The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-02-27
POLITICAL ORATORS.
STATESMEN WHO WERE NOTED As POW
FRFUL STUMP SPEAKERS.

There are fears that the OTatOry OF the
stump may belong to the attractions OF
the past. Either committee would have
gone far down into its bank account
could i. have secured stump orator
like the late Senator Nye. This gifted
man was a tower of strength to Repuo-
lican managers. He would bring IN the
farmers, through rain and knee-deep
mud, for many miles, and the hall could
never be found big enough to hold all
who wanted to hear him. His humor,
sarcasm. anecdote, pathOs. ard sc0rch-
ing invective found their great field and
stimulus on the stump, and men could
never tell whether they had been listen
iLg to him for minutes or hours.
President Lincoln was regarded as
stump speaker of remarkable power
long before he came into mems minds
in connection with the Presidency. In
deed, many regard him as the creates
orator the country has prod duced, Mr..
Edward Mcpherson being one of these.
Greatest, they mean, if the supreme
test be in the power of influencing the
hearer. Mr.. Lincoln, unlike many men
of commanding influence on the stump,
found his power not limited to this kind
of oratorY. 1t was said of him by an
eminent writer that his remarkable fac
ulty of putting things, his intellect, ca
paSle of the closest and most subtle an
alysis, and the use of language so as to
put his ideas in the cleareSt and simplest
form gave to his public efforts weight
and influence such as no public man OF
this country had ever before attained
Mr.. Douglas, with whom Mr.. Lincoln
carried on a series of joint public de-
bates that attracted the attention of the
country. was regarded as one of the very
best stump orators of his or any time.
Gen. Garfield as An orator at the hdst-
ings ranked with the first in his party.
Mr.. ConkliEg and Mr.. Blaine are re-
gaIded as possessing extraordinary pow
eTs of this kind, entirely separate from
other qualities of mind that have made
them distinguished.
The tendency to read essays, instead
OF delivering speeches, has become SO
universal in both branches of Congress
thai it is rare that a speech of any
length is delivered without the COM
plete manuscript being before the speak
er. While this results in greater grace
of style, accuracy of expression, and
better diction, it is at the cost OF the
energy, fire, enthusiasm, and hot emo
tions that the extempoTe speech stimu-
power of oratOry in recent Congresses,
EOweYer, have spuTned the use of manu-
script. The late Senator CARPENTER
whom many regarded as the most fas
cinating speaker of recent years in Con
gress, despised a written speech. He
once said that he might as we'll shut
himself up in an iron cage, and try tC
talk through the bars. He believed in
preparation, but not in prescription
Mr.. Conkling, while in the Senate, neY
er laid his manuscript open on his desk
He never read speech, and, like Mr.
| Carpenter, never hesitated for a word
| Yet both these orators never spOk,
without thorough preparation. Mr.
Edmunds seldom makes long speeches
rarely exceeding fifteen minutes. HI
speaks always eXtempOraneOusly, and
never revises the stenogIaphers' LOte'
or proof slips. John Sherman does no
write his speeches; neither does Gen
/ Logan nor Senator HOaT.
Tue three most vOluble Senators, NJ or
! gan, Beck and Plumb, neither write no
I specially prepare their speeches, except
/ ing to gather the facts. None of thest
| three, however, makes any claim to tn,
/ possession of OTatUTical powers, though
| each is singular in one respect. Mr.
/ Plumb is the most rapid speaker VIII
| has been in the Senate for many years
| He and Senator Beck are the only mel
/ who ever taxed Mr.. MuIphy's power a
/ a stenOgrapher to the fullest, and man,
/ shink Mr.. Murphy is the most lapiC
| stenographeT in the world. Mr.. Plumb
/ words are emitted with terrific speed -
He sometimes utteTs as many as 2jO il
a minute. Mr. Beck, while scarceI,
/ less rapid, speaks less clearly than Mr.
PLUMB, so that his words sound Just al
! the posts of a Virginia fence look to
man sitting at the window of light
/ ming express. Mr.. MoTgan's s speech il
rapid, flows as continuously as a run
ming brook, with much the same pleas
antly bubbling sound. He never pre-
paTeS or Tevises his speeches. They ap
pear in The Record precisely as he de
liveTs them, and yet Mr.. Murphy say!
that he never yet has found iii them al
error of grammar or of diction, anC
that as specimens of pure, classic Eng
li5h they are uneXcelled by the speeches
of any Senator. Mr.. Bayard does no
read his spec ches, hut with these excep
tions almost all the others do. 1t die
cause his Indiana friends some asJonish
ment when Mr.. Voorhees, irss unrolleC
his manuscript, but the custom is now
confirmed with him. Mr.. Pendletou
too, whose orat0Ty USED to be a delight
TO his Ohio friends, now reads hi
speeches.
In the long debates upon the tariff
bill in the house, both last winter anC
the session preceding, with hardly al
exception, the speeches were read from
manuscript. Speaker Carlisle. tw,
years ago, Judge Kelly, and Mr.. Ran
dali were the only members of promi
nence who did not read their speeches.
The habit has had one effect that i
inevitable it gives the speech reader
very slim audience generally. The es
says are read in a monotonous and al
most inaudible tone, and the case:
where a speech that is read is accom-
panied by any of the graces Of elocutioI
are very rare. Judged by the accepted
standard of oratOry, hardly member o
Congress who reads his speeches can b,
ranked as an orator. ". Y. ,Slcn.
WASHINGTON DEsCENDANTs.- "A
Washington dispatch of the 22d saws
AT the ceremonies connected with tn,
dedication of the monument yesterday
there were present of the descendant
and relatives OF Washington, Mrs. Lew
IS Washington, Vice Regent for Vir
glnia in the Mount Vernon Association
her stepson, J. b. Washington. of Pitts
burg, and connected with the BaI,imort
and Ohio Railroad Mrs. B. b. Wash.
ington and daughter, Mss Washington
of Frederick county, w. Va; Mis-
Eliza Washington, of Chariestown. w
Va; Colonel Thornton Washington. o
Texas; Bushrod G. Washington and $
w. Washington, of CbaTlestown, W
Va; Robert Washington, Westmore-
land county, Va; George Washington
Jefferson county, w. Va; Mrs. l.