e
law. No man is above it and no man is below it. The crime of
cunning, the crime of greed, the crime of violence, are all
equally crimes, and against them all alike the law must set
its face. This is not and never shall be a government either
of plutocracy or of a mob. It is, it has been, and it will be
a government of the people; including alike the people of
great wealth, of moderate wealth, the people who employ
others, the people who are employed, the wage worker, the
lawyer, the mechanic, the banker, the farmer; including them
all, protecting each and everyone if he acts decently and
squarely, and discriminating against any one of them, no
matter from what class he comes, if he does not act squarely
and fairly, if he does not obey the law. While all people are
foolish if they violate or rail against the law, wicked as
well as foolish, but all foolish--yet the most foolish man in
this Republic is the man of wealth who complains because the
law is administered with impartial justice against or for
him. His folly is greater than the folly of any other man who
so complains; for he lives and moves and has his being
because the law does in fact protect him and his property."

THEODORE ROOSEVELT at Spokane, 1903

CHAPTER IV

BEGINNING THE SPEECH

Speech-making a Formal Matter. Every speech is more or less a formal
affair. The speaker standing is separated from the other persons
present by his prominence. He is removed from them by standing while
they sit, by being further away from them than in ordinary
conversation. The greater the distance between him and his listeners
the more formal the proceeding becomes. When a person speaks "from the
floor" as it is called, that is, by simply rising at his seat and
speaking, there is a marked difference in the manner of his delivery
and also in the effect upon the audience. In many gatherings, speeches
and discussions "from the floor" are not allowed at all, in others
this practice is the regular method of conducting business. Even in
the schoolroom when the student speaks from his place he feels less
responsibility than when he stands at the front of the room before his
classmates. As all formal exercises have their regular rules of
procedure it will be well to list the more usual formulas for
beginnings of speeches.

The Salutation. In all cases where speeches are made there is so