Evening star., 1940-10-15
~ the Associated Press.

SYRACUSE, N. Y, Oct. 15.-
The tert of Wendell Willkie's
speech last night at the stadium
here tolo,0S.
It is a fundamental concept of
democratic government that
there shall always be available
men who are fit to be entrusted
with the responsibilities of gov
ernment. That concept is today
being challenged.
We are being told that in all
this land, among all those 13l.-'
100000 people, there is only one
man qualified to be our Chief
Executive. There is only one
indispensable man.
If that were true, America
would have ceased to be a demo-
cratic Nation. Let me read you
the words of great Democrat,
a man who never reached the
presidency. but who was often
entrusted with the leadership of
his party - William Jennings
Bryan. This is what he said:
Whenever this Nation can
find within its borders but one
man qualified for the presi-
dency. it will have reached a
condition when its preservation
will be a matter of little con-
Germ"
Have we reached that condi-
ton today? In effect, the New
Deal. by its doctrine of the in
dispensable man, tells us that
it so.
Preservation of Democracy
Held of Deepest Concern.
I say that the preservation of
this country and of its demo-
cratic system is today the deepest
concern of every one of us. If
We in this country fail to pre-
serve our traditional system. then
the last hope of democracy will
have been lost We cannot and
we must not fail.
Perhaps it may seem to some
that in the troubled world we
face the preservation of the
third-term tradition is small
thing. We see a world aflame.
We see abroad ruthless military
aggression trampling upon the
rights of free peoples. At home
we have seen for too many years
long unemployment and eco
nomic distress. The problems of
our day are heavy.
Oppressed by the difficulties
of these problems, it is under
standable that some of our people
should feel that the preserva-
ton of mere tradition is rela-
lively unimportant.
If it were merely a tradition
that was being challenged, I
would agree. Traditions as such
are not sacred; principles are.
The tradition against a third
term is no mere accident. The
fact that it has never been vio-
lated in $50 years is no mere
tradition.
Perhaps the best way to under
stand the importance of the prin-
ciple underlying our rule against
a third term is to go back and
examine the conditions under
which this principle developed
into a tradition.
War Declared Raging
When Washington Declined.
Why did Washington feel so
strongly that he must refuse
third term? Why did Jefferson
insist so strongly upon this prin-
ciple?
The answer is that these men
lived their lives in a world where
tyranny had been the rule and
freedom the exception. They
knew that freedom is not some
thing that can be taken for
granted. They knew that free
dom must be earned and they
knew that the price of freedom
is eternal vigilance.
The men who established the
third-term tradition knew that
power long continued in the
hands of one man will inevitably
and insensibly corrupt him. They
knew that no man is to be trusted
with prolonged and increasing
power.
When Washington came to the
end of his second term war was
raging in Europe. He, above all
men of this age, was qualified by
experience and character to lead
our country in those troubled
times. His popularity was such
that he could have been unani-
mously reelected. Yet Wash
ington deliberately chose to set
the example of no third term.
Jefferson felt so strongly about
the principle of rotation in office
that he would have liked to have
seen it written into the ConSti-
tuition. He determined to estab-
lish as a tradition the example
that had been set by Washing
ton. The principle of rotation
in office, he declared, should
never be dispensed with because
there will never be a time when
real difficulties will not exist and
furnish a plausible pretext for
dispensing with the principle.
And in his autobiography he ex-
pressed the solemn hope:
That should President con-
sent to be a candidate for a
third election, I trust he would
be rejected on this demonstra-
tion of ambitious views"
Others Who Supported
jefferson Tradition.