Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-01-11
WILSON'S CANDIDACY
nRESIDENT WILSON surprised
nobody by announcing his cam
didnnN. fnt. n sncnnd fnrnn He

-
didacy for a second term. lie
has been moving in that direction
ever since his inauguration. Many
of his appointments and not a few of
his speeches and activities in office
certainly were not prompted by good
craftsmanship so much as by politi-
cal motives.
Nobody may object If the Presi-
dent desires another term. That is
his business and that of the Demo-
cratic party, but he might have gone
about acquiring the denomination in
Il manner much more dignified and
better calculated TO inspire public
confidence. Mr.. Wilson holds that
the plank in the Baltimore platform
pledgng him to the one term prin-
ciple does not apply to him because
the national constitution has not been
amended so as to make that plank a
legal requirement. The one term
clause reads:
We favor a single Presidential
term, and to that end urge the
adoption of an amendment to the
Constitution making the President
of the United states Ineligible to re-
election and we pledge the candi-
date of this convention to this prin-
ciplc.
Technically speaking, Mr.. Wilson
is probably correct. But who, we
may consistently ask, is responsible
for failure of Congress TO carry out
the wishes of the Baltimore conven-
tion in this matter?
Jnrincr l,iS 6rSt tNvo
years in office was in absolute con-
troll of Congress. That body ate out
of his hand. 1t never acted save
under his orders. lie could have put
through any measure he chose, yet
we find him cold to the one plank of
the Baltimore platform the support
of which would have limited his own
four years.
We find him writing a letter to his
friend and conlidante the rejected
Mitchell Palmer, that might be laid
away in cold storage for a couple of
years TO be dragged out for use at
the proper moment. We find him
carefully removing every obstacle that
ltdullB
toward a denomination, planning an
excuse years ahead for his failure to
give the one term plank of the Balti-
more platform any consideration in
his Congressional programs and re-
sorting to poorly concealed subterfuge
to put himself in the way of second
term.
I,, % n.
ter he bows meekly to public opinion
and in almost the very next says that
his explanation will be misunder-
stood by the people. but that this
is a matter of perfect indifference" to
him.
The publication of the Palmer let
ter at this time was poor politics.
There is nothing much now standing
in the way of Wilson's denomination,
save the dissatisfaction of the Bryan
element and this promises to be no
more effective in the national con-
vention than was the opposition OF
Roosevelt to Taft in the Chicago
gathering of 1912. The Wilson ma
chine has been carefully constructed.
1t is well oiled and appears TO be hit
ting on all four cylinders. The Presi-
dent might have been renominated
without an effort simply by being a
passive candidate or by issuing orders
10 his State bosses.
To announce his candidacy by
means of a letter written in February.
1919, is simply to convince any who
may have been doubtful that the
President from the very first had his
eye on a second term, regardless of
party pledges to the contrary And
having sidestepped at least one plank
In his platform, how can the voters
trust him to support any of the things
upon which his party may place the
stamp of its approval in the next ma
tional convention?