Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-12-05
ORATORS AND POLITICIANS.

audiences by well rounded periods of
speech and rhetorical delivery do not
seem to inspire the public with con-
| ddence. Crowds are pleased with
| flights of oratory. but that is all. They
are attracted to the orator Just as
they arc to a singer with a well mod
uiated and charming voice. Is the
power of elOquence a baue? 1t would
seem SO, If history is true. Among
the great orators who sought the pres
ideacy but never reached it are Clay.
| Douglas, Blaine and Bryan. Perhaps
among those who have been candi-
dates for high office no greater ora
tors have been produced in the United
States.
Blaine's tribute to the martyred
president, Garfield, is an English
classic How grandly he pictured
the departure of the stricken presi-
dent for Eiberon where death came,
and from whence he was borne back
to the nations capital after the long
suffering was ended. Mr.. Blaine con-
cluded his tribute with these words:
LAS the end drew near his early crav-
ing for the sea returned. The stately
mansion of power had been to him
the wearisome hospital of pain, and
he begged 10 be taken from It's prison
walls; from its oppressive, sitting
air; from its hOmelessness and its
hopelessLess. Gently, silently the
love of great people bore the pale
sufferer to the longed-for healing of
the sea, to live or die, as God should
will, within sight of its heaving bill
lows; within sound of its manifold
voices. With wan, fevered face tender
ly lifted to the cooling breeze, he
| looked out wistfully upon the oceans
Changing wonders; on its far sails
whitening in the morning light; on
| its restless waves. rolling shOreward
to break and die beneath the MONDAY
sun; on the red clouds of the evening,
arching low in the horizon; on the
serene and shining pathway of the
stars. Let US think that his dying
! eyes read mystic meaning which
only the rapt and parting soul NAV
! know. Let us believe that in the
silence of the recediDg world he beard
the great waves breaking on a farther
shore and felt already upon his
wasted brow the breath of the eternal
morning"
How beautiful these pathetic lines.
They mirror a heart full of tender
ness for his friends and q tongue of
matchless eloquence.
And no one can read the closing Cf
BrJ ans speech accepting the nomins-
ton wi bout being impressed with the
beautiful imagery of a great republic.
1t grandly portrays what q govern
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people should be. That mas
terful peroration cannot be read too
many times: Il can conceive of
national destiny SURPRISING the glor-
les of the present and the pasta des-
tiny which meets the responsibilities
of today and measures up to the posi-
bilities of the future. Behold a repub-
lie, resting securely on the foundation
stones quarried by revolutionary pa
triots from the mountain of eternal
truth republic applying in prac-
tice and proclaiming to the world the
self-evident proposition that all men
are created equal; that they are en-
dowed with inalienab rights; that
men to secure these rights, and
that governments derive their
lust powers from the consent of
the governed. Behold a repub-
lie in which civil and religious
liberty stimulate all to earnest en-
deavor and in which the Ia W restraints |,
every hand uplifted for neigh bor's !
injury-a republic in which every |
citizen is sovereign, but in which |
no one cares to wear a crown. Be !
hold a republic standing erect while >
empires all around are bowed beneath /
the weight of their own ornaments
a rePublic whose flag is loved while |
other flags are only feared. Behold !
republic increasing in population, in
wealth. in strength and influence, |
solving the problems of civIliz alton !
and fastening the coming of uni
versal Brotherhood republic which.
shakes thrones ind dissolves aristoC-
rscies 10y its silent example and gives
J ght and inspiration TO those who sit
in darkness. Behold repu bile grad
ually but surely becoming a supreme
moral factor in the world : progress
and the accepted arbiter Of the worlds
republic whose history,
like the path of the Just. is as the
shining light that shineth more and
more unto perfect day.
Aud vet both Blaine and BRYAN
were defeated for the presidency.
Cleveland is net an orator; Mckinley is
not: but both have fluent command of
language. Harrison is nearer an or
ator than either. Neither were Wash
ington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln
and Grant orators in the acceptation
Of the term. Although for purity of
sentiment and figure of speech that
was eloquent because it was heart
spoken, Lincoln surpassed any Amer
can who has ever lived.
This has sadly. we may say. grown
TO be utilitarian age. a commercial
age. and in the race for the material
.hiugs we tramPle upon ideals. Per-