The Washington herald., 1907-06-24
ORATORY MADE TO ORDER
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN.
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

Since the beginning Of history orators
and authors have been charged with ap-
propriating TO their own use the language
Of others. It would be unjust 70 charge
that theft and plagiarism play any large
part in public debate in the United States
or that much really good American ora
tory IS stolen. but many papers are read
and many speeches are made by many
persons who had no part in their au-
thorship. Ready-to-use essays and
speeches may be divided into two classes.
those deliberately "cribbed" from speech
es previously made and those that are
made TO order by professional writer's.
who hire out their brains to persons who
stand IN need Of speeches and lack, time
inclination, OF ability 10 write them.
The list Of those who use such material
IS long. It runs from the girl graduate
who gets help from one source OF
another TO the member Of Congress who
buys a speech from some one who makes
a business OF supplying such demands.
There are, Of course no great reputa-
tOns builded upon false foundtions
but it sometimes happens that the coun-
try constituent who reads a marked COPY
Of the Congressional Record and wonders
at the store OF information possessed by
Representative, who never seemed stu
dious before he was sent to Washington.
reads a speech for which his Represen-
tative paid a stipulated sum.
As a rule, the purchased speech may
be used without danger, but the results
are sometimes unfortunate. Upon one
occasion member Of Congress gave a |
rush order for a speech that required
considerable research work The order
was filed acceptably, but the overworked
young man who had taken it took short
cut TO produce the oratlon and led his
employer into unsuspected danger. The
Representative finished his oration with
a flourish. The galleries applauded. and
the correspondents Of the leading. papers
in his State telegraphed glowing ac-
counts Of the effect produced. as well as
summaries OF the speech itself. The ora
tor took his seat and mopDed the per
spiratiOn from his brow as his neighbors
congratulated him across the desks. A |
number Of men from the other side Of
the House bore down upon him 70 offer !
congratulations. Among them was /
Southern Senator, famous as an orator. |
The Representative rose 10 his feet to |
meet the outstretched palms Of his col |
leagues.
L wish 20 Offer my congratulations 10 I
you upon your excellent delivery" said /
the Senator. when I delivered that /
never got half the applause you managed /
10 evoke in Congress" OF course. the |
warmth Of the reception was chilled at /
once. The Inundated orator learned to |
his disgust that the man employed to |
write the speech had run across a bit Of |
oratory upon which he did not feel that /
he could improve. and, thinking there |
was only one chance in a thousand that /
the plagiarism would be detected had |
taken the chance.
During the first session of the Fifty /
ninth Congress there occurred in the
Philippines a battle between the United
States troops ard Moros which was dub
bed the Mount Dajo massacre by men,
bcrs Of Congress who held that the
slaughter OF the natives was unnecessary.
The event provoked heated debate in the
House. John Sharp Williams was making
a speech, when a newspaper correspon-
dent in, the press gallery hit upon the /
idea of writing parody Of "The Charge
Of the Light Brigade" sarcasdcally de-
scriptive Of the onslaught Of the Amer
lean troops, equipped with magazine |
rifles and machine guns, upon the ma
tives. fighting with spears and bolos
NegleCting other work, he dashed of the
verses. On reading them over he de-
cided that they would exactly suit the
speech then being made. The speaker
had been his schOolmate thirty years ago,
and the two men had always been upon
terms Of intimate friendship. Taking
the liberty Of interrupting the orator, he
sent the verses to him by a messenger,
then resumed his place in the press gal
lery to listen to The speech. At an op-
perfume time in the course Of the argu-
ment the minority leader read the poem,
prefacing it by the statement that a
friend had written It
ROars Of applause from both sides OF
the house greeted each stanza, and It was
necessary for the speaker TO pause fire.
Quently 70 wait for order to be restored.
The press gallery seized upon the verses
as something livlier than routine news,
and by the following morning every I'm
pOrtant American newspaper had received
them by wire. credited OF course to the
Representative who read them ''and mod
estly disclaimed authorship" The edi-
toriaI writer's next handled the verses,
and the supposed author enjoyed nine
days fame as a poet The real author
enjoyed the effect Of his output prodig-
iously. II he regretted the public's mis-
taken impression as 10 the authorship Of
the poem his most intimate friends never
found Il out.
Not long ago Senator Daniel, Of Vir-
ginia. was one OF the prominent men who
were invited 10 be judges at an orator.
cal contest at a school not q great dis
tance from Washington. After the
young orators had been heard the judges
were invited 20 take drive IN a. carriage
provided by the school. During the con-
versatiOn that took place In the carriage
Senator Daniel asked the other judges
which Of the speeches they thought best.
They agreed in declaring one to be far
better than any Of the others. Senator
Daniel said that as he was clearly QUIT
voted he would express no opinion. The
medal was carried off by a boy who had
''cribbed" a speech made by Senator
DAM himself during his college days.
Two newspaper men residing in a small
city that boasts q university Of wide
reputation felt the pinch Of poverty as
the time for the annual commencement
was approaching. They held a council Of
var and decided upon a plan of action.
A small advertisement was inserted in
.beir r,arar stating that for a corzi5or-