vi Introduction 



health, has both his own opinions and his own ready 

 and forcible way of expressing them. 



Thus many of the speeches contained in this col 

 lection are as nearly extemporaneous utterances as 

 perhaps any which have ever been put into similarly 

 permanent form. Here are addresses made in al 

 most every State and Territory of the Union; and 

 they have been prepared and delivered within a very 

 short range of time, during which a far greater num 

 ber of smaller and more casual speeches have been 

 delivered, thousands of letters written, and innumer 

 able statements upon matters of a public character 

 made to the Cabinet (collectively and individually), 

 to Senators and members of Congress, to various 

 executive officials, to public men and citizens from 

 every part of every State of the Union, to commit 

 tees and deputations representing all classes and in 

 terests, and to representatives and visitors from all 

 countries whether a royal prince from Germany, 

 or a defeated Boer general from South Africa. And 

 when one considers all these demands upon the 

 President's time and knows something of the pro 

 digious industry with which he devotes himself un 

 flinchingly to the almost innumerable duties that 

 present themselves daily in connection with his ex 

 ecutive work, it becomes plain that the President's 

 speeches and addresses have been in the main the 

 spontaneous utterances of a richly stored mind in 

 spired by firm conviction and resolute will, and 



