The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-06-18
THE ORATORS AND ORATORY OF THE STUMP.

at the management of their own
affairs by the people themselves, at
parliaments and all manner of rep
res%entative assemblies, at that ire
mendous revolution which is grad
ually preparing the whole world for
the new order of things at "'the
count of heads" as much as at "the
clack of tongues"
A LATTER DAY EVIL.
Another thing has contributed to
the decline of stump speaking in
popular respect. There was a time
when the honor of addressing the
people was regarded as a sufficient
reward for the time and labor in
volved. No one expected any other
compensation than the good will of
the community, finding expression
ultimately in a call to the public
service. 1t is a matter for regret
that very little of the campaign
speaking of to-day finds it's recon-
pense in glory either abstract or con.
crete, but rather in an agreed allow
nee in the standard coin of the
realm. This is unfortunate, for the
inquiry which naturally arises in the
minds of the audinces as to the
amount of the speakers per diem
obviously interferes with the atti-
tUde of mind which induces the
eager acceptance of truth. The sit
uatiOn is emphasized when an ora
tor, as in the ISL of one of the most
famous Of the present time, appears
in one campaign for one party, and
in the next for the other. Such a
thing gives a look of bloodless at
torneyism to the whole business,
and puts the audience on it's guard
against the loss of self control which
is sometimes brought on by the
passion of the speaker.
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY AND YOU CAN
SAY 1T.
There is no limit to the demand
for speakers, and the supply apDears
to be limited only by the severe tests
required by a more enlightened pub
lie taste. There was a time when
the lawyer furnished practically
all the secular eloquence consumed
in the country but the everyday
citizen is beginning to find his voice,
since nothing is more natural than
that an age which desires to learn
should be Willing to sit at the feet
of any one who knows the practical
realities of life. The idea is slowly
gaining ground THAI whoever knows
anything with thorough accuracy
has little trouble in telling it in a
form entirely acceptable. This was
iIlstrated in the recent national cam.
paign, when Senator Hanna, who
was sixty years old before he at
tempted to make "a public address,
was everywhere accorded d distinc-
tiOn as an orator rarely attained
dI60I q 1lI6G1W6 VI GEdIlluS.
DEEPENING THE CONVICTIONS OF THE
HEARER.
There is nothing in the fact that
a speech is printed in the newspa-
pers to lead a wise man to lower the
standard of his art in presenting it
to an audience. The influence which
the press has had on oratory lies in
another direction. The enterprise
of the modern newspaper tends to
exhaust subjects, TO saturate the
pubic with knowledge IF the things
about which the orator is to speak,
taking away from him the interest
which attaches to novelty and ex-
elusive information. 1t is easy to
see that all this has tended to kill
certain kinds of oratory, and to put
under a high pressure all who seek
to influence the public thought,
that they may present common forms
of knowledge in such a way as to
hold the attention and impress the
Judgment OF those who hear.
Indeed some, with strange per,