The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1904-04-30
THE CONTEST.

On last SATURDAY Mr.. Folk carried
the nine counties in which prelimi-
nary contests we're held, putting him
easily in the lead Of all his competitors
combined. Some Of these counties he
carried by large and unusual major
tiles. When it is considered that MIR.
Folk is a very young man, that he has
been ID public life only three years,
and that he is almost utterly destitute
OF those qualities by which men have
hitherto been accustomed TO rise to
sudden fame, his uccess passes the
limits Of the surprising-it becomes
astonishing. Great orators like Frank
Hurd and winsome personalities like
Sunset Cox have sometimes attained a
sudden, vertiginous eminence. But
Mr.. Folk is not of this order Of
phenomena. He has no more mag
netism than a hitching post, and he
is not an orator at all. He is not
more than a moderately good talker
HIS speeches compared with those OF
Vandiver and Kern upon precisely the
same subjects are mere twaddle. Yet
great audience have hung upon his
words and have gone away satisfied.
And the verdict Of a great audience,
whether right or wrong, is to be
treated with respect.
A great audience in certain states
Of emotion develops a mind and soul
and heart of It's own independent Of
the individuals that compose it. 1t
was such an audience that Mr.. Bryan
addressed Ia Chicago in 1896 and in
a thousand other places over the land.
But there are wide differences between
MIR. Bryan's case aud Mr.. Folks
Mr.. Bryan is an orator, as handsome
and mellifuent as Camille Desmoulins.
And then, too, the people in 1896
were suffering. They had a real
grievance. 1t is immaterial whether
or not the disorder was what thev
thought II was, or whether the rem
edy offered by Mr.. Bryan had the
curative properties he ascribed to IL.
The conditions were admirable for a
maximum personal impression, and
such an impression was made. Two
correlated elements, subjective and
objective, enter into every phenomenon
connected with the winning Of popular
favor, but sometimes in most unequal
degrees. The Goebel rising in Ken
lucky is an historical case in point;
and in fiction everybody remembers
Mr.. Arthur Pendennis' first love
affair, in which the "divine Emile"
was nothing more than the idealized
embodiment of dreams.
Mr.. Folk has made an active can
vass, and when he has charged on the
hustingS that "more corruption has
been exposed in Missouri in the past
two years than ever before In the
history of the world" the people
instead Of laughing have for some
unaccountable reason treated the
charge with indulgent seriousness
When he has failed to fill out the
I blank afldavits printed on the forms
of prosecuting attorneys intormations
and the supreme court has remanded
his cases because objection had been
raised in the trial court while It was
not too late to correct his errors, II he
had chosen to do so, he has appealed
the case Of the state of Missouri
against the givers and takers Of brides
from the supreme court to the people,
and again the people have taken him
seriously. When he has gone from
place to place INDUCING in bitter
attacks upon the official integrity and
personal honor OF the chief executive
Of the state, because he failed sum.
marily to dismiss the St. Louis police
board Including Mayor Wells on &C.
count of alleged misbehavior Of GER.
? tain members Of the force at two
) precincts of the twenty-eighth ward
e although the board according to the
, governors careful instructions had
. issued its usual orders and remained
in session all afternoon at the tele.
phone to listen for complaints and
heard none until the newspapers came
out the next morning with wilt
e statements Of men who have not beer
called upon to repeat those state
menls under oath before a trial cour
of the policemen, the people havI
again listened to him with a surpris