Los Angeles herald., 1905-02-13

above all. voice equal I'm compass to
that Of the famous Gov. Bill Allen OF
Ohio. and which procured for that
gentleman the sobriquet of Fog Horn
Bill" Knight has not been rewarded
by his party according to his deserts,
but he is young and can wait. Delmas
belongs to the classic school of ora
tors He has been undoubtedly told
| by his admirers that he looks like
the great Napoleon, as was the late
William Mckinley, and he dresses
his hair and poses a little in that line.
No two men could look less alike than
Mckinley and Delmas, and yet the
resemblance spoken of is marked in
both. Delmas as an orator is statu-
esque, magnetic and equipped with
diction varied and classical. He rarely
Identifies himself with active politics,
very likely having an oblique eye on
the rapidly increasing Republican vote
in California. There is strong
aristocratic flavor about him. and 1t
is doubtful IL he could have made so
strong an inroad in the popular favor
as did Franklin X. Lane in the last
gubernatorial election. Per contra,
George Knight is as frank and CHEEKY
as an open-hearted boy.
Steve White and Others
1t was great misfortune for Cali
fornia and his legion of friends, who
were confined to no single portion of
the state, that stephen M. White died
was achieved in Los Angeles county
except that portion of six years which
he spent in Washington while he was
senator of the United States. l re-
member well his first speech, which was
made from a rostrum in front OF
Temple block when he was youth Of
twenty-four and was running for dis
trict attorney. He spoke to q large
and appreciative audience with other
speakers, who were of experience and
trained ability in that line. He made
a very pleasing impression and gave
evidence of plenty of latent ability
which only needed maturity to ripen to
emnence. There was an air of rusti-
city about the young fellow which only
lasted year or two, being worn off
rapidly in the courts where he early
ripened into a powerful forensic gladi-
ator.
In that first speech Steve White
showed the mother wit which was
one of his most effective endownents.
1t is worthy of remark in considering
his oratorical career that there was
not presented in Whites life any of
| those great issues of which other ora
tors had the advantages. From the
time of his advent on the stage there
was no great excitement of any kind
to the front, with the exception of
the Dennis Kearney emeute, with
which he had too much good sense to
identify himself, although his father,
William F. White, was the working
mans candidate for governor. He sim
ply withdrew from public life for that
campaign, and had nothing to say--a
dignified course which pleased every
sensible man of all parties.
What White would have been in ex-
citing times was shown by his course
at the San Jose convention, when the
San Francisco Examiner made its
famous attack on him. On that occa
sion he showed what lion-like resour-
ces of defense and offense were bound
UP in a man who at his ease looked
like one of thousand other men. The
most devoted friends of the Exam
liner said it made a mistake in rous-
ing the sleeping lion.
The great predominating feature of
Steve Whites oratory was force. He
was a man of immense nervous ener-
gy and capable of an incredible amount
of work. This, in addition to his ora
torical ability, made him a powerful
man before both the court and the
Jury. He became exceedingly learned
in the law. He had voice of great
power and which responded to all the
demands mode on it until within
short time of his death. 1t was not
O. musical voice, or one noted for in.
Election or modulation, but it rang like
a clarion. Under such surroundings
as those afforded by the war or the
long anti-slavery debate Steve White
would have won a reputation as an
orator way up at the top.
Col John F. Godfrey, contempor-
[ airy of Stephen M White at the Los
Angeles bar, was a speaker of force,
grace and power. With no great char
acteristics of voice or manner, as DIR.
Johnson said of Edmund Burke, ''he
could wind into his subject like great
serpent" and always captivated an au-
0ience.
/ Col J. G. Eastman and Judge Anson
Brunson were also brilliant exemplars
of California oratory hereabouts in
Whites days. "And there were
others"