Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1920-10-22
JOHN WESLEY
ATTACKSLEAGUE
Says 1t is Goddess Instrument,
But Fails to State That Our
Constitution Does Not Con-
tain Deity's Name Either.

OTdCOTJ addressed the voters OF IaZe-
well County at the court house last
Saturday afternoon in behalf of Con-
gresham Slemp and Senator Hard
ing, the building being packed with
mixed audience of republicans and
democrats. He spoke for two hours
The address was n brilliantly conceiv-
ed, cunningly arranged and eloquent
ly delivered conglomeration of sop
famation, denuciation and false ar
gument.
Rev. Hill perhaps is one of the
most noted second rate orators in
the United States, and he we'll sus-
tained that reputation here. He is a
man of rather distinguished appear
ance, with n peculiar outline and
contour of face, suggesting that n
dash of Oriental blood somewhere
might have crept into his pedigree.
His impassioned oratory also is Of
an Oriental order, rich in imagery,
and at times fairly breath taking
with its long strings of hectic rhet-
oric flowing in perfect rhythm from
period to period. And he has u voice
to match. 1t is musical and sonorous.
There were moments when his cler-
ical whine, pitched at high key,
sounded like the ringing Of silver
bells.
He got off to a slow start, paus-
ing to parenthetically pay his re-
spects to the Clinch Valley News for
recently having taken him to task
for inconsistency and hypocracy as
revealed in his former and present
attitude toward President Wilson and
the League of Nations. In this con-
nection he said he came here in 1918
as an American patriot and then pro-
ceeded to prove that on last Saturday
he came here as republican part
izan, to traduce the President and
ridicule the League of Nations. He
took as his text paragraph from
speech alleged to have been delivered
by President Wilson in 1914 and as he
progressed he generated steam and
quickened his stride. He blew hot
with wrath and cold with horror; he
vomited hot cinders and frothed
blood. In one breath he raised the
Stars and Stripes to the top of the
earth, the emblem of "Americanism"
as interpreted by republican SPELL
binders, and in the next breath the
same glorious flag, it's heavenly hues
drenched with blood and tears, served
as a shroud for the dead hopes of
league-wicked world.
He used all the tricks known to
the born actor and orator. 1t was a
most interesting study in the psy-
chology of emotional oratory to watch
his antics and note the ever-changing
infections of his voice. He can give
vocal Interpretation to every note,
both ghoul and human, in Poe's
Bells. At times with arms and
face uplifted and eyes tightly closed
he would spout geysers of silvery
eloquence at the ceiling with such
veherence that it would seem Jug
ular vein must burst and end the
spasm right there. Once all that part
of his body covered by his hat and
suspenders was strained into an al
most horizontal position while he in
voked the wrath of Almighty God
on Woodrow Wilson for having evolv-
ed the fourteen points, thus plotting
against the peace and happiness Of
mankind; and, he might have added
for having kept hungry horde of
republicans away from the pie count
er for eight gnawing years.
But when he was putting one
across, or when he was indulging
a sophistry a bit too thinly veiled
for eye-to-eye presentation, he would
turn his back on the audience and
shriek his words at the portrait of
Robert E. Lee which hangs on the
wall at the rear of the rostrum. This,
by the way, was his favorite pose
and position.
Rev. Hill devoted a full half hour
to the fact that the League of Ma
tions covenant does not contain Gods
name. In hushed tense tones which
awed his listeners like the peal of
Cathedral chimes at twilight, he pic
tured the Prince of Peace, with the
dews of dawn on His brow and the
sands of the desert on His sandals,
waiting outside with no one to in
vite Him in, while the GODDESS" in
strument was being framed. Quoting
Gladstone's declaration that the
American constitution is the wisest
instrument ever conceived and given
out at a single time by the brain OF
man, the speaker denounced the
League covenant as "the most god
less" etc., etc. He said that Woodrow
Wilson at the peace table forgot his
God and forgot he was an Ameicar
citizen. He did not tell his audience
chhV ood uOGS uOL appear
in the constitution of Christian Amer
lea. Was this ignorance or pure men
dacity?
If q torch had been touched t.
all the straw men set up and torn tt
tatters by Rev. Hill, fguratively
speaking it would have started a con
ilapration that would have blown tn,
roof from the court house. 1t woult
require full page of the Clinch Val
ley News to expose all the falls
reasoning, the good reasoning from
false premises, the slush and tn
sophistry with which this truly clio
quent and forceful man tried to bunc
Tazewell audience. One, howeve,
must serve as an illustration: II
said that in the body known rs tn
assembly in the League covenant
Great Britain has six representative
whereas America, should she ratif,
would have but one. "Here" he soueai
rl Uso hn tsor -,