that Colonel Roosevelt prepared for The Star. It was dictated at
his home in Oyster Bay, January 3, the Friday before his death. His
secretary expected to take the typed copy to him for correction Monday.
Instead she was called on the telephone early Monday morning and told
of his death. A delay of several days naturally ensued, before the
editorial reached the office of The Star.
In view of the immense moment of the issues before the Peace
Conference, The Star had asked Colonel Roosevelt to give his countrymen
the benefit of his discussion of the possibilities of a League of
Nations as a preventive of war. He consented, although, as he wrote,
he expected to follow this editorial with one “on what I regard as
infinitely more important, namely, our business to prepare for our own
self-defense.” That article, however, was never written.
This article, then, his final contribution to The Star, represents his
matured judgment based on protracted discussion and correspondence. It
is of peculiar importance as the last message of a man who, above every
other American of his generation, combined high patriotism, practical
sense, and a positive genius for international relations.
THIS LARGE-PAPER EDITION CONSISTS OF THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE
NUMBERED COPIES, OF WHICH THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY ARE FOR SALE. THIS
IS NUMBER....
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S . A
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious errors in punctuation have been fixed.
In the table of contents, “The Landsdowne Letter” changed to “The
Lansdowne Letter”
Page 49: “which his precedessor” changed to “which his predecessor”
Page 54: “seeking a black animal” changed to “seeing a black animal”
Page 136: “New York Herold” changed to “New York Herald”