Evening star., 1914-12-06

of mercy, and he will exact from each of them sol
pledge to keep this agreement. Perhaps it may
be going little too far for him to insist that the
era speakers shall everyone of them take oath before
notary public not to stand his feet for single
second beyond the assigned fifteen minutes but the
chairman ought be authorized and instructed to cut
short relentessly the remarks of any lost all
sense of decency violate his pledge by than
five minutes.
1t is curious fact at all to the credit of human
nature, that his feet and talking to his own
satisfaction takes little account of time. After his
first few he really does not know whether he
has been speaking for five minutes for twenty-five;
and often when he has taken the twenty-five he would
declare in all sincerity that he had not taken than
five. This is for the admirable ten-nnute
rule adopted in important debates in Congress.
This also the basis for the startling suggestion that
every attending public dinner should be pro-
vided with electric pushbutton under the table,
which he could touch he had had enough
of any speakers remarks the apparatus being so ad
jsted that when than half of the diners had thus
signied their desire to have the speech cut short
loud bell over the speakers table should begin to ring,
thus harshy su1n1non1ng the man on his feet to sit
down speedily he could find his chair. This is
perhaps little too drastic device to be adopted with
out prolonged considerations; yet there IS much to
be said in its favor If it explained to the
eral speakers when the invitation extended to
them, they would be careful in preparation and
they would do their best to hold the attention of the
diners This electric device may never be accepted;
but the experiment is certainly worth trying, and
competent critic of the public dinner could doubt that
the results would be surprising and significant.
Probably it would not be unwelcome to the really
accomplished speakers those who that
good after-dnner address is work of art and like
other works of be achieved not only by taking
palms, but also by understanding of the principles
of the art The trouble with the speakers who have
nothing say and who say it at inordinate length is
threefold: They are selfish; they are Careless and
they are ignorant 1t is sheer seishness for anyone
of us to in1ict upon his fellow man procession of
empty platudes, a slowly moving column of common
places dead march of dreary repcttons. 1t gross
carelessness for anyone of stand up to deliver
message unless he has made that he has message
to deliver and unless he has taken time to think
the best way in which to deliver that message. And
blank ignorance for any of to suppose that he
can hold the attention of dozen or score or hun
dred of his fellow unless he has discovered the
cret of the successful address.
THIS secret, like most other secrets, simple enough;
and it be stated in two ways, the negative and
the positive. No hope to interest any group of
his fellow citizens unless he has something say that
he wants say that he say to that partcu-
lar group of men, and that this particular group of
wants to hear from him. And any inter
this group he has something he wants say to
that group and that this group to hear from
him. In other words, any address, to be effective,
must be adjusted to its audience the speechs pros
perity lies in the of those who hear it.
Perhaps this secret can best be illustrated by the
experience of friend of mine. quarter of century
ago, before the large clubs founded by the New
York graduates of the leading universities, the alumni
associations of Harvard Yale Princeton, and Colun