The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-05
MARTIN w. LITTLETON A
 MAN FROM THE SOUTH

By Jack Chlders in the Washington Post.
 Martin W. Littleton of New York city is perhaps one of the greatest orators an age of commercialism could produce. If he had lived in the time of Patrick Henry or William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, his fame would have been as great as theirs. But as it is. he has no superior as a public speaker when the occasion
 gives him the opportunity to prepare
 If it be true, as some contend, that the true orator is the man of the hour, who
 is suddenly thrown upon the crest or
 crisis who grasps opportunities when big things hang in the balance, and
 whose power lies in spontaneous extem-
 poraneous uses of voice and rhetorlc,
 with those other accompaniments that Ill
 the measure of an orators success, then
 Littleton is not an orator. Such speakers
 must have an adventitous occasion to
 bring out the latent power.
 Macaulay says that William Pitt, Eari of Chatham, was no speaker of set
 speeches. and that his prepared dis-
 courses were complete failures, but that
 some of the most celebrated bursts or his eloquence were called forth py al unguarded word, laugh, or cneer. simply dismiss this fallacy with the re- mark that oratory is a relative term, the character and quality of the audience having a great deal to do with the eHect. Is it not well known that play that will become almost a craze in New forh may be a failure in Chicago? Equally true, the boy orator of the forks of the creek would be embarrassed in Carnegie hall. The crueties of Mary McLane Of Butte, were merely amusing to .enlishl- ened centers at distance.
 To return to the subject of my sketch, Martin w. Littleton is only great orator when he has prepared his speech ana commits it to memory or virtually nas It committed; but any audience Will pc well repaid to hear him after he has coni- niitted his speech, because lis hearers can, rely upon his pouring it out from the storehouse of his memory without the most intinitesimal pause, from lapse Of memory. And while William Pitt had to be taken by surprise in order to fire ths imagination to extemporaneous elo- quence Littleton gets his inspiration from the crowd.
 Those who recall his great speech nom mating Judge Alton B. Parker, in the St Louis convention of 1904 will attest its irresistible power, and yet it was thoroughly prepared Imagine 1o,OO0 dem ocrats listening to an appeal like ths:
 I've appeal to every democrat from everywhere to forget the bitter warfare If the past; forget the strife and angeF of the older, other days abandon all tne ,rrudge and rancor of party discontent, and recalling with eVer-intreasing prldc the triumohs of our 50 years of a con stitutional government of liberty and reace here and now resolve to make the future record that resplendent reacn or tune in which liberty and peace went up and down the nations of the earth. build ing their kingdom in the hearts of men and gathering the harvest of genius ana
 toil in which reason struck from the
 hand of force the sword of hate and
 ulucked from the heart of war the germ
 cf greed; in which conscience smote the thoughts of wrong and filled the mind with mercy's sweet restraint; in Wh1cn lower grew in the human brain, but refused the shelter of a glittering crown; .r which the people of all lands anu i tongues. awakened to hope by the in' l spiration of our example, turned their
 saces toward the light of our advancing 1 Civilization and followed with the march 1 ,f years the luminous pathway leading to l a destiny beyond the reach of vision and | within the providence of Sod
 1 It was not the magic name of the can l didate. but it was Littleton's matchless
 elouuence that lifted the immense throng l from the seats and for 30 minutes con- | verted hitherto orderly assemblage into 1 a pandemonium of wild and uncontroi- | dDle TeNeliy.
 | Adopting the lang uage of q well known ! Washington newspaper correspondent, 1 MT. Frank Bushick: 'Those who sat i through that entire night of excitement ! and confusion heard a world of oratory, | but none are likely to forget the effort of 1 Martin w. Littleton. Self-poised and TO- 1 tund of figure, his silvery voice and cpl | grammatc eloquence rang out like clarion | tones, charming his audience from the l very outset In a splendidly earnest man. | ner. emphasized by the lifting of his l clinched fist, he threw off his brilliant l sentences with the cumulative effect of a l shower of falling stars, his audience rising | with him to the climaxes, which they met l with thunder bursts of applause. At his | conclusion the entire convention and gal leries seemed to turn loose. and the up- | roar lasted 30 minutes by the watch, being the longest and heartiest demonstration of all the convention history in this country"
 I do not consider it any disparage- raent to admit that the subject of this sketch prepares his speeches on all great occasions When Littleton &C., cepts employment in a law case he be- comes the advocate and counselor. Ali