The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-12

the people. The more he talks the greater
grows the wonder at his power of speech.
He never says the same thing twice, and
there is no sign of exhaustion of his store
of argument and anecdote. He is we'll
spring of words weighted with wit and
wisdom, fancy and force.
If he is to entertain, he laughs and the
audience laughs with him. If he is to in
struct or impress, he gives forth a torrent
of fact and logic and the audience is car
ried along as by the rush of mighty waters.
He has proved that he is master of the
great questions Of the hour, as well as the
most political purveyor of mental recrea-
ton of the time.
There is not in this broad land a buster
man than Mr.. Depew. He is at his Office
by 9 or little later in the morning, and he
rarely leaves it before 6 in the evening.
His mail is dumped on his desk by the
bushel, crowds beseige his door early and
late and meetings follow one another as
fast as they can be called to order. But
Mr.. Depew reads every letter. turns no one
away and takes part in every meeting.
He thinks quickly and acts quickly. Not
minute is wasted and still-and there
fore-he has time for everything.
ne averages u speech Il udE IOT every Jay
in the year. He has the power of concen-
tration in the highest degree. If he is to
deliver speech in the evening, he does
not give it a thought until he leaves his
office, but it is all in shape in his head by
the time he reaches the platform or rises
from his chair at the banquet table. Using
his own term, he gets the bones of the
speech together and relies on his vocabu-
larry for the remainder. He manufactures
his own humor from the things that he
sees and that come to him spontaneously
There never was such man to inter-
view He is the soul Of good nature, the
personifcation of easy dignity and the
perfect delineator of convincing frankness.
He talks without hitch or halt. in
English so plain, yet so effective, that
every word has its unmistakable meaning
and is in its proper place. One who con-
verses with him does not wonder that he
is New York's favorite son and America s
favorite speechmaker.
With all his other qualities, he is one of
the best business men that the country
possesses. He is the adviser in the great
est aggregation of financial interests in
the world. No other corporate invest
ments are considered so safe by capitalists
as the properties with which he is iden-
titled.
He is more than presidential possibil-
ity. He is a probability, if the Republic
can candidate is to come from the East.
He is at peace with all factions, and he
has no "entangling alliances" so that
every man in his party could go marching
along under his banner, enjoying his fun
and singing his praises.
"Why is it that so few public men are
humorists?" asked Mr.. Depew.
public men are very shy Of humor, :"
was the reply. General Garfield told me
that he had special talent in that di-
rection, but made up his mind early in his
career that it would ruin his ambitions If
he Welded to it or cultivated it, and
that he succeeded in so completely elm
mating the faculty that he neither
could say humorous thing nor under
stand one. He advised me to abandon
the exercise of my own talents in the line
of humor if | ever expected political
recognition or preferment. The idea has
always been, and Garfield was an extreme
believer in it, that if a speaker or writer
was in the habit of INDUCING in humor or
wit the public would remember only what
amused it, and no matter how able he
might be. or how learned. he would be
reckoned simply as jester"
What have been your own observations
on this point?"
"A study of the lives and works of our
public men demonstrates how thoroughly
committed 10 the idea they have been.
There is not joke, nor a mot. nor q scin-
tilla of humor lrradiating the Revolu-
tionary Statesmen. There is a stilted
dignity about their utterances which
shows that they were always posing in
heroic attitudes. If they lived and moved
in family, social and CLUB life as We under
stand it, the dismal gloom of their COM
panionship accounts for the ecstatic enjoy-
ment which their contemporaries took in
! the three-hour sermons then common from
| the pulpit.
"As We leave the period of Washington.
Hamilton Jefferson and the Adamses we
| ind no humor in the next generation.
| The oalv relief from the tedium OF argu-
/ ment and exhaustless logic Is found IN the
| savage sarcasm of John Randolph, which
! was neither wit nor humor. Probably the
/ most brilliant man IN the next period
that Immediately preceding the civil war
| was Thomas Corwin. He was the idol
/ of the people and literally swayed the
! mu. titudAas he pleased by the power OF
! his q. oquence. But the most potent factor
| in the destruction OF his enemies and the
! buttressing Of his own cause was his
| inirnitab!e wit and humor. In
| broad craftsmanship, solid acquire.
| ment and effective eioquence he
| stood above the successful mediocrity ot
| his period-the Buchanans and the Folks,
| the Franklin Pierces and the Winfield
Scotts-like star Of the first magnitude
above the milky way. But in later years
he thought his failure to reach the su