The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-15


washinston. D. C.. sspe ls.-|
Despite the facts that one Of our
esteemed prssadsntial candidates has
beei swinging round Tie circle with
his mouth open and . continuous
stream OF invective and eloQusnce
issuing therefrdm; that the other
has been standing On his front
porch in the same attitude and en-
gagged in the same occupation: that
The woods are full Of stump speak
ers: that you can get man In any
town Of q thousand or more inhab-
itants to speak on any subject what
soever at any desired length: that
when the United States went TO
war 1t put through = draft law to
get men to fight but produced IN
army Of volunteer orators b. the
mere raising Of . governmental
finger; that there will be II. 26S ban
Quets given In the United States this
year, and that from three to seven
orations, will b delivered at each
without the aid OF any other stimu-
liant than such - the speaker can
bring inside his person: and that
these orations will have to be list
ened to without the aid of any anes-
thetic stronger than tobacco
Despite these and many >other
facts OF q similar nature which
might be cited, it may be stated
with conservative accuracy that the
great art Of oratory, which tradi-
tionally makes men laugh and cry,
decides the destinies of nations and
ksells life insurance and real estate,
is in for a decline.
What, you naturally inquire, js
the evidence of this decline? 1t Is
hard to get a cook or laundress or
a man to NOW the lawn. The crops
rot for lack Of men to harvest them.
But it is still easy to get man to
speak and it is still hard to get him
to stop speaking.
Orators In the Making.
Furthermore, the magazines are
full 0fSthe advertisements Of cor
respondence schools that guarantee
to make you forceful and eloquent
speaker in seven lessons, and. young
! lawyers all over the country are
! reaching, their hair, 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 tops of eloQuence
still flow. The Congressional Rec
ord wakes fatter and more fiowery
every year. The speakerless ban
quet is still q millenial dream. Each
school and college commencement
is as ever the occasion for a great
deal Of amateur and professional
platitudinizing. No question-mu-
nicipal, state or national-in the
United States. can yet be settled
without the water pitcher and the
windbag.
And yet, as intimated above
there is reason to believe that ora
tory is on the wane.
The evidence of this decline is
not to be found among the orators,
they are as numerous, as Willing,
as mellifluous as ever. The indi-
cations Of change are to be seen In
the audience. The American peo-
pie are slightly but Enthusiastically
less receptive to gesture and pero-
ration, to the pathos Of the low.
cred voice and the sweeping power
of the booming period, than they
used to be.
| Impudeat Scribes.
Our late lamented national con.
veptions are an example. There
was just as much spell binding AZ
ever, and it was greeted. at the
time, with just as much applause
But the applause at . political con.
ventfon is as sure as the coming
of spring. 1t is a highly organized
performance, pulled of according t.
schedule. The attitude Of the gen.
eral public as reelected in the news.
papers must be taken into account
In cartoon and editorial and even
in the news columns. much Of this
oratory was referred to IA a man.
ner not wholly respectful ant
greatly to be deplored. 1t was ever
in some instances labeled bunk.
And consider the character Of
the men who were sent to write
up these conventions. They used
| to be reported with the utmost dig.
nifty by men who themselves had
an aptitude for the rolling phrase
and who perceived that politics i,
one Of the most serious concern,
Of life But when newspapers Of
high standing send to the great
national conventions such ire
sponsible testers as Heywoot
Broun, and H. L. Mencken, and
Abe Martin and Ring w. Lardner