The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1914-02-05

1912 contains plank in fave
of a single presidential teri
e This plank urges an amendment to II
0 federal constitution which will max
4 the president of the United States il
eligible for reelection; and it furthe
pledges Woodrow Wilson to the singl
t term doctrine and binds him not t
again be a candidate. Mr.. Wilson,
, personal views we're not consulte
because the platform was adopte,
before he was nominated. He ha,
never expressed any such views il
any of his published writings, nor wa
he known to entertain such views
During the 1912 campaign he gave
this plank no attention. He has re-
manned silent ever since, and, SO far
as known, has touched upon the sub
ject only incidentally by making the
following remark: "a president who
is continually thinking of his re-elec-
ton is uniting himself for being re-
elected"
This epigram may or may not imply
that the president personally indorses
the single term plank. 1t is not suf-
ficiently explicit to warrant a con-
struction that Mr.. Wilson, if he had
had his way, would have inserted the
single term plank into the Baltimore
10 Tb,, III
only to signify that president should
not think too much about being re-
elected; it could not be construed as
that, as matter of law, a |
president should not be eligible for |
re-election; and it will not be con-
strued to mean that Mr.. Wilson may
not, when the proper time arrives,
.hink of his own re-election-without
ndulging in Continuous thinking"
llong that line. 1t is generally believ-
ID, however, that the president con-
'iders himself bound by the Baltimore
platform, whatever his own views may
,e; and that, when the proper time
lrrives, Mr.. Wilson will decline an
ther nomination. This is his expect
d course of action for the reason
hat he has, in a general way, ex-
ressed himself in favor of the bind
ng force of platforms upon candi- {
ates.
1t was under Mr.. Bryan's influence
nd to satisfy his crochet that the {
ngle term plank was inserted in the c
altimore platform. 1t is one of his t
original" policies-duly plagiarized r
'om the Populist platforms of 1888 j
nd 1892. He has become the chief
lpounder of the single term doc O
inc, and specimens of his "argu- "
ents" are here considered. The real il
iestions involved are: Shall the peo- d
e of the United States, by constitu- D
onal inhibition, deny themselves the a
ght to re-elect an efficient president, IL
they SO desire? Shall we make it is
possible to elect man to office m
erely because he has held that of o,
e before? What is there in the v,
ture of the presidential office, in &C
e form of our government, or in ne
2 character of our people calling for VI
ch change in the fundamental b
v? bv
Mr.. Bryan says: as
No one who has had experience in tic
bic affairs is Indifferent to the fact
It the president has several hundred D,
usand officeholders who can be CO. -
ed into activity on his behalf; he Sc
! an army that is obedient to his u
nmands and battleships whose guns ev
overawe seaport towns. Given ~,
ire to establish dictatorship, and Wv
man in the White House has be-
terial advantage over any rival in in
party, or in any party. ''re
he implication here, of course, is APP
t unless we limit the presidency to of
Ingle term, we stand in danger of Efai
president making his tenure of of the
perpetual by the use of the pat der
age and the military power at his fou
osal. Now, with the presidential aft
nary established, the patronage ma
lment becomes a mere nullity; and con
hat branch of Mr. Bryan's conten- of