Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-19

|
cratic convention what have we
seen, seen with regret and sorrow!
Without notice, We witness the re-
cipient of third-term nomination,
brushing aside with a sweep Of the
hand the precedent of Washington
and the tradition established by JET
ferSon, and he has done this in total
disregard of what the American
people have thought. No chance to
debate the matter, no opportunity
| for Congress to ratify it, nor for
! the people to pass upon it. Perhaps
the unanimity with which the peo-
pie and their representatives have
| determined the question is the very
reason for not submitting it.
1t does not answer the require
ment to say that the people now
have chance to pass upon it, be-
cause, first, the principle is hidden
in mass of irrelevant matters, and
in the hot enthusiasts of present
politics the question is beclouded
by Democratic nomination. how
ever obtained. The very abuse that
custom and tradition sought to
avoid is presented to the people
practically as a fact accomplished.
Grover Cleveland Warned
Against Patronage Power.
Instead of submitting the matter
to the people for determination, he
handed 1t over to his State and
county chairmen to do with as they
saw fit. He handed it over, indeed,
to men whom he knew would do
his will without thought of the per-
petuity Of American traditions.
Grover Cleveland warned us
against the power of patronage at
a Presidents disposal in forcing his
denomination, and that this warming
was real is demonstrated by the
number Of employees Of the Federal
Government, which in the last seven
years has doubled, and is now more
than a million.
Cleveland spoke OF the pitfalls in
the pathway Of an ambitious Presi-
dent, "the allurements of power, the
temptation to retain public place
once gained, and more than all, the
availability which his party finds in
an incumbent, whom a horde Of
Office holders support with a zeal
born Of benefits received and the
hope of favors yet to come"
All of the forebodings of WASH
ington, Jefferson and Jackson are
fulfilled and justified. No longer
need we consider what may happen
what Is certain to happen is OBJ
vious If a President sees fit to de-
stroy this great tradition and GUS
tom.
Sees No Limit to Terms
OF Roosevelt Prevails.
If he sees fit to increase his term
4 years, he can increase it 8, or 16,
and finally, as Jefferson once re-
marked, the whole presidential Of
flee becomes but an inheritance.
speak to you tonight with no i'll
will toward any man. The law has
ever made it sin for a trustee to
profit from his beneficiaries' in
heritances. jealousy the law guards
this. The rights of beneficiaries
are so carefully protected that a
trustee must not deal with the prop
erty entrusted to him. This was
to remove temptation, and is as old
as the old Mosaic law that no man
may serve two masters. The temp
tation applied to the highest and
the lowest, the highest in dealing
with his country, and the lowest in
dealing with matters entrusted to
him.
In 1873 the House passed its reso-
luton by vote of 233 to Is. In
the Senate this resolution was passed
In 1923, and it reads as follows:
Resolved. that it is the sense of
the Senate that the precedent estab-
lished by Washington and other
Presidents of the United States in
retiring from the presidential Of
flee after their second term has
become by universal concurrence
a part of our republican system
Of government, and that every de-
parture from this time-honored
custom would be unwise, unpa-
triotic and fraught with peril to our
free institutions
The vote on this resolution was:
Yea, Sc. No, 26.
The members of the Senate who
still are there and who voted for
this resolution are Ashurst, Bark
ley, Capper, Frazier, Glass, Har-
rison, Hayden, johnson, King, La
Toilette. Mcclellan, Nicely, Norris,
Nye. Pittman. Sheppard, Shipstead,
Smith. Thomas, Tydings, Wagner,
Wheeler.
Declares Third Term
Perils Free Institutions.
There never has been an occa-
sion when the matter has been
brought to attention officially that
it has not been decided that the
third term violates tradition and
custom and is "fraught with peril
to our free institutions"
If your Imagination will permit
you, 60 back to the first beginnings
Of this country. Can you see Wash