Evening star., 1927-05-01

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Continued from First Page)
a monarchy and in May, Grant wrote
to Gen. Henry White, president of the
Republican State convention in Penn
sylvania, that he did not want a third
term himself But as to the principle,
said Grant, ''It may happen in the
future that to change an Executive
because he has been in Office eight
years will prove unfortunate if not
disastrous"
Insisting that he himself was not
a candidate. Grant nevertheless went
on to write words which ought to
have laid forever the ghost of mon
archy that. with many other specters,
had darkened the dreams of Jefferson{
THE idea" he wrote. that any man
could elect himself President, or even
renominate himself, is preposterous,
1t is a reflection upon the intelli-
gence and patriotism of the people To
suppose such thing possible. Amy
man can destroy his chances for the
office, but no man can force an cleo
tion or even a nomination.
And this idea, it will be remem-
bered. was Jefferson's only ground
for opposing the third term in prin-
cipIe. In his day the Republic was
new and unsteady on its legs, and
anything was possible. If he had
lived until 1875, it is not improbable
that he would have agreed with Grant.
In December Of that year, and not
until then, the anti-third-term "un-
written law" came into being-into
such being as it ever had. The Dem
ocrats controlled the House, and when
it met they introduced a resolution
declaring that, in the opinion of this
House, the precedent established by
Washington and other Presidents OF
the United States, in retiring from
the presidential Office after their sec
ond term. has become, by universal
concurrence, a part of our republican
system of government. and that any
departure from this time-honOred Gus
tom would be unwise, unpatriotic and
fraught with peril to our free lnstltu-
tions."
When this resolution came to a
vote. it was apparent that Grant was
not a candidate. and there was no op-
position. 1t was passed by a vote of
all the Democrats and by 20 out of IS
Republicans, the vote being 2S4 to is.
The Republicans had to vote for 1t. be-
cause If they didn't they would imme-
diately be charged with planning to
renominate Grant. which would have
put them in a false position. The
only question engrosstng the Repuo-
teams then was whether Blaine, Nor
ION. Conkling or Bristow would get
the nomination Nobody was talking
of Grant. though some frightened Re.
publican state conventions had passed
resolutions declaring against caesar
ism. When the convention met. Grant
did not even attempt to force the
choice of a successor. The admins
tration's friends split unevenfy be-
tween Conkling and Morton, Conkling
getting most of them.
That resolution. however, consti-
tutes the tradition the ''unwritten
law" against third terms. 1t Is all
there is of it. The question whether
in spite of il. the people will give
good President third term has never
vet been put to the test. As this
statement will be disputed. it is nee
essary to look at the cases of Grant
and Roosevelt.
X *&
In 1879 a movement was started to
nominate Grant for a third term, and
this time he was not averse to it. 1t
speedily became evident that he was
the most popular man in the field and
that he was likely to run away with
the nomination. The opposition did
not center around the fact that he
had served two terms, and the talk
of "Caesarism' had died away. The
reform element in the party opposed
him because of the scandals which
had disfigured his two administra-
tions, especially the second. One
newspaper put It in a nutshell in
these lines: