New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-19
The Campaign
Adjective
by courtesy Of The Nsw Republic,
COOKING back on the great Win. /.

r COOKING back on the great VIII, :.
words without meaning, there a =.
- consolation in the campaign 49,
Political speeches are not nearly 20 bs,s !.
read as they used to be, even compsrstrI,
short time ago. OF course reading . po6t.',
speech afterwards is always like visitin. 4.
wings of the theatre in the daylight but =.
contrast is not quite so painful as Il M !.
be. After all it was not so very long Am A..
Mr.. Bryan could wind up a speech re,,,s.s
as fiery at the time with peroration, ~
ming, "Behold a republic resting securely ,,.'
the foundation stones quarried from the -
tain of eternal truth. Behold -
public proclaiming to the world" ETC., ~ !.
on with eight or ten more "Beholdsn-k
lies" each introducing a similar phrsR 80
people will recall without any strain q A.,
memories vast areas of oratory, rich, h~r
gorgeous as purple plush; every noun ii -
Gus adjective, every verb its indomitsb.e -
verb. 1t made them quite happy 1t the Il,
No reader of campaign material old a, II
cent should let himself be sanguins for 4 ~
ment. You can always kill some politid-
with a toy balloon, and always please -,
audience when you do so, and there Il alvsr
the class of minds that can read in the moru-
ing without repentance the speech 1T
dragged them down the night before "
there are more people nowadays who emf
orators to strip their words for action "a
there are fewer speeches composed exclusive,
of drum majors as they march into the puStk
mind. Aesthetic amelioration in this cousty
does not proceed at breakneck rate Of ~
but bombast is probably good deal less ~
erful than it was in the eighteen-forties, 4
example Bombast was a great aid to @nuj
fest destiny" when we STABBED our horss =
the halls of Montezuma" and all that, but Ii
very doubtful if bombast Of the pure brad
will have quite as much to do with the settie
ment of our present Mexican question.
There are signs of change from IN eva
later period. Mark Twain were he living To-
day might be feeling just as strangely about
present conditions as he did when he advised
US to paint the Stars and Stripes black end
adorn it with the skull and crossbones, and he
nlkNt Dt JuSI % IlBhI VI JuoS 90 Wtoh8, U4<
he would certainly use different form Of "a.
preston. Great hearts up Boston way might
beat just as hard as ever they beat whss
phrases burst from them about "Thanksgv
ings of Shame" but there is strong rhetoi
cal presumption that they would beat to dt
ferent tune, and it is doubtful if Porto Rio
could be shaken over hell" now with anything
like the oratorical result, no matter how bsdl
we behaved to Porto Rico. In short, one "a
be almost certain of diminution in the mum
Der of phrases that expire when you put I
pin.
Cynics say it is merely analogous to ID
change to the short skirt from trains or GRIND
line, and that when orators cut the words to
close to the thought they will swing back
the hoop-skirts and bustles of buncombe. Tia
There is no reason to think that utility VII
not rule it's master, or that seventy years o
criticism, from Dickens to Mr.. Dooley, hsv
not had some effect When political candl
date is tired he may talk now, just as be q
ways would, somewhat in this manner: "Pollu
cally at least, he was living in fools pan
disc, because that which he considered TO
his duty brought the house down upon b.
head, and of sudden he saw what seemed
him incredible, the working of deal by who
the very fabric was TO be pulled up BY IA
roots, and this at the hands Of those he na
served and whom he thought his friends Br
after good sleep and clear-headed applicati'
to study he will often speak with precision.