Omaha daily bee., 1908-07-26
SPELLBINDERS OF The PAST
Famous American Csmpaigners and
How They swayed Audiences.
NOTED NAMES ON THE ROSTER
BtyIe, Methods and Power Of Clay,
webster, ConkIinR, Blaine, sew-
ard, Douglas, Lincoln
and Bryan.


No chapter in our political annals is
richer in human interest than the one
which has TO do with the men whose gift
OF eioquence and persuading speech has
been a deciding influence In more than one
presidential canvass. The names Of Henry
Clay and Daniel Webster head the roster
Of the greater campaign orators Of the
past.
Clay. perhaps, was a more popu-
Jar orator than Webster. His was a
voice Of great compass power and mel
ody. and with It he moved at will even
a hostile assemblage to smiles and tears
and enthusiasm. Clay's skill in cleo
tioneering, however. was due largely to
his familiarity with the manners and
customs of farmers, tenants and laborers.
When ne was first a candidate for the
Kentucky legislature. he gained the sup
port Of a company of riflemen by success
fully shooting at a mark. On another
occasion, when a candidate for re-elc-
ton to congress, he met an old hunter
who had previously been one of his
champions. but who nov opposed him on
account OF his action on a certain bill.
"Have you a good rife, my friend?" asked
0laV. Y eS. IOeb II ever Aidsl III lux
pan? ''Once only" what did you do
with It, throw 1t AWAY" mo, I picked
the flint. tried again, and brought down
the game" Have 1 ever flashed except
on that bill?' NO" quickly replied the
hunter. nearly ~overpowered by his en-
thusiasm; IT will pick the flint and try
you again" Clay's opponents often as
certained to their cost that he could be
g---t.,1 o-d gornaatfr httt he Iuua11V re-
sorted to satire in self-defense, and was
seldom himself the aggressor.
webster's Power as an Orator.
webster's trlumphs on the stump were
Of a different but no less decisive order.
When he was to speak no hall was big
enough to contain those who desired to
hear him, and with his pre-eminent
power Of speech, his singular charm of
presence and his dignity of carriage and
demeanor, he never failed to profoundly
move his auditors.
The impression has been current that
webster's great speeches were unstudied.
but as a matter Of fact, he always was a
laborious student, and In the early part
OF his career he expended a great deal Of
time in the preparation Of his public ad-
dresses. Or one occasion, when the first
message Of William II. Seward. then gov
ernor Of New York. was issued. Webster
was appealed to for his opinion of the
docume Governor Seward" he replied,
lis a very able man and a very able writer.
The only thing he needs to learn is how to
scratch out" A fellow senator expressed
some surprise at this remark, and said
that no one who read webster's addresses
or listened to his speeches could suppose
that he ever had occasion to altar or amend
anything that came from his pen.
However that may be now" was Web
Fter's answer, "a very large part of my
life has been spent in scratching out.
When 1 was a young man, and for. some
years after 1 had acquired n respectable
degree OF emInence in my profession, my
style was bombastic and pompous in the
extreme. Some kind friend was good
enough to point out that fact to me. and
/ determined to correct 1t II labor could
do 1t. Whether II has been corrected OF
not no small part of my life has beer
spent in the attempt"
Orator. wit and HumOrIst.
After Clay and Webster the most popu,
lar stump orator of the first half Of the
last century was Thomas Corwin Of Ohio
A born humorist, Corwin, at every stage
OF his long career, made a business OF
searching out the jocularities Of current
issues and using them to tighten the Sc
robustness of craftsmanship. But humol
WIS not his only gift. He possessed also
a poetic sense, which he had cultivated by
a d.llgent study of the best English poets
and he knew how to temper that sense
so that is would appeal to the throng
Thus 1t was hat his speeches, based OF
solid political truth, were also illustrated
by wit, by ancedote and by imagery rich
yet simple, such as the layman could un
derstand. Corwin was unexcelled as
stump orator while he lived and his SUI
perior had not appeared since his death
The people OF Ohio were at his feet, anC
there was no office in their gift that theJ
did not bestow upon him. His last years
however, were Swallowed by the belle
that his career had been handicapped b!
his reputation as a wit and humorst
MY dear Garfield" said he to the futur,
president just before his death, "be sol
emn; solemn as an ass. All the monu
ments in the world are built to solemn
asses"
Another famous campaign orator o
sixty years ago was Sergeant s. Prentiss