The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-03-06

SCuOldT VI Ilc SANTA SldId 1dSuAlSs
For the first lesson he brought his
own copy of Demosthenes' orations,
whereas Father White brought nome,
will you read from my book, faith
err" asked Delmas. NO." replied
Father White; II need no book;
know my text by heart" For the next
lesson Delmas came empty handed.
Where is your book, my SOM" asked
Father White. II need no book" said
Delmas; II have learned my text by
heart"
Any one who has ever ,oiled through
Demosthenes' endless orations may
we'll doubt this tale, but l have it
from the lips of Father White himself.
His story is thoroughly characteristic
of Delnas as student and lawyer. In
Delmas' own words, there is no such
thing as genius. So-called genius
merely means hard work. If this de-
finition be true, then Delmas is a
man of genius. His former partner,
Sam Shortridge, who is now defend
ing the San Francisco boodlers, told
me that Delmas never made a speech
in court which he had not thoroughly
written out before and memorized
word by word. One of these speeches
alone covers 263 printed pages in the
court reports. In some of Delmas' I'M
portant cases his closing arguments
lasted several days. Mr.. Shortridge
also told me that Mr.. Delmas never
put witness on the stand whom he
had not previously examined and
cross-examined in person.
Some idea of how this lawyer pre-
pares his cases may be gained from
this "reminiscences of one of his former
law partners, Franklin ]. Bull. One
day, so Mr.. Bull told me, Delmas
showed him an old walnut tree stand
ing on the banks Of Coyote creek in
San Jose. There stands my first
jury" said Delmas. Then he told how,
many years ago when he received his
first retainer, he had anticipated all
the possible points in this, his first
case, during the long afternoon walks,
in the course of which he used to ad-
dress himself to that walnut tree, as
if it were a jury box. When the case
came up before the judge it never
came to trial, because the very first
motion for dismissal was so forcibly
argued by Delmas that the court
granted the motion. AS Delmas put
it. my whole campaign was won in
the first skirmish."
Some of Delmas' most famous
speeches and orations have been COL
lected and published in book form by
Alec P. Robertson of San Francisco.
Only few copies of it have sur
vived the great San Francisco fire.
The publisher himself owns but one.
This copy, he said, he would not sell
to me for $500. 1t is a rare book, not
only on account of its scarcity, but in
the highest sense of the word. The
publisher says it Is the only absolutely
HAWKES. book that has ever issued
from his press or that of any other
press in San Francisco. Delmas was
determined that it should be so. Both
IN the preparation Of his manuscript
and in the revision of proofs the au-
thor showed himself so extremely
painstaking that the publisher deter
mined not to be outdone. From title
page to back cover there is not
single error or printers flaw. To at
tain this perfection one entire edition
was sacrificed. When the book was
first printed both author and publisher
believed they had turned out a per-
feet piece of work, but it was Delmas
who first discovered flaw in the am
Der. He found one small letter, a
lower case "g," which had accidental
1y been set inverted Only the trained
eye of printer ordinarily would de-
tect such a trifling slip. The publisher
was willing to let it stand, but Delmas
would not have it. The whole edition
had to be reprinted. This meant an
outlay of over $1,000, but Delmas Of
fered to defray all additional expens-
es. This so stung the pride Of the pub
Usher that he reprinted the edition
on his own account. "Of course it did
not pay" he said to me. rather rue
fully, "but that was great lesson to
me-"
Delmas' book of speeches will prob
ably go down to posterity as the work
of a finished rhetorician. His best
speeches, as is but meet, were those
delivered with stirring subjects for
their theme. Thus a brief after-dinner
speech on "The Immortality of the
Soul" one on "The Influence of Law
on Civilization" another on "Educa-
tion," delivered before a normal school
audience, and a Fourth of July ora
ton on Washington take rank as ora
torical gems. Another famous speech
by Delmas was a rhetorical outburst
on the giant redwood trees Of Cali
fornia, of which he delivered himself
one time when he was guest of the
state legislature in Sacramento. Once,
too, he fayed a political boss. None
of these speeches were extempora-
neous. For this reason, as we'll as
for others, Delmas has never attain
ed first rank as a political speaker.
His nomination speech for w. R.
Hearst at the democratic convention
In st. Louis a few years ago fell fat.
Even Richmond Hobson, then bad
orator. put it all over Delmas on that
occasion.
Delmas' greatest arguments in court
have been delivered on occasions
when he championed such fundamen-
tai causes as free speech, a free press
or against corporation greed. Per-
haps the best exposition of the rights
of a free press that has ever been
presented IN America waa modo nv