Show PRESIDENT WILL NOT ACCEPT THIRD TERM idea of III nomination la 1904 Bec elree it death blow president mckinley has put an ef quietus on the third term talk which has gained some currency in the newspapers through interviews with certain well known cans favor ing the re nomination of the president for a third term when senator depew s suggestion ten days ago that the president should be re elected for a third term began to be seriously discussed and eral of the president s friends felt called upon to indorse the idea the pent decided that the public m nd should be instantly cleared of even the suspicion that he was seeking to break down the precedents of the past by be coming a candidate for another term avith the idea of suppressing any movement leading to his nomination in 1901 he issued the following signed statement tuesday I 1 regret that the suggestion of a third term has been made I 1 doubt whether I 1 am called upon to give it notice but there are now questions of the gravest importance bafo e the administration and the country and their just consideration should not be prejudiced in the public mind by even the suspicion of the thought of a third term in view therefore of the leitera tion of the suggestion of it I 1 will say now once for all expressing a long settled conviction that I 1 not only am not and will not be a candidate for a third term but would not accept a nomination for it if it were tendered me my only ambition is to serve through my second term to the accept ance of my countrymen whose gener ous confidence I 1 so deeply appreciate and then with them to do my duty in the ranks of private citizenship M |