Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-15
Decline Of Oratory
by Frederic J. Haskin.

/
the facts that one Of our esteemed presi
Dental candidates has been swinging
round the circle with his mouth open and
a continuous strean of invective and elo-
! quence issuing therefrom that the other
has been standing on his front porch in the
same attitude and engaged in the same
occupation; that the woods are full OF
| stump speakers; that you can get man
| in any town of thousand or moro in
habitants to speak on any subject what
soever at any desired length; that when
| the United States went to war it put
through a draft law TO get men to fight
but produced an army Of volunteer ora
tors by the mere raising of a governmental
finger; that there will be eleven Thousand
two hundred ffty-six banqucts given III
the United States this year, and that from
three to seven orations will be delivered
at each without the aid of any other stimu-
liant than such as the speaker can bring
inside his person; and that these orat'ons
will have To be listened to without the
aid of any anesthetic stronger than to-
bacco-
Despite these and many other facts of R
similar nature which might be cited, II
NAV be stated with conservative accur-
acy that the great art of oratory, which
decides the destinies of nations and sells
life insurance and real estate is in for
decline.
What, you naturally inquire, is the
evidence of this decline? 1t is hard to get
cook or laundress or man to NOW the
lawn. The crops rot for lack of men to
harvest them. But il is still easy to get
man to speak and it IL still hard TO get
him TO stop speaking.
ORATORS IN THE MAKING.
Furthermore, the magazines are full
of the advertisements of correspondence
schools that guarantee to make you a
forceful and eloquent speaker in seven
lessons, and young lawyers all over the
country are reaching their hairs and
practicing Daniel Webster gestures before
the looking glass as OF yore. Certainly the
supply of oratory is not being cut of at
its source.
And the main taps of eloquence still
flow The Congressional Record WAKES
fatter and more flowery every year. The
speakerless banquet is still millenial
dream. Each school and college commence.
ment is as ever the occasion for great
deal of amateur and professional plati-
tudlnizing No question municipal, state,
or NATIONAL in the United States can yet
be settled without the water pitcher and
the windbag
And vet, as intimated above, there is
reason to believe that oratory is on the
wane.
The evidence of this decline is not 10 be
found among the orators they are "A
numerous. rs willing, as nollihuous as ever.
The indications of change are TO be seen
IN the audience. The American people
are slightly but unmistakahiy less re-
ceptive 10 gesture and peroration. 10 the
pathos of the lowered voice and the sweep
ing power of the booming period, than
they used to tc.
iMruDENT scRIBrs.
Our late larnented national conventions
are AN example. There WAS just rs much
spell-binding as ever. and IL was greeted,
at the time, with Just as much applause.
But the applause at political convention
is as sure as the coming of spring. IL IS
highly organized performance, pulled
off according 10 schedule. The attitude of
the general public as reflected in the news
papers must be taken INTO account, IN
cartoon and editorial and even IN the news
columns, much of this orstory WAS referred
to IN a manner not wholly respectful and
greatly To be deplored. II was even In
some instances labelled bunk.
And consider the character of the men
who were sent TO write up these oonven-
tions They used to be reported with the
utmost dignity by men who themselves
had an aptitude for the rolling phrase, and
who perceived that politics is one of the
most serious concerns of life. But when news
papers Of high standing send TO the great
national conventions such irresponsible
testers as Haywood Broun and II. l..
Mencken and Abe Martin and Ring W.
Lardner, and allow these impcrtlnent fell
lows to give and litter as they will. rhere
is evidence of a change In the public attl-
tude toward political oratory TO which
the great dailies are slavishly catering.
Many minor evidences of this same
shange in public sentiment might be cited. |
Oratiors do not draw the crowds that once
they drew, nor the tears, nor the cheers.
There is growing tendency for audiences !
to show signs of the prevailing unrest |
when the orator draws fresh breath, and |
says: Now ladies and gentlemen, ! have |
one more point to offer for your eonsid- |
Grafton"
This piece is a lament, as it should be. |
S greatest and most indisputably |
indigenous art is Threatened. We do not |
produce as good writers as other civilized |
nor as good painters. In sclen- |
tihc discovery the other great nations |
outrank us. Their diplomats politely take |
away from ours whatever we may have |
that they want. But in oratory, what great |
nation can compare with America? here |
,an you discover the counterpafts OF |
" illiam Jennings Bryan and Billy Sun |
day? And what our orators may lack In !
quality they make up IN numbers. 1t Is |
fact of statistical standing that no other |
on earth produce more orators |
Der thousand of population except Mexico
and Liberia.
NOT ALTOGETHER SAD.
And vet it may be that this family |
threatened decline of great national art |
md pastime is not without its compen-
,ations. Psychologists tell us that as a
method of considering important questions,
pubic speaking to large crowds has a
weakness. This weakness is
hat the orator has an overwhelming
endency to say, not what he thinks, but
What the crowd wants to hear. In the
solitude of his study he may be sincere
md intelligent man, but when he gets
IN the platform he is possessed by the
iingle desire to "get hand" He will say
anything to that end and purpose. His
thinking all foes for naught. And, as
;orollary of this proposition, the man who
ioes not think often makes a better orator
han the one who does. III man really
las anything to impart he can write it a
,reat deal better than he can say IL.