The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13
nov ogaToRy.

is it's superficiality. The mode of its deyel-
opment is fatal to any quality of thor
oughness. 1t aims at transitory effects the
winning of prizes in oratorical contests be-
tween colleges and the plaudits of cailow
and immature youth who have never taken
serious thought on any subject. Any one
who is acquainted With the life in our col
leges knows that the best students are not
selected as their representatives In the ora
toricaI contests between them. The great
universities in the Eastern States do not
countenance these contests. Clear and ac-
curate thought is not wanted in them.
They are not devised for the scholarly and
philosophical discussion of the subjects that
are treated by the contestants. The young
gentlemen with canes and many-colored
ribbons and brand-new silk hats who at
tend these contests would be very much
bored by anything of the sort. What is
most desired is glib and facile speech, the
faculty Of uttering commonplace in
lively and taking way. Words take the
place of thought and are used to conceal
the want of it. far it Is possible to
wags easily soon finds himself In demand
is laborious and Its rewards slow, the
games of football and baseball require a
superiority in physical strength for the
achievement of distinction in them, but
talk is proverbially cheap and furnishes an
easy means for gaining immediate prestige.
1t makes little difference what he says so
long he says it effectively. Any kind of
meat will suffice for his audience If it is
properly garnished; any sort of platitudes
will serve for oratorical purposes if they
are impressively delivered. intercollegiate
oratory must be, above everything else,
rhetorical and Evolutionary, and the true
production of its opponents, as it is under
stood by them, is altogether In the line Of
decorative upholstery.
A young fellow who falls in with this
view of oratory and it's essentials, and
learns to regard this ideal of it as a power
among men, is confirmed in his opinions
by the prizes that are won by 1T, and the
Fictitious Importance that 1t gives the win
ners among those who are like them. He
never acquires any conception of that gen
uine eloquence which is the result of a
complete mastery of a subject and the sin
cere and earnest presentation of it in plain
and sensible language. 1t is impossible for
him to realize the obligations of a strict
regard for truth in dealing with his audi
ence; his duty to know what he is talking
about and to communicate it fairly and
intelligibly to those whom he assumes to
instruct. He has educated himself to win
prizes by gaining the applause of partisan
and uncritical audiences. and he never
seeks to do anything else He never ma
lures, but remains in what scientists de-
scribe state of arrested Developments
boy orator for the whole of his life.
A man who is trained in this way does
not know what it is to have accurate and
thorough knowledge of any subject. He
does not take the pains to make careful in
vestgation of it before announcing his
illusions, and he scouts the notion that
those who do so can have any more
trustworthy information about it than him
self. All that he knows is derived from
the perusal of partisan speeches or evolved
from the depths of his own consciousness.
1t is, therefore, not surprising to find in
the most carefully prepared addresses of
Mr.. Bryan the most egregious blunders.
He fatty contradicts the aXioms of political
economy and monetary science with an is-
norance that is unashamed, because it is
wholly unconscious of itself. We are never
furnished with any authority for his
sumptions OF fact, and many of them are
plainly unfounded, while others are unver-
ifable. When his facts unquestiona-
BILE they are usually irrelevant. His
speeches may be searched from one end to
the other for any evidence of his acquaint-
ance with the views of men who are recog-
nized by the world as authorities on the
subjects that he proposes to discuss, with
out discovering it. They disclose an utter
want of the reasoning faculty. He is
able to reason from any state of facts to
a logical conclusion from them. His con-
illusions are never stated With positiveness,
because he does not positively know any
thing. He thinks and contends and
which are advanced by him are true, but
he never manifests the clear and strong
conviction of accurate and thorough knowl-
edge. AS a defense of his ignorance he
says to his audiences that any man knows
enough about the money question to solve
it for himself, without any assistance what
ever, and his statement may be taken as
an excuse for his failure to furnish any
substantial addition to their stock of infor-
nation, although it does not sufficiently ex-
plain the necessity for his present tour