Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-02-05
Mr.. WILSON AND THE sINGLE-TERM
PLANK.

What's the answersi' demands CORE
spondent, whose letter appears in another coll
umn, to the question, How can Wilson reconcile
his candidacy for reelection with the single
term plank in the DembeHatic.pla 1929
That platfornl aseRery reader of the Star
Bulletin, presumably knows, pledged the can
QIdRte OF the 1912 national convention to the
principle that the Constitution should be
InendedI to make theipresident of the United
states, ineligible for reelection. The candidate
vas Woodrow Wilson, and yet il is plain that
1e is preparing to runIagain
Mt. Wilson himself has furnished the answer,
n.aletter written on February 5, 1913 % day.
before he was inaugurated- but made public
only on January 10, 1916, three years later 1t
was given to the public then to answer this
very cry that the president is violating plat
[orm pledge.
from the letter, which was. written to the
president's friend, A. Mitchell Palmer of Penn
sylyafias the Following paragraphs are well
Hoyth quoting:
7 approach the question from perfectly i'm
personal point of view. because shall cheer
fully abide by the Judgment of my party and the
public as to whether shall be candidate for the
presidency again In 1915 ! absolutely pledge my
that question.
The present fact is that the president is held re-
sponsible for what happens in Washington in every
large matter. and long he is commanded lead
he is surely entitled a certain of power
AZ the power he can get from the support and con-
Fictions and opinions of his fellow countrymen-and
he ought to be suffered to use that against his
opponents until his woik IS done. 1t will be very
difficult for him to abuse it He holds it upon suffer-
ance. at the pleasure of public opinion. Every
else his opponents included has opinion,
he has. He must keep tile confidence of the country
PUT the present customary Limitation of two terms
into the Constitution, IL you the people
g take care Of themselves but make i two terms
give the president chance to win the full serIaeeby
proving himself At for It
-As things stand now the people might more iikey
be cheated than served by further limitations of the
presidents eligibility, His fighting power in their
behalf would be immensely weakened. No one will
fear president except those whom he make fear
we singularly belle our own principles by seeking
20 determine by fixed constitutional provision what
the people shall determine for themselves and are
feefly competent determine for themselves. We
cast doubt upon the whole theory of popular gov
ernmenk i 80
So believe that we should fatally embarrass our
selves II made the constitutional change proposed,
n we want our presidents fight battles for us,
we should give them the the legitimate means,
the means their opponents will always have Strip
them OF everything else but the right to appeal to the
,eone hut leave them that; suffer them be lead
ers: absolutely prevent them from being bosses"
The president has very clearly stated reasons
sufficient for any man of strong moral cour-
age to offer himself for reelection regardless
of the platform pledge. 1t is perfectly we'll
known to the American people that no party
has regarded platform planks as sacred things.
They have often been handled as political ex-
pediency dictated, and surely public principle
such as that enunciated by Mr. Wilson ought