Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-22
WHY THIRD TERMS ARE NOT
FOR AMERICAN PRESIDENTS
Those Who Would Like TO Renoml.
nate Mr.. Wilson Should Relearn
the Lessons Of History

tne LESSONS OF f1lstory
MO ONE without hectic imagina =
~ tion will believe that Mr.. Wilson
ever thought seriously Of third term.
The semi official denial issued yester
day by Mr.. Shousc. an assistant sccre
tary Of the treasury and good Demo
crat, may have been inspired. 1t was
not necessary.
Any indication on the President g
part of desire to run again would be
injurious 10 his plans and hurtful, in q
hundred ways. to his reputation. 1t
would prove what his fCrcest enemies
like to say Of him-that he has lost
touch with the people and Is altogether
unaware of what is in their minds.
The country never has been disposed
to encourage the sort of reasoning that
tends to make executive authority ex =
elusive and perpPtuatng. And this
is not year in which 1t might be ex-
pected to abandon its traditional point
Of view. The Democratic party. there
fore. belongs to the Bryans and the
Reeds, the Champ Clarks and the
llitchCoCks. the Edwardses and the Nc
Adoos In other words, it is a tangle of
conflicting motives. riot of opposed
beliefs. Hiram johnson was the Bryan
Of the Chicago convention. Bryan will
be the Hiram johnson Of San Fran
cisco
There is harmony in neither camp.
The President Is virtually out of poll
tics. And unless he has forgotten much
that he had to learn by grueling ex-
pcrpnCe he can have few regrets. Those
who must shoulder his burdens ought to
look forward to their tasks rather than
| backward at the mistakes of man who
would have been more than human had
he not made q good many of them.
The disposition to vlify Mr.. Wilson
| is too general. 1t is a futile and grace
less buGincss. Let us have done with
| it. The President remains one of the
arrcstinS figures Of the time. Since in
terest in him will increase with his exit
| from Office and grow with each month
and year that passes. it would be far
better for the country if virulent piffle
were left out Of party propaganda to
make way for the rational criticism
lHdl Ndu Sltu SNlllf llSIl Nu ululNull
roads yet to be Travelled by the nation as
whole.
Mr.. Wilson is not in the truest sense
Democrat. 1t ought to be said of
him, rather, that be brought the mind
of an aristocrat to the passionate serv-
ice of democracy. The President had
faith in mass Judgment only after he
had inspired it. He seldom followed
after popular opinion. lie preferred to
have popular opinion follow after him.
Ills habit was to formulate a theory and
give it engaging expression and by
Cheerfully assuming that the people had
always believed in it insure its gen
eral acceptance.
II to be representative Democrat
one must think and act only with the
crowd. Mr.. Wilson certainly is some
thing else.
This | have done because l know it
is the thing you would have had me
do" and Il know that | am acting in
accordance with the will of my COun-
trymen" are phrases of the sort with
which the President. at home and in
Paris, advanced doctrines and plans
which represented wide departures from
all the familiar thoughts and habits Of
the American people. Yet in the sin
cerity of his motives, in his adherence
Of war. in his detestatiou of all the
forces and agencies that Illustrate nor
nal human aims and drag helpless
peoples into deadly conflict, he was con
sistcnt and unafraid. Mr.. Wilson will
be remembered as a man who burned
himself out at a great and lonely task.
He has a mind that wings high and
sees far. 1t has been his great strength
and his great weakness. When he has
been tripped or defeated it has not been
for lack of courage or fOrtitude. but
because OF an incurable pride of opinion.
Il know" he said ii the now famous
Boston speech, "how to get peace that
will last. Thcy"--he was speaking of
the Lodge group in the Senate-'do
not 80
Didn't they? Who knows? Europe
was fluid and filed with unseen dangers
then as it is now. was a vast com
pex of forces that no one man could
hope to measure or control. Single
handed, Mr.. Wilson was willing to at
tack that terrific muddle.
In a democracy every one is supposed
to add something to the force of com
mon opinion and to be in some near. e
responsible for the acts and policies Of a
government.
Mr. Wilson would not even admit
that the responsibilities Of plain Citi-
2rnNhip rested in Congress or on sena
tors. The more important decisions Of
the var period in Washington were
made without the knowledge or advice
Of the cabinet. Senator Hitchcock, rep
rrsrntatiye of the administration on the
Senate floor, was left in ignorance Of
what was being done or contemplated
in the name Of the American Govern
ment at the Pence Conference.
1t is fashionable to condemn the
President for all this and to attribute
his seeming austcrity and independence
Of mind to sheer vanity or stubborn
ness. But what actually seems to have
moved him was a deep sense Of his own
responsibilities in unique position,
desire to help his own people by help
ing humanity and n feeling that he
could work best untrammelcd by the
ordinary forms and restraints Of the
Washington routine. He wanted to nut
an end 10 wars. If he failed. the re-
grets will not be his. Future genera
tious will have to do the regrettiug.
To snccr at the hopes generated In
the world just before the meeting Of the
pnncn Cnnfprenre and 10 shONt down the