The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-13
GONE OUT OF STYLE.
OLD FASHIONED ORATORY NOT IN
FAVOR AT WASHINGTON.
Most of the Congressman Prefer to De-
bate Questions Coming Before Them IN
Matter of Fact Way-A Few Notable
Exceptions.
Especial Correspondence.l

| WASHINGTON, March 22.-What has be
| come of all the orators? Has the race 0
| great public speakers run out? These ar
| questions we have been asking one anothe
| in Washington during the past week O
two. For ten days or more we have had ;
tariff debate running in the house OF rep
resentatives. A tariff debate is as good
vehicle as any other discussion in congress:
for bringing out the divine affiatus of elo
| quence, if any such divine afflatus there b.
| to bring out, for it embraces not only colo
facts and figures but no end of constitu
tional argument and appeals to sentiment
and passion. Yet l do not understate the
facts when | say that so far not one genu
inc orator has been heard in the house, and
in the senate, where talking is going on all
the time, or.aory seems to be lost art
The secadence OF oratory in the public life
of this country Is marked that public
men themselves notice it and talk of it.
They do not understand it any better than
do. They only know that eloquence has
almost disappeared from the halls of legis-
lation, and ia its place we have a lot of de-
baters who may become earnest, learned,
interesting, but never really and truly elo-
quent. The days of Webster. Clay, Cal
IOull, Ilt, lIfSICbO nave pdSScu. Alas!
their successors are cold, matter of fact,
unmagnetic.
AS good an explanation as have been
able to get for this was furnished me by a
member of the house. himself no mean
speaker, who said: 1--WE have little or no
true oratory because oratory has gone out
of style. 1t is no longer the correct thing
to be eloquent. If Webster and Clay were
to reappear in the flesh, and rise in the
house and make one Of their old time
speeches, am sure the house would quiet
ly guy them off the fioor-that is, if they
did not know it was Clay or Webster This
is the practical, the utilitarian age, and
instead of appealing to sentiment or pas
sion, instead OF trying to sway the feelings
of men, we now appeal to their reason, to
their logic. Nowadays the disposition is
to quietly laugh at the man who tries to
indulge in soaring, and this tendency has
served to discourage even those who have
natural gifts, and to lead men who with a
little effort might be capital public speak
ers to be careless in their manner and
methods, and to leave off altogether the
study of rhetoric and elocution. In my
opinion it is not because we have not the
men capable of oratory, but because ora
tory is out of date"
This is very intelligent opinion, and
one which [ am inclined to think reaches
very near the heart of the matter If
were asked to say who is the greatest ora
tor in the present congress / should with
out much hesitation reply Senator VOL
colt, of Colorado. Others to whom have
put the question name the same gentle
man. Wolcott is not such an orator as In
gersoll, nor such an orator as the lamented
Grady, who was one of the most eloquent
men this country ever heard, but he has
natural gifts of a high order, and he has
made fairly good use of them. He has the
presence, the voice, the learning, and above
and beyond all this the indescribable some
thing-the thing which is different in diff
ferent men and yet the same in aIl-which
holds the attention, enthralls the reason,
charms the senses and constitutes real ora
tory. Unfortunately, we do not often have
the pleasure of hearing him.
This congress is poorer in orators than
the last one was. Just as, suppose, the
next one will be poorer than this. In this
matter we are on the down grade all the
time, and it is difficult to see where we are
going to stop. The types and the press are
taking the place of public speaking, any
way, and possibly the time is coming when
ability to make speech will not be con-
sidered part of a public mans necessary
accomplishments. In fact, it is not sine
qua non even now, as is witnessed by the
fact lat there are at least a score of SEN
ators who cannot do anything better than
indulge in a little conversational disqui-
sition on some topic, and hundred or more
sent2tives who couldn't make
without manuscript before them to
read ON, to save their necks. In the last
congress there were several real orators
who are not now in public life. 1 call to
mind Ben Butterworth one of the most
gifted men we have had in the Capitol in
the last decade. He was born orator He
had the Undesirable something, and much
Of it. 1t was not necessary for him to pre-
pare his speeches. He was always pre-
pared. He was at his best in 6ebate-the |
more he was rubbed by the enemy the more |
brilliant he became, the more be scintil- |
lated. He was that rare type-an orator |
and debater in one.
We have plenty of debaters-men who |
can take the rough and tumble of the floor, |
the interrogatories, the cross firing and |
icquit themselves with credit. Reed is !
such a man. Burrows is another. Joe !
Cannon, who used to saw the air and stand |
On the chairs, was still another Reed is a |
great debater But he is not an orator |
At times, when his passions are aroused |
and there is no other such way TO rouse
them as to refer to his record in the last /
,ongreSs-he comes very near being an !
orator, but just misses it. His voice is too |
nigh pitched, his elocution too faulty, his |
too mushy, when it should be /
most clear, to enable him TO reach the /
height of true eloquence. But Ben But
lerworth, OF whom / was speaking, com
oined both qualities. He was debater, a
'ough and tumble fighter and an oratorin /
he same moment. Some of the best things /
lie ever did were in the heat of conflict.
His most brilliant thoughts and most elo-
luent flights have been brought out by in
exemptions in the fierce conflict of party
losultieS on the floor.
Mckinley ranked next to Butterworth.
lie was good debater, a hard fighter,
hough always very courteous one, and |
lie was at the same time an eloquent
speaker. His voice was little shrin, but
t always rang out clear and distinct, and
{ vibrated with an earneStneSs, a SINGER
ty which spoke of deep conviction. and
which always caught the listener Mckin-
ey was a man you had only to hear talk
n public to become convinced of his hon
sty. That was his great charm. There
Ire public speakers in both senate and
house who get credit for eloQuence at the
Expense OF their reputation for sincerity,
Another orator OF the last congress was
INGALLS,. Not naturally an orator, he be-
anne one through hard study. through
aborious requirement of methods. Early
u life he was failure as an orator Net
led and Inundated by his shortcomings.
le took himself in hand and determined TO