The Portland daily press., 1897-03-06
INGALLS, ON BRYAN.
The Brilliant Kansan Explains the
Late Candidates Failure as
Lecturer.

Late Candidates Failure as
o Lecturer.
Men Whose Fame Has Been Won on Poiiti-
cal Fields Seldom Succeed on the
Lyceum Platform. =
est. Louis Globe Democrat
Ex-senator J. j. Ingalls, returned to
Atshison few days ago from lecturing
tour. which included Atlanta, Ga, and
other points in the South and Hast
referring to.the announcement that W.
j. Bryan had abandoned his lecture
| tour, and would hereafter devote his
eHorts to bimetallism, Mr.. ingalls,
talked as follows to a correspen dent:
Coincidence of three things is neces-
sary to great speech. There must be a
speaker, an occasion, and an audience,
either sympathetic or hostile. Of these
the audience is perhaps the most impor-
| can't. Shakespeare who says everything
| better than any body else. hits the truth
when he makes Rosalind declare that
a JCnb b prosperity llcb Ii VIC OnA
OF him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it.
'This is as true of an Grafton as 1t is of
joke. The prosperity of speech lies
| in the ears of the audience: never in
the tongue of the orator. OF course, pow
erful speeches have been delivered to
listless hearers. Burke's magnificent
efforts emptied the House Of Commons,
though they will be read by scholars till
| t he sunset of time as modes OF sonorous,
rich and majestic eloquence. 1t was SAID
Of Rufus ChoRte that he would appear
| before some probate judge in dlngy
office, with no spectators, and blaze
along the pathway of the stars with as
much energy and display as though he
we're commanding the applause of listen
ing Senates. Quite likely, Demosthenes,
with bis mouthful of pebbles, delivered
powerful harangues against the fuctuat-
ing olamor of the Einarticulate seas; but
it rsmainsstrue. as popularity considered,
that the great effective speeches of the
world have been made by the hearers
quite as much as by the orator.
ssrhis was pre-eminently truo OF
Bryan's speech at Chicago, which will
probably stand as a historic example
among the conspicuous oratorioal
triumphs Of the nineteenth century
Taken as an intellectual effort, the adj
dress was distinctly commonplace 1t
had neither depth, conference nor origi-
nality. Its platitudes were the canned
goods of the trade. Its ornaments
were tinsel. It's climax was borrowed,
without credit. But Notwithstanding
these defects and infrmities, judged by
results 1T must be taken as one of the
most remarkable achievements of our
times. Its prosperity was in the ear OF
| the convention, not in the tongue OF
Bryan. He was like the rod = that con-
Quoted the bolt from the surchareed
thundercloud. He said at The opportune
| instant what the frenzied multitude
wanted to utter. He was the crater Of
the volcano; the vortex of the cyclone.
He was the central figure in an unpre-
meditated drama. He eliminated in
that tremendous episode which cannot
be duplicated
Opportunity knocked at his gate, and
he heard and obeyed the summons The
campaign that followed was hysterical
and laborious ThronRing myriads as
sembled, expecting to nave the miracle
at Oh icagO repeated in their presence.
They ..listenedsw incredibly and con-
sternation to the mechanical declaration
OF. an actor reciting familiar phrases.
Wherever he appeared Bryan sHnk IN
pubic estimation, not through any fault
of his own, but because the people had
measured him by. their i'm aginatlon and
not by their Judgment. They demanded
the impossible, and he emergedsfro his
unprecedented canvass with the verdict
that he was a versatile, commonplace,
shallow politician and not great in
spired popular leader and tribune of the
people. Bryan is what Mrs. Darlington
called very fluid speaker Facility
of speech is fatal gift. The man who,
without much meditation, study and
Torethought can depend upon an unin-
tsrrupted how Of language, before an
audience, on any subject with which he
Is but imperfectly acquitted, is exposed
to ell-nigh irresistible temptation to
mental Incidence. The disposition to
rely on the inspiration of the moment
grows with indulgence and at last be-
comes the habit of the mind.
sFrCm what heard at Atlanta should
judge that Bryan came to that engage
ments without much preparation. Not
. a1ns Ds ssy' though she this asaf may
may have been one of the tricks of tho
business. Henry Winter Davis used to
come sauntering into the House OF Rep
resentatlves ~at Washington with his
overcoat on mis- ARMAND his hat in his
hand, lounge In his aeat as If it was his
purpose to remain only mo1nent, just
when sumo measure which be had prevl-
ously learned was coming up; whereupon
he would address the chair, express sur
prise, and launch out into an apparently
extsmporaneous speech that had been
deliberately prepared for the occasion.
Roscoe Conkling and Matt Carpenter
were not wholly devoid of such articles,
designed to impose On the credulous, and
to deepen the effect of their really great
powers, by the Impression of miracu-
ioussor supernatural endowment that
separated them fromEthe rolelof common
men.
"But the qualityFof Bryan's speech at
AtlantaFexoneratesah from the impu-