The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-10-18

and few minutes changes the pace of my
mind entirely
do you write out your speeches, Mr..
Depew?''
mot my after dinner speeches was
the reply. 81 only write out such as I have
to make for an important occasion, as for
instance such as my speech at the celebra-
ton of the Bartholdi statue. l try to think
up my speeches before | go to dinner. On
most occasions leave my Office at o'clock
and compose my talks between 4 and g. |
first take taste of McCauley and then 20
over my line of thought fixing as far as
possible what l am going to say. I find
the dinner are often far different from
those | plan out. have die
tated, l venture, at least a hun
dred speeches in the street cars and
under the light of the street gas lamps.
Newspaper reporters who are assigned to
report the dinners find that it is not con-
venlent for them to be present. and they
often como and ask me for my speeches
the afternoon of the evening on which am
to speak. They sometimes come to The
railroad offices, but as l haven't composed
the speeches, 1 can't, OF course, give them
to them. When they insist, however, / tell
them to come to the house at 6
o'clock and will dictate the
speech to them before going to
the dinner. As rule, however, l
don't get started at my composition until
nearly 5, and it Is often 6 before 1 am
dressed. If l am not ready for them when
they call. they wait, and 1 often have them
Jump on the cars with me and dictate
what ! am going to say as we go along.
The dictatlon is sometimes concluded in
front OF the benquat hall, and l think l die
tateo at least twenty speeches in this way
last year When the speeches are publised,
the difference between the dictated speech
and that inspired by the surroundings of
the evening is often apparent, but l find
that the dictation enables me to make a
better speech. 1t clarifies my thought and
gives me better control of my ideas"
How long, Mr.. Depew, do you think an
after-dlnner speech should be?'
The platform orator of to- day who
speaks more than one hour at time" re-
piled Mr.. Depew, sis a fool; and no after
dinner speech should extend over forty
minutes. Twenty minutes is better than
forty, and the speech should be short and
pithy.
THE AGE OF TIE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH.
This Is the day of the after-dinner
speech" Mr.. Depew went on "Stump
speaking is to great extent a thing of the
past. In the days of Webster and CLAW.
the announcement of a speech by q promi-
nent statesman would have filled any hall
in New York. Now, were it not for the
machinery of the political clubs, half of
our great politicians would speak TO empty
benches. The lecture platform used to be
the popular stage for the dissemination of
truth. 1t has however been degraded bv
mountebanks, and it is fast becoming q
thing OF the past The dinner speech is
now the spoken medium of the communion
Of thought among all bodies of men.
When the railroad men of the country
want to discuss the situation instead of a
convention or meeting, they have a din
ner When the great politicians want to
lay out the intellectual part Of campaign
they give dinner, and 1t is the same
with scientists and all classes and
professions of men The dinner
meeting and dinner speaking is becoming q
part of church work. and some of the
biggest churches of New York find that
their best method of advancing the cause
and of laying out the plans which will pro-
duce the greatest results, is through their
monthly dinners at which time they discuss
the situation and the ways and means TO
betterit. It's, [ think, much better stage
than either the lecture platform or the
stump. You can say things in an after
dinner speech that you would not dare to
say in a lecture or in the pulpit, and the
varnish of good nature and politeness per
nit much sensible advice to be administered
that must otherwise go unsaid.n
CRITICAL NEW YORK
MIR. Depew, you have addressed audi
ences in every city of any size in the
United States. What is the most difficult
after-dinner audience to pleased"
"A New York dinner party, by all
III
is nothing like such an audience on the
face OF the United States. Take one of orr
big dinners at which 200 distinguished men
sit down and you have rs able and as criti
cal an audience as you will find in the world.
Some people sneer at them as q collection
of DO nothing millionaires. They do not
understand the men they speak Of Ninety
i've per cent. OF the guests at such q din
ner is composed of self made men. They
have come to New York from all parts OF
the United States because they have
grown too big for their surroundings else
where and have needed larger field. New
York city is made up of that sort of man
and these are the successful men of New
York. Do you know what that meaus2
We'll, out of every 100 business men in New
York, ninety-eight fail. New York takes
the cream of the whole country and these
men are the cream OF New York. They are
well-read men and they are men of brains.
They are men to whom time Is money. and
who appreciate it. They feel that thew
can't afford to waste a minute and if your
speech drifts into prosiness or is loaded
with chestnuts, their watches come out aud
the eyes Of every man call Time" They
want new ideas and unless you can give
them, they don't want you. The same
speech which will be applauded in a
country town where the diners come in on
the broad grin, and expect to be pleased.
will fall fat in New York and most of our
so-called silver-tongued orators fail when
they speak at one of our big dinners The
dinner itself to q New York diner out.
amounts to nothing. The men at the table
have not come TO eat. They are used to good
dinners and many of them have better din
ners on their own tables than you Will get
at any club dinner They have come for
the feast of reason and flow of soul. and
they are not happy unless they get it."
DEPEw's FIRST AFTER DINNER SPEECH.
evil you tell me, MIR. Depew, the story
OF your first after dinner speech!"
ut was at Yale college," was the reply.
"Myself and several of my chums had been
initiated into Greek letter society. We
found after we had gotten in, that the fra
ternity was insolvent 1t had been
made up of set of spendthrifts who
had been drinking and spreeing and it was
loaded with debt. We were too poor to