Evening star., 1937-12-26
By M..C.R n.

Ev M.'I. n
TH question Of . third term for
Roosevelt continues to interest
our political writer's. Already
4 Mr.. Stanley High, writing in
Harpers Magazine, has expressed the
opinion that there 10 merit In the idea
Of continuing the New Deal regime un-
der its present leadership and nothing
weightter than . precedent" against
1t. Likewise, Mr.. J. Fred Essary, writ
ing in the Atlantic Monthly. has gone
on record to say that II the President's
desires are defeated by Congress, there
is . strong probability that . third
term can be expected. Mr.. Essary
halls from Baltimore. Now. in the
January American Mercury, two more
Baltimoreans discuss the third-term
idea and, despite the fact that they
write for the same issue Of the same
periodical. come out in startling dis
agreement. They are the Old One
Himself and Mr.. Frank r. Kent.
Mr.. Mencken minces no more words
than he clstomarily does. 1.-THE Hon.
Mr.. Roosevelt himself" he says, "ap-
pears to be secure until the money
gives out-or he Is induced by con-
science. or sober second thought, or
something else Of that unpleasant
character, to seek what the Salvation
Army calls the penitentform. Neither
of these things is likely, ut least at
the present writing. The Federal debt
is still below forty billions, and it will
not begin to impede further borrow
ing until 1t goes well beyond nifty. MY
guess Is that the right hon. gentleman
will be reelected triumphantly in
1910. and maybe again in 1914. II he
ever begins to hint that he chooses not
to run. it will be no more than 4 sign
that he believes that the jig is up
and has better dope on the subject
than the rest Of US. Otherwise he will
undoubtedly 30 on from prodigy to
prodigy, saving fresh millions of the
lowly every year. and continuing his
radio grooming for the New Deal moral
system"
Hard words. But somebody (maybe
1t was . forgotten man named Emer-
son?) once remarked that saying your
mind in hard words was not the worst
Of practices.
Mr.. KENT, however, sees things
somewhat more pessimistically
for the Presidents chances of remain.
ing in ONCE. He does not absolve Mr.
Roosevelt Of ambition for reelection,
but thinks the likelihood Of the ambi-
tion being realized is thin.
As he puts it, THE answer to the
question Does Mr.. Roosevelt want q
third term? is definitely Yes. To the
other question. II he does, can he get
it? the answer Is emphatically No."
Proceeding with his article. Mr..
Kent admits that under q highly un-
likely combination Of conditions the
President might succeed In getting 4
third term. But he adds that no
detached and informed observer can
believe that all these conditions will
be met in l940-and 1t must be
conceded that they are all essential" !"
The conditions which will make q
Roosevelt third term possible are, Is
Mr.. Kent sees them. the following:
That the President will recover
complete control over Congress; that
he will be able to suppress. eliminate
or reconcile all the rebellious Demo-
cratic Senators; that he will be able
to get q unanimous nomination which
will bear out the appearance that
he has been drafted; that nothing
happens from now on to impair his
popularity or prestige, and that there
will be 4 national emergency in 1910
which will make 1t appear dangerous
to change Presidents and so will
silence the inevitable charge of dc
tatorship.
MOT any one Of these conditions
says Mr.. Kent, or any combina-
ton short of the whole will sufiice to
make Mr.. Roosevelt q third-term man
Mr.. Kent writes with . heartening
forthrightness on this subject, be it
said here. There has been . curious
conservatism in most of the previous
articles dealing with the matter: on
the one hand writers have seemed
awed by the vast break with tradition
which q third term implies; on the
other they have been marvelously i'm
pressed by the long Rooseveltian rec
ord Of tradition wrecking. and, finding
themselves between Scylla and
Charybdis, as it were. they have pro-
ceeded on tiptoe. looking fearfully
over their shoulders, ready. at any
alarm, to bolt to less portentious
grounds.
But Mr.. Kent refuses to see any
thing unprecedented in the situation
All Presidents, he remarks. want third
terms, and he quotes Admiral Cary +
Grayson, an intimate OF many Pres
idents," to the effect that on Their
last day In the White House they
all leave with . smile on their lips
but an acute pain in the belly FOL
which no physician has ever been able
to find . remedy"
IT is interesting to observe, while
= on the subject, that At least two
writer's so far have commented on thu
fact that not the Presidents wishe,
alone. but the influence, in one way
or another, Of the Roosevelt family
has something to do with the pre-.
vailing idea that in 1910 the thirt
term will be an issue. The first o1
these was Mr.. Essary in his above.
mentioned article in the December
Atlantic. Mr. Essary remarked ther
that . long ng-standing resentment or
the part Of the President against thu
Republican branch Of the family might