The Progress., 1893-09-30


scarcely necessary for me to describe him
You have ali heard, no doubt, how Mr.
Morgan rises from his chair. addresses the
presiding officer opens his mouth and then
for two, three, five or seven hours lust as
be happens to feel, the words flow forth,
not in waves, not in gusts as the wind
blows, but in a steady, flowing stream-and
all this without apparently the slightest eff
fort, physical or mental, on the part of Mr..
Morgan. One of his speeches makes a man
think he i a wonderfully made automatOn
half human, half machine-and that in
the physical act of rising from his chair he
turns on a faucet, and nature does the rest.
Mr.. Morgan does not gesture: he uses
always the same tone, Ire does not find il ne
cessary to move his body or twist his neck or
to make any other visible eXertiOn, but the
words and the phrases, and the sentences
come streaming forth hour after hour The
most remarkable thing about it is that
they are for the most part perfect phrases
and sentences. and that the severest critic
and stickler for pure language might re
view these speeches when they are in type
and find few words that he would care to
change. Mr.. Morgan is certainly a phe-
nOmenon, and if to this amazing flow of
ideas, well clothed in the garb of fine words
as they are, he could only add some enthu-
siasm, little of the elocution of which
Henry Ward Beecher was so great mas
ter. Mr.. Morgan would be invincible.
Senator Villas of Wisconsin does not lack
in these particulars. Mr. Villas is a very
earnest man. He never speaks for the mere
sake of talking. When he addresses the
senate, it is with purpose in view, and he
speaks always with strong feeling, and it
may be added with a stronger voice Mr.
Villas does not actually roar, but he comes
very near it. This springs from his earnest
ness, and it is natural with him. not an
affectation. He goes perhaps to the other
extreme and mars his efforts by too great
an intensity. You know it is the common
theory nowadays, whether light or wrong,
that too much intensity defeats the object
in view. The man VINO wishes to convince
in these prosaic times must keep himself
well in hand and not permit his earnestness
or enthusiasm to carry him away.
The explanation of this is, | suppose. that
the true art of oratory lies in attaining and
maintaining perfect sympathy between
speaker and listener. The orator who does .
not display enough enthusiasm to warm
and stir his hearers fails of his object So
does the orator who displays more enthusi-
asm and earnestness than the audience is
able to feel. 1t is short step in the one
direction from sympathy to WEAKNESS, and
in the other from sympathy to ridicule If
Mr.. Morgan and Mr.. Villas were to 20 off in
a corner of the cloakroom some day where
no one could see them and swap qualities
as they might swap jackkniyes, Mr.. Nor
gan thereby acquiring little more enthu
siasm and Mr.. Villas little less, it would
be capital trade for them both and for all
of us.
Mr.. Voorhees,, now very conspicuous be
fore the public eye rs the leader of the re-
peal forces in the senate, is and for many
years has been a noted orator Mr. Noor-
hees appears to have been born again Ten
or 20 years ago few men in the country had
a broader reputation than he as a public
speaker, whether in congress or on the
stump During the past five or six years
The Tall Sycamore of the Wabash, -" as Mr.
VOORHEES, has been called as long as l can
has appeared to fall into ;G
rusty, well nigh useless way. He has not
even taken the trouble to bestir himself. or
to use those magnificent powers of speech
with which nature endowed him, in main
tanning his own reputation or in helping
the cause of his party Ill health may
have had something to do with this, but
now happily that period of inaction seems
to have passed
Mr. VOORHEES, is once more at the front. ,
as strong and as full of fire, and |,
of venom and invective, as he
ever was. He is an ugly customer to tackle
in controversy, and few men have dared to ,
attack him the floor of the senate Fv-
Senator ingalls, is about the only man who
has ever bearded Voorhees, in his den with
anything Ike success. Voorhees, is natu-
rally an orator. He never uses notes or 1
and would probably make a
failure of it if he were to attempt
,he employment of these very common aids
20 oratory. He is a sledge hammer. and
when he gets to going he does not care
much where he hits.
When it comes to controversy, Senator
Teller of Colorado is tiger No man in
.he senate is more feared in debate than he.
Mr.. Teller is always loaded and on a hair
rigger. The slightest provocation touches
him off, and when he goes off in repartee,
n ridicule or in logic it is well for his enc I
nies to beat hasty retreat. He is quick,
arcastic, penetrating and absolutely fear
ess. Inclined very much now toward indie
'endentism in politics, devoted more to the
ause of silver than to the fortunes of apy
political party, he is as ready to turn upon
lis colleagues on the Republican side of
he chamber as upon the Democrats across
he aisle.
Senator Palmer of Illinois is another re-
old man. He is somewhat like
dr. Morgan in that he is able to talk on
ny subject and for any length of time