The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1908-07-03

est of sophists. There is
~ usunfy little to be gained
IN what he Says but, A,sto THE
sroundlings," there is a deep sig
nihcance " 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
sn the city, the. common, native gar
den variety Of '"wind-jammers," and
h exotic, or! Imported variety of
~jaySmitRs,''st Oratory at its best is
rather q lost art, and the political Sra.
tor is a good example of a lost. artist.
We newer expeeted'to Influence 'vpting
IN the ward on account of speech-mak.
Idpg. The Republicans went to, Repsib.
Ican meetings. and 1.-The, Democrats
went to Democratic gatherings, and
the applause that the speakers re-
sceved was simply the .~njoiiy' that
.;AeiI,, pwn crowd was handing themi
and there you had It..
Occasionally, a man might drift. in
where some really wittyt ahdH able
talker was rousting outythe, i"chin-mu
sic. and be impressed a little, but af-
ter he had gone home and slept over
idt; and appeared at the polls, he would
get the same old ticket and vote it in
n same old way Lheard the orators
In an early day who were orators, but
did not hear them in the political cam
paigns, 'fBcb" Ingersoil and Emory
Storrs were orators the like Of, whom
+, shall hardly. hear again. but 1t was
not for me to be dazzled by the gilt
tering generalities or clumsy plat,
tudes of Observation-Disclosures" otators
of the hastings, 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
Fthe ground and lofty ,tumblsrs of the
cit campaigns was something to
make a man laugh.
And yet the custom had grown so
strong that nothing could apparently
stop II. There was 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 oiti-
'zens the issues OF the day and So
7icit their SURFACES 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
. cigar, the men on the pipe-extension
gangs. the ward superintendent, the
men down in the city hall. the sewer
diggers, laborers, etc, who are work
ting for the city. and the payroll bri-
gade" in general.
And where vas the private citizen?
Why. he was at home, reading the
evening paper, playing with the cat,
having a quiet little game of "cinch"
ut ten cents a corner" five cents
n "set-up" and Tommy around to the
Dutchman's with the big white pitcher.
Much he cared for oratory. If he got
. letter from the managers of the cam
paign, or maybe a letter from a may
orally candidate, he opened 1t and
read II, and possibly specialized a lit
Gle as to. the truth Of It. but. as a rule,
he did not bother himself. much; as to
the meetings. ~
. There was nm exceptions to this,
however, whea the candidate for al
derman or the candidate for mayor
appeared in a ward. Then the citizens
generally went to the meetings. But
not to hear what were giibly termed
ISSUES discussed. But to look at the
candidate. Size. him up, and see wheth-
er they liked him, and IL he looked
like a mar who could I'LL the job.
They didn't care for his "oratory," I'M
less he could tell them a good story,
or roast" the opposition candidates
wittily. and then he was indeed a
~star."
The appearance of the may.
orally candidate was, of course,
the great. event of, a. ward
campaign, and filed the halls
to Overlooking. Boys and women in
the galleries, and even the aisles
damned. Perhaps some Silver.
tongue would be making the welkin
ring with a passionate ~declamatory
hurst about the thirteen struggling
colonies" these are the times that
try mems souls" when in the course
OF human events or some other
~guffy borrowed from a school history,
q war pamphlet or the declaration of
ludnrc. f,ance. when ali at once there