THEODORE ROOSEVELT | Roosevelt addresses a crowd at Cairo, Illinois, about international and domestic affairs, and governmental regulation on the eve of Panic of 1907

Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

CORRECTED PRINTER'S GALLEY PROOF, ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AT CAIRO, ILLINOIS, 3 OCTOBER 1907 

Thirteen sheets (8 1/2 x 23 7/8 in.; 216 x 606 mm), with corrections and lengthy manuscript additions in Roosevelt's hand; horizontal folds, general handling wear, scattered marginal tears, separation at folds of first sheet. 

Roosevelt addresses a crowd at Cairo, Illinois, about international and domestic affairs, and governmental regulation on the eve of the Panic of 1907

Delivered well into his second term, Roosevelt's address at Cairo, Illinois, is perhaps best remembered for its succinct articulation of his theory of reform at the close of the speech: "Men forget that constructive change offers the best method of avoiding destructive change; and that reform is the antidote to revolution; and that social reform is not the precursor but the preventive of Socialism." Roosevelt appears to have put a great deal of care into the development of this speech, with the present galley proof being the third example with corrections to appear at auction, although it is the only example to appear since 1970.

He opens the speech by addressing the "Men of Illinois, and you, men of Kentucky and Missouri..." before going on to invoke common mythologies of the American Midwest using Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit as a foil, stating: "It is curious and amusing to think that … a man normally so free from national prejudices as Charles Dickens, should have selected the region where we are now standing as the seat of his forlorn 'Eden' in Martin Chuzzlewit … but a score of years after Dickens wrote, it was shown to be a breeding ground of heroes, of soldiers, and statesmen of the highest rank."

The present galley proof bears a number of extensive additions in Roosevelt's hand, including the lengthy addition following his discussion of Dickens: "This was the region that brought forth mighty Abraham Lincoln, the incarnation of all that is best in democratic life; and from the loins of the same people, living only a little farther south sprang another of our greatest Presidents, Andrew Jackson, 'Old Hickory' — a man who made mistakes, like most strong men, but a man of iron will and incorruptible integrity, fearless, upright, devoted to the welfare of his countrymen, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, a typical American if there ever was one."

As the subject turns to domestic affairs, Roosevelt turns his lens towards industrial regulation, stating "It is not in accordance with our principles that literally despotic power should be put into the hands of a few men in the affairs of the industrial world. Our effort must be for a just and effective plan of action which, while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of the men of wealth, shall yet, so far as is humanly possible, secure under the law to all men equality of opportunity to make a living...” With the manuscript addition toward the close: "The average citizen, the plain man whom we meet in daily life, is normally capable of taking care of his own affairs, and has no desire to wrong any one else; and yet that in the interest of all there shall be sufficient power lodged somewhere to prevent wicked people from trampling the weak under foot for their own gain."