The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-06-18

The pulpit, the bar and the stump
are the three conspicuous arenas OF
American oratory. To these may
be added a fourth, hardly less JON
spicuous, the legislative assembly
and a fifth, now grown to notable
influence, the political convention.
Of these, the last three may prop
erIy be used to illustrate the Ameri-
can notion of political eloquence.
The stump speech is a borrowed in
stitution in everything except It's
name, though under that somewhat
primitive description it has flour
ished here more luxuriantly than in
it's native land. Beginning in the
form of an appeal of the candidate
TO the electors in his W behalf,
it has broadened, until it includes
all forms of political discussion adj
dressed TO the public at large in
mass-meeting assembled.
Both here and in other English
speaking countries it has drawn to
itself a shade of disrepute, arising
in part from the disdain with which
a certain class of people look upon
politics, and in part from the fact
that cheap and INSCRIPTIONS arts
which would not be tolerated IN the
church, or even in the courthouse,
have always felt more or less at home
in the furious antagonisms of party
strife.
The stump orator has not yet en-
tirelv recovered from the influence
of Thomas Carlyle's fierce satire
printed fifty years ago, a satire
which was in inself a tribute to the
influence of the hastings ; since in
order to reach the object of his at
tack he had to impeaoh the intelli-
gence of the 1.-TWO finest nations in
the world" and give them up in de-
spair as ''having gone away after
talk and wind" 1t is easy to see
that this clumsy criticism is only a
part of his general complaint against
the progress of society-the voice OF
the old regime recording its male
diction against the new era.
The stump has suffered in p.es-
tige far more, in our Own times, on
account of d certain want Of serious
ness in their work exhibited by the
orators themselves. This was illus
trated at the end of General Harri-
sons first campaign, when the
speakers who had taken part III 1t
gave themselves Il dinner In New
York, at which they organized the
SpeIIbinders' Association. They
gained the title on account of the
interesting uniformity of language
in which their speeches were habit
ually reported in the press. Mr..
Evarts, in his argument in de,
fence of Andrew Johnson, said that
no speech could be so poor that the
newspapers would not describe it as
able and eloquent, these being the
lowest terms to which friendly re-
porters could reduce even Il worth.
less discourse. So that the NatiOnal
Committee, finding every speech
that was delivered described in
prompt letters to the headquarters,
and by invariable reports in the
local newspapers, as having held the
audience "'spellbound" for over two
hours, very naturally fell into the
way Of designating the speakers =
words suggested by ibis phrase
The jest has been perpetuated anC
has undoubtedly taken away from
the stump some of the prestige ant
dignity with which this form of pop
Mar oratOry IA once clothed.
STUN SPEAKING Is DEMOCRATIC.
But Notwithstanding all that tn
stump has to contend with, it still
remains, and must always remain
a potent centre of influence. Tn
satire bred in high intellectual at
mospheres, which derides it, i
aimed at our form of government