The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-08
HE SHOULD SPEAK.

!
 Grover Cleveland does himself less than justice when he declares:. T am not public speaker. and public speak | ing is not my forte" It is one of 1 the marks of truly great man that he Is not given to seif-praise, but Is more inclined to deny his own merits. I If MT. Cleveland should say that he Is not e spell binder. he would be correct. His speeches are not of the kind to | take away the senses of an audience by the gifts of impassioned oratory or | the combination of cunningly con- structed sentences and brilliantly rounded periods. He is not a speaker to take his hearers or their feet, con- fuse their minds land make the worse appear the better reason" ThereS have been public speakers. many of them, who would create more enthusiasm among a mixed. audience than he can do. Coxe said of Sir Robert walpole: "Flowery oratory he despised," yet walpole was a great English statesman. It was Cicero who declared with sting ing emphasis that "Ioud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise.r and the American people are not wholly lacking in proof that he was right.
 Mir. Cleveland is ns spell-binder or sky-scraper but when 1t comes to solid argument and sound sense, he has few equals among our public men, whether he uses pen or tongue. ~, We can easily understand why he feels a hesitancy about going on the stump He has been out of touch with the Democratic Party for some years. and though he is now as loyal to the ticket as any man, he naturally feels delicacy about making himself conspicuous. The hesitation does him credit but we are not admitting that 1t is not unfortu- nate that he will make no speeches in the campaign. He might not arouse | as much enthusiasm as some, but he 1 would convince his hearers and make votes.
 And 1t is but simple truth to say that | this Is a time when argument and de- l monstration are needed beyond any time in many years. Grave issues are | involved-issues which must affect the life and well-being of the country. It is question of good government or bad; whether we are to have q govern ment of peace. of order and of con- stitutional observance, or a government of dangerous and Irresponsible one-man power. a constitutional American Gov ernment or a personal despotism under the name of republican form of gov ernment. There never was a time when calm demonstration and compara- tive presentation of facts were more urgently needed than they now are. We need campaign of reason, of argu- ment and of facts, rather than one of passion and explosive oratory.
 And for such a campaign no man in the Union is better fitted than Mir. Cleveland is. He has a faculty of put ting words and sentences together and of combining facts and logic which be- longs to no other man. If it be true, as sophocles said, that The truth is the strongest argument" then it is es- sential that the truth should be pre- scented in way to reach and convince the understanding of thoughtful and intelligent Americans. MT. Cleveland can do this, and we wish he would do it. We cannot ask or expect him to make any campaigning tours. but there will be times and occasions when a speech from him would be of vast ser vice. It will be unfortunate for Democracy if over sensitiveness on his part, or petty envy and jealousy on the part of others, shall lose to the cam paign the aid of his exceptional powers.