THE MEANING of THE TIMES AND OTHER SPEECHES By ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS INTRODUCTION The volume before us contains some of the public addresses made by Senator Beveridge during the past ten years. They have a wide range of subject, yet from two standpoints they will be found to possess coherence and unity. The convictions and intellectual processes of a man whose mind and character give him the right to claim the attention of his fellow citizens, are never unrelated and detached. And the carefully prepared public addresses of a sincere man who really expresses himself in his utterances will show how his mind works, what he believes, and what tendencies he represents. This collection of addresses, therefore, has unity in the sense that it reveals the intellectual quality and the public personality of the speaker, and shows us what his attitude is toward the political and social problems that have occupied our attention in the past decade. On the other hand, this varied series of addresses has unity in the great fact that every speech is an attempt at the interpretation of some phase of the indivisible life of our own times in the United States. For those who are interested in the author, the volume interprets Senator Beveridge. For those who are interested in our contemporary life and problems, the volume reminds us of much that we have been doing as a nation, and presents what is, in effect, a consistent analysis and theory of contemporary American progress. |