The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-19
CAMPAIGN ORATORY.

It IS not al all surprlslng that the 1 presence of an avowed presidential i candidate in the State of Connecticut | for three days, during which time he | delivered as many speeches. all of ! which bore more or less upon the par ticular business he has in hand. should . have excited an interest in campaign | loratory There is a difference of opin- ion among men as to the exact value | of political speeches, but there appears to be no difference as to the effect of badly rendered and prepared speech. |. The controversy rages over the value of the speech which is we'll delivered 1 and carefully thought out, some men contending that speeches go into one ear only to go out of the other and lpthers insisting that an effective speech makes both friends and votes. As us- 'ual there is truth in both contentious.
 The Hartford Courant, with a nat nral enthusiasm for Secretary Taft has undertaken to discuss that gentlemans style of public speaking. It realizes, as other friends have done, that he is not an orator in the sense that so many of the prominent men in the history of the country have been, though it claims for him definite kind of per
 
 as the flights of fancy which have so often for the moment fascinated the public. What our contemporary has to say of Mir. Taft's gifts in this line is the more interesting because so many have had the opportunity to judge for themselves of his ability as a speaker during the period of his visit After discussing in an interesting manner the various styles of public oratory 1t has this to say of the Taft variety: "Wil- liam H. Taft has the genial humor that makes his hearers receptive and of good will. That Is the man, how
 
 shaking hands with warmth or indif- ference. When his oratory begins knowledge takes the first place in all that he has to say. It is the sum and substance of his platform work. He does not preach or exhort or run into poetic visions. He simply pounds out the facts, as he knows them or under stands them, just as rapidly as he can, subject to those qualifications or limita- tions which are indispensable to place those facts in accurate and useful re- lations. The sincerity of the man is manifest throughout this intellectual operation. He has no hesitation in spelling rotund phrase when exact ness requires closer definition His aim from the first is to be clear and to be honest. This may be fine oratory --as the admiring Hartford citizen sad-or not. It is the most useful ora tory in country where everything that aids to make sound public opin- ion Is of value"
 We are not quite prepared to say that this analysis of Mir. Taft's gift of direct speech presents him as entitled ! to be numbered among the notable speakers of this generation. He does pound out his convictions and views in 8 clean cut manner, but it Is to be yet proved that this method of carrying an audience with one is effective in campaign work. It is not so much what the speaker does as what the public demands of him in the way of ora tory. It is the very rare speaker who makes his own speech. Usually the audience he is addressing makes the speech for him and he succeed or fails according as he is alert in interpreting its desires and expectations It is un- questionably true that there are more attractive public speakers before the country to-day than ever before in the history of the country, in spite of the atmosphere of romance which sur rounds the speeches of the statesmen who were conspicuous in the protract- ed era preceding the civil war The country to-day would not stand for moment the suited and ornamented speeches of that period, not but that they answered admirably the needs then, but that the American audi ences of this generation want their oratory served up to them in a more human spirit Learning will always play the larger part in an effective speech or address, but unless ii is ac- companied by delicate play of hu- nor or personal magnetism the effort is likely to evade the influence of memory The quality which the Cour- ant claims for MT. Taft's speeches. that of sincerity is of immense inn portance. but we think 1t goes without saying that if there could he added that subtle emotional element which