Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-07
DISPLAYS HIS ABILITY AS AN
ORATOR
A Political Speech That IS Full Of Points, Delivered
By An Orator Full Of Gsuius-At Least it's
Safe 70 Callil Genius, As Long As
William IS Able Bodied and
Quek b Wrath.
HhinIno Neps.

have held one term already, VIZ, member
of Congress from this district.
As you are aware, l am a seI-Inaue man.
/ have carved out my " career from the
ground up, as l may say, till to-day am
| your nominee for the second time.
What we want these days Is not so much
men of marked ability as candidates, u
available, careful and judicious men. we
are too apt to strive for the nomination OF
| brilliant men of pronounced opinions
when we most need men who can be easily
elected. OF what avail is a man OF genius
and education and robust brains and earn
est convictions if we cannot elect him !
He is simply q sounding brass and q tlnk-
ling cymbal.
Therefore, | would say to the youth OF
America-cOuld they stand before me to
dqy-do not strive too hard or strain
yourselves by e~ndeavOring To obtain some
object after YOU are elected to office. Let
your earnest convictions remain dormant.
/ Should a man have convictions these days,
let him reserve them for use III his W
| family. They are not necessary IN poll
tics. If member of Congress must have
a conviction and earnestly feels as though
he could not get along another day with
cut it, let him go to the grand jury and
make 4 clean breast of it.
may say, fellOw-citizens, without egot-
ism, that / have been judiciOus both IN
the heat of the campaign and the halls oil
the Legislature. | have done nothing
that could disrupt the party or weaken
our vote in this district. 1t is better to
do nothing than to do things that Will be
| ininrious TO the interests OF the majority.
What do you care, gentlemen, for what
| said or did in Il great session oil last
winter, so long as | came home to you
with 4 solidified vote for this fall; so long
as | have not trOdden on the toes OF the
Irish, the German, the Scandinavian, the
Prohibitionist, the iemale-suttragist, the
anti-MormOn, or the international copy
right crank?
Let us be frank with each other, fellow
| citizens. Do you ask me on my return to
you..hOw many speeches my private Secre-
tary and the public printer attached TO my
name, or how many packages OF ily-blOwn
turnip SEED | sent TO yOu last year?
No!
You ask yourselves how is the vote of
our party this fall as compared with two
years ago, and | answer that not a vote has
been mislaid or ballot erased.
| have lone nothing and said nothing
that a carping constituency could get hold
of. Though | was never in Congress be-
| fore, old members envied me the long
blank evasive..and irreproachable record |
have made.
No man can say that, even under the
stimulating influence of the wine cup, |
have given utterance in the last two years
to ANYTHING that could be distorted into an
opinion. And so to-day | cOme back to
and find my party harmonious. while
Others return to their homes to be greeted
by a disrupted constituency, over whose
ruins the ever-alert adversary chambers 10
success.
so | say to you tonight, Mr.. President
and gentlemen of the convention, let us
leave to the newspapers the expression of
what we call earnest conviction S-cOnvic-
lions that arise up in after years, to belt
H. across the face and eyes. Let inludi-
| cious young men talk about that kind
| of groceries, but the wary, self-made
politician who succeeds does not do that
way.
1t seems odd to me that young men will
20 year after year trying to attain distinc-
ton by giving utterancc to opinions when
they can see for themselves that we do not
want such men for any place whatever,
from iuryman to Congressman.
II you examiner my record for the last SEES
sion, for instance, you will not find that
spend the day pounding my desk with an
autograph album and illing the air with
violent u]tterances pro or con and then
sat up nights to get myself interviewed by
the disturbing elements of the press. No,
! sir,
| am not 4 disturber, a radical, OF a dis
rupter!
At Washington | am q heller and at
home in my ward | am also a
heller!
What America wants today is not so
much a large number of high-browed men
who will get up on their hind feet and
call on heaven to paralyze their right arms
before they will do y wrong act, or ask to
have their Tongues nailed to the ridge
pole Of their mouths rather than utter q
false or dangerous doctrine. That was
customary when the country was new and
infested with bears; when men carried
their guns to church with them and drank
bay rum as a beverage.
These remarks made good pieces for boys
to speak, but they will not TO now. What
this country needs Is a Congress about -
equally balanced rs possible politically, so
that when one side walks up and smells of
an appropriation the other can growl in 4
low tone of voice, from December till dog
days. In this way, by a pleasing system
of postpOnementS, previous questions,
points Of order, reference to committees,
LAYING on the table and general oblivion, a
great deal may be evaded, and people ut
home who do not closely read and remem-
Der the Congressional Record will not know
who to blame.
JudiciOus inertneSs and 4 gentle air OF
evasion will do much to prevent party dis
SenSion. | have done that way, and |
look for the same old majority that we had
ut the former election.
| often wonder if Daniel Webster would
have the nerve to get up and talk rs freely
abOut things now as he used to when poll
tics had not reached the present state of
perfection. We often hear people ask why
we haven't got any Webster in Congress
now. l can tell you. They are sat down
on long before they get that far along.
They are not encouraged TO say radical
things and split up the vote.
l will now close, thanking you for your
kind preferment. | will ever strive, while
representing you in Congress, to retain my
following, and never, by word OF deed, en-
deavor to win fame and applause there at
the expense of votes ut home. | care not
to be emhalmed in the school speakers and
disclaimers of future ages, provided my
tombstone shall bear upon it the simple
poetic refrain: HE got there"
BILL NYE.
RncElan,s Arnica SalNa-