NOVEMBER 1, 1911
5
MARSHALL5
The Commoner.
That is the slogan.
The argument in this campaign is on our side. This argument may not have
been presented to your neighbor who intends to vote the republican ticket. Let
everyone who favors the election of Wilson and Marshall make determined effort,
between now and election day, to get one vote from among his neighbors. From
now on let the slogan be "Two votes for Wilson and Marshall my own and
another man's."
A SINGLE PRESIDENTIAL TERM
One of the issuoa presented by the demo
cratic platform, and emphasized by Mr. Roose
velt's candidacy, is tho single presidential term.
The constitution places no limit upon the
number of terms which a president can hold suc
cessively, but Washington sot a precedent by re
fusing to consider a- third term. Jefferson not
only followed the example of Washington, but
commended tho precedent as one essential to
the country's welfare. The two-term precedent
was observed by Madison, Monroe and Jackson.
Only one attempt has since been made to over
throw that precedent and that was made by ex
President Grant after he had been out of office
four years. His case was identical with Mr.
Roosevelt's except that when a party convention
refused a third nomination to Mr. Grant he
acquiesced in the decision of the convention.
Mr. Roosevelt, on the contrary, aspired to a
third nomination, and as far as can bo Judged
from the primaries held In a portion of tho states
would have been nominated for a third term had
all, the republican voters been able to express
themselves directly on the subject (It must be
remembered, however, that every candidate's
strength is relative, and that Mr. Roosevelt's
support was due partly to violent opposition to
Mr. Taft and not entirely to admiration for Mr.
Roosevelt) .
The attempt of Mr. Roosevelt to secure a third
term by the organization of a new party, to
gether with his conduct during his first term,
and the conduct of Mr. Taft during his present
term all these combined have forced upon
the country the consideration of the advantages
of a single term.
Mr. Roosevelt, it will be remembered, did not
attempt any reforms during his first term. The
reason given was that, having come into the
office by the accident of death, he felt it his duty
to carry out the policies of his predecessor. His
friends said: "Just wait until he Is elected
president in his own right and then he will do
something."
The platform of 1900, however, did not pledge
him to any reform. He did not take tho people
into his confidence and outline any remedial
legislation. There never was a platform more
thoroughly padded with platitude and praise of
the party. Whatever reforms he undertook were
undertaken in the second session, and without
previous pledge. Out of seven years and a half,
only four contain anything in the way of pro
gressive work, and in these four years such
progressive measures as were enacted were
enacted only with democratic aid and in pursu
ance of democratic pledges, and these were out
weighed by inaction on Important questions and
by a retrograde movement In other matters.
During Mr. Taft's administration the attempt
to conciliate tho potential political influences has
been obvious. Tho president has given the
benefit of the doubt to that portion of hio party
"What I want to claim for tho democratic party
Is this, that no man can really bo a democrat who
doesn't include himself every time he thinks of
the people. It isn't merely a program, it is not
merely an Intellectual agreement; you might agree
with all tho republicans in the United States as to
what ought to bo done, but you wouldn't be a
democrat unless you know why it ought to be done.
Not for the benefit of anybody In particular but
for the benefit of everybody in general. That is
tho way to find out whether you are a democrat or
not. But the heart., gentlemen, does not solve na
tional problems. You have got to harness the
jmind and tho heart in order to do that, and we
rnight as well have the facts a they .are' Wood
rrow Wilson.
which, though numerically weak, is powerful in
conventions.
Tho fear that ho might not bo re-nomlnated
has affected the president like creeping paralysis,
and, in saying this, there is no intention of re
flecting upon tho president's good intentions. It
is expecting too much of frail human naturo to
think that a man in such a position can escapo
tho pressure oven though the victim is un
conscious of it, exerted by those- who are sup
posed to be in a position where thoy can givo
or withhold presidential nominations and elec
tions. Abuses are nover corrected until tho people
aro convinced that tho abuses exist tho people
aro much more apt to tolerate an abuse loo
long than to remedy it too quickly. The voters,
however, are at last awake to tho evils of a
second term. There is a growing disposition to
limit state executives to a single term, in order
that thoy may be.frce from the blinding Influonce
of a selfish interest and be In position to act
with an eye single to tho public welfare.
If it Is wise to thus protect a governor from
influences that might sworvo him from tho path
of duty, is It not much more necessary to pro
tect a president from thoso same influences?
There are forty-eight governors, but only ono
president, and that president exerts more In
fluence than tho forty-eight governors combined.
Hundreds of thousands of public officials depend
upon his will for their daily broad; ho can dis
miss them at pleasure and, however improbable
tho exercise of this power, tho fear of its exer
cise exerts a coercive Influence.
He is commander-in-chief of tho army and
the navy; no king or emperor or czar has, or
would dare to exorcise, tho authority conferred
upon, and exercised by a president of the United
States. Surely, if there is a position on earth
in which a man ought to bo free to carry out
all promises made and to act upon his conscience
and his judgment where previous pledges do not
direct, that man is tho president of the United
States. As long as a man is looking for a second
nomination and a second election not to speak
of a third or fourth ho can not, unless super
human, be entirely indifferent to tho Influences
that dominate politics.
The time Is ripe, therefore, for an amendment
to the constitution which will strengthen our
presidents by removing the temptations that
make men weak, and the democratic party leads
the way to this Important change. It proposes
to limit the president to a single term, so that
when he takes his oath of office ho will havo
nothing before him but tho performance of his
duties no ambition but to make sure his place
in history by fidelity to the publlo weal.
Both Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt are opposed
to tho single term proposition tho latter not
having yet announced any limitation whatever
upon the number of presidential terms. If Mr.
Roosevelt succeeds In overthrowing the two
term precedent, who can establish a more bind
ing precedent? Is the very laudable desire of
the people to rule to be used to open the door
to an unlimited succession of terms? Does the
rule of tho people mean nothing more than their
right to keep a president in office for life? And
can the voters ignore the fact that even now the
president can coerce a considerable portion of
the population, and that Mr. Roosevelt's policy
oh the trust question would multiply the presi
dent's power to coerce?
Governor Wilson is pledged by his platform
to a single term. If by the suffrages of his
. countrymen he is lifted to this supreme pinnacle
of power, ho will entor the office a peoplo's presi
dent, nominated without tho aid of the exploit
lng clasB and elected in spite of thoso who traffic
In favors. Thus unfettored by obligations to
special intoreBts and bound only to the wholo
peoplo, ho can addrcBS hlmRolf to tho duties of
his office and devote his body, his brain and
his heart to tho gigantic task of making this
country what tho fathers intonded It to bo
a government of tho peoplo, by tho peoplo and
for tho peoplo.
MB. ROOSEVELT AND THE TARIFF
A reader of Tho Commoner asks if it is truo
that Mr. Roosevelt was onco a "tariff reformer."
It is true, and at ono time Mr. Roosovolt ovon
went so far as to becomo a incmbor of a free
trade club. Whon ho resigned his membership
In that organization ho wroto a lettor in which
ho said that ho was "a republican first, and a
free trader afterwards." If tho reador who
makes this inquiry will look at pages 00 and
C7 of tho "Llfo of Thomas H. Benton," a book
written by Mr. Roosevelt, ho will find that Mr.
Roosevelt wroto as follows:
"Tho vote on tho protective tariff law of 1828
furnished another illustration of tho solidarity
of tho west. Now England had abandoned her
freo trado position sinco 1824 and tho north
west was strongly for tho new tariff; tho south
ern sea coast states, except Louisiana, opposod
It bitterly; and tho bill was carrlod by tho sup
port of tho western states, both tho freo and
tho slave. This tariff bill was tho first of tho
immediate Irritating causes which Induced South
Carolina to go Into tho nullification raovoment.
Benton's attitudo on tho measure was that of a
good many other men who, In their public
capacities, are obliged to appoar as protection
ists, but who lack his frankness in stating their
reasons. Ho utterly disbelieved in and was op
posed to the principles of tho bill, but as It had
bid for and secured tho interest of Missouri by
a heavy duty on lead, ho folt himself forced to
support it; and ho so announced his position.
Ho simply went with his state, precisely as did
Webster, the latter, In following Massachusetts'
change of front and supporting the tariff of
1828, turning a full and complete somersault.
Neither the ono nor tho other was to blame.
For freo traders aro apt to look at tho tariff
from a sentimental standpoint; but it is in
reality purely a business matter, and should bo
decided solely on grounds of expediency. Poli
tical economists have protty generally agreed
that protection Is vicious In theory and harm
ful In practice; but If tho majority of the peoplo
in Interest want it, and it affects only themselves
there Is no earthly reason why they should not
be allowed to try the experiment to their hearts
content. Tho trouble Is that it rarely does
affect only themselves and in 1828 the evil was
peculiarly aggravated on account of the unequal
way In which the proposed law would affect
different sections. It purported to benefit the
rest of the country, but it undoubtedly worked
real injury to tho planter states, and thero is
small ground to wonder that the irritation over
it in the region so affected should have been
Intense."
"Do all the good you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
In all the places you can..
In all the ways you can.
no iuug o oici jrisu vtu.
V.
'
And say nothing about It.
1
3
2
J1
.;&
"nj 1 i
teG&i