Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-03
Price Four Cents.
Senatorial Orators.
Description or the Methods of Some of Our Distinguished Senator's
 From the Washjnbtou Ra,nhta.,


 u The Senate is soon to meet again, and th B. expected presence of the Solons here inspire d us to say that there are very few men in ei if ther House of Congress who speak upon an, I important measure without having made tn,
 most elaborate preparation. The library Ii j. ransacked for books, old newspaper files ar, D brought from their hooks, and cords of paper
 ! are used in taking notes. These notes ar, ! filled out. put in order, and then you have set speech.
 David Davis. perhaps, more than any othel y Senator, indulges in manuscript, preparing ] even five minute speech with great care
 | This is his inhexible rule, and has been since he entered upon public life After he deliv T. ! CTS his speeches. rather after he reads 0 them, he hands his manuscript to MT. Mur
 phy, the Senate stenographer, who sends it
 to the government printing office. The com.
 posltors never have any anathemas for the D Judges writing. which is large distinct and f full of character
 Edmunds never uses notes and once c ! speech Is out of his mouth he does not bother his head about it. During all the years he
 has been in the Senate he has not revised a
 single speech He turns everything in his F | mlnd beforehand and never rises to address
 the Senate without having weighed in the scales of his great mind what he intends say-
 ing.
 Ben Hill will speak for three hours with
 out a scrap of paper. The only preparation \ DaSSaQeS ! Tn this book or that. have seen him time | and again thunder away for two hours with ! out stopping even for glass of water He \ revlses his speeches, however makes addi- | t1ons and corrections in clear hand much like that of college boy, and gives the
 printers little trouble with his proof Hill
 has an astounding memory, and no man in | public life, except Edmunds, has such imper- I durability. The only man who could well
 worry Hill or excite his wrath in debate was
 the late Matt Carpenter. How it tickled \ Carpenter to put some adroit question at the | Georgian and get him confused "a hard
 thing to do at any time, but Carpenter often \ succeeded And it was mere the result of an irresistible propensity for fun than anything \ else, for never was man who had less malice I than Matt Carpenter.
 He had heart as big as mountain He ! was exceedingly particular about his speeches when they were upon legal questions After he got the proof from the foreman of the Record he would hack it to pieces, send the corrected proof back, get second and treat it in like manner. His writing was character \ istic, hard to read-a rollicking, harum- scarum sort of a fist-and study to the printers. He used to say, "The shortest road is the best road when you're in hurry ;'' and though he could write fine, full, round hand, he dashed of everything at lightning speed.
 Another Senator who, like Edmunds, never revised speech, was Thurman, Occasional ly he spoke from manuscript but the steno- grapher took down every word he said, as the old gentleman would forget his manu- script and drift into extemporary eloquence Thurman, though never graceful speaker, was always forcible. He was, beyond all doubt, the ablest of the Democrats and their leader from the time he entered the Senate. Bayard works hard at his speeches, and though he writes them out and follows his manuscript closely, he revises after proof is taken. He makes few changes, however, but holds the proof very often until ? o'clock in the morning, as he spends his evenings gene rally in social circles. He is good penman, writing a medium-sized running hand
 Lamar is great reviser, cuts proof into tatters, writes horrible hand, and tries the soul of a printer. Occasionally he goes down to the Government printing office to look after his speeches, which, when pub lished, are vastly different from the steno- graphers report of them.
 Senator Conkling seldom made correction of his utterances in the Senate chamber He is perhaps the best extemporaneous speaker in the United States, and even his remarks in running debate are splendid indices of great ability. During the extra session of the Forty sixth Congress he delivered & speech upon the army appropriation bill without note, papers, book or reference of any kind. When the Vice President announced ''the Senator from New York" up rose the stately form of Roscoe Conkling. Never before or since had Senator such an audience. He spoke for four hours. Before the adjourn ment of the Senate 10000 copies of his speech had been subscribed for. Every print ing establishment in Washington sent to the Senator it's lowest estimate. In a very short time, Oyster, one of the best living typos, and foreman of the Congressional Record, had the proof of the great speech ready. He took it up to Wormley's about o'clock in the morn ing and asked for Senator Conkling. ''He is not up yet" said the private secretary; "the Senator breakfasts about Il; however, as you are in hurry and want to see after the speech, shall call him." Tell Mir. Oyster to come in-ah how do you do, Mir. Oys- ter 2' and Lord Chesterfield never was more polite than was Conkling in his nightshirt. After rubbing his eyes he looked at the proof, made few changes and struck out the 'tHon." before Roscoe Conkling." You will never find it prefixed to his name in any speech intended for general distribution. Af- ter he received the speech he wrote his thanks, very kindly, to Foreman Oyster, as follows
 UNITED STATES SENATE GRINDER,
 May 2, 1879,
 My DEAR SIR beg you to receive my thanks for he bound speech and for your kind through ad rust may know you better in future.
 Cordially yours, - o
 E. ". OYSTER, Esq. ROSCOE CoNKLING.
 Of all the Senators, Conkling writes the pest hand-large, easy, graceful, and leRible. His signature, however, would be study to my one not acquainted with It.
 The present Secretary of State, when 8 member of the Senate, used to look care ully after his speeches, which for the most ,art, were made from ''headings." Probably here never was in the United States Senate man who needed less preparation than ames G. Blaine. He is infallible in istory and impregnable in debate. His lemory of facts and faces Is ab- olutely wonderful He can begin with Will nd C1iv ba f every sovereign of England down to Vic ,ria, with the dates of their reigns Now nd then the Senator would give his personal ;tention to the printing of speech. One orning Oyster found him busily at work cutting up copy'' for the printers. Hell yster, I'm ahead of you. See, Pm dividing 3py" sYes Senator I see you're ahead of le; but went home only six hours ago, nd shall be here for sixteen consecutive ours" seWell, I know it's hard work, Oys- IT. I've been at it, and know what night ork means"
 Voorhees, prepares his speeches carefully nd revises moderately. He is one of the w, very few men, who use manuscript in ,ch way that not a single oratori- I grace is diminished dnnanna n thereby thereby; is speech well to memory or not we never ould tell. We rather think he does. But, ith or without manuscript, Voorhees, is an rator of the first school. AS a rule, the cry sight of manuscript in the hands of oeaker is enough to nerve one for bore. emosthenes was right when he said "Or- ,ory is -delivery-delivery; and slivery is killed by manuscript.
 Jones' of Florida, always a hard student bors diligently at set speech. He is pas onately fond of Edmund Burke, and knows is works as we never knew any other to now them He has 8 memory equal to Iaine's or Ben Hills, and time and again hoor after urke's immortal speeches. It is the same ith the speeches of Phillips, Grattan, Cur m and O'ConneI. Jones is very able man. is Democracy is extreme, but out of poli- cs he is one of the best fellows the world yer.
 Davis, of West Virginia, though an old ember of the Senate, has made but one ,eech-on agriculture. It was printed ex- tly as it was written. His remarks are left the tender mercies of the stenographer. Beck, Davis colleague in the Committee of ppropriations, is the most rapid talker in ti5z,. Ho,1oa of G0nOrasa Well for him that