Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-22

lIut,
nrootest d,rects in the college training
of today lies in it's very general forget.
fulness Of cratory. the art oi pu"''o
speaking.
Whether the eminent senator ~ ''s"t
| in believing that this neglect I'll INV"
Of other things will ultimately pr"Nr
detrimental to the nation tinhe aiohe
can tell. No one who remembers
the old days and has been paying "''eh-
ton to this years commencement e@er-
cises can fail to perceive that the ne
glect exists.
In the old times, unless the class was
too large, every graduate spoke piece
of his own composition on the great Day
| that he ceased being a student ana De-
came an alumnus. When the class was
so large that orations from all the
graduaes would take too long, inc
honor of delivering commencement ora
tions-it was an honor to be competed
for then-was reserved for students
who had shown special ability. That
commencement could possibly De the
real thing without it's orations entered
nObody's head. Today 1t Is mostly ul1-
| ferent, at least with the big modern
universities. though here and there you
may find a small college that graduates
| it's students in the good old way.
Senator Dcpew's contention was not,
indeed, that any great harm was done
| Dy the omission of the graduation ora
| lions as such. This omission he con-
sidered a symptom only of the general
neglect into which the art of Oratory
had fallen. 1t was his idea that public
/ ;oll union dome extern.
| poraneously, afforded most valuable
mental disciplined; that it carried with
it such a degree of rapid and accurat"
thinking as could be inculcated in no
other way.
The senator's views were quite wide
ly published at the time. and In some
quarters were most seriously obJecteo
to. College professors, business men,
| even members of various legislative
bodies, took direct issue with him. The
late Frederick Coudert. quite as grace
full speaker as Mr.. Depew himself.
was among those who held that the
colleges give too much attention, II
Ianything, to platform speaking. Better
by far, he said. that subjects be taught
with great thoroughness: "let the
young man be taught to know his sub
| ject from top to bottom" said Mr.. Cou-
dert, land he will know how to tell
what he knows. whenever occasion
arises"
Whichever view is right, the fact re-
mains that many of the men with
whose names the public is most famil-
lar have won their success largely be-
cause of their power as platform
speakers.
Mr.. Depew himself is one of these.
1t has long been the fashion in some
quarters to speak of him as chiefly a
| speaker, as one who carried his points
mainly through his skillful, forcibie
handling of words. and not by reason
Of profound knowledge. This is an In
Justice to him, but even if it were so
his point in favor of the thorough
teaching of oratOry in the colleges
would be all the more well taken.
| No one ever succeeded in covering
himself with credit in the difficult POSI-
ton Of Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington who was not
a good orator.
| The incumbent of the place, Uncle
Joe" Cannon is not an orator who de-
lights or excels in f1owery figures of
/
voice what he has to say, and his skill
was acquired by the thorough study of
the orators art. Not in college. to be
sure, though the fact that he learned
how to speak in the country debating
school, and not in academic halls, does
not weaken the argument in favor of
the study Of Oratory in the least.
| Uncle Joe" surely knows whatever
| topic he speaks on as well as the next
man; but, unless he had mastered the
art Of telling what he knows. he could
| never have been Speaker Of the House.
His predecessor as Speaker, Col. Hen
derson, is quite as valuable an example
Of the power of oratory as "Uncle joe
Like Cannon. Col Henderson got most
of his platform training in the country
debating school, and he has told the
| writer that it was by far the most
| valuable training he ever had.
Col. Henderson's idea Is that the
young man who becomes enthusiastic
on the subject of oratory, especially if
| he practices debating on miscellaneous
subjects, will become so much better
informed. in all sorts of directions. than
the student who devotes himself to
study alone, as to leave the latter be-
| lind in the race, nine times in ten. if
| the evolution of his career leads him ut
all into public life. This often holds
good, the Colonel believes, in business
ana commercial as well as public life.
The man who has learned how to
talk, to put his knowledge into words
| rapidly. lucidly and Convincingly.
stands ice the show Of winning as he
who. though knowing his subject thor
| oughly, is at loss for words to COM
municate what he knows.
OF the three most recent Speakers of
| the HOuse-Cannon, Henderson and the
lamented Thomas Bracket Reed-the
last-named was undoubtedly the great
est orator. He laid quite as great
stress upon the value of oratorical
| training for the young man as either
Mr.. pepew or Col. Henderson, and
while no one believed more implicitly
in the value of careful preparation, he
did not overlook the value of extern
poraneous training. On one occasion.
at least his own extempOraneous train
ing saved him from serious humiliation.
Il had a very important campaign
,ddroca tn deliver. IN EOSfOno no told