The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1908-07-03

|
q n est of sophists. There is
usually little to be gained
| III what he says, but, to the
| HrOun0ilngS, there is a deep sig
| hiHcahce IN the way he says
but, to the groundlings." there is a
! deep significance in the way he says
1t. We had orators in the ward and
IN the city, the common, native gar
den variety Of 'wind- hammers" and
the exotic, or imported variety of
JaW-Smlths. Ora'Ory 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
paigns. Bob" Ingeysoll and Emory
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 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
! the ground and lofty tumblers of the
city campaigns was something to
make a man laugh,
And yet the custom had grown so
strong that nothing could apparently
stop it. There was always the com
mittee on halls, and the committee on
Sneakers, and there was a racing and
chasing of cabs and mounting Of
platforms by anxious candidates, and
a great desire to present to the citi-
zens the issues of the day" and So
licit their SURFACES on election day.
And who attended these meetings?
Why, mainly, the "boys. Inc pre-
cinct captains, the members OF the
ward clubs, the hangers-on that only
knew Andrew Jackson as the name or
a 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
ing for the city and the payroll orl-
gade" in general.
And where was the private citizen
Why, he was at home, reading tne
evening paper, playing with the cat
having a quiet little game or "cinch
at ten cents a Corner hve cents
a "set-up" and Tommy aroulu W 'no
Dutchman's with the big white pitcher.
Much he cared for oratory' II he so'
a letter from the managers or the cah-
paign, or maybe a letter from MAY,
orally candidate, he opened II anu
read it, and possibly speculaced NJ
tla &C IN tho truth of it, but as rule,
he did not bother himself much as 10
the meetings.
There was an exception 10 'hls'
however when the candidate LOT al
derman or the candidate Tor mayor
appeared in a ward. Then the cltlzehS
generally went to the meetings. ou,
not to hear what were gloly termed
ISSUES" discussed, But TO look d. 'ne