The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-05-31
Speech Making.

There are few really good takers in congress
that is, men distinguished for their oratory
and rhetoric. Senator Conkling heads the
list of the best. Conkhng's speeches never
need revision. Senator Edmunds makes his
speeches and tnen is done with them. He is
so careful with what he says and does that he
can never be picked up on all utterance. The
brilliant Matt Carpenter was always in peck
of trouble when he made speech. Carpen-
ter was aycrse to study, and relied upon his
memory which grew to be faulty. He al
ways revised his speeches, tore them to peices
and rebuilt, interlined, crossed out, and made
a frighttul looking proof sheet. Then he al
ways insisted upon getting the messenger
from the printing office ''full'' when the latter
was sent for his copy. Carpenter always de-
moralized the Congressional Record Office
upon night when he would make a'great eff
fort in the senate. Judge Thurmans speeches
never needed revision, except to see If the
| quoted authorities were correct. Sena-
tor Bayard is one of the most pleasing speak
ers on the democratic side, and he generally
gances over the proof to see that no mistakes
creep in. General Burnside repeats himself
in about every ten sentences, and is apt to be-
come nervous. Ben Hill slams away IN
sle1ge hammer style oforatory, and, no matter
how trivial the matter may be, will work him.
self mp in a fever heat and expend as much
earrestness as If great things were to lie ac-
fcomplished. Morgan, Of Alabama, is anotb-
er Democratic orator possessing the distinctive
peculiarties of the takers Of the South.
gallery lounger can tell in q second from
what section of The country speaker comes.
The pecuiiaIities of dialect are marked in The
classes Of society in their vicinity. Over in
the house s.Sunset' Cox causes trouble to the
printers. He always prepares his speeches
and leviscs them. He writes on all sorts of
paper. Que page may be yellow, another
white, a third leaf from book. Then his
handwriting is not a letter press; so Cox is
dreaded Randall revises every speech he
makes. General Harry White had habit of
sending for books during debates until his
desk was Uttered, aud he could scarcely be
seen, by the time he found the authority de-
sired debate would be exhausted, aud be
would produce scare, nothing more. This
was an old trick of Whites. The most re,
markable instance of the effect Of talking is
that which MIR. Blounts voice has upon jour
nalist who is u ell known here. Brown has
the pure, unaluterated accent, and is incnec
to be harsh, without meaning it. A few year;
ago young man, who was student at the
Annapolis Academy. was detected in hazins
scrape. The latter came before congress anC
Mr.. Blount made a violent speech against the
, naval cadets. One of the young men occupied
seat in the gallery, and the effect of Blounti
: speech, coupled with the thought of being dis
missed from the academy, was such that he
, became violently i'll and had to be carried
7 from the capital. Later in his career h'
branched out as a journalist, and was assign
ed to duty in the house gallery, Blount aros'
, to speak, and the recollections of past event
S came so vividly to the young mans mind ths
he again became Ill. He tried in vain, da,
after day, to conquer the feeling, but it wa
, found to be impossible. Every time Bloun
5 spoke he became sick. At last he was com
PEELED to relinquish his position or this ac'
, count. Even to this day that gentleman new
er appears in the house gallery for fear o
= Blount.
e The great debates are confined to the sen
:, ate, and the crop is being fast thinned on
f there. The retirement of Wallace, Thurman
V and Blaine and the death of Carpenter tool
!, away four of the most brilliant men at
: swoop.
e 1t costs S5O,0Ooper year for the mere jottin'
e down of the rem ak of the congressman
: The corps of official stenographers, both il
F the senate and the house, is probably the hes
). in the United States. Every word uttered i
s recorded, and many congressman is sur
. prised the next morning to find in the Con
gressional Record some remark which wa
y hardly intended for publication. 1t require
: a resolution to expunge the annoying para
. graph, a fact which requires members to b
a careful what they y.-Phiiadelphia Record
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