Evening star., 1927-04-29
REPLIES TO THIRD
TERMCONTROvERSY
Burke Answers Carter Query,
Declaring Washington Mis-
understood Issue.

George Washington was not op.
posed to a third presidential term
as such in the opinion of former
Representative James Francis Burke,
one.time Republican whip of the
House, who today answered the let
ter prepared by John Carter, New
York journalist, qutzzing President
Coolidge as to whether he viii be a
candidate next year.
Mr. Burke's letter to Mr.. Carter
follows:
1.-The questions raised in your let
ter addressed to the President inter
est all Americans and particularly all
Republicans, but / challenge the i'm
piled criticisms with which it is so
pregnant. You call upon the head of
the Nation in abrupt terms to an
nounce without further delay whether
or not he intends to violate the so"
called thirdterm' rule.
Frankly. / do not believe the Pres
tdent should engage in the contro'
versy YOU invite, despite your high
standing in the journalistic world. To
use your own phrase, he would in
fringe the dignity Of the presidential
office by doing SO. But there need
be no uncertainty about the correct
answers to your several questions.
''You first ask, DO you believe
American presidential tradition hos
tile to substantive third term?'
1.-THE answer is plain. If the Amer
lean people were mere slaves to ira
dition wo would still be riding in
stage coaches by day, reading poor
print by candle light at night, and
Ben Franklin's Almanac would still
be our calendar.
Other Traditions Upset.
For a century and a quarter ira
dition forbade many things we have
today. The election Of Senator'S by
the people violated tradition; the col
lection of Federal income tax violated
tradition; womanS suffrage violated
tradition; national prohibition vio-
lated tradition; travel by air, the
transmission of voice by wireless and
piercing the seas in submarines vio-
lated tradition. Still we have them
all and the world survives. The fact
is we are moving onward. But let
us drag this anti-third term bugaboo
out into the open in order that we
may see what it is really made of.
George Washington is generally
credited with being its real parent,
yet no more glaling misunderstanding
ever imbedded itself in the minds of
the American people. Washington
never was opposed to a third presi-
dental term as such. Not a single
line in his farewell address justifies
any such conclusion. The naked facts
are these: Although unanimously
elected, Washington left Mount Yer
non for the first inauguration with
great reluctance. After four years in
the presidency he was so opposed
even to a second election that he ac-
tually prepared an address of declina-
ton, but was dissuaded from making
IL public, and finally accepted only
because of the perpleXed and critical
posture of our affairs with foreign
nations
-Four years later there came the
question Of a third term, and four
more years of presidential cares.
After long deliberation, he declined
the nomination. But why? We find
the plain, unvarnished truth in his
farewell message. in which he said:
Every day the increasing weight
of years admonishes me more and
more that the shade Of retirement is
as necessary to me as it will be well
come. After As years of my life
devoted to my country's service
I am of the belief that while choice
and prudence invite me to quit the
political scene, patriotism does not for
bid it,
What was the cause that led him
to that conclusion? None knew bet
ter than he the burdens of the office.
None knew better than he his inabil-
lily to bear those burdens longer with
the growing weight Of years. And
the tragic truth of what he said was
confirmed when, three years later, he
lay dead at Mount Vernon.
From the standpoint Of duty, pro-
priety or prudence, what else could