To sum up and to conclude: These addresses reveal the unity and consistency of Mr. Roosevelt’s character and career. He is indeed a many-sided and versatile man, but there is nothing mutually contradictory about the different phases of his nature or of his past undertakings. His vital Americanism is shown equally in his historical studies of the pioneer movement that built up our great West and in his accounts of ranching life and his studies of the big game of America.
In his varied literary work, as in his other efforts and activities, there is little or nothing of an incidental or dilettante nature; all of it is the frank expression of the man himself. The book on the War of 1812 was written when he was still very young. It might well have proved to be the merely boyish effort of a young man who had said to himself, “Lo, I will go to work and write a book!” But, on the contrary, it was in fact the outgrowth of vital interest and of strong conviction regarding his subject; and so the book lives and will continue to live. Thus all of his work, whether literary in its character or active and official, has been done in the same direct, straightforward way as simply pertaining to the task in hand; and the task, whether great or small, has always been deemed worthy of the whole vital energy of the man.
The great assemblage of public papers and addresses which we are presenting in the eight volumes that follow, herewith, belong for the most part to the period of Mr. Roosevelt’s Presidential service, which ended March 4, 1909. Upon his reelection to the Presidency in 1904, Mr. Roosevelt had declared that he would not be a candidate in 1908 for another term. Although great pressure was brought to bear upon him in 1907 and in the first half of 1908 to permit the party to place his name again at the head of the Presidential ticket, he remained firm in the view that no President should serve for more than two consecutive terms. One of the last, as it is also one of the best, addresses of his memorable Presidential period is the one delivered at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, 1909, and contained in the last of these volumes. For a period of more than a year there is no speech or paper of Mr. Roosevelt that finds record in this collection. Almost at once after retiring from the White House, Mr. Roosevelt, in pursuance of a long-cherished plan, accompanied by his son Kermit and several scientific experts, departed for Africa. He had been commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution to obtain a collection of African fauna, particularly the larger animals, for the Government’s museum at Washington. Mr. Roosevelt’s carrying out of this great project was with all his familiar vitality and enthusiasm, and with results as successful as could have been desired. His return by way of Egypt, and his experiences as traveler and lecturer in Europe, preliminary to his return to America in June, 1910, were matters of interest everywhere. Mr. Roosevelt, throughout Europe as well as in his own country, had been fully recognized for those qualities which these introductory pages have tried to set forth. His European travels, as originally planned, were to have been those of a private citizen seeking no honors or publicity. But wherever he went governments and rulers, as well as the masses of plain people, accorded him so great a welcome that it can fairly be said that few men have ever received such ovations at any time in history. The death of King Edward led to the appointment of Mr. Roosevelt as special ambassador to represent the American government in the formalities of the funeral. The diplomatic character thus given to his presence in England added a final touch to the varied experiences of this remarkable foreign journey. Our concluding volume contains the chief addresses delivered by him in Europe, notably those at the Sorbonne in Paris, the University of Berlin, and the University of Oxford.
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS
THE PRESIDENCY
Editor’s Note.—Although this volume is devoted almost entirely to addresses made after Mr. Roosevelt became President, it is believed that this essay on the office of the President, which has not elsewhere appeared in book form, has a fitting place as introductory to the materials which follow herewith. The article was written by Mr. Roosevelt in 1900, while he was Governor of New York, and previous to the Republican National Convention, which nominated him for Vice-President. The views expressed in the article are, therefore, those of an outside observer, and are not to be regarded as those of an incumbent of the office. It will be clear to all readers that the writer of the article could not at the time of its publication have foreseen the place he was destined to occupy.
This article was written expressly for “The Youth’s Companion,” and is reprinted by courtesy of that publication. Copyright, 1902, by Perry Mason Company.
The President of the United States occupies a position of peculiar importance. In the whole world there is probably no other ruler, certainly no other ruler under free institutions, whose power compares with his. Of course a despotic king has even more, but no constitutional monarch has as much.
In the republics of France and Switzerland the President is not a very important officer, at least, compared with the President of the United States. In England the sovereign has much less control in shaping the policy of the nation, the Prime Minister occupying a position more nearly analogous to that of our President. The Prime Minister, however, can at any time be thrown out of office by an adverse vote, while the President can only be removed before his term is out for some extraordinary crime or misdemeanor against the nation.
Of course, in the case of each there is the enormous personal factor of the incumbent himself to be considered, entirely apart from the power of the office itself. The power wielded by Andrew Jackson was out of all proportion to that wielded by Buchanan, although in theory each was alike. So a strong President may exert infinitely more influence than a weak Prime Minister, or vice versâ. But this is merely another way of stating that in any office the personal equation is always of vital consequence.