Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-10-10
President Hau1son's Speeches.

which the country can judge whether
it did well or i'll to place Benjamin
! Harrison in the Presidential chair;
first his acts, second his words.
| Accepting the maxim that factions
speak louder than words" the Press
has already reviewed the record of
this administration and shown that
when weighed in the balance it is
in no way found wanting. But
words must be weighed az well as
actions for complete judgment.
Indeed, in republic, where the
right to rule must be based on reason
it is no small test of any mans
fitness for high place whether he
can acquit himself well in speaking
TO the people.
1t is fact worth thinking upon
that in every land and every age
the great chosen rulers Of free coun.
tries have nearly always been men
powerful and persuasive in speech.
Ii was so in the ancient Greece. Her
most glorious era was that when
Pericles was at the summit of
government, and he possessed at
once the craftsmanship to plan i'm.
mortal achievements and the elo.
quence to convince the people Of
Athens that his plans were good. 1t
was and is SO in Great Britain,
where William Pitt, afterward the
Earl of Chatham, whose eloquence
has been described as resembling
sometimes the thunder aud some
times the music Of the spheres, gave
his country an administration AS
| Prime Minister SO "practical" that
she rose In few ears from posi-
ton of comparative weakness to
that of the most honored of the
great nations of the world. Glad
stones fame as an orator is hardly
superior in England to his fame ~
a consummate master of the whole
science of taxation and government
finance. 1t was and is so in the
| United States. Alexander Hamilton,
our country's first Secretary of the
| Treasury, of whom it has been said
with pardonable exaggeration that
he did his work so we'll that the
office has been a sinecure foi all his
successors, was a wonderful orator.
Abraham Lincoln, whom James
Russell Lowell, with equally pardon.
able exaggeration, called "the first
American" rose to his exalted place
on the wings of oratory, aud being
there, did his unparalleled work
with incompatible excellence.
We have thought it worth while
to say these things because there
are people ignorant of history and
incapable of deep thought, who
tooNshly imagine that President
HarrIson's gifts of speech do not
count among his qualifications for
his high office. They do and ought
to count very largely. He has
proved himself one of the very best
| public speakers that this country
has known in political life. There
are two sorts of speeches to be ex-
pected from party leader who is
also high official, The first is
! political; the second, nou-pohtical.
Tried 10y either standard the Presi.
dents friends may well challenge
comparison between him and any
! other man In the country. AT
Indianapolis, during the campaign
of 1888, the Republican candidate
addressed, day after day, delegations
from all classes of society and all
sections of the country.
lie usually, as was proper, dealt
with the pending issues of the
campaign. 1t had previously been
considered a dangerous thing for
the interests OF q Presidential oaudi-
date if he made speeches other than
formal and colorIess ones. More
than one candidate had come to
grief by that means. But Benjamin
Harrison proved himself of differ
ent metal Every speech he made