The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-21
Frederick Haskin's Letter
THE STUMP SPEAKER PASSES

ing expounded audiences grow rest .
i've under food Of sentiment
Facts and figures are expected now
in political speeches. Eael sneak.
.erswho have always been masters
of the art Of evading definite stare.
ments are findiag that language in
all OF its sonorous beauty 1alis tn
awe the modern audience. -
A stump speaker used to be "a
mich Of. an entertainment feature
as the circus. People would sir
entranced as long as speaker
would wave his arms and ..
through his list of tricks. Rnt
ever since the movies began to
provide more regular entertain.
ment, audiences have been less
ready to be Spellbound.
Women Demand Facts
The entrance of women into poli.
tics may be cited as one of the most
recent contributing causes TO ,na
change in oratory. At the head.
quarters of the League of Women
Voters they tell you that the cues.
tionnaires which have been sent
out to candidates have affected no.
litical speechmaking, indirectly at
least. These questionnaires in.
quired the candidates definite
stand on important issues. Re.
fusal to fill out an answer to anv
| question was taken by the women
Questioners practically as an adj
mission that the candidate hela
views Of which he was ashamed or
that he was not sufficiently ac.
! Quainted with the subject to ex.
pIess himself. A few candidates
baked at the idea of such an in
! QUESTION, but only at first. The
necessity of pleasing the suddenly
| powerful woman voter soon turned
the most evasive candidate into a
supporter of the QUESTIONABLE
system.
Then. too, candidates have been
asked frequently to speak at wom-
ems clubs and women's meetings.
Women as class have not had the
background of political knowledge
that men have. They wanted to re-
move that handicap. so they sent
for political speakers to explain
important situations. At first blair
ney and hokum were sprinkled
plentifully through the speeches
made at these meetings. But the
alert politician soon found that the
women were not used to the gilt
tering generalities and that they
waited politely but eagerly for the
! point Of the speech. The speaker
who seemed anxious to explain
his viewpoint in plain English was
the candidate who scored.
j Altogether, the orator of the old
school, who banked on his dignity
and his sonorous voice to impress
his public, is nearly extinct Con-
, ditions are not favorable for his
: development any more. Even the
; recent war did not produce and
startling examples of national ora
tors to join Webster and Henry as
, silver-toRgued persuaders. With
, ! all the stirring and emotional
| themes that the war provided, the
typical Grafton that swayed the
country was the brief 4-minute talk
j; generally crammed with facts.
; congressman and other men in
. the public eyes still like to make
long speeches. Some even 20
quietly to schools of expression to
learn how to hold an audience. But
! the embryo orator is no longer
: taught to stick one hand in his vest,
; put his right foot forward six
inches, and let his voice run the
! entire scale every few minutes.
, The modern speech is less fiamboy-
ant. The speaker gets closer to his
audience and talks to them instead
: of declaiming over their heads.
The silver-tongued orator has
been a great tradition in this coun-
l ! try. The eloquence of our great
speakers is responsible for many
! of the thrills in our history. They
S Used the technique of their time
: and they used it with discrimina
e ton. Impassioned oratory fitted
into the atmosphere of their time
: Now it has about Joined the bat
!. wing collar and the broad -brin
: statesman's hat.