ii Introduction 



Roosevelt, for reasons so nearly obvious as to need 

 little comment. 



The palpable fact is that President Roosevelt's 

 messages to Congress and a large number of his 

 speeches, delivered in various parts of the country in 

 his capacity as President, pertain to the same topics 

 and serve a like public purpose. The messages must, 

 of course, deal with matters affecting the welfare of 

 the nation, and with various questions of public busi 

 ness or policy, in those aspects that bear upon the 

 work of Congress. It is the President's Constitu 

 tional right and duty to present information upon 

 such topics, or to expound them from the standpoint 

 of the Administration. In the long series of Presi 

 dential messages one may, indeed, read the history of 

 this country for more than a hundred years. To 

 that official narrative these messages by Mr. Roose 

 velt add the latest and some of the most fascinating 

 chapters. 



The speeches here collected, on the other hand, 

 have a much wider range. Nevertheless, a great 

 number of the addresses and speeches do in fact deal 

 with precisely the same topics as those presented in 

 the messages to Congress, and were intended not 

 merely for a particular audience but for the whole 

 country through the medium of the press. And for 

 the President's full disclosure of his views and poli 

 cies touching some of the recent questions of large 

 public concern, it is necessary to read his speeches 



