ABSTRACT
The important work in the history and criticism of American public address now being undertaken in the National Association of Teachers of Speech is a strong reminder that our scholarship is maintaining its confident advance. The case for rhetorical history is still stronger. Rhetorical criticism must depend almost entirely upon historical knowledge for its effectiveness, because, in the first place, rhetorical history, as compared with literary history, is concerned with a lesser proportion of those men whose voices, unassisted, continue still to be heard. The contention of Foerster and his associates is that the interaction of forces and tendencies is significant, while biographical and episodical information are merely curious. The two main factors in history have always been to some extent realized-that is, figures and forces.
