From Stereograph, copyright 1903, by Underwood & Underwood, New York. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, THE COUNTRY'S From Stereograph, copyright 1904, by Underwood & Underwood, New York. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND JOHN MUIR ON GLACIER POINT, YOSEMITE. (See Vol. I, pages 273 and 274.) From Stereograph, copyright 1905, by Underwood & Underwood, New York. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SPEAKING FROM THE CAR AT ATOKA, I. T. (See Vol. I, page 588.) INTRODUCTION THEODORE ROOSEVELT "On the particular subject of oratory I have not a word to say. I have never been an orator and never studied oratory. When I have spoken, my aim has been simply to say nothing in which I did not believe, to say what I did say as strongly, as accurately, as concisely as possible, and then sit down."-President Roosevelt on Oratory. I. This shall be but the roughest round-up of my thought, and I promise nothing for its fineness or its polish. Whenever I sit down to write, and particularly of politics and those who play at it, I feel the uneasy burden of my task. Humanity, even in its wisest expression, is so marked of a plentiful lack of knowledge, so much the slave of circumscription, so warped of an interest, so crippled of a pinching environment, that for the best and broadest—and I am neither to offer himself guide to his fellows, appears preposterously an instance of the blind seeking to lead. The mere act smells of egotism, infers conceit, points to a self-sufficient vanity as its root, and, if it does not provoke anger, seems one more likely to be rewarded with laughter rather than with anything of value or of honor. The White House is the hub of National concern. In a day of other Presidents one might have abode within a block of the White House and, for all the noise made by the occupant, forgotten its existence weeks upon end. This is not now the case. There come and go few hours when the sun is up, that Mr. Roosevelt does not, with word or deed or both, invoke attention. And this, from the standpoint of the common fortunes, is a good thing. A President is the better for being looked at and listened to. Also, that a President boldly courts the general consideration shows stoutly for both his courage and his honesty. There are two kinds who seek a Presidency. One aims at eminence, |