12 Presidential Addresses 



administration. It is hardly necessary to allude 

 to the well-known fact that no President can gratify 

 a hundreth part of the requests and demands made 

 upon him for office, often by men who have rendered 

 him real services and who are fit to fill the position 

 they seek, but not so fit as somebody else. Of 

 course the man does not realize that his successful 

 rival was appointed because he really was more fit, 

 and he goes away sour and embittered because of 

 what he feels to be the President's ingratitude. 



Perhaps the two most striking things in the Presi 

 dency are the immense power of the President, in 

 the first place ; and in the second place, the fact that 

 as soon as he has ceased being President he goes 

 right back into the body of the people and becomes 

 just like any other American citizen. While he is 

 in office he is one of the half-dozen persons thorough- 

 out the whole world who have most power to affect 

 the destinies of the world. 



He can set fleets and armies in motion ; he can do 

 more than any save one or two absolute sovereigns 

 to affect the domestic welfare and happiness of 

 scores of millions of people. Then when he goes 

 out of office he takes up his regular round of duties 

 like any other citizen, or if he is of advanced age 

 retires from active life to rest, like any other man 

 who has worked hard to earn his rest. 



One President, John Quincy Adams, after leaving 

 the Presidency, again entered public life as a Con 

 gressman, and achieved conspicuous successes in the 

 Lower House. This, however, is a unique case. 



