?Of course it would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant. Oftentimes the inconvenience and loss fall on the innocent. This is all a part of the price of freedom. Unless the people struggle to help themselves, no one else will or can help them. It is out of such struggle that there comes the strongest evidence of their true independence and nobility, and there is struck off a rough and incomplete economic justice, and there develops a strong and rugged national character. It represents a spirit for which there could be no substitute. It justifies the claim that they are worthy to be free.? Calvin Coolidge

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.

Excerpt from Speeches and Addresses, on the Threshold of Eighty Mr. President and Gentlemen: It is very interesting that the twentieth successive dinner which you have given me on my birthday should coincide with this club coming of age. Twenty-one years of club life to those who have been members from the beginning is always full of charm. The club is the nearest association to the family possible without domestic ties. A man who has a sympathetic disposition and loves to mingle with his fellowmen upon a basis more intimate than is afforded in business will have among the living, and, in memory, those who have passed away, an invaluable asset of choicest friendships. In no place as in the club does human nature reveal itself at its best and at its worst. Members become natural with each other and their selfishness or their good fellowship increases with the years. I recall those who were present at that first birthday celebration, and each one of them since has had distinctive features. It has differed from all other affairs of the kind because of its publicity and its freedom of discussion. The influence of words uttered here or revelations made here have at times reached far beyond the limits of this city. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.