Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-07-02
POLITICAL orator is a man
of verbal luXuriance, and
nearly always the shallow.
est OF sophists. There is

N nearly always the shallow.
a "a est OF sophists. There is
usually little to be gained
in what he says, but, to the
groundlinGS, there is a deep sig.
niticance in the way he says
but, to the groundlings,' there is a
deep significance in the way he says
it. We had orators in the ward and
in the city, the common, native gar
den variety of "wind-jammers,' and
the exotic, or imported variety of
''jaw-smiths." Oratory at its best is
rather a lost art, and the political ora
tor is a good example of a lost artist.
We never expected to influence voting
in the ward on account of speech-mak-
ing. The Republicans went to Repub-
lican meetings and the Democrats
went to Democratic gatherings, and
the applause that the speakers re-
Ceived was simply the Jolly" that
their own crowd was handing them,
and there you had it.
Occasionally a man might drift in
where some really witty and able
talker was rousting out the "chin-mu-
sic" and be impressed a little, but af-
ter he had gone home and slept over
it, and appeared at the polls, he would
get the same old ticket and vote it in
the same old way. heard the orators
in an early day who were orators, but
did not hear them in the political cam
naiong ''ppb' InpnrcolI and UNp,nry
Storrs were orators the like of whom
I shall hardly hear again, but it was
not for me to be daZZled by the gilt
tering generalities or clumsy plati-
tudes Of these ''silver-tongued" orators
of the hustings, no matter whether
they were of my own party or not. |
liked a good, sensible talk, but the
average line of bunk" handed out by
the ground and lofty tumblers Of the
city campaigns was something to
make a man laugh.
And vet the custom had grown so
strong that nothing could apparently
stop it. There WIS always the com
mittee on halls, and the committee on
speakers, and there was a racing and
chasing of cabs and a mounting of
platforms by anxious candidates, and
q great desire to present to the citi-
zens the issues of the day and So
licit their suffrages on election day.
And who attended these meetings?
Why, mainly, the boys" The pre-,
.cinct captains, the members of the
ward clubs, the ~hangers-on that only
knew Andrew Jackson as the name OF
a cigar, the men on the pipe-eXtensior
gangs. the ward superintendent, the
men down in the city hall, the sewer
diggers, laborers, etc, who are work
ing for the city, and the payroll bri
gade' in general.
And where was the private citizen
Why. he was at home, reading the
evening paper, playing with the cat
having a quiet little game of "cinch'
at ten cents a corner" Eve cent
"a "set-up'' and Tommy around to tn
Dutchman's with the big white pitcher
Much he cared for oratory. II he go
a letter from the managers of the can
Daign. or maybe a letter from a may
orally candidate, he opened it an
read it, and possibly specialized a III
lie as to the truth of it, but, as a rule
he did not bother himself much as t
the meetings.
There was an exception to this
however, when tho candidate for @
derman or the candidate for mayo
appeared in a ward. Then the citizen
generally went to the meetings. BIZ
not to hear what were glibly terme
issues" discussed. But to look at tn
candidate, size him up, and see whetI
or they liked him, and if he locke
like a man who could fill the jo
Trhey didn't care for his "%oratory," u
less he could tell them a good stor
or roast the opposition candidate
wittily, and then he was indeed
star"
The appearance of the ma
orally candidate was, Of cours
the great event of a wa
campaign, and filed the hal
to overfowing. Boys and women
the galleries, and even the aisl'
iammed. Perhaps some "silve
tongue would be making the welk
ring with a passionate declamato,
burst about "the thirteen s~trugglir
colonies these are the times tn
Try mems souls" when in the cour
Of human events or some 9th
gulf borrowed from a school histor
u war pamphlet or the declaration
Independence, when all at once the
would be a shuttle at the other end
The hall.
Here he comes" and there he /
would be the whispers and sigma
and the great man or great men wou
approach through the center aisle {
tended by a Gordon of followers III
the attendant pilot-ishes to his MAZE
ty the shark, or more properly spea
ing, like the attendant porpoises
the whale.
The "silver.tongued" "bunlk-shoote
would then grasp the hands of t
great men, to show how close he W
to the throne. and would gently b
firmly subside, and the Real Thin
-Donld proceed to address the meetin