certain newspaper men did
ask me II / intended to apply my pro-
hibition to 1872 and answered that
was not thinking Of 1912, nor Of 1870, nor
Of 1870 and that I must decline to say
anything whatever except that appeared
in my statement.
The Presidency is a great office. and
Lno pO"cI VI Nfic EICsAuCAI can bt CIV
lively used to secure a denomination.
especially IL the President has the sup
port of certain great political and finan-
cIaf interests. II is for this reason. and
this reason alone, that the wholesome
principle of continuing in office, so long
as he is willing to serve, an incumbent
who has proved capable, is not appli-
cable to the Presidency. Therefore the
American people have wisely established
a custom against allowing any man TO
hold that Office for more than two con-
secutive terms. But every shred OF
power which a President exercises while
in ONCE vanishes absolutely when he has
once left office. An ex-PresIdent stands
precisely in the position of any other pri-
vate citizen, and has not one particle
more DOW r to secure a nomination or
election than II he had never held the Of
flee at all-indeed, he probably has less
because Of the very fact that he has held
the office. Therefore the reasoning on
which the anti-third term custom is
based has no application whatever to an
ex-President. and no application what
ever to anything except consecutive
terms. As a barrier of precaution against
more than two consecutive terms the Gus
tom embodies a valuable principle. APP
piled in any other way 1t becomes a
mere formula. and. like all formulas. a
potential source of mischievous confu-
sion
RcsIsted Party's Demand.
Having this in mind. I regarded the
custom as applying practically. If not
Just as much. to a President who had
seven and a half years in office as 20
one who had been eight years in office.
In hn nF
tically unanimous demand from my own
party that / accept another nomination.
and the reasonable certainty that the
nomination would be ratified at the polls,
] felt that the substance OF the custom
applied to me in 1905. On the other hand,
il had no application whatever to any
human being save where IT was invoked
in the case of a man desiring a third
consecutive term. --...-.
Having given such substantial proof OF
my own regard for the custorn, i deem
Il a duty to add this comment on it. l
believe that it is well to have custom
of this kind. to be generally observed,
but that it would be very unwise to have
II definitely hardened into a constitu-
tional prohibition. II is not desirable
ordinarily that a man should stay in
ONCE twelve, consecutive years as Presi-
people are fit to take care OF themselves.
and stand in no need of an irrevocable
self-denying ordinance. They should not
bind themselves never to take action
which under some quite conceivable cir
cumstances 1t might be TO their great
interest to take. 1t is obviously of the
last Importance to the safety OF d
democracy that in time Of real peril II
should be able TO command the service
of every one among its citizens in the
precise position where the service rem
dered will be most valuable.
It would be a benighted policy in such
event TO disqualify absolutely from the
highest office a man who while holding
1t had actually shswn the highest ca
pacity to exercise its powers with the
utmost effect for the public defense. II,
for instance, a tremendous crisis Oc-
Cured at the end of the second term OF
a man like Lincoln. as such a crisis oc-
Cured at the end OF his first term. IT
would be a vertiable calamity il the
American people were forbidden to con-
tinue to use the services of the one man
whom they knew, and did not merely
guess, could carry them through the
crisis The third term tradition has no
value whatever except as it applies to
a third consecutive term. While IL is
well to keep ii as a custom, 1t would be
a mark Of weakness and unwisdom for
the American people to embody it into
a constitutional provision which could
not do them good and on some given
occasion might work real harm.
A Fayorite Cartoon.
There was one cartoon made while l was
President. in which I appeared incidental
ly. that was always a great favorite Of
mine. 1t pictured an old fellow with
chin whiskers. farmer. in his shirt
sleeves with his boots of, sitting before
the fire. reading the Presidents message
On his feet were stockings Of the kind /
have seen hung up by the dozen in Joe
Ferris store at Medora. in the days
when I used to come into town and sleep
In one of the rooms over the store. The
title of the picture was, His Favorite
Author" This was the old fellow whom
I always used to keep in my mind He
had probably been in the civil war in his
youth: he had worked hard ever since
he left the army; he had been a good
husband and father: he had brought up
his boys and girls to work; he did not
wish to do injustice TO any one else, but
he wanted justice done to himself and to
others like him: and was bound to Sc
cure that justice for him IL it lay in my
power to do so.
believe realized fairly well this
ambition. l shall turn to my enemies to
attest the truth Of this statement Tho
New York Sun, shortly before the m
tionai convention of 1904 spoke of me as