xiv Introduction 



Civil Service Commissioner of this great nation, the 

 head of the police administration of our chief me 

 tropolis, the active official of the naval department, 

 the most energetic volunteer officer in the Spanish- 

 American war, the Governor of New York, and the 

 Vice-President of the United States; and the man 

 who had succeeded brilliantly in all these positions, 

 and who had treated every one of them in turn as 

 if it furnished the one great opportunity for render 

 ing public service, could but bring to the Presidency 

 an accumulated knowledge and experience that 

 would make itself felt in every part of the work of 

 that supreme office. 



It is this wide range of experience and knowledge 

 that has given Mr. Roosevelt the easy mastery of 

 many subjects which he has exhibited in the ad 

 dresses and public papers that make up these two 

 volumes ; and, further, it is these speeches and mes 

 sages, far more than anything else contained in the 

 admirable volumes which make up this edition of 

 the President's writings, that exhibit him in his ca 

 pacity as a practical statesman and that afford the 

 unconscious but inevitable expression of the man 

 himself in his relation to public affairs. All his ac 

 cumulated experience has so built itself into the man 

 that it finds a natural outlet in these varied and 

 spontaneous utterances on many themes. 



To sum up and to conclude: These addresses 

 reveal the unity and consistency of President Roose- 



