Introduction i" 



in connection with his general or special messages to 

 Congress. Since a number of his speeches here 

 printed, like his general messages, deal with a variety 

 of matters, the reader who wishes to compare and 

 collate the President's utterances upon a given sub 

 ject, as, for example, the regulation of the trusts, the 

 reorganization of the army, the relations of the 

 United States to Cuba, or our methods and policies 

 of administration in the Philippines, will find it de 

 sirable to consult the index, which is intended to 

 make these volumes available for ready reference. 



Quite apart from their obvious value for reference 

 purposes to the student of our contemporary history 

 and politics, or to the campaign speaker of the one 

 party or the other who may wish to know authori 

 tatively what the President has really said about the 

 various public issues that are still pending this col 

 lection of addresses has several other distinct merits 

 and advantages that must give it a place among 

 works relating to the national life and character. 

 Mr. Roosevelt, as an exponent of the aims and ideals 

 of a very great portion of his own generation of men 

 and women in the United States, stands unquestion 

 ably first. In two volumes of his previously collected 

 essays and papers, one entitled American Ideals 

 and the other The Strenuous Life, both of which 

 are included in the present edition of his works, of 

 which these latest speeches form a part, Mr. Roose 

 velt has expressed with remarkable vigor, as well 



